Introduction
From the moment man starts exploiting man, all history is the history of class struggles. The class that outweighs the other in this struggle determines the direction of history.
Humanity can defeat capitalism only by the leadership of the working class and push history forward. Capitalism, which inherently contains all the dynamics that are preparing its own end, will be buried in its grave by the proletariat, the gravedigger capitalism itself had created. The victory of the working class will ultimately abolish all classes including itself and create a world free of class and exploitation, starting the history of humanity in the true sense of the word.
At the start of 20th century, history had taken a huge step forward with the Great October Revolution, by which the working class came to power. At the end of the century, however, we witnessed a major step backwards into darkness as real socialism collapsed. A reactionary, bourgeois-dominated period marked the start of the new century.
However, this period of darkness is temporary, because the struggle between classes is persisting unceasingly. Capitalism, because of its own nature, cannot free itself from crises and continues to create conditions, preparing its own end.
Today, the world capitalist system is scuffling with a deep-rooted crisis. This crisis does not manifest itself with the economic dimension that has become deeper in the first decade of the century. It is a deep crisis that has political, ideological and military dimensions. On the one hand, capitalism creates political and ideological opportunities for the working class struggle and the material basis of the ultimate overthrow of the rule of bourgeoisie. At the same time, the possibility that all of humanity’s historical gains, and even human life will be destroyed by the capitalist class is gaining strength.
The crisis will either end up with the strengthening of world capitalism, the plunge of history into darkness and barbaric extermination, or the working class will rise up again, heading for socialism and dealing capitalism a death blow.
There is no intermediary way in between these alternatives. Today, socialism is the only real and concrete option for a better life, a better country, a better world for all humanity. Any proposition confined to the system of private property cannot break away from capitalism’s destructive cycle and cannot push humanity forward. This makes socialism not only a choice, but also a must.
The Communist Party of Turkey is cognizant of this necessity and is struggling for the strengthening of socialism as a real and actual alternative. The period of socialist revolutions that had opened up at the start of 20th century has not actually ended because the conditions and conflicts that made those revolutions necessary are still present.
The Communist Party of Turkey is undertaking the task of organizing the working class of Turkey to play its historical role in the struggle for socialist revolution and in leading the revolution.
The period of reaction will be overcome
Emerging victorious at the end of Second World War, socialism had a huge prestige and impact in the years following the war. The Soviet government, having created an industrial giant by a rationally- planned economy out of a backward peasant society, had proven its worth by leading humanity’s fight to crush fascism all over the world.
The government of workers was not only providing a life of equality and freedom to the people living in the Soviet land but it was also becoming a beacon of hope for everyone around the world who were struggling for liberation from poverty, exploitation and inequality. A society that provided for fundamental needs such as health, education, transportation and housing for all, that made a breakthrough in arts, science and sports, that guaranteed equal rights for women to engage in the social and economic life of the society without discrimination, where children enjoyed society’s resources equally and at the greatest extent, was not a dream but reality. Following the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the workers were turning a dream into reality.
This period is also a period of capitalist expansion and growth. The Cold War marked this period as a competition between the two systems, the world capitalism, which continued to grow until the economic crisis of 1970, and the prestigious and victorious socialism. Initially, the Cold War was not able to contain the advance of socialism. Socialism was adopted across more than one third of the world, was able to keep a tight rein on the imperialist system. Thanks to the power of socialism, working classes in non-socialist countries were able to move forward and achieve gains over imperialism, which was not able to move freely in political and military arena. The social-state policies put into effect in the advanced capitalist countries, mass union organizations and strong leftist movements are among the outcomes of this period.
Moreover, the balance of forces, the conditions under which socialism exists, brought an end to colonialism in many geographies of the world. The period gave rise to national liberation movements, and the angle between the struggle for independence and that for socialism started to narrow down.
Entering the crisis in a conjuncture of socialist advances and capitalist retreat, the only way out for the capitalist class, which entered a huge crisis in 1970s, was to increase its aggression. At the end of 1970s, bourgeoisie initiated a full-blown attack everywhere and in every field imaginable. The social state was liquidated, and all the rights the working class had gained earlier in capitalist countries were usurped. Public services such as education and health became targets of capitalist plunder, public enterprises were handed over to the bourgeoisie through privatizations. Real wages were cut. Financial mechanisms fettered workers to the system by means of debt.
The ideological and political assaults were also multi-dimensional. The attacks targeted all socialist values, in fact all values of humanity. Certain left tendencies under the influence of liberalism also participated in the assault. Concepts such as human rights, democracy and even freedom were emptied of their class content and used as main elements in this ideological assault. The marketization of arts and sports, the commodification of information, deliberate interventions to corrupt the daily lives of people and the popularization of consumerism were also parts of this assault. The environment, historical and cultural values were also targeted by these attacks. The world and humanity witnessed a grand devastation. People were stranded in ignorance and in corruption.
