1-22-06, 8:54 am
The European Council is going to discuss a resolution that will be serving as a basis to condemn the so-called 'crimes of communism.' How do you evaluate this?
There is a draft resolution worked out by the political commission of the European Council with the interesting title 'Need for international condemnation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes'. If this paper would be adopted, it would mean nothing less than a Europe-wide criminalization of all communists, of the communist’s thoughts as well as of the entire history of the communist movement worldwide.
Some conservatives from Eastern and Western Europe would like to re-open a new 'holy alliance' against the spectre of Communism, as it was already described by Marx and Engels in the 'Manifesto of the Communist Party' in 1848. So it is absolutely nothing new, what came to the mind of those gentlemen, and we are sure that this new witch-hunt will be failing, as it was the case with all previous witch-hunts against the communists and their parties.
Why do you think this resolution might be so dangerous?
Some representatives from East European countries – who still like to present themselves as 'victims of Communism' – are trying to find an opportunity to halt the re-strengthening of the communist parties and their youth organisations in their respective countries, and they even would like to eliminate those parties from the political landscape. We must not forget that today, 16 years after re-establishing capitalism, in many countries of Eastern Europe the discontent with the existing situation is growing. A bigger part of the population of these countries understands that important social achievements – achieved by the socialist system – have been abolished from one day to the other, that a two-class-society has emerged in the area of education and health care, and that mainly workers and the rural population do not have any perspectives for a secure life. At the same time a new bourgeoisie is emerging and a small group of 'New rich' is usurping a big part of the previous social wealth. The difference between rich and poor people is growing faster, and there is a growing number of people in these countries, who do not want this development any more.
What is the aim of the authors of the resolution?
If the draft would be accepted by the plenary assembly, all the 46 member states of the European Council will be called on to establish national commissions to deal with the 'crimes of communism'. This would mean that in some East European countries the possibilities for activities and for public appearance of communists could be even more restricted than today. I am reminded of the fact that for example in Hungary, where national elections will be held in April, the public presentation of the 'Red Star' as well of 'Hammer and Sickle' is already forbidden by law. Representatives from Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary and Slovakia have proposed in the European Council to ban the use of these symbols in general.
Additionally, the communists should be forced to deal with themselves, to dress a 'penitential robe', to demonstrate 'repent' and to renounce their thoughts. This reminds me of the times of inquisition in mediaeval ages. And this concerns all communist parties, also in Western Europe, those who have never been in power in their countries.
What about comparing the communists with fascism?
This is an especially dark chapter of this so-called document. The authors took mainly the notorious 'Black Book on Communism' as a basis for their paper of charges against us. They have put a lot of lies into one pot, mixed them with many factoids and some few facts, and as a result of this they are now claiming that the pretended 'crimes' of communists were on a par with the criminal system of fascism. And from all that mess they are now drawing the conclusion that for the communists 'a new Nuremberg' is needed, as it was formulated by the Estonian Minister of Justice.
What they ignore is the fact that fascism – as it was in power in Germany or in Italy – was just an especially extreme form of the use of power by capitalism. They ignore that only the most important war criminals were charged and sentenced by the Nuremberg Tribunal. Many of those criminals were sentenced to relatively small penalties, and in many cases they came free years before the end of the sentence time, because they were indispensable as footholds of the system for the re-construction of capitalism in Western Germany.
Those gentlemen are also ignoring – with full intention – that the parties of the communists were the first to be outlawed under the rule of the fascist regime, that communists were the first to be imprisoned and murdered in fascist jails and concentration camps. And with the same intention they are trying to keep quiet about the fact that it have been the communists who resisted the most decisively against fascism and who organised underground groups and armed resistance.
What are your experiences in Luxembourg?
In our country we have been facing several attempts to fight and to outlaw the Communist Party. After 1930 they were conducted by the Luxembourg government and under the strong influence of the catholic clergy. The communists, who stood in the forefront of the workers’ movement since 1921, were attacked and the first to be released from their jobs; the communists of Italian nationality were expelled from Luxemburg. The repression against KPL was even growing, when in the thirties the party won the first mandates in communities and for the first time a mandate in the national parliament – of which the party was simply deprived. In 1937 the KPL was faced a threat to be banned with the help of a so called 'Law of order.' But this attempt was rejected by the Luxemburg people in a referendum on June 6, 1937 with 50.67 per cent.
When the German fascists in 1940 outlawed all political parties in Luxemburg, the KPL was the only political force that did not dissolve but continued the resistance against the German occupants in the underground. The communists had to pay a high price for their role in the 'résistance.' Leaders and militants of the party were arrested by the German Nazis and murdered in fascist prisons.
What can we do against this attack from the European Council?
First of all we have to unmask it in public in its real nature: a new edition of McCarthyism, as an attempt to limit the democratic right in general. And we have to mobilize as many people as possible people against it, in all member states of the European Council. In Luxembourg, the KPL has sent a petition to personalities of the public life, and we have received an unexpectedly good reaction.
If the communists will be knocked off, who not only in the past fought against fascism and suppression, but also today are standing in the first line against the dismantling of social and democratic rights – then it will be much easier for the capital to enforce its own interests.
--Ali Ruckert is president of the Communist Party of Luxemburg (KPL).
