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Syrian Communist Party
Program
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INTRODUCTION
The World Today and the Feature of the Age
The
Arab National Liberation Movement
Current Stage Syria
Reality
and Development Prospects
The
Socio-Economic Development
The
Syrian Communist Party
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INTRODUCTION
The Syrian Communist
Party, which was established on
October 28th, 1924 on the
eve of the Greater Syrian Revolution
against the French
occupation, is the vanguard of the Syrian
working class and its
organized self-conscious contingent that
expresses its vital
interests, defends its rights as well as the rights of
the peasant masses and of all arm and brain labors, that
struggles
to liquidate the
exploitation of man by man, a people by another,
and to build the socialist
society. In its struggle to achieve these
great tasks, in its
internal life and in its actual practice, the SCP
adopts and is guided by
Marxism-Leninism.
The Party declared its
first program in July 1931 in which it
asserted its independence
as being a party of a tireless struggle
against the French
occupation for realizing national independence,
and as being the party of
the toiling popular masses, the party of
Scientific Socialism and
Proletarian Internationalism.
Since then, the Party has
been continuously working for
improving and revising its
Program, specifying its tasks according
to the different stages of
the evolution of Syria's working class and
people in general, taking
into consideration the social, economic
and political developments
that take place in the country, the
region and in the world,
following up those changes in a way that
reflects the interests of
the working class and of the blue- and
white-collar labors.
In June 1939, the Party
issued a programmatic document
entitled "What do the
Syrian Communists Want? "
The Party's National
Covenant, approved by the Second
National Congress which
met in early 1944, summed up the direct
and urgent tasks the
Syrian communists should struggle to achieve;
a full national
independence was the topmost priority.
During the 1949 electoral
campaign of the Constituent
Assembly, the Party stated
its opinion regarding the Syrian
Constitution and presented
on behalf of the candidates of the
National Democratic Front
in Damascus an integral proposal
entitled "How Should the
Syrian Constitution Be?".
In May 1956, the Party's
Central Committee issued a
document in which it
declared its stand concerning a number of
different basic questions
such as the Arab unity, the Palestinian
cause, the national
front...etc.
In late 1958, the Party
issued, after a wide discussion all over
its cells and bodies, an
important document that illustrated its
stance regarding the
Syrian-Egyptian union and which was known
as the "Thirteen
Provisions. "
After the separation
between Syria and Egypt and in July 1962.
the Party put for
discussion its Draft New Political Program and
its Draft Agricultural
Program.
The 1969 Third Party
Congress approved the Agricultural
Program. The Party in the
1974 Fourth Congress approved its
Program and revised it in
the Fifth Congress of May 1980. In May
1991, the Seventh Congress
adopted the "Programmatic Tasks."
The activity of the SCP is
currently oriented towards the further
promotion and deepening of
the struggle against imperialism.
Zionism and reaction;
towards the liberation of the occupied Arab
territories; towards
protecting, firming up and deepening the
progressive social and
economic achievements; consolidating the
patriotic regime; and
pushing our country towards the road of
social progress to prepare
the necessary backgrounds for transiting
into Socialism.
The SCP, depending upon
its long heritage of struggle, presents
this Program after it has
been redrafted and amended, bearing in
mind the changes and
developments that took place in the world
after the dismantlement of
the Soviet Union and the changes of
Eastern Europe.
Taking this Program as a
weapon along with a tireless
struggle for its
fulfillment would constitute an important basis to
solidify the Party's unity
of will and action and to strengthen its
role in the country.
The
World Today and the Feature of the Age
Ever since the dawn of
civilization, humanity has been
striving for realizing
social justice, an aspiration that has not had its
substantial conditions that would help it turn true.
From Spartacus's Revolt,
to the Revolt of the Negroes, to the
Qarmatian State, and the
Paris Commune, that human aspiration
has always been
confronting with more historically superior social
powers.
The Great Socialist
October Revolution inaugurated a new era.
For the first time in the
human history, it turned into actual reality
the idea of social
justice, based upon the liquidation of man-to-man
exploitation and
people-upon-people oppression.
The victory of the Great
Socialist October Revolution was a
sign of a considerable
change in the human history: the
correspondence of that
human aspiration to the maturity of certain
concrete circumstances,
announcing an end to the forces of
injustice and
exploitation.
The October Revolution
managed to create a new situation all
over the world, the most
important feature of which is the
emergence of the state of
the workers, peasants and all arm and
brain labors - a state
which gradually became an effective and
influential power in the
world's historical development as a whole.
The October Revolution was
an objective necessity, dictated by
the unequal development of
Capitalism in the imperialist stage.
Further, it was a clear
evidence of the rising role of the subjective
factor in the modem age;
i.e., the role of the revolutionary vanguard
of the popular masses in
affecting the events and social phenomena
as a form of a conscious
intervention aimed at controlling those
events and phenomena for
the benefit of mankind.
The October Revolution
would never have triumphed had its
leading vanguard not
depended upon a scientific theory- Marxism-
as a guide for action.
That vanguard, thanks to the prominent role
played by Lenin, could
develop the theory under the new
circumstances -
imperialism - and inferred the new developments
Capitalism had
undergone, in such a way that enacted the
formulation of the
theories on imperialism, the revolutionary party,
and the socialist
revolution, which were indispensable
achievements for paving
the theoretical ground for the triumphant
October Revolution.
Since then,
Marxism-Leninism has been a guide for action for
millions of the
revolutionaries fighting against Capitalism and
imperialism all over the
world, who could manage to score
unprecedented victories in
the world history over the powers of
injustice and
exploitation.
Marxism-Leninism is
considered one of the most significant
achievements of the human
intellect throughout the evolution of
mankind. Through the
method of Dialectical Materialism, the
Marxist-Leninist theory
found out the internal laws governing the
evolution of Capitalism,
concluding its inevitable collapse to be
replaced by its
antithesis- the Communist Society. Marxism, and
later Leninism- the
Marxism of the imperialist age and the age of
the Socialist Revolution-
has developed through the struggle
against two major threats,
namely revisionism and opportunism
that took different shapes
in the different stages of the historical
evolution. Dogmatism and
nihilism are of the most important
manifestations of these
two dangers.
Dogmatism is the cause
behind the hindrance of the
development of the Marxist
ideology, and in turn, of the creative
promotion of Marxism.
Dogmatism dealt with Marxism as
ultimate texts and ideas,
as if it was invalid to develop or go
deeper; an issue that
caused a great damage not only to the theory
but also to its various
applications. Under the ideological influence
of the bourgeois and petit
bourgeois ideas, the nihilistic trends
flourished and tried to
minimize Marxism merely into its method;
i.e., depriving it of all
its achievements over more than 150 years
of its development.
The creative development
of Marxism-Leninism under our
present circumstances
needs the collective efforts of the world
communist and labor
movement, particularly under the conditions
lived at the end of the
twentieth century, at the threshold of the
twenty-first century and
the beginning of the third millennium of
the modem human history.
These efforts should focus
on having a deep understanding of
contemporary Capitalism,
its contradictions and historical limits,
and the change of its
forms and means of exploitation, and also on
having a deep
understanding of the issues related to building
Socialism in order to
extract its driving laws.
Throughout its triumphant
march in the twentieth century.
