The change we desire

The communist party arose as a force for profound social change. That change is more essential now to counter capitalism than ever before. Modern capitalism at the beginning of the 3rd millenium is a regime characterized by essential contradictions, absence of social justice, destruction of the world's ecology, and governance by the power of wealth. The arch representative of modern capitalism is American imperialism. Now, more than ever before in the past, the choice offered humanity is socialism or capitalism that becomes progressively more and more brutal.

The change we desire requires a party with a well defined platform and a profound obligation to its values. It must be a party that offers a totally new politics. Our new politics is the common interest rather than the politics of functionaries whose object is personal careers and advancement. The Communist party proffers communal obligation, communal responsibility, modesty, and self-criticism.

We have not always correctly understood the path to change. We must learn from past errors. During the 20th century there were days when also Communists strayed into error. From cases as these, too, we must learn. We must continue to analyze these instances. Communism has erred in the past. These errors must be analyzed and the lessons we learn from them must be brought to bear on our future conduct. But under no circumstances should past failures lead us to conclude that the endeavor to change is unnecessary, or that it should be replaced with instant politics, that is to say, with politics that pursue only the immediately attainable–now, at this moment. From our perspective, every political and social act that we introduce and are involved in is a stratum laid in the socialist revolution.

In this country, the Communists were the only ones, who proposed a true Jewish-Arab politics to replace the paths of separate Jewish and Arab political roads. As with our forefathers, our struggle against nationalism continues. We still regard the essential division as not between Jews and Arabs, but between those who have an interest in the exploitation of social classes and those who want to change such policy.

The communists play a major role in the construction of the political, cultural, and social life of the Arab population in Israel. Long exposure to the party led the Arab population to trust it. The party had the courage to speak the truth, even though unpopular. The party, which continued the struggle even during the most difficult periods even during times of despair, offered Arabs hope and possibility for change.

A historic goal of the party was to achieve a break through amongst the Jewish population. For many years our Jewish members were alone and swimming against the current. But in the past few years, there are increasing calls, even amongst the Jews, for peace, social equality, and environmental justice. Increasing numbers of people are demanding real social change and believe it is necessary. We must reach these people. We need these people to strengthen the power of the revolutionary move towards socialism.

We hold out our hands to all willing to join us even a part of the way, and propose a joint venture on the basis of a minimal platform. Such a program led to the establishment of The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) in 1977. Unfortunately, we have to admit that despite our efforts, we failed to form the Jewish-Arab left united front, so necessary in the Israeli arena. But we are unwilling to give up. We will do everything to realize a broad Arab-Jewish front having a promising platform that will enable these two peoples to escape from the present crisis, and to find the road to peace and equality.

The past years have been difficult. The daily political struggles in which we have found ourselves have obscured our long range goals. Pressing political matters have diverted us from intellectual analysis, ideological goals, and ideological education. This lapse has led to organizational weakness and to the emergence of various problems in the life of our party.

These difficulties notwithstanding, we don't intend to concede defeat. Instead, we intend to turn our 24th congress into an engine for change and to engage in a renewed building of the Communist Party as a party of true revolution: a party that unites courageous analysis with daily class, social, and political struggle; a party that unites true democratic dialogue with operational discipline that obligates each member; a party whose members are true partners; a party that has true collective leadership.

As ever, our road is not an easy one. But it is the right road. It is the road that proposes a new future. It is the road that proposes meaningful action for the common interest.

Everybody who agrees with the above principles should join us in our endeavors to reach our goals.