The Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party held its regular meeting on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th August 2018 in Baghdad.
The meeting started with a minute of silence in honour of the martyrs of the protest movement and the victims of terrorism and violence among our people, and of our comrades and friends who have passed away recently.
The meeting discussed detailed reports about the work and performance of the party's leading bodies, organisations and specialised committees. The party organisations and leadership have paid great attention during recent months to the parliamentary elections and to the political administration and mobilisation effort of the electoral campaign. They also interacted with the outbreak of the July popular uprising and the peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins, siding with the just and legitimate issues of citizens. The party called on its comrades and supporters to contribute actively to the protests, adopt their demands and defend them, stand with the demonstrators and condemn the repression that was used against them.
The party organisations have played a prominent role in strengthening the organisation of the party in Baghdad and other provinces, contributing to building broad links with the masses, and engaged in intellectual, political, social and class battles in defence of the interests of the poor, the disadvantaged and the toilers. This national effort has also been manifested in exposing the roots of terrorism, confronting it and abhorrent sectarianism, defending the issues of the homeland and its sovereignty, unifying the ranks of civil and democratic forces, and opening up to the national arena, in order to build a state based on the principle of citizenship, true democracy and social justice. Since 2003, the party has made a lot of sacrifices, including martyrs, wounded and injured, who will remain the pride of the party whose history is full of feats and glory.
In addition to these big successes and sacrifices of the party’s members, organisations, cadres and leadership, a number of organisational issues emerged that were considered by the meeting with a spirit of high responsibility and concern to consolidate what had been achieved with the will and enthusiasm of Communists. The meeting stressed the necessity for and importance of enhancing mobilisation, motivation and organisation, expanding the ranks of the party, developing the work of its organisations, strengthening their role and links with the masses and ridding them of flaws and shortcomings. The meeting adopted several resolutions and recommendations to improve the work of the party, to ensure the building of strong and cohesive organisations that are ready to defend the interests of the people and the homeland. It expressed its determination to develop internal democratic dialogue, and to strengthen the party's political and organisational unity, based on the foundations of democracy, freedom of opinions and their interaction, that is expressed in the unity of will and action.
The financial - administrative report was then considered and a number of related decisions were taken.
Based on the party policy set by the 10th National Congress (1-3 December 2016), the meeting of the Central Committee examined the political developments since its previous meeting (9 March 2018). It concluded that our country is witnessing major developments that pose great challenges. The state of impasse and deep social tension, lack of trust between the state institutions and the citizens, the rampant corruption, the widening class inequality and differentiation, the stark failure to manage the affairs of the country, the widespread proliferation of arms outside the framework of the state, the growing role of the "deep state", the external interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, the political messages from the recent parliamentary elections … all these and other issues are indicative of the fact that the continuation of the status quo, or attempting to reproduce the same poor style of state administration, can only lead to continued failure and more crises in a system based on quota power-sharing that is already in deep crisis. Therefore, change and reform have become an objective necessity that cannot be evaded and must be taken into account by the ruling blocs and those that won in the elections when moving towards forming the new government. Otherwise, the doors will remain open to all possibilities, including the worst. The new government will have to adopt a reform programme with time limits for implementation, and be a government of competent people, that is free of quota power-sharing and corruption.
Regarding the demonstrations and the protest movement, the meeting stressed that it is the duty of the Government and its agencies to work seriously to interact positively with the concerns of the people. It is useless to talk about perpetrators and saboteurs and others, as this does not change anything of the fact that there is a mass uprising that reflects a state of mounting suffering. It is also necessary to deal with the real demonstrators and not with those whom the authorities wish to meet with, and to refrain from all illegal practices. The Government and the judiciary must announce dropping all the charges against the demonstrators and release those who remain in detention, drop the humiliating “pledges” extracted by threats and coercion from detainees, including a halt to such practices in state departments. A decree must be issued by the government to regard the martyrs of the popular uprising as martyrs of the people, and deal fairly with their families, and to help the wounded to recover and return to their normal life.
The Iraqi Communist Party, which is already supporting the just and legitimate demands of the masses, stands in solidarity with the July popular uprising and is participating in it. The party strongly rejects and condemns any violent practice against the protesters, and calls on civil, democratic and patriotic forces to support the aspirations of the people and respond to their wishes. It stresses at the same time the importance of preserving the peaceful character of the uprising and formulating its slogans and demands properly.
A detailed communiqué on the meeting of the Central Committee will be issued soon.