Socialism has realized
major achievements and victories all over
the globe, drawing major
outlines in the human history. Besides the
worldwide popular
struggles against colonialism, the rise of the
Soviet Union and the
Socialist Bloc later on was one of the main
causes behind the collapse
of the old colonial system, an issue that
caused a considerable
change in the world balance of forces and
created a real material,
moral, and military support for the struggle
of the oppressed peoples,
creating new prospects for their struggles
to realize their
sovereignty, independence and recognized existing
entity.
The Soviet people, led by
the Communist Party, made great
victories of international
significance. Within two decades and
between two world wars,
they were able to change their country
from a poor and backward
country where illiteracy spread among
the majority of the
peasantry into one of the world's most powerful
countries, that was able
to stop and destroy the fascist conquest.
Twice within 25 years, the
Soviet people could rescue their
economy out of the ruins
and moved forward to occupy a forefront
place in the world in
every field.
The victory of the Soviet
Union over the Nazi Germany in
World War II reaffirmed
the preferability and superiority of the
Socialist System.
It was the Soviet Union
that made the first step towards
ushering humanity into
space, and was the first to use the atomic
energy for peaceful
purposes. The tremendous efforts exerted after
the Great National War
enabled the Soviet Union to achieve the
strategic balance of
powers with the United States of America,
preventing thereby an
outbreak of a third world war. The Warsaw
Pact, with its backbone
consisted mainly of the Soviet military
force, could turn into a
balancing power against the NATO and
prevented it in many cases
from provoking local or regional wars.
As a social system.
Socialism proved its superiority over
Capitalism. Within a
relatively short period of time, it was able to
solve complicated social
problems. The rights to work, to live in
a house, to learn and to
receive medical treatment were all secured,
turning for the first time
in the history of mankind into acquired
rights of the popular
masses. The power of the socialist example in
these fields could impose
itself upon Capitalism which had no
choice but to yield and
offer certain concessions to its working
class in order to soften
the pace of tension and social struggle,
aggravated by Socialism's
superiority and privileges.
Today's experience of the
former socialist countries and the
tragic problems brought to
them by Capitalism prove once again the superiority of
the socialist regimes which, after all, had some
human, civilized and
progressive characteristics that can never
be found in any capitalist
regime. The first socialist regimes made
great achievements and
fulfilled a great part of the human aspirations. These
experiences give us lessons and a good basis for the
existing socialist regimes and the new ones which will
inevitably rise more developed than the previous ones.
When examining the factors
of the collapse that took place in
some of the socialist
regimes, the following should be taken into
consideration:
1. What happened was a
resulting outcome to an international
conflict and to a certain
world balance of forces, in which the world
imperialism could invest
to the utmost its reserve, the Third World,
in the race that took
place for securing the military equipoise. The
Soviet Union, however, had
not had but its own internal resources
to provide such a balance.
2. The prevalence of
right-wing opportunism within the ranks
of the world communist
movement has since mid 1950s been hindering the
international revolutionary process, an issue that laid
its burdens and troubles on the Soviet Union and its own
development, leading in turn to the emergence of a
number of gaps in the process of building Socialism. The
class enemy could penetrate through those gaps, taking
them as a ground in its battle
against Socialism from
inside.
3. Ignoring the class
struggle under the presence of two
opposite world systems has
allowed the underground anti forces in
the socialist countries to
play a multiform destructive role in the
process of building
Socialism. This confirms the validity of the
thesis that underlines the
increase of the class struggle intensification whenever
getting closer to Socialism is active. What
happened in the last few
years in Eastern Europe and the Soviet
Union urges the discovery
of the deep reasons behind that
condition. The explanation
of the previous thesis lies probably in
the thesis of the 'oneness
of the world', meaning that there is one
integrated and
interinfluential world; and in the thesis saying that
the world lives the stage
of an international transition from
Capitalism to Communism,
the two opposite patterns of material
production. One should say
also that building Socialism for the first
time in history has
offered humanity a lot, most importantly that
experience on which basis
the new socialist regimes would rise.
The changes in the Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe have had
many consequences and
raised various issues upon which true
solution the future
development of the world revolutionary
movement depends largely.
One of the most dangerous
effects is the change in the world
balance of forces for the
advantage of world imperialism, especially
the American imperialism,
which is trying to avail itself of this
situation in order to
impose its uni-pole order through the so-called
"new world order": an
essentially old order and a compound form
of both old colonialism
and neo colonialism and which carries the
worst of their features.
The international changes
did not lead into a more stable
secure, or more war-immune
world. On the contrary, the world
today has become more
explosively dangerous, and the regional
and civil wars, that cause
the death of hundreds of thousand of
people, have increased
considerably.
Through what is known as
the "new world order", the world
imperialism is trying to
firm up its control and domination over the
Earth and its resources
and peoples. Resorting to whatever means
enabling it to realize
that goal, the world imperialism follows
basically the following
ways:
1. Flaring up wars through
stirring the ethnic, religious and
sectarian intrigues.
2. Imposing the
stipulations of the World Bank and the
International Monetary
Fund over the countries of Asia, Africa
and Latin America, in
order to overplunder their resources
through the horrible and
rapid deterioration of their peoples
living standard.
3. Spreading the
scientific and technological retardation
over complete nations and
regions with the aim of keeping them
as sources of raw
materials and cheap manpower.
The provisional setback of
the world revolutionary movement
has disturbed the world
balance of forces and enabled the world
imperialism to give free
rein to its arrogance and its criminal plans
Yet, that very policy
pursued by imperialism in the new circumstances actually
results in enlarging the front of its anti fighters to
include everyone interested in the continuity of life
itself on this globe.
The other pole -the pole
of the forces of liberation, progress
and Socialism which has
been existing even before the emergence
of Socialism as standing
regimes in the twentieth century- still
exists and is advancing
day after another, depending upon the fact
that it is impossible for
Capitalism to offer solutions to any of the
serious problems suffered
by humanity, such as poverty, hunger.
environmental pollution,
...etc.
Therefore, it is possible
to say that the main contradiction that
still rules our time is
that one between labor and capital, a
contradiction that takes a
variety of shapes according to its
surrounding conditions.
If the advanced capitalist
states were able to soften these shapes domestically,
they could do so only through increasing the
exploitation of both
nature and the developing countries- the poor
South. This means that
those capitalist countries did not reach to an
fundamental resolution of
that contradiction, rather they deepened
and enlarged it.
Capitalism's development
at the end of the 20th century has
brought it into an
inescapable dead end. It is deepening and
intensifying the
contradictions of Capitalism in many fields,
particularly with:
- The developing
countries- the poor South, which are
exhausted by the world
capitalist plunder.
- Nature, which
unrenewable resources have been exploited,
and its environment
polluted, through the random development of
the productive forces.
- The techno-scientific
progress with complete fields of it
consecrated against the
human interest itself, particularly in the
realm of military
industries.
Furthermore, the
contradictions that may play an important
determining role for
Capitalism as a world system have intensified,
most importantly the
inter-contradiction among the familiar
imperialist centers
themselves (USA, Western Europe, and Japan).
This does not rule out the
possibility for the rise of new imperialist
centers, leading to a more
intensified world conflict among
themselves for redividing
the regions of power.
The 20th century
Capitalism could not introduce satisfactory
answers and solutions for
the spiritual and material problems
suffered by humanity; what
it introduced in fact is utterly the
contrary. Therefore,
Socialism still introduces itself as a sole
alternative for the
capitalist system, which became more rotten and
parasitic to a large
extent and turned into an obstacle before the
future development of
mankind, even into a threat to the very
existence of humanity
itself.