In late capitalist countries like Turkey, economical, ideological and political assaults were coupled with direct physical interventions. Leftist and progressive forces in these countries were subjected to unimaginable violence at the hands of military coups planned or supported by imperialism and subsequent fascist dictatorships. Working class movements were suppressed and withheld by force.
This period also witnessed the reactionary religious movements, which had been deployed systematically during the Cold War, and these were further supported in many countries as a weapon against socialism.
The international workers movement, progressive and revolutionary forces, including the CPSU, could not display the necessary ideological and political creativity and enthusiasm to withstand the attack. Without a doubt, there were voids in various fields in real socialism, from the active participation of masses to politics to the creation of the “new man”. But none of these deserved to maintain a position of defence or retreat. When this retreat was coupled with major mistakes, inadequacies and betrayals, the socialist system collapsed by the end of 80s.
There was almost no force left to stop imperialism from invading every field vacated by socialism. Claiming the end of history, the capitalist system embarked on a mission to remove all remnants of socialism and to erase socialism itself from history.
Everything related to socialism or reminiscent of socialism was rejected. In the post-socialist world, imperialism became even more aggressive. It expanded under the name of “globalization” which restructured the way which backward countries were attached into the system and integrated those that used to move in a relatively independent area. While a minority of collaborators was rewarded immensely, large masses were left in poverty. Imperialism did not refrain from employing use of force and wars, dropping bombs and sending troops to many countries. Concepts such as democracy and freedom were used to legitimize violence and this was a marker of the ideological defeat of the world’s left.
Millions, who believed that there was no way out of poverty in their own country, were forced to emigrate to richer countries to work under conditions reminiscent of slavery. International capital did not provide any alternative to millions of workers other than being exploited in the countries as part of cheap labour force or to abandon their home country. In its pursuit for more gains, capitalism did not hesitate to integrate pre-capitalist relations into the system and to force backward conditions of life on humanity.
With the end of real socialism, the United States of America (the USA), leading the imperialist system after World War II, undauntedly and violently enforced its order designed to sustain its imperialist lead, without refraining from using terror, violence, massive murders and destructions, in Middle East and beyond. The lie, that after the collapse of the Soviet Union the possibility of hot war was avoided, revealed itself in a very short time. Since the collapse of socialism, there has almost been not a single day without war, without people being killed in an armed conflict. With its unmatched military force, it was not difficult for the USA to convince other advanced capitalist countries to engage in its new world order.
Also within the same framework, the underdeveloped countries and the countries, which had acted within the sphere predicating upon the balance of the two competing systems, under the conditions in which socialism existed, were integrated into this new order. As it was claimed that nation-state structures had ultimately come to an end, the elbow room of the national powers was restricted and the chain of dependency was strengthened.
In the ideological front of all this political and military maneuvers, however, either the rightist or the leftist versions of liberalism was in the leading role. “Leftist” liberalism successfully fulfilled its task of justifying imperialism in the eyes of social groups addressed by the working class and the left.
The process would not of course proceed in such a smooth way and the wheel of history would not always rotate backwards.
The international capitalist system, despite all the precautions, which were taken to get rid of its crisis and successes that it had accomplished, could not permanently avoid its structural crisis and the problems continued to pile on top of each other. The USA and its allies desired to fill the voids created after the abolishment of the socialist system by strengthening their own hegemony. Yet they were faced with resistances arising from different sources in a variety of countries and regions, which they were unable to overcome.
The Russian Federation, which underwent a restoration process after the counter-revolution, became a part of the imperialist competition and one of the dynamics of the crisis in its own right, despite its economical weaknesses, based on its large military, political and ideological opportunities and the historical heritage it is settled upon. When the rise of Russia within the imperialist system was accompanied by the advancement of the People’s Republic of China, supporting its big economical power with political and military moves, the crisis of imperialism deepened multidimensionally. The acts of both countries as a disruptive element in the World capitalist system and the political and economic depression in the imperialist centers have influenced each other, increasing the severity of the crisis. During the same period, the outcome of the presidential elections in the predominant imperialist country, the USA, has drawn the crisis into an unforeseen level right at the heart of it. The imperialist centers of Europe were delivered with heavy blows as a result of the European Union receiving great wounds.
As the system approached a point of stagnation, the failure of imperialist plans in different areas has shown humanity the limits of imperialism. It became impossible to hide the crisis and impasse of capitalism from the eyes of masses.
Under the conditions of crisis, imperialism tries to do what it can do best and intensifies the attack against the working class worldwide. Capitalism will impose the burden of the crisis, which was created by its own internal dynamics, on toiling masses, tend to increase the rate of exploitation and continue to destroy the productive forces.
