The revitalisation of party spirit" was the main slogan of the third congress of our party, Communist Labour Party (PCT) held in last November. Having based on this slogan PCT had an opposing position to the orientations that appeared in its ranks as a reflection of democratism and liberalism. The party also evaluated the consequences of the large scale anti-communist campaign carried out by imperialism and all reactionary forces. This campaign is, in fact, a frontal attack on the communist party and its leading role in the process of social transformation.
The bourgeoisie's attack on the party is not of a new character. On the contrary, it is a systematic and continuing phenomenon in the strategy of every counter-revolutionary force. The enemies of our cause are aware that the capitalist system, as a result of its development dynamics, inevitably leads to the insurgence and protest of the oppressed people and this cannot be preventable. However, their class interests require them to direct their attack at communists. This is because communists create the subjective conditions for the revolution through their conscious actions. No revolutionary situation, even if the objective conditions are suitable, can lead to the victory of the revolution unless the subjective conditions exist.
Imperialists and their collaborators make great efforts to cause confusion in order to prevent the level of consciousness and of the organisation of the masses from rising. They use all sorts of methods to hinder the creation of an organisation which is able to unite the struggle of the labourers and overcome disorganisation and spontaneity. They also try to prevent the workers from uniting in the ranks of their vanguard organisation with a perspective of overthrowing the political power of the bourgeoisie and establishing the popular power and socialism.
It is not surprising that the most fierce attacks of reactionary forces are mainly directed at the Marxist-Leninist party because it is the highest form of organisation of the oppressed and exploited people. Its leading role and political action has a determining role for the fate of revolution. The history of struggles are full of examples that illustrates how the communist party forces in many countries were subjected to repressive campaigns. The communist party is the main target of anti-communist campaign at present and this will remain the same in the future.
The enemies of our cause have the role of false hero today and uttering cries of victory. The recent dramatic events in the world, the advent of Gorbachev and perestroika on the stage, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the liquidation of the Soviet Union, etc., these all are being considered by them as the proof of the fact that they have struck a fatal blow at communist movement.
Imperialists and their spokespersons carry out an all-sided intensive attack on Marxism-Leninism and socialism in order to prevent our movement from reorganising. Obviously, the communist party is at the epi-centre of this offensive. The aim here is to discredit the concept of party as a historic category, as a detachment and instrument of the struggle of the exploited people and as a leading force of the process of revolutionary transformation of society. While resisting these attacks, to be able to repulse them in a better way, communists cannot ignore some factors which facilitate our rival's anti-party activities at this historic moment and which have a disadvantageous role for us. They must evaluate them. No matter what real or conjectural significance these factors have, taking them into consideration will serve us to gather strength, to mobilise our forces and to be able to come out of this difficult period in a victorious position, rather than having a delaying function on our tasks.

The disadvantageous factors
The bourgeois ideology is experiencing its most expansionist period today. Individualism and search for an individual solution is being illustrated by many people as the most extreme form of bourgeois ideology. What is dominant is to be locked in the narrow world of individual problems and to be indifferent to social problems and to the indispensability of active participation in political struggle. The remoteness of many people form political militancy had an effect, in general, in the loss of credibility suffered by political parties.
The rise of the proportion of the electorates who do not participate in elections and the tendency of rejecting traditional parties indicate the fact that significant proportion the citizens of many countries have the feeling that they are being deceived. The high proportion of non-participation of the electorates in elections in countries like Colombia and even the USA does not only lead to minority governments but it also proves that the electorates do not trust traditional parties.
Under these circumstances, the power vacuum in the political arena needs to be filled by new alternative forces which are on the side of the people. It is our responsibility to fulfil this.
Another disadvantageous factor is the loss of prestige caused by the degenerated and bureaucratic parties of revisionist countries. Despite their degeneration these parties introduced themselves with a socialist and Marxist label and defined themselves as communists.
We know that genuine Marxist-Leninists from many countries have drawn a demarcation line with these revisionist parties in time. We have disclosed their inconsistency, having based on a principled manner for decades. We drew attention not only to their treacherous characteristic but also to the distraction caused by them and the inevitable end of these revisionist parties. In the end, they have collapsed as we have foreseen. Their collapse without dignity especially where they were in power has proved our prediction and our just struggle against their line to be correct.
Despite this, the bourgeoisies of revisionist countries, and on the international scale, have politically been the most beneficiary section because they had far more powerful means than us. The bourgeoisie managed to introduce this collapse as the defeat of the Marxist-Leninist movement as a whole including those traitors against whom we have waged struggle for years.
Imperialism wants to present this clamorous collapse as the death of communism by using their sophisticated communication means and a successful propaganda. The primary aim here is to degenerate the concept of party. This is because it has a determining role in the struggle of the oppressed people for national and social liberation.
Their large scale campaign had a visible effect on many sections and increased submissionary orientation in a significant section of the intellectuals. There are many people who claimed to be socialist in the past and who participated in the struggle in the ranks of genuine or false communist parties but who are now taking out from their libraries the works of Marx and Lenin, denying the beliefs they had in the past and becoming the source and conveyor of opportunist, pessimistic and anti-party approaches.