The twentieth century is
the century of the first socialist
systems that paved the
long way for humanity to march towards
a society of social
Justice and freedom. Regardless of the setbacks
the socialism that
appeared in the socialist countries and the
achievements it had
introduced to their peoples proves itself as a
living idea which will
continue making its way in spite of the
frequent and sometimes
unexpected zigzags.
The feature of the age is
still the transition from Capitalism
to Socialism. This is a
fact, despite the stumbles of that process in
one stage or another. This
transition is governed by the main contradiction in our
time, that is the antagonistic contradiction
between labor and capital
which can only be resolved by the
triumph of Socialism and
Communism.
The Arab
National Liberation Movement
The Arab national
liberation movement, ANLM, is a part of the
world national liberation
movement, and accordingly a contingent of the world
revolutionary movement. This movement includes all the
liberation movements in the Arab countries.
The ANLM achieved a great
number of victories during its long history, most
important of which is the national independence which
was gained by the Arab countries as a result of the
struggle of the broad masses, helped by the Soviet Union
in every field, against the direct colonial occupation.
Many significant
progressive transformations, such as the agrarian reform
which dealt a blow to the positions of feudalism
and the remains of the old
backward social relations, and the formation of the
state sector in the national economies, took place in
the Arab countries which were governed by national
regimes.
The development process
performed in these countries managed to make a
considerable advancement in the standard of the
productive forces and serious changes in the relations
of production. Such socio-economic transformations,
however, did not stop the development of the capitalist
relations of production, rather they make them dominant,
because these transformations after all did not exceed
the limits of bourgeois-democratic changes. In the other
Arab countries, particularly those governed by
monarchies of different forms, a considerable progress
in the development of the production forces was also
realized, but it occured under a thorough domination of
the imperialist monopolies and under the great influence
of the pre-capitalist remains. Consequently these
countries became increasingly dependent upon the world
imperialist centers politically and economically.
The ANLM underwent as well
serious setbacks, the most important of which was the
downfall of many national regimes as a result of the
imperialist conspiracies and the pressure exerted by the
local reaction. The shrink of the political supporting
basis of these regimes played a role in their collapse,
as they failed in guaranteeing wide democratic freedoms
for the working class and all the toiling masses, who
objectively constitute the social ground for the
national regimes. Such experiences tell us that the more
the democratic freedoms of the national and progressive
forces are guaranteed, the stronger and more solidified
is the social and, consequently, the political basis of
the national regimes.
The forces constituting
the national liberation movements differ in accordance
with their different conditions and tasks. The more
common the tasks are, the larger the social basis of the
concerned movement is. The standing nucleus of these
movements, however, remains the working class and all
the arm and brain labors whose basic interests are
organically associated with the victory of the national
liberation movement in the given country. At present,
the national bourgeoisie might have a role in
confronting the imperialist schemes, because its
interests fall objectively in contradiction with the
interests of the international monopolies aspiring not
only to loot the resources of the peoples but also to
suppress the different sections in the developing
countries under their political and social domination.
This entails the formation of the broadest national
alliance that defies the imperialist designs under the
banner of freedom and national
independence.
Some forces have
activated recently camouflaging their political goals
with a religious cover. The evolution of this phenomenon
has its own objective grounds. The rapid and deformed
development of Capital ism and its accompanying social
and political phenomena has led to the formation of a
certain petit bourgeois type of personality which is
desperate and frightened by that development and that
believes that the social redemption can never be reached
except through a return to the fundamentals as a means
for salvation. Such people constitute the relatively
broad popular basis for the religion-covered movements.
Still, it is frequently often that the social basis of
these movements comprises the parasitic bourgeoisie that
already has its economic
gains, yet is unable to
realize its political goals. So it uses such
movements in its effort to
assume political power. 7'hc excessive
richness of the ruling
sections and their associate circles, on one
hand, and the sharp
deterioration of the living standards of the
toiling masses,
accompanied with the absence of the enough- needed
democratic freedoms for the national and progressive
forces, on the other, lead into a further strengthening
of the positions of the religion-covered political
trends. The setbacks of some patriotic forces and
regimes poured water in that stream. In general, the
interests of the imperialist circles do not fall in
contradiction with the strengthening of the
religion-hidden reactionary trend, as the consequence of
its triumph in the countries it dominates would be their
retreat for hundreds of years backward, socially,
economically and politically. Such a victory would
ensure the inability of these countries to defy the
modem imperialist machine. The leading forces of the
ANLM believe that the horizon of victory does not lie in
pushing the wheel of history backward, but in moving
forward towards building a society where the public
ownership of the means of production and the principles
of social justice prevail.
The Marxist-Leninist
communist parties in the Arab countries
are an important
contingent of the ANLM. Ever since their rise,
these parties have along
with their peoples fought all the national
and social liberation
battles against imperialism, Zionism and the
Arab reaction. The
historical evolution proved that the existence
of these parties is an
objective necessity that reflects the aspirations of the
Arab peoples towards freedom, real democracy and
Socialism.
The communist parties in
the Arab countries are a leading
faction of the ANLM, a
characteristic they have attained as they
interrelated the question
of the complete victory of the liberation
movement with the question
of the social liberation; i.e., the cause
of realizing the socialist
system.
The Palestinian cause is
one of the basic questions that have
been facing the ANLM. The
establishment of the State of Israel on
the land of Palestine by
the imperialist-backed Zionism, after an
aggressive war that
resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of
Palestinian Arabs from their homeland, has created a
permanent focal point of
tension in the Arab region. The successive
wars launched by the
Zionist Israel against the neighboring countries and the
later occupation of the complete Palestinian soil in
addition to some lands of other neighboring Arab
countries have been intensifying that tension and
forming a standing threat for the Arab peoples. Israel,
under these new conditions, is trying to impose its
political and economic domination over the Arab
countries and to dictate a peace that ensures such a
control.
A just peace in this
region is attainable only through the
complete and full
withdrawal of the Israeli offensive troops from all
the occupied Arab
territories, and through the return of the Arab
Palestinian people to
their homeland and the establishment of the
Palestinian state.
Making peace with Israel
does not ever entail a peace with
Zionism, being a racial
movement and the aggressive and fascist power in the
imperialist camp. Serving the interests of a just peace
and of defending the Arab national sovereignty demands
defying Zionism in all fields whether economically,
politically or culturally, and necessitates the
continuous enhancement of the defensive abilities of the
Arab countries.
Our Party believes that
the aspiration of the Arab peoples to achieve unity is
objectively valid. We have been asserting this. because
such an aspiration has a large and solid ground. At the
same time, the independent development that took place
in each Arab country separately has created certain
local and objective conditions that should be taken into
consideration while processing unity. To be stable and
permanent, any unity must be based upon solid grounds
and valid bases. This is what was stated by our Party
decades ago and was proved true by life. most
importantly:
1. Unity should be
anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist.
2. While processing unity,
the objective economic, social,
and political conditions
of each unity-participant should be taken
into consideration..
3. Unity should have a
democratic basis; that is, it should depend upon the
will of the toiling masses who should enjoy the widest
spectrum of democratic freedoms in the state of unity.
4. The unity state should
move along the path of social progress, fulfilling the
needs of the popular masses.
5. The unity state should
guarantee the political, social and
cultural rights of all its
citizens.
The Communist Party
believes that the struggle for the Arab unity is
organically connected with the struggle for Socialism,
because the forces that have vital interests in both are
the same: the
working class and the
toiling masses.