In order to solve market and resource problems stimulated by the crisis, the fight for domination will intensify. The advanced capitalist countries at the core of the system, including Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China, will transform their inner competition into devastating regional armed conflicts. As contradictions intensify, the material conditions of larger battles will also be consolidated.
As capitalism experiences a worldwide crisis, the countries that are at the lower levels of the hierarchy are influenced to a greater degree from this struggle under the conditions defined by imperialism. The workers of such countries are exposed to a greater degree of destruction.
The increasing rate of competition within imperialism, the sharpening conflicts and the rising possibility of hot conflicts are providing the appropriate conditions for the strengthening of political and ideological counter-revolutionary movements. Bourgeoisie is making a special effort to pave the way for such movements. Religious reactionaries, nationalism of all kinds, militarism and fascism are on the rise, while the regimes are becoming more authoritarian and oppressive.
Under such conditions of crises, the class struggle continues all over the world and the left holds onto some fronts and sometimes achieves new gains, albeit not in a desired scale such as Cuba keeping the flag of socialism high. The legacy of resistance against imperialism and all reactionary ideologies that capitalism generated revived again in many countries.
The crisis of capitalism on the whole is making dents in the zone of influence of bourgeoisie in the ideological field, imperialism is no longer able to advertise liberal arguments and the rising reactionary ideologies cannot contain the people of the World in general.
As capitalism can no longer provide a dream of a future to humanity, as it cannot give hope to large masses who deal with poverty, hunger and war, the lies used and used again by the bourgeoisie for decades are rolled down into the rubbish bin of history. Long time has passed since it was revealed that tales of “globalization” and “integration” meant that imperialism linking the other countries and nations to the system. What’s more, it is becoming more and more apparent that capitalism is in relation with reactionaries, fascism, militarism and authoritarian oppressive regimes. As the ideological strongholds of the capitalist class collapsed one after the other, the failure of capitalism to create a new, systematic, comprehensive and convincing alternative produced a great gap in its hegemony.
Under those conditions, it is inevitable that the large fractions of society who are subjected to exploitation will embark on quests outside the system.
The only single alternative that can address these quests is socialism. Socialism is the only ideological current to offer humanity hope for the future, a new order, whereby humankind will get rid of such barbarity, as it had done at the turn of the previous century.
In this regard, socialism never became out of date or lost its viability; it remained fresh and today, it captured its potential of being a real way out for the masses under the circumstances where international capitalism falls into crisis in every field.
Experience has shown that what communists said about this order and about getting rid of it were totally right.
The twentieth century was also not lived in vain. Humanity in general, and the working class in specific, is equipped with lessons of the twentieth century. It has been perceived that capitalism, even at its best, brings barbarity. Lessons have been deduced from the true experiences of socialism and the historical fight of the international working class movement to create more advanced examples.
The deep crisis that the world capitalist system is in provides immense opportunities to the working class in all parts of the World without any exception. We will leave behind this reactionary period in humanity only by making use of these opportunities.
Now, it is time to recall communism once again to its deserved place among the working and labouring masses as a project of emancipation.
This will be the product of the communist parties’ struggles in all countries.
The Communist Party of Turkey has to undertake such a duty in our country.
Socialist revolution is actual in Turkey
The quest for the Westernization and progress within the Ottoman Empire, which had entered a delayed capitalist transformation process in the nineteenth century, was brought to an end after it substantially faced the threat of being colonized in the wake of World War I. In order to pursue its Westernization and progress plan, the colonization threat had to be abolished. This colonization project was fought off with the Independence War against imperialism and it was achieved with the help of the revolutionary power of the first socialist country within a conjuncture determined by the 1917 Great October Revolution. This rendered the greatest breakthrough of the Turkish bourgeois revolution, that is, the construction of the Turkish Republic, possible. Yet the presence of the Republic of Turkey, which was realized under very special conditions, has always been controversial for imperialism. This tense relationship with imperialist centers has marked the history of the Republic of 1923.
The Republic’s history is the product of historical reflexes of the constituent class in Turkey. The young Turkish bourgeoisie, who entrenched its power with this leap forward, abstained from organizing secularism as a social movement for enlightenment and deeply feared the progressive movements that might lead the way to social enlightenment. In conformity with this, the Turkish dominant class who wavered to eliminate religious reactionism would not hesitate, when the time would come, to use religious reactionism against the surging leftist and revolutionary movements, in conformity with imperialism’s orientation across the world.
At the advent of the Republic, Turkish capitalism revealed its oppressiveness without hesitation towards the progressive movements and did not hesitate to consolidate its authoritative tendencies.