Liquidationism
It will be a grave mistake to suppose that these hostile approaches does not have any effect on the ranks of Marxist-Leninist parties and organisations. Some approaches and their advocates may pose a serious threat for these parties. This constitutes opportunist cysts in our bastions and it is possible for them to become bigger groups and thus attempt to conquer these bastions from inside to destroy them or at least to cause serious destruction.
The communist party of Spain M-L was an organisation which was strengthened within the fire of the struggle against Franco and other enemies of the people, which has a proved communist determination and position at the expense of the blood of the martyrs and which was tested in the struggle against opportunism and revisionism for many years.
Despite the efforts of the group organised in the name of Communist Organisation October, led by comrade Raul Marco, which insisted on revolutionary attitude and opposed liquidationism, the liquidationist action of a group of wavering intellectuals led to the destruction of the party's history of struggle, even the party itself.
Communist Party of Colombia (ML) resisted heroically to the attacks of the reactionary army forces. In this long march for the revolution, Pedro Leon Arboledo, Ernesto Rojas, Oscar William Calvo and many others have martyred. Thousands of militants have been imprisoned and subjected to torture. All this could not inhibit the party from following its ideals and principles. They have been able to overcome all difficulties successfully.
Despite this, an anti-party faction appeared in their ranks and dealt heavy blows to the party. Some of the factionists even initiated armed attacks against party members.
Even though the excuses put forward were different in these two cases, the approach to the party and the question of the validity of a Marxist-Leninist party have been the essence of this question. While the traitors and indecisive people deny the validity of the understanding of Marxist-Leninist party, the communists affirm it.

An actual struggle
The bourgeoisie find allies and servants in the ranks of our movement. Thus, the fight against the bourgeoisie always remains as a primary question. What is necessary is to carry out a multi-front struggle.
In the theoretical field, we must respond to all aspects of the bourgeoisie's attacks aiming ideological and morale degeneration. It is obligatory to defend the party, party perspective and its leading role in the revolution. We must also defend the validity of the Leninist-Stalinist thesis on the party by taking open discussions as a starting point. It is known that we have a significant theoretical capacity if dealt with a new and creative approach.
We must, in the meantime, carry out this struggle within the party. It is crucial to fight against the tendencies which weaken the internal life of the party , which inhibit the implementation of the Leninist norms and which are not incompatible with the proletarian features of the party. This must be done simultaneously with a strong revolutionary education which would distinguish genuine communists from the others at important turning points.
Education is an inalienable task for every communist who unconditionally plans his/her life according to the party and who unifies his/her life and destiny with the life and destiny of the party from the day he/she decided to join the party.
Every party member must, unconditionally, act accordingly with the norms of democratic centralism which express themselves with the subordination of the individual to the organisation, the minority to the majority, the lower organs to the higher ones and the party as a whole to the central committee.
The party must put at the centre of its educational activities the task of revitalising the confidence of its members to the justice of our cause, to our scientific theory and to the inevitability of the victory of the revolution.
Our movement has passed through many difficult periods in its history such as those experienced after the defeat of Paris Commune in 1871, after the degeneration of the Second International when Marx and Engels were not alive and when Lenin was not Lenin yet, when capitalism reached to the highest point of its development, when traitors appeared in the ranks of the movement, when some of the intellectual sections left the movement and appeared on the stage as the defenders of "ultra liberalism" and "pure democracy", etc. However, every time, the communist movement achieved to come out of these hard periods successfully having been restored.
We communists must have this spirit. We will march forward by fighting against the present and future attacks, coming out of this period by having been restored and by grasping our communist party with its banner, symbols and traditions. The cause of revolution will, sooner or later, be victorious.