Just like Socialism, unity
is a strategic goal for the ANLM. In
the meantime, and in order
to strengthen this orientation, it is
necessary to set up the
widest Arab solidarity against imperialism
and Zionism and to
intensify the struggle against reaction, to march
along the road of social
progress. In the present stage, our Party
believes that the economic
integration among the Arab countries is
the best means to face the
challenges of economic development.
The general tasks set
before the ANLM factions are:
1. Protecting and
consecrating the political independence of the
Arab countries; an issue
that necessitates the continual resistance of
the imperialist schemes
and plans aiming at recolonizing the Arab world through
a new form.
2. Defending and further
developing the national production;
i.e., to struggle against
the positions of the world imperialist
monopolies that, through
completely linking their interests with the
economies of the countries
of the region, seek to plunder those same countries. The
presence of a unified world market as an objective
reality does not ever imply the submission to the
economic domination of the imperialist monopolies. The
possible alternative lies in pursuing an economic policy
which helps strengthen and solidify the political and
economic sovereignty of the countries concerned. This is
a task that entails struggling against the unequal
exchange with the world capitalist market. In this
realm, the question of strengthening and promoting the
role of the State Sector turns excessively important for
realizing the national economic development. On another
hand, undermining the positions of the parasitic
bourgeoisie plays an essential role in defending the
national production.
3. Struggling against the
local reactionary forces whose interests are organically
and directly involved with world imperialism; and
establishing the national regimes that work for social
progress, meaning, that kind of political and
socio-economic development that continuously meets the
interests of the broad popular masses. Hence, providing
the democratic freedoms for the masses should be
guaranteed.
4. Fighting against
Zionism and all its manifestations. Since the
beginnings of the 20th
century, the ANLM has been fighting a fierce enemy,
namely, world Zionism: the extremist racial movement of
the Jewish capital. Zionism tries to put not only the
region rather the entire world under its own control.
Due to the establishment of the aggressive State of
Israel the ANLM has become at the forefront line in the
fight against world Zionism. The fight against Zionism
should not be limited to resisting the expansionist
ambitions of the Zionist State of Israel but it should
include defying the interests of the imperialist and
Zionist monopolies, and confronting the information and
cultural invasion launched by the world information and
propaganda centers which are almost completely
controlled by the Zionist financial capital.
In its struggle to fulfill
these general tasks, the national
liberation movement in
each Arab country meets special missions; a
particularity attributed to the objectively different
conditions in
each country, resulting
from the difference in the political and
socio-economic
development. A disregard of these differences will
hinder any successful
struggle against the common enemies. But the most
important thing is to achieve the militant solidarity
among all the ANLMs in the Arab countries, and to
establish broad national fronts in every Arab country.
The historical
evolutionary process will necessarily lead to the
triumph of the ANLM. In
its aspiration to realize its objective aims,
this just movement
confronts with temporarily powerful forces, which are
yet historically perishing.
Current Stage Syria:
Reality and
Development Prospects
After the international
changes that took place few years ago,
leading to a serious
change in the world balance of forces, the world
imperialism and Zionism are intensifying their fierce
attack against the peoples of the world, including our
people, in order to impose their complete economic,
political and social hegemony. That is why the struggle
to protect and solidify the national independence should
be accelerated.
The deep-rooted national
traditions of our people, (their
sacrifices in the
different crucial historical stages - the European
invasion, the Ottoman
occupation, the French colonization-, which were
represented by the Martyrs of the Sixth of May, the
heroism of Yousef Al-Azmeh. the wide popular revolts and
uprisings all over Syria that were led by several
national and popular leaders like, among others: Sultan
Pasha Al-Atrush, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Ashmar, Hasan Al-K-haraht,
Sheikh Saleh Al-Ali, Ibrahim Hananou and hundreds of
other martyrs whose blood got mixed with the soil of
their homeland to achieve the national independence and
to defend the dignity and pride of their nation.)
demarcated the national track along which Syria has been
treading since the evacuation of the French troops and
realizing the full national independence. The different
imperialist and Zionist
attempts, the successive
dictatorships, and the attempts of the local
and Arab reaction could
not deviate Syria from this course due to the fact that
the socio-economic ingredients of the continuation of
this national policy are strong enough, since the
majority of the social forces has real interests in this
continuation, starting from the working class, to the
broad peasant masses, to some sections of the
petite-bourgeoisie, up to
that national bourgeoisie that has interest
in defending national
production.
The struggle of the Syrian
people to maintain and solidify the
political independence,
and to realize the complete economic independence is at
the same time a struggle against the imperialist
interests, the Zionist
ambitions, and against the props of the local
reaction represented
primarily by the parasitic bourgeoisie which
interests are completely
interrelated with the interests of the imperialist
monopolies, and accordingly with the general policy of
the world imperialist
centers.
The continuity of Syria's
national course means above all confronting the
political schemes of imperialism and Zionism, and at the
same time resisting the infiltration of the foreign
international
monopolist capital into
our national economy.
A great task arises before
the Syrian people which is to struggle firmly against
the American and Zionist hegemony over this region. This
implies the mobilization of all the forces, and uniting
the efforts of all those who reject to yield before
imperialism and Zionism regardless of their ideological
doctrines or class origins.
Through its national
policy, Syria can rise as a power demanding and seeking
for peace. It can also insist on the complete liberation
of the Golan and the other Arab territories occupied
after the aggression of June 1967, and try to enhance
its military and political might in order to defend
itself against any given sudden attack. At the same
time, it can rise as a power that declares its
acceptance and welcome for the political activities and
efforts exerted to put an end to the tension in this
region. The SCP backs up Syria's national policy and
calls for supporting it. However, the SCP underlines
simultaneously the need for giving attention to the
problems of the popular masses, for meeting their
demands and for protecting their interests.
The dialectical connection
between supporting the national
policy of Syria and the
struggle for fulfilling the demands of the
popular masses helps
strengthen the internal unity and promote the support
for the national policy. The more active the national
and progressive forces in realizing the demands of the
popular masses are, the more they can influence the
popular mood, pushing it towards more support for
Syria's national policy. Any attempt to weaken this
orientation would throw the door open to the different
other types of relations whether tribal, clan or
sectarian,... etc. This will consequently lead to the
weakening of the social ground of the
national policy.
The increasing social
class polarization taking place in light of
the swift growth of the
capitalist, parasitic-nature relations of
production, which has
been accelerating since mid 1970s, intensifies the class
struggle in Syria. From a class point of view, the
structure of the Syrian society is capitalist.
Therefore, the existence of class struggle in this
society is natural, certain and inevitable. This is not
the wish of a certain party or a certain section; it is
an objective reality resulting from the socio-economic
structure itself. This should be well and deeply
understood by all the progressive circles and not by the
communists only.
The essence of the current
struggle happening in Syria is a national and a class
conflict between the working class, the peasants, the
revolutionary intelligentsia and all the toilers who are
interested in the resumption of the social progress and
in the continuity and solidification of the national
anti-imperialist Syrian policy, on one hand, and certain
manipulative and exploiting sections that cooperate to
preserve their exploitation of the popular masses and to
deviate Syria from its national anti-imperialist course,
on the other.