While a capitalist transformation was under way in Turkey, the Turkish capitalist class overlooked Kurdish feudalism and preferred to compromise with the Kurdish dominant class. The capitalist system followed a discriminatory attitude towards the Kurdish poor and labour, entirely denying the Kurdish entity while favouring the class interests of the Kurdish dominant classes. It felt free in usurping the most basic human rights of the Kurds, except this little minority. As a result of its policy towards the Kurdish population, the capitalist class divided the working class of Turkey. The capitalist class brought the country to the edge of a civil war by stirring up nationalism to set Turkish and Kurdish labour at odds.
The forced displacement of the Armenians and the Greeks and the tragedy of the process of becoming a nation are the inseparable parts of the capitalist transformation in Turkey. This process, which encompassed the transfer of capital from the non-Muslim bourgeoisie to the new Turkish bourgeoisie, is a concrete example of how capitalism antagonizes peoples against each other.
The Republic, after acceding to the position of being an outpost of the anti-communist front, constituted against the Soviet Union during the Cold War and thus, by defining its function in the division of labour within the international capitalist system, in fact accelerated the process, which would bring in its own destruction.
By the dissolution of socialism, the Republic would be re-evaluated by the imperialist-capitalist system and the bourgeoisie of Turkey, and after this evaluation, the Republic would be demanded to completely submit to imperialism, to eliminate all the obstacles which had hindered the subjugation of the economic system to the dynamics of capitalist market and to permanently imbed religious reactionism in the political and social life.
This radical transformation meant the end of the 1923 Republic. By taking over the role in the division of labour within the international capitalist system, the Republic had approved not only a role but also an economic, social and political process, which would culminate in its own abolishment. This process led to the destruction of the 1923 Republic. The only power that could resist to this process, the left, was intimidated and suppressed, first in March 12th but then essentially in military coup of September 12th. While all the progressive gains of the Republic of Turkey were eliminated, the left, which was the only consistent power to preserve those gains, came under attack. The Republic, in a sense, was doomed to extinction by mutilating the left.
Turkey dropped even the pretense of adhering to the principles of independence and secularism. During the rule of the Justice and Development Party, which was founded to deal the fatal blows of the counter-revolution, the 1923 Republic irreversibly came to an end. After this point, any movement, which acts according to the framework of 1923, will have no chance of success in Turkey. Neither does the perception of secularism of the past correspond to the realities of Turkey, nor is it possible to construct an independent country through bygone principles.
The solution of the economic, social, political problems of Turkey can only be achieved by socialism. Concretely speaking, the prerequisite for establishing secularism and implementing it as an enlightenment process, securing economic, political, military and cultural independency, providing equal rights to Kurdish labour, emancipating women, creating a political structure ensuring the participation of and control by the working class is socialism.
In this sense, neither the fight for enlightenment nor the struggle against imperialism can depend upon strategies, which presuppose the continuation of the system; they cannot be placed in a reformist context grounded on compromise and collaboration between classes. The working class is the only class that will carry on both of these struggles.
Under the conditions determined by the end of the First Republic of 1923, the working class in Turkey must move on with the goal of constructing a new socialist republic and to put up a struggle of enlightenment, patriotism and anti-imperialism accordingly.
The accumulated problems of Turkey can only be solved by a republic that would be founded after the socialist revolution prevails. There is no other way to improve the living conditions of the poor masses in Turkey, to supply their basic needs including education, health and shelter under humane conditions and in an equal way, other than a socialist order in which the means of production are owned by the working class. The Turkish and Kurdish labour, as equal founding actors of the new republic, will develop a common will in their struggle for this republic and the preconditions of this fraternal unity will take shape again in this struggle.
It is impossible for the bourgeoisie in this region to come to terms with secularism. Therefore, the struggle for enlightenment without opposing the bourgeoisie is impossible. The socialist republic in Turkey will arise on the grounds of enlightenment. The struggle for enlightenment and secularism will progress until religious reactionism, which succeeded in penetrating into every sphere of political and social life in Turkey and eventually declared its victory during the Justice and Development Party rule, will be eliminated from every corner of life where it infiltrated. The struggle for secularism will help deepen the process of socialist revolution in Turkey and the fight for enlightenment will directly empower the struggle for revolution in Turkey.
Socialist revolution is actual in Turkey.
That capitalism is advanced enough to determine all social relations and structures, that all the problems experienced have a relation with capitalism and the material presence of Turkey’s working class form the objective bases of the socialist revolution in Turkey. Turkey’s revolution will have a socialist character. As the vanguard force of this revolution, the working class of Turkey constitutes a unity formed up of workers from different national and ethnic backgrounds and when the working class is in the process of organizing, this unity should be taken into account.
Socialism will be triumphant by means of party struggle
The working class of Turkey, not to speak of some partial surges, constitutively came to the fore during the 1960’s, became a non-negligible force in the class struggle by that date and proved itself as an influential social actor. During the period when the unions and political organizations also expanded, labour occasionally turned en masse to the left. Patriotism, enlightenment and revolutionary ideas took root among the intellectuals and students at the same period.
