EL SALVADOR, December 28 — “We are all key to carrying out the revolutionary struggle. We are all developing as communists,” a comrade told everyone attending the International Communist Conference here.
The development of new communist leaders, women and men, was one of the specific plans for the conference. The tactical and political preparation of the conference was mainly in the hands of developing leaders, mostly workers in the maquilas (sweatshops) of El Salvador. And it worked very well.
“This conference represents for us an opportunity to strengthen the fight for communism worldwide,” said the woman worker, an ICWP leader, who gave the opening speech. “We must move from anger to action for the change we want. As the ICWP, we are organizing the working class to fight for communism. We fight for the change in our favor, for our class, that will happen, I am sure.
“We must contribute all our experience and knowledge possible in terms of the working class,” she continued. “So that after these days of living and working together (in person and on Zoom) we will leave here as better fighters with more and better tools to develop political organizational work for the ICWP. I am certain that our effort will be possible,” she concluded.
A worker comrade began his report on Party work in the maquilas by saying that “the main objective is to break the chains to achieve the change we need.” He described the process of building Party collectives.
“I know that many women in India are going through the same problems that we are experiencing here in El Salvador,” said a worker who was recently fired from the APS factory along with hundreds of others. She and her two daughters participated.
An important aspect of the conference was the attendance of young male and female workers. They were especially interested to hear about the importance of communist military work and how soldiers in armies all over the world come from the working class
The comrades from South Africa reported that as comrades and as individuals we are not immune to capitalist ideology. We are communists who are made, not born naturally, and individualism is the biggest challenge we face. They urged us to analyze the contradictions internal to ourselves and the Party.
A comrade from India showed a video about the fight against sexism, casteism, and fascism there. It discussed the growth of ICWP in India. The video is available here
A report from the USA focused on the importance of industrial workers and work among student, who receive the Red Flag.
Comrades from the Movement of Workers and Peasants (MTC) of Costa Rica participated with us for the first time. They detailed their struggles on behalf of the working class, which they promised to describe in letters to Red Flag.
Workshops discussed communist philosophy, specifically the concept of a dialectical contradiction as the unity and struggle of opposites. Communist philosophy teaches us to understand reality: everything that happens in the world. But the most important thing is how we transform that reality and reach the Communist system.
“The workers are a powerful force, but each one of us must overcome their own contradictions to continue in this fight. Talking about dialectics clarifies many things that sometimes we explain differently from the capitalist discourse. And dialectical materialism helps us to know that It’s not real,” said a young worker.
Red Flag: Revolutionary Communist Weapon
Some workshops read aloud the article from India, “The fight for communism unites us all.” Many women workers identified with the woman quoted in it.
Participants were asked how to use Red Flag better, how to make it more useful, and were urged to write for the newspaper.
One said, “I am a farmworker, and I would like to read in each edition of Red Flag what it will be like to live under Communism, for example, the subject of agriculture.”
Several letters came out of the conference and many more were promised.
This conference represented a great advance. More workers participated than had been expected. Newer comrades also led in translation and technical issues. It showed great communist leadership especially of women and youth.
“Although it means double effort for us women, what we are doing is for something better for our lives. I know that we are all going to achieve it together,” a worker concluded.
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