The Syrian working class
has been growing in terms of number
and class consciousness as
a result of the development, which stumbles here and
there, but which is continuous in several fields and on
different levels. The continuous emigration from the
countryside to the city plays a significant role in
quantitatively enlarging the working class. Due to the
supremacy of the capitalist relations of production in
agriculture, a certain section of the working class, the
agricultural workers, is steadily growing in the rural
areas. These agricultural workers are becoming a power
with an increasing weight and with an ability to acquire
the proletarian consciousness and mentality, and thus
contribute to the prevalence of this consciousness among
the poor and destitute peasants. The Syrian working
class is patriotic and anti-imperialist to the maximum
extreme. At the same time it struggles against
Capitalism as a system, and aspires to build the
socialist society based on the liquidation of man's
exploitation by another.
Broad masses of the poor
peasants are suffering from the
impact of the development
of the capitalist relations of production.
That's why their interests
coincide with those of the working class:
in the socialist solution.
Some middle sections of the peasantry
have grown rich, while
others are undergoing a severe deterioration. Similarly,
other low-income groups, such as craftsmen, small
merchants...etc., are suffering the same conditions;
i.e., the rough capitalist development endangers their
traditional source of living. The living standard of
many of them is really deteriorating.
The number of wage-earning
social sections has increased steadily to include the
majority of the educated and intellectual people whose
standard of living has become similar to that of the
working class, except for those persons involved with
the bourgeois strata.
All the strata of the
Syrian bourgeoisie have interest in deepening the
development of Capitalism in Syria. There is a
distinction, however, between some sections that seek a
relatively
independent form of
capitalist development with an inclination to
strengthen and develop the
national production (the national bourgeoisie), and
those sections that pursue a line of development
completely dependent upon
the international imperialist centers.
These later sections are
primarily represented by the parasitic
bourgeoisie.
Everyday experience has
revealed that the parasitic bourgeoisie
has a direct interest in
sabotaging the national production and even having it
stopped in order to have their windows of profit more
widely opened.
The parasitic bourgeoisie
in Syria consists mainly of the
following sections:
A. The compradores, i.e.,
the mediators between the international capitalist
monopolies and the local market. The material power is
mainly concentrated in the hands of this section.
B. The big whole-sale
traders, i.e., the mediators between
production, the
agricultural production in particular, and the
consumers. This group is
characterized by its influential social
relations besides its
material power.
C. Merchants, contractors,
brokers, speculators of real-estates
and cars,...etc. These are
categorically known as being on the surface and always
seen by everyone.
There is a particular kind
of bourgeoisie which is parasitic in its essence and
works within the mechanism of the state, namely the
bureaucratic bourgeoisie that represents a relatively
new phenomenon in our country. As shown by similar
historical experiences, the bureaucratic bourgeoisie is
of a transitional nature and was mainly formed as a
result of the establishment and expansion of the State
Sector. Its origins, however, go back to the petite
bourgeoisie in general. What characterizes this type of
bourgeoisie is that the amount of its representatives'
plunder depends on how close they are to or far from the
centers of the economic decision making.
The relation between the
parasitic bourgeoisie and the bureaucratic bourgeoisie
is governed by alliance and competition.
Their powers are unified
in plundering the people and the state
although they are rivals
over shares. Moreover, life indicates that
there is a permanent and
internal contradiction within the bureaucratic
bourgeoisie itself, namely, between those circles which
are less affected by the pressure of the social and
popular bottom, and the other circles which are more
affected by such pressure.
The danger of parasitic
bourgeoisie against any national policy
has been proved by life
itself. Therefore, our Party's activity against
the parasitic bourgeoisie
takes into consideration its political threat, and it
does not only view its social, economic and daily-living
effects.
However, the main
contradiction remains between the parasitic
bourgeoisie and
bureaucratic bourgeoisie on one hand, and the working
class and all the labors on the other. Such a
contradiction extends to include the parasitic
bourgeoisie and bureaucratic bourgeoisie, on one hand,
and the working class, the labors and all the productive
people including certain productive sections of the
national bourgeoisie on the other hand.
The nature of the classes
forming the socio-economic structure
of our country is
determined by the dominant relations of production,
which are capitalist with a prevailing parasitic
characteristic. On the other hand, the political nature
of the regime depends upon the political authority that
forms an important part of the super structure of the
Syrian society. The fact that the Syrian regime is
patriotic, anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist is
attributed to the national will of the masses of the
working class, the peasantry, the intelligentsia, and
the arm and brain labors as a whole, besides the will of
the petite-bourgeoisie and an important national part of
the bourgeoisie. Such factors play a significant role in
forging and maintaining the national policy. All these
forces consider imperialism and Zionism in particular as
enemies to their interests and their social and economic
development. They believe furthermore that the ambitions
of the Zionist Israel do not only threaten the national
policy but also endanger the direct interests of all
these classes and social sections.
It is clear that the
solidification of Syria's national stand
depends largely upon the
need for handling the internal situations
in a way that flourishes
the country's economy, enhances the living
conditions of the people,
and broadens the spectrum of democratic
freedoms of all the
national and progressive forces and the popular
masses in general.
The struggle for
broadening the democratic freedoms was and
is still a major task for
the working class and all the national and
progressive forces. The
national struggle in Syria has always been
interrelated with the
struggle for democracy. It is a fact proved by
life itself that democracy
is very necessary for the popular masses
in order to strengthen
their struggle against imperialism, Zionism,
and the various forms of
plunder and exploitation practiced by the
bureaucratic bourgeoisie
and parasitic bourgeoisie, and that it is
indispensable in the
struggle against the reactionary forces and their
conspiracies and methods
of misleading the masses ideologically and politically.
The more the working and
productive masses enjoy democracy and are able to
criticize the faults and shortcomings and those
responsible for them. the more effectively they play
their role in enhancing the production process, fighting
squander, protecting the Public Sector, and solidifying
the national economy. Consequently, the way for a
successful struggle for improving the conditions of the
masses would be conveniently cleared. Democracy
represents an active weapon for the working class, the
peasantry, and all the labors in their struggle to
realize their economic demands and to improve their
lives. It is a weapon in the hands of the small
employees, the youth, women and the intelligentsia in
their struggle to ensure their different rights.
Democracy is a great help in the struggle for
guaranteeing the common rights of all the Syrian
citizens.
The SCP has been up-to-now
struggling against all forms of oppression and for
respecting the freedom of opinion and belief and the
dignity of the citizens. It has called and is calling
for broadening the democratic freedoms of the popular
masses and their national and progressive forces in
order to enable them to resist the activities and
conspiracies of the reactionary forces, that use the
restrictions imposed against democracy and employ their
traditional positions in the various fields in order to
sabotage the State Sector in the national economy. The
reactionary forces also try to mobilize as many forces
and supporters as possible to eliminate the progressive
transformations and to oppose the national and
anti-imperialist policy, without ever hesitating to
commit the most horrible crimes as necessitated by their
selfish interests.
To broaden the spectrum of
democratic freedoms of the working class and the popular
masses in general, and the national and progressive
forces in particular, is a basic demand that should be
realized in response to Syria's high interest
nationally, regionally, and socially. In this context,
it is necessary to respect the Constitution and the
supremacy of law, and to consolidate the role of the
judiciary and its independence.
To strengthen and
consolidate the role of the Progressive National Front (PNA)
in the life of our country is of a paramount importance,
especially in the fields having to do with the
protection and solidification of the national stand of
Syria. The struggle for the protection of Syria's
national and anti-imperialist position and for
broadening the democratic freedoms is the responsibility
of all the honest patriotic forces in the country.