The Turkish capitalism severely attacked the left in particular and progressive ideas in general at the hands of the March 12th and September 12th military interventions. The capitalist class intended to exterminate the left in its entirety by using physical and ideological assaults.
True, the bourgeoisie inflicted great ideological and physical damages to the left; nevertheless, it could not eliminate the communist movement. The most explicit proof that the capitalist class failed in exterminating the left is the fact that the party tradition, which is today embodied in the Communist Party of Turkey still endures. Furthermore, the current system’s deadlock despite the Justice and Development Party’s success in terms of realizing the interests of the capitalist class, the repudiation of the new regime by the large masses and their ongoing quest, the new opportunities for the left to rise once again as an alternative; all reveal the failure of the bourgeoisie.
Moreover, the impasse of the politics of the establishment in Turkey cannot be considered independently from the worldwide deep-rooted crisis of imperialism. Imperialism is an internal phenomenon defining the character of Turkey’s capitalism due to its fully anti-communist political structure since the Cold War and due to the long-term deep relations. This phenomenon reproduced itself as the claims regarding the region with an imperial vision spread under the appropriate conditions during the AKP government. AKP did not refrain from committing many crimes and shedding blood both the inside and outside of the country, while it was trying to upgrade itself as a partner of imperialist centers from being an insignificant and not-so-bold member of imperialism. The crisis that imperialism suffers in a multidimensional way has resulted in ending the previous mode of relations of Turkey with imperialism. The period, which was marked by the parallelism between the program of AKP as an Islamist, market-oriented and collaborationist party and the needs of the USA in the region, is closed. The process, which had started with the sharp economical, political and ideological entry of AKP into the former Ottoman regions in line with its program and continued as an offer of new opportunities in the Islamic region for the USA, which was by then experiencing a deadlock there, has ended by the collapse of AKP’s politics in the region. As the adventures of Turkey’s capitalism hits the objective limits of Turkey’s bourgeoisie and its political structure the crisis of the system will deepen and the cracks in the establishment will pave the way for revolutionary dynamics.
The deep crisis in the Middle East was inevitably going to lead to large mobilizations of people. The structure of the working class in Turkey has altered following influx of the workers that had to immigrate to Turkey due to the conditions created by the crisis and war. However, what has not changed at all is the need for the workers from different national backgrounds to fight together against their common enemy, the bourgeoisie.
Also during this reactionary period, the Turkish capitalism has not been able to wipe out the legacy of enlightenment and progressive ideas in our country, despite all its efforts. The surge of millions in the June Resistance is a sign showing that the masses retained their ability to mobilize, that capitalism cannot encompass humanity its own order and the legacy of enlightenment and progressive ideas are still socially sound.
The leftist struggles in Turkey have a long history. This is our own history, with its successes and failures, triumphs and defeats. Founded on September 10th in 1920, the Communist Party of Turkey embraces the whole legacy of the Marxist and revolutionary movements and the working class struggles in Turkey, a history that can be traced back to the turn of the twentieth century.
The reactionary and dark era, which covers the dissolution of the actually existing socialism in the Soviet Union and other countries, delivered a blow to the left, labour and intellectuals worldwide and in Turkey. Despite this blow, the people’s quest for organization could not be eliminated, the aspiration of hope could not be destroyed, and the will to fight could not be wholly eradicated. However, the damage inflicted upon the left cannot be underestimated. To be more precise, the worldwide ideological assault of imperialism, which also overlapped with the darkness of the post-September 12th coup d’état in Turkey, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the general retreat of the Marxist-Leninist tradition had a deep impact upon the left in Turkey. The reconstruction process of the Communist Party of Turkey is a vibrant response to this dark era.
The political tradition that today continues with the name Communist Party of Turkey – TKP – has rebuilt itself based on a ceaseless accumulation of organizational experience and on the political will that revealed itself in 1990s as the Party for Socialist Turkey and the Party for Socialist Power. The reconstruction of the party starting with reclaiming the name Communist Party of Turkey – TKP in 2001 has transformed into a phase of maturity for the party and the attempts to reach the masses always persisted.
During the period in which the communist movement made efforts to penetrate into the society, Turkey was under a heavy reactionary assault. Imperialism attempted to carry out overt military invasions in the region, nearly all public enterprises were privatized, the state together with all its powers was handed over to be directly controlled by the capitalists, civil rights were replaced by the rights of religious sects, independence and secularism were abandoned, the 1923 Republic was irreversibly obliterated, The construction of a new and reactionary regime was initiated, dragging our country to the brink of civil war. The organization level of labour classes shrunk quantitatively, the class perspective in the field of unions nearly disappeared.
