08.02.1996

For a reforged Communist Party of Great Britain

Minimal platform agreed by the Provisional Central Committee, CPGB and For a Permanent Party Polemic Committee (faction of the CPGB)

1. The central aim of all communists should be to reforge the Communist Party as the future, Marxist-Leninist party of a new type. All communist work must be subordinate to this fundamental task. An important element of this struggle will be the fight for future communist rapprochement.

2. A communist party based on Marxism-Leninism is guided by theories and principles that were first advanced by Marx and Engels and later by Lenin. The Communist Party is the highest form of class organisation of the proletariat. It endeavours, in the ultimate interests of all humanity, to serve the most fundamental interests of the working class. It does this by fulfilling the role of the theoretical, political and organisational vanguard of the proletariat.

3. Communists relate theory to practice. We are materialists: we hold that ideas are determined by social reality and not the other way round.

4. Communists defend their unity - nationally and internationally - with determination and vigour. Communist unity reflects the essential unity of the world revolutionary process and anticipates the international unity of the working class itself. We subordinate the revolutionary struggle in individual countries to the world revolution. The liberation of humanity can only be achieved in the higher, world phase of communism. This will be preceded by a lower, transitional phase: socialism.

5. The lower phase of communism - socialism - will only be achieved by working class revolution and the replacement of the dictatorship of the capitalist class, the bourgeoisie, with the dictatorship of the working class, the proletariat. As socialism advances in all spheres, the basis for communism will be laid. Communism will allow humans to develop to the fullest extent as social beings.

6. Communists are champions of the oppressed. Oppression is a direct result of class society and its eradication requires the ending of that society.

7. War and peace, pollution and the environment are ultimately class questions. No solution to the world’s problems can be found within capitalism. Its ceaseless drive for profits puts the world at risk. The future of humanity depends on the triumph of communism.

8. Open polemic is a prerequisite of communist political and organisational unity. Communist unity in a reforged communist party is vital to the struggle for unity of the working class.

9. Communist organisation combines democracy and centralism dialectically. This allows for the expression of views by both individuals and organised trends. The reforged Communist Party of the future will be based on democratic centralism, a universally applicable organisational and political principle of Marxist-Leninists.

10. During the process of communist rapprochement, we will initiate and participate in discussions around the question of revolutionary programme. This process must be inclusive and wide-ranging.