The 'front' is an earlier
concept of our Party. Before attaining
the political
independence, the SCP called for the widest front
against occupation and for gaining independence. After
the political independence, and in order to persistently
fight against the imperialist schemes and alliances, the
Parliamentary National Assembly was formed, including
representatives of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, the
SCP, certain sections of the national bourgeoisie and
representatives of the Syrian Arab Army. Our Party's
Third Congress of 1969 adopted the "Progressive National
Front' as a slogan; and it was initiated in 1972.
During the past years, the
PNF practically played a significant
political role in, as
examples, endorsing the Syrian Constitution,
the October War,
discussing economic issues, and in making important
economic and social decisions (the most of which were
not carried out, though.) The activity of the PNF,
however, has not been continuous and recurrent as stated
in its charter and statute.
It is very important to
activate the Front from the leadership to the branches
in every governorate. It should never remain as a
merely upper formation. Instead, the activities
of its organizations should be extended to reach the
broad masses in quarters, factories, villages,
educational and scientific centers, that is to widen the
Front's action and struggle to include the masses of
workers, peasants, youth, women and the revolutionary
intelligentsia, whether they are party-members or
independent figures. This will lead to consecrating and
strengthening the PNF and its role and effectiveness in
the life of the country; i.e., the mobilization of all
the popular capacities in the struggle against
imperialism and its agents, and against reaction.
The establishment of the
PNF partially facilitated the practice
of some democracy. Still,
reality shows that it is necessary that the
parties of the PNF should
enjoy more and more democracy. The most important ways
for this is to give each party the right to practice all
its different-form public activities, through
recognizing it officially, prohibiting any reprisal
measure against any member of the Front on political
grounds, and through enabling each party to issue its
own public newspaper.
It is quite clear that the
allied parties within the PNF have
distinct ideologies and
programs. In the course of struggle and work different
opinions, estimations, stands and efforts arise. This is
natural and objective; the work within the Front does
not entail the disappearance of such differences. Yet,
it is necessary that these
different stands should
never be considered superior to the firm agreement that
the main contradiction continues between Syria's
national policy and the anti- forces: imperialism,
Zionism and the
reaction. This agreement
constitutes the basis upon which the Front was
established.
At the same time, the SCP
has declared and is declaring openly to the people and
the officials that its cooperation with the national and
progressive forces within the government or outside it
does not absolutely mean its approval to everything
taking place in the country, particularly in some vital
fields related to the increasingly urgent popular
demands.
The SCP docs not consider
the establishment of the PNF as a tactical transitory
stage. It is a long-run strategic stage of struggle
against imperialism and
its schemes, and for carrying out the tasks of the
national liberation revolution, for moving along the
road of social progress, and for introducing the
political, economic and social grounds of moving towards
building the socialist society.
In its general struggle
against imperialism, Zionism and reaction, the SCP draws
its policy towards any regime, party, section, or
personality basically depending on the stand of each of
them respectively towards the American imperialism.
While contacting the
workers and all the other masses, or in
its struggle for
fulfilling the demands of the people, the SCP clarifies
honestly, frankly and straightforwardly that the radical
solution for their
problems lies in Socialism. And it states clearly
that it is the party of
the working class, meaning that it is also the
ally of the poor peasantry
and all labors, and that it struggles for the
establishment of the rule of the socialist society in
Syria.
The SCP was and will
remain the party of the defense of the
homeland and of the
people's interests, depending on the three bases of its
policy:
• To cooperate with all
the national and progressive forces, the Ba'ath Arab
Socialist Party in particular.
• To underline the Party's
independent character regarding the principled issues
and the major political questions.
• To defend the demands of
workers, peasants and all labors.
The
Socio-Economic Development
The role of the state in
the national economy in Syria has developed gradually.
In the 1950s, some foreign companies were nationalized
and the bourgeois interests and properties were affected
by the nationalizations of the 1960s. All of this
resulted in the establishment of a large State Sector in
the national economy, which was later expanded through
the state investments and depending on the state
enterprises that were started.
During the last three
decades Syria witnessed great achievements like
building the great Euphrates Dam with a friendly help by
the Soviet Union, the great expansion in the railways,
in oil and phosphates extraction, building several
factories and dams, reclaiming vast areas of land,
supplying electricity to almost every town and village
in Syria, and establishing the companies of the public
construction sector that played an important role in
constructing several major projects in the Syrian
economy. Owing to such measures, the State Sector grew
larger and began to play a significant role in the
national economy, while its contribution to the national
income increased.
The agrarian reform, the
different nationalization processes,
and the establishment of
major industrial and productive enterprises
were all progressive
socio-economic transformations that were supported by
the working class and the popular masses. Struggle
should continue to protect and develop these
achievements in order to contribute to the
solidification of the national economy, to the
enhancement of the production process, and to the
fulfillment of the popular demands.
During the last few years
the economic development faced
several obstacles that
negatively affected its evolution in general.
There were attempts,
however, to reform the economic situation, both
agriculturally and industrially. Yet, they did not have
any positive impact on the living standard of the
popular masses. The parasitic-nature, capitalist
relations of production are still developing. The
continuous pauperization of the popular masses and the
increasing wealth concentration in the hands of the
parasitic sections of the local bourgeoisie are good
indicators of this.
As diagnosed and correctly
analyzed by our 1980, 5th Party
Congress, the main causes
behind the economic difficulties are
still, as it is known, the
following three reasons:
1. The unequal exchange
with world capitalist market.
2. The plunder practiced
by the parasitic bourgeoisie and
bureaucratic bourgeoisie.
3. The defect in the
structural frame of the Syrian economy.
There are also many
secondary factors that play their role in over
complicating the situation. Included among others, the
following could be listed: rate of exchange policy;
overtaking the economic surplus of the productive
enterprises (Public Sector); the unjustified increase of
the mass of currency and its consequences on currency
inflation; the outdated and unfair tax laws; squander;
mismanagement; the great amount of administrative
expenditure of the government; ...etc.
The wide range of trading
with the capitalist West, with its
implications of unequal
exchange, represents a continued and an increased
external form of plundering our national economy.
Fighting against this
form, that attacks actually all developing countries, is
plausible and necessary under the current international
circumstances. In this
context, such a struggle against this form
requires first of all
striking its internal bases represented by the
parasitic bourgeoisie and
its main force: the compradore. This also
entails cooperating
integrally within the economic and political
common struggle of the
newly independent countries, in order to
create a new economic
world order. Prioritizing our country's
national interest in our
foreign economic relations is an important
factor for improving the
conditions of our exchange with the
outside world.
The struggle against the
parasitic bourgeoisie and bureaucratic
bourgeoisie takes many
shapes, including:
I. To expose all the
different, ramified, and accordingly the
changing ways of robbery
practiced by these two groups of bourgeoisie. Such an
exposure is a major national task that paves the way for
putting an end to that plunder that damages the national
economy and the interests of the popular masses.
II. To struggle for an
integrated wage policy based upon the
following:
A. Making the minimum
wages comformable to the actual minimum standard of
living.
B. Changing wages
according to price risings periodically.
C. Adopting a tax policy
that finances wage increases from high income people.
Any price rising turns
into a source of more profit for both the
parasitic bourgeoisie and
bureaucratic bourgeoisie at the expense of
the popular masses, and
into a source of more deterioration of the
living standard of the
popular masses. A fair wage policy.
therefore, that meets the
interests of the popular masses, would not
only put limits for
plunder, rather also it would open further
horizons for improving the
national production.
III. To work for promoting
all forms of national production:
state, private, and joint.
One of our Party's slogans is to defend the
national production, with
an emphasis on the necessity of such a struggle.