The severe reactionary assault revealed the liberal and nationalist tendencies in the left. The liberal and nationalist deviations aimed to weaken the resistance of the left against the big reactionary assault in Turkey, supported by imperialism.
The recent past of our party is the resistance of the Marxist cadres, vanguard workers, honourable intellectuals and revolutionary youth, in these very circumstances, against the reactionary assault supported by imperialism. This history is the reorganization process of a communist party under all circumstances.
There is a vanguard party in Turkey that will carry the socialist revolution to victory.
The Communist Party of Turkey is the leading, conscious and organized power of the working class.
The Communist Party of Turkey, as an active and recognized component of the international working class movement, effectively struggles to clean the communist ranks from class collaboration.
The present task is to construct a working class movement and to forge deeper ties with the society.
The crisis of the international capitalist system in the world and of the Turkish capitalism in our country pushes large masses to a look for an alternative beyond the capitalist order. The bourgeoisie is unable to construct a new ideological and political framework to convince the masses, to promise a future to the people, to offer hope and liberation.
Under these circumstances, it is objectively much more feasible in Turkey, compared to the recent past, for mass movements to appear, for a class movement to take form on the same grounds with an urban, enlightened, militant character.
The Communist Party of Turkey, approaches objective opportunities in our country from a revolutionary perspective, with the aim of reaching out to masses.
Either the Communist Party of Turkey will organize this historical assault and socialism as a real alternative and will establish a social support base or the reactionary forces supported by imperialism will imprison our country in profound darkness.
With this perspective and consciousness, the Communist Party of Turkey calls on workers, progressive intellectuals, patriots, all who stand for secularism and enlightenment, to the struggle for equality and freedom.
Socialism is the only option for the emancipation of humanity. Socialism is imperative for the liberation of humanity, in Turkey and in the world.
The Communist Party of Turkey, calls all labouring people and youth of our country, independent of their native languages, their sexual identity or sexual orientation, to mobilize according to this imperative, to defy barbarism, to join the organized struggle for our emancipation, to join our party which is the wisdom, conscience and hope of Turkey.
Socialism will be prevailed in Turkey through party struggle.
SOCIALISM PROGRAM
I. FUNDAMENTAL DEFINITIONS AND OBJECTIVE
A. The Characteristics and Credentials of the Communist Party
1. The Communist Party is the instrument of political struggle of the working class, which is the vanguard of the socialist revolution.
2. The Communist Party approaches other social classes in accordance with the historical perspective and interests of the working class.
3. The Communist Party is the political party of communists, who consider the historical perspective and interests of the working class as the determining factor of the political struggle, independent of their class origins.
4. Our working class is a whole comprised of Turkish, Kurdish and other national and ethnic constituents. The Communist Party conceives this integrity as fundamental and represents political and organizational unity of the working class against all types of discrimination.
5. While the Communist Party takes Marxism-Leninism, which has a universal character, as a guiding principle for all its work, it acts with the consciousness that it is imperative to reproduce this doctrine in the context of Turkey as well as in the context of all countries.
6. The fundamental aim of the Communist Party is to struggle for socialist power in Turkey and construct socialism. The Communist Party at the same time constitutes part of the world communist movement.
7. The Communist Party blends the historical accumulation of international revolutionary movement with the specific dynamics of the Turkish territory. It fights against categorical, dogmatic and nationalistic approaches, which ignore this synthesis in the struggle for socialism.
B. The Objective of the Communist Party
1. The objective of the Communist Party is socialist revolution and construction of socialism.
2. a) The process of construction of socialism begins with a political revolution. The vanguard of this revolution, both politically and ideologically, is the working class.
b) Socialist power, which is the departure point for the construction of socialism, will be the result of this political revolution.
c) Socialist power will be the outcome of the mass struggles of the working class and other social forces under the political influence of the working class.
d) The final aim of socialist power is the formation of a world without classes and exploitation together with other socialist communities.
3. The program of the Communist Party is the program of the revolutionary period that is to be accomplished under the pioneering role of the working class. All the political initiatives of the party during the struggles under capitalism point to the direction of socialist power perspective, which is a precondition for this program to be put in practice. Politicizing and educating the working class in an organized struggle and transforming it into a power centre are the main tasks of this period. The Communist Party supports and organizes the struggles of the working class and labourers for their economic, social rights and demands by linking it with the struggle for socialist power and demonstrating that these demands can either be met only partially or cannot be met at all under the condition of capitalism.