Today's experience proves
that the interests of all those, of
whatever sections and
classes, who take part in producing material
resources, are threatened
by the greed and the plunder of the parasitic
bourgeoisie and bureaucratic bourgeoisie. This fact
constitutes a background for the unity of all these
sections against their common enemy.
While leading a
self-defense struggle against the dangers of the
parasitic bourgeoisie, the
working class is working for unifying all
the forces that have
interest in such a struggle.
The parasitic bourgeoisie
is not concerned with the national interest at all,
rather it has a direct interest in sabotaging and even
in stopping the national
production in order to get the windows of profits more
widely opened.
Closing the windows of the
parasitic profit, that basically
accumulates at the expense
of the renewed resources in the fields of
material production and in
the various sectors- public, private, and
joint, would lay the
foundation for encouraging and developing the national
production. This is a national and a class task at the
same
time.
Undermining the positions
of the parasitic bourgeoisie and
bureaucratic bourgeoisie
makes it possible to remove the deformities in the
structure of the Syrian economy, particularly solving
the question of proportions between the productive and
non productive branches, or among the productive
branches themselves.
In conclusion, the three
main reasons for the deterioration of
the economic situation are
interrelated, inter-inherent, and inter-
dependent. The elimination
of any reason of the three would limit the effects of
the two others.
Reforming the economic
situation requires a thorough reformation of the State
Sector. Despite its suffered deformities, the State
Sector plays an important role in the country's economic
development, and it has been the major contributor in
accelerating the development of the productive forces in
a relatively short period of time. What is required is
to maintain this sector and to promote and develop its
role. That's why it is necessary to determine how it
should function later.
Our point regarding the
State Sector is not a banal question
whether it should exist or
not, as propagandized by many of its anti
forces. The question is
how it should be, and where it should move?
The form through which the
State Sector has developed, since
mid 1970s in particular,
has turned into a stimulus for the growth of
the capitalist and mainly
parasitic-character relations of production.
The exploitation of the
State Sector by the bureaucratic bourgeoisie
and parasitic bourgeoisie
was one factor of their growth, through it
and at its expense.
Accordingly, the State
Sector showed aspects of state capitalism more clearly.
The growth of the capitalist character of the State
Sector was determined by the process of distributing and
redistributing the national income against the interests
of the labors, all over the country. Distribution is the
main indicator of the State Sector's social nature; that
is the distribution of its produced material resources,
and the social classes benefiting from such a process.
One of the State Sector's
characteristics is its large dependence upon the fields
of extraction, especially the rapidly-depletive
extraction of oil and the relevant large linkage of the
process with the world capitalist market.
Syria was the first Arab
country to extract oil nationally and autonomously. Yet,
this reality has changed by signing several, nationally
and economically unjustified, concession and service
contracts with different foreign companies that
sometimes get about 50% of the value of the produced
oil. In other words, our national wealth is being
despoiled by the world monopolies. Further, such a form
of depleting this national resource endangers the future
of the country and hampers its future development.
Despite all of this, our
Party supports and defends the State
Sector, considering it a
significant step in the modem history of
Syria towards laying the
foundation for our economic independence.
The main backbone projects
of the State Sector, such as the
Euphrates Dam, railways,
and the many different industrial establishments, were
built with the help and support of the Soviet
Union.
The State Sector has
contributed to the consolidation of our
national independence
against the Israeli aggressions and threats
and against the
imperialist pressures, and to frustrating the
conspiracies of the Moslem Brothers. Upon the attempted
cross- country downbreaks of the production process, the
organs of the State Sector continued their non-stop
work. The Syrian working class played its national and
progressive role in realizing this achievement.
Defending the State Sector
is an imperative question dictated
by the national interest;
the SCP works for increasing the role of
this sector and for the
removal of its deformities.
The first requirement for
this is creating a broader range of
democratic freedoms for
the working class and its union movement, and for the
national and progressive political organizations.
The participation of the
working class, through its real representatives, in
supervising production, distribution and pricing
would allow get rid of
many deformities and of the growing influence of the
bureaucratic bourgeoisie and parasitic bourgeoisie in
particular.
Experience has shown that
the way through which the State Sector emerged away from
the real control of the working masses has paved the way
for the formation of a new bourgeoisie which inherited
the privileges of the traditional bourgeoisie without
inheriting its ownership of the means of production.
This is the bureaucratic bourgeoisie.
The various solutions
introduced-under the pretext of solving
the problems of the State
Sector like selling it off partially, or
hiring it out temporally
to the local or foreign capital will solve
none of its amassed
problems; they will further complicate and deteriorate
the situation of the national economy.
The long-run tasks for
reforming the State Sector should
depend on:
I. removing the
disproportion between the rates of accumulation and
consumption in the national economy.
II. giving investment
priorities for the productive sectors
more than the non
productive ones, which development should be
proportional with the development of the production
itself.
III. specifying the actual
proportions of the productive
Sectors themselves
(industry, agriculture, construction,
transportation...etc.)
IV. drawing a
comprehensive policy that denotes the types
of the material production
that should be developed. The headlines of such policy
could be:
A. to invest all
underground resources nationally.
B. to work for
manufacturing the natural raw materials locally.
C. to develop the
manufacturing industries that depend upon raw materials
available in the country.
D. to develop agriculture
in a way that satisfies the needs of consumption and the
future manufacturing.
The legislations and laws
governing the State Sector created
its unequal position
compared with the private and joint sectors.
The ideal development of
our national economy necessitates supporting the State
Sector and at least putting it on equal footings with
the private and joint sectors before the law and
legislation, on the basis of a comprehensive strategy.
This will give these sectors a natural course of
development instead of developing one at the expense of
the other, as largely it is now the case, through the
economically unjustified privileges and facilities
granted to the joint sector and sometimes to the private
one.
In order to perform its
role more effectively, the State Sector
needs on its side private
and joint sectors that actually work in the
field of national
production and never intrude upon it nor upon its
produced resources,
damaging the interests of both the state and the
people.
That is why the task of
blocking the windows of parasitic profits remains of
utmost importance before the honest patriotic forces, in
order to preserve and develop our national production.
Note worthy in the
economic Held that there are laws and decisions that
give privileges, exemptions and exceptions to certain
circles of the capitalist
private/foreign sector which are not enjoyed
neither by the Public nor
by any other sector of the national economy. Such
measures leave the doors open for increased parasitic
profits at the expense of the real production, and for
deteriorating the living standard of the majority of the
popular masses, an issue that negatively affects the
entire development of the national economy.
Therefore, the struggle for the reconsideration of the
laws and decisions that gave such privileges is an
increasingly urgent task before the patriotic and
progressive forces. Such a struggle must couple with
another serious struggle against the bureaucratic
bourgeoisie and parasitic bourgeoisie to put an end to
their plunder and to close the apertures of their
profits.
The animal and crop,
agricultural sector in Syria is one of the
vital branches of our
national economy and one of the most traditional ones.
Our Party has always paid great attention to the
question of agriculture and its workers. During the last
few decades, great developments took place in the Syrian
countryside.
The Law of the Agrarian
Relations was drafted, and the Law of Agrarian Reform
was issued and basically implemented. Land reclamation
and irrigation are increasing; chemicals and machines
are being introduced to agriculture. Basic services,
such as water supply, electricity, transportations,
education, health...etc., spread in various and
important parts of the countryside. After the agrarian
reform, the movement of cooperative service developed in
the rural areas. A number of governmental institutions
and agencies specialized in loaning, marketing, guidance
and other agricultural services were established. All of
this led to a relative improvement of the social
conditions of broad masses of the peasantry, and
enhanced their position in the country's socio-economic
life.