Thus, before the socialist revolution, the Communist Party
i. attempts to fight against all kinds of ideological and political attacks of the bourgeoisie;
ii. resists the missions designated or to be designated to Turkey under the world capitalist system;
iii. strives for the development of patriotism among working classes against the economic, political and cultural assaults of imperialism;
iv. pioneers the strengthening of proletarian enlightenment in order to push back religious reactionism politically and ideologically;
v. propagandizes for fraternity of peoples in order to prevent nationalistic and fascist ideologies from getting a foothold among the working class;
vi. observes the interests of international revolutionary dynamics;
vii. endeavours for the education of the working class with an internationalist consciousness;
viii. leads the way to increase social awareness against all contradictions and problems produced by capitalist exploitation and to channelize the reactions to these problems to the struggle for socialism;
ix. develops ideological and political means to do away with capitalism in all dimensions;
x. leads the way to ensure concordance, synergy and coordination of forces on the side of socialism;
xi. fights against all kinds of national repression and strives to embed this struggle on a class basis and to create cooperation of national and class dynamics;
xii. mobilizes its potential to demolish all legal barriers ahead of the struggle for socialism, to render all anti-democratic practices dysfunctional and inactivate all kinds of regulations restricting the organization of labour.
I. THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALIST POWER
A. Political Structure
1. Power is organized as a socialist democracy.
2. a) Socialist democracy is possible through diffusion of power into all tissues of social life, primarily into the production process. Working class is in power through its social organizations in socialist democracy. Governing bodies reaches out to higher levels starting from factories, workshops, offices, farms, schools and barracks.
b) The Communist Party encourages and assures formation of local governing bodies, which enables participation of all sectors of the society to administration and assures the competency of these bodies.
3. a) All organizations, which form their administrative levels in a bottom-up approach, determine their administrations through free elections. Electorates have the right to recall their representatives elected for all bodies before completion of their term of office. The usage of this right is regulated and secured by law.
b) All citizens who are 16 years old have the right to elect and be elected for all administrative levels.
c) The Parliament is the highest organ for legislation, government formation and supervision of executive power in socialist democracy.
d) The Parliament works in connection with local governing bodies and forms a whole together with them.
e) Local organizations have the right and responsibility to depose administrators elected or appointed from their responsibility areas when necessary.
f) Local organizations established in all sectors of the society and social field of activity are administrative and executive bodies within the legal framework in their respective sectors and fields. Local organizations offer individuals the opportunity to intervene in social life starting from the smallest units they live in, provide an appropriate environment for the holistic development of the socialist individual, ensure that the masses are in a continuous communication, interaction and supervision relationship with political and legal decision-making and execution mechanisms, i.e. all state bodies and the Parliament.
g) The Communist Party takes special measures to ensure that representatives elected for the Parliament or other administrative levels are not detached from their production or service branches. The Party always considers that socialist democracy will be possible through the establishment of direct links between production and decision-making mechanisms.
4. a) Measures are taken to prevent delinking of administrative mechanisms and functionaries that take part in these mechanisms from the working class and to prevent their alienation from the society’s interests.
b) Socially supervised communication mechanisms are established to regularly inform those who have administrative responsibilities at state organization about the necessities and problems of all social organizations.
c) Means provided to administrators for performing their duties will be transparent to assure that they are socially monitored and supervised. It is imperative that these means are objective and in a fashion to keep the collective working consciousness of administrators lively.
5. Turkish and Kurdish people are equal constituents of socialist Turkey. Measures are taken to totally eliminate discriminatory, chauvinist practices and approaches, which is one of the dominant characteristics of capitalist Turkey.
6. Considering the objective of state to incorporate all citizens, which is a necessity for socialist democracy, the Communist Party develops policies to ensure that the state mechanism is effective and productive, and asserts that the division between state and society will be eliminated in this way. Considering that the state will eventually fade away and along with elimination of the ground for exploitive class and ideologies in this direction, repressive functions of the state will be eliminated.
B. Fundamental Freedoms
1. Freedom of expression, propaganda and organization are indispensable for the construction of socialist society and its maturation.
2. Views that defend exploitation of man by man explicitly or indirectly, war mongering, abuse of religion, nationalistic and fascist thoughts cannot take advantage of the freedom of propaganda and organization as they constitute obstacles to the development of a free society.
3. Human trafficking, prostitution, gambling and drug trade are banned as they cause moral corruption and alienation and pose an obstacle to the development of socialist society.
4. National or ethnic roots can by no means be reasons for privileges or exclusion/oppression.
5. Protection and development of living languages and cultures are facilitated.
6. Economic, political, ideological and cultural measures are taken to prevent gender differences from leading to discrimination.
7. Tribal structures are totally abolished and efforts are made to entirely eliminate the traces of these structures in cultural and ideological fronts.
8. In order to materialize fundamental freedoms, written and visual communication facilities, opportunities to assemble and demonstrate are made available to the social organizations.