The fact that the
agricultural production relatively moved
significant steps during
the last two decades is noteworthy. The
levels of its development,
however, remained slow especially when
measured against
population increases. It should be noted also that
some efforts have been
exerted in the recent years for improving agriculture
and raising the incomes of those working in it. This is
revealed in the efforts to
reclaim land and to offer profitable prices
for several crops. There
are also serious efforts to enhance the agrarian plan
and have it issued at an early time and to provide
production requirements particularly the fertilizers and
the seeds of
the main crops. The other
requirements, nonetheless, are not receiving sufficient
attention.
Despite these positive
aspects, our Party believes that the
agrarian sector, which
employs about %25 of the work force of Syria, needs
greater attention in several fields. The development of
agriculture has great positive influences on the
national economy as
a whole and on its
structure as well, through developing the various
industries related to the
agricultural production, or through the enhancement of
the living standard of millions of those working in
agriculture. This will
help peasants keep to their lands, and thus
decreasing the immigration
from the countryside to the cities, that
causes ill effects to the
entire social and economic life all over
Syria, the urban life in
particular.
The agricultural question
has never been disconnected with or
apart from the entire
development of the national economy. That's why, the
influence of the parasitic bourgeoisie and bureaucratic
bourgeoisie has been playing a destructive role against
the structure of the agrarian sector and against the
development of agriculture in terms of production,
marketing, and pricing.
During the last few years
the Syrian countryside witnessed a
rapid development of the
capitalist relations of production that gathered
momentum after implementing the Agrarian Reform Law.
What happened is a new
class polarization in the countryside under the
domination of the capitalist relations of productions
heavily burdened with the remains of the feudal
relations besides the wide spread of the small commodity
production. Such developments created a mass group of
agricultural workers who earn their living mainly
through selling their labor power.
Like all the labors of
Syria, the toilers in the countryside suffer from the
plunder of the parasitic bourgeoisie, the agents and
market commissioners, and from the unequal exchange with
the world capitalist market. Such a development leads
objectively to the impoverishment of large sections of
peasantry, placing them with
the working class in terms
of their pattern of living.
On one hand, increasing
the agricultural production forms a basic and important
point for sufficiently providing the masses with food,
and on the other, for backing up Syria's national
withstanding against the imperialist pressures, that
most often use food stuff as a weapon.
The Syrian
Communist Party
Applying this Program
requires at first strengthening and widening the SCP:
the vanguard of the working class, the holder of
Marxism-Leninism banner, the struggler for eliminating
colonialism, Zionism, reaction, and retardation, and for
building Socialism and Communism.
Being the ideological
weapon of the working class, the Marxist-Leninist
ideology of the Party enables it to know the laws
governing the evolution of the society. That's why the
SCP with all its members and bodies, the leading ones in
particular, is entitled to further study, comprehend,
teach, and to introduce this theory to the masses, by
holding educationary programs, deepening the theoretical
research, linking theory to practice, and accordingly by
examining the actual reality in our country and the
characteristics and aspects of its development. It is
the duty of the communists to defend the purity of
Marxism-Leninism against the deviations attempted by the
imperialist, Zionist and bourgeois circles, and to fight
against right- and/or left-wing revisionism, and against
whatever forms and sources of opportunism and dogmatism.
The fact that the SCP is
the party of the working class that
upholds its theory entails
the communists to be very close to it,
working within its ranks,
and be present where our masses are, particularly in the
industrial centers and the large work assemblies.
The communists must know
the conditions and circumstances under which the working
class lives, and be able to answer its questions and to
adopt and defend its just demands after defining them.
Among other classes, the
working class is the most revolutionary. It holds the
greatest love for its homeland and is ready to make
sacrifices. Every new revolutionary labor gain would
promote the readiness of the working class to make
sacrifices for homeland's defense. After all, the task
of leading the society in building Socialism and
Communism is the responsibility of the working class.
That's why the Party's activity should be directed
mainly towards the working class and its basic allies,
the masses of poor peasants and the toiling popular
masses in general. Every new expansion of the Party
should lead to an increase in the membership of workers
and other labors.
It is the duty of the
Party as well to spread and deepen the thoughts of
Scientific Socialism; to consolidate its positions among
the masses, the youth and
women in particular; and to attract the best
representatives of the intelligentsia into its ranks.
The Party should embrace all those who believe in
Socialism, and help them study the Marxist-Leninist
theory and do away with the petit bourgeois trends,
leading to their adoption of the cause of the working
class, the cause of the self-denying struggle for
Socialism and Communism.
The Party's positions
should accurately harmonize between both the national
and international tasks. This is a question that should
be a focus of permanent concern in the work of the
Central Committee and the other bodies of the Party. As
the Party is struggling for developing the national
independence and social progress, for Socialism and the
Arab unity, it quite realizes its relevant duties being
one of the world communist movement factions that
contributes its own share in unifying the struggle of
the revolutionary forces. It quite knows its
international duty in defending Socialism, supporting
revolutionary movements in the world, and cooperating
with the communist parties.
The Party must
continuously improve its action, possess the
Marxist-Leninist art of strategy and tactics,
particularly in terms of defining the balance and
shiftings of class and social forces according to the
different stages, specify the direction and target of
its struggle, and master the policy of alliances that
should have class bases in the first place. Mastering
the alliance policy is an essential element in the
Leninist policy. It shows that it is not enough merely
to recognize who the allies of the working class are,
rather the party should know how to attract them into
alliancing.
Applying the Leninist
principles of party organization is a basic condition
for strengthening its unity and popularity, and for
promoting its success in solving its due tasks. Most
importantly, here, is to respect the principle of
Democratic Centralism, which is fulfilled through having
a single leading and guiding center, with the obedience
of the minority to the majority and the lower bodies to
the higher ones; applying the principle of election in
all the bodies of the Party, consolidating their action
and interrelations; democratizing the discussion of all
topics; applying the principle of collective action that
does not neglect rather emphasizes personal
responsibility in implementing the Party's decisions;
applying criticism and self criticism aiming at
maintaining and strengthening the Party; and through
following the conscious and iron discipline, meaning the
adherence to the Party's political and organizational
plan, to its Program and Statute, and to the decisions
of the concerned bodies, carrying them out honestly.
Defending the unity of the
Party is the duty of every communist loyal to his/her
Party and homeland's causes. This means defending the
principles of Marxism-Leninism and defending the
political, ideological and organizational unity of the
Party in a way that disannuls whatever form of blocs or
bands within it. This also means to avoid posing the
points and censures that may include disagreement
outside their concerned bodies.
These are the basic
Leninist principles of organization that the
Party's organizations and
leading bodies should attend to their application in all
the bodies of the Party, exclusively. Furthermore,
one of the essential
conditions for the Party's success is to select
and develop the ways and
forms of contacting and working with the masses, drawing
lessons from them, and mastering the Leninist art of
leadership.
Throughout its long line
of struggle, its sacrifices, and the accuracy of its
basic stances, the SCP has gained the confidence of
large circles of the
popular masses that have been feeding it continuously
with new strugglers despite the terrorist surges it has
witnessed, in a way that
made it a part and parcel of these masses.
Our Party views the future
with clear-sightedness, confidence and optimism. The SCP
trusts in the triumph of its struggle for national
liberation, popular
democracy. Socialism, Arab unity, and a just
peace in the world.
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