9. Freedom of movement, inviolability of domicile and confidentiality of communication are ensured.
10. a) Judicial mechanism is constructed with the participation of social governing bodies starting with the smallest locality. Citizens designated by these bodies as well as professional judges take responsibility in courts. The rule of law is ensured.
b) Since considerable part of crime has social origins; penal code and law on execution of sentences comprise of policies to equip the individual with the consciousness and ability to take part in the socialist society without neglecting the necessity to protect the society against crime.
c) Right of defence is under the protection of the state since the very beginning of accusation.
d) Internal security organizations are structured in accordance with socialist ideals and they are open to the supervision of people.
e) Physical or emotional repression cannot be exerted to individuals in custody or jail. No one can be tortured under any conditions or circumstances.
f) Sentence of death cannot be given under any conditions.
C. Economic Structure
1. Within the framework of a particular program, Communist Party follows an economic policy to completely eliminate the private ownership of means of production, which is the basis for the inequalities in society.
2. a. All means of production, including land, natural resources and underground resources are public property.
b. Necessary measures will be taken in the liquidation process of other forms of property ownership except public ownership to ensure the continuity of production and to turn the political and ideological initiative of labourers into the main strength behind the liquidation.
c. Socialist elements of the economy will be prioritized by law and everyday policy of the government and will be protected against other elements during the transition period where a variety of other different property forms will co-exist.
3. The primary purpose of the socialist economy is ensuring the prosperity of the whole society and improving the living conditions of citizens every passing day.
4. All economic activities will be open to public audit and efficient administrative, ideological, economic and legal measures will be taken against wasting of public resources, bribery, abuse of authority, lack of discipline and laziness.
5. Banks, insurance companies and all other financial institutions will be expropriated and the non-essential ones for the advancement of socialist economy will be liquidated.
6. Foreign trade is conducted by the State alone.
7. a.Economic development is a process that can be planned under the power of working class. Central planning is the factor which will ensure the compatible existence of all economic elements and that production will be for the public benefit in the process of liquidation of class struggle.
b. Planning will be put into practice with the development of initiatives among workers starting from the lowest ranks and with the democratization of decision-making mechanisms in the production process.
8. Socialist planning prioritizes the use and development of scientific and technological advancements for the benefit of society.
9. a) A movement will be built in the areas of industrialization and development based on the sufficient resources of Turkey (i.e. mines, land, energy, qualified labour force) and external dependency of the economy will be eliminated.
b) Socialist economy’s survival by its own power does not mean a closed economy. The independence of the economy will be ensured by its class character and its withdrawal from being a part of the imperialist world. The country’s external economic relations, which take into account independence and the interests of the class, will be built in a manner that serve the development of the socialist economy.
c) All agreements signed with the imperialist countries that impose a heavy debt burden upon our country’s workers and make the country dependent are invalid and will be unilaterally terminated.
d) All efforts will be made to ensure that a permanent, harmonious economic integration process will take place with other socialist countries in compliance with the spirit of internationalism.
10. All the riches produced in the socialist economic structure will be distributed to the workers in form of a wage after the necessary amount for the collective needs of the society is allocated. The principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his work” will be valid in determining the wages on the way to a classless society. However, policies, which pursue the gradual achievement of the target principle of “to each according to his need,” will be made.
11. Reduction of working hours is one of the most fundamental tools for the creation of new man/woman and is one of the main goals of socialist society.
12. Minimizing the physical labour and unleashing the capacity of mental production of all the people is another fundamental goal of the socialist society. Inhumane working conditions will be eliminated by the replacement of human labour with machines and the use of advanced techniques in agricultural and industrial production.
13. Socialist economy provides all the citizens who are of working age and are able to work with job security and the right to work. State can under no circumstances eliminate these two fundamental rights.
14. Those who are unable to work, seniors and pensioners are under the protection of the socialist state. These citizens will be provided with humane living conditions and equal opportunities.
15. Unions are one of the tools to let working class participate in governance, to strengthen the grounds of socialism and to protect it in the process of socialist foundation.
a) Unionisation and the right to strike for all workers will be secured by law.
b) Unions and governing bodies in workplaces are authorized to act for the improvement of working conditions and developing recreation, cultural and sports facilities for workers.
16. a) A political and ideological struggle will be put up to gather the agricultural workers at collective farms as free farmers and at government institutions as agricultural proletarians. It will be ensured that collective farms adopt compatible modes that will not contradict with the public ownership.
b) Efforts will be made to adopt more advanced modes while the harmony of other collective modes will be overseen in agricultural production.
c) We will struggle against all kinds of dynamics that nurture the ideology of private ownership of land.
d) Foreign dependence will be eliminated in agricultural production.
17. The Communist Party makes sure that the economic policies are compatible with the goal of reducing the differences between cities and villages.
18. Measures will be taken against any kinds of alienation in the production process especially against the alienation of the worker from the work and the product.
D. Foreign Policy and Defence
1. Withdrawal from all military, economic, financial, cultural and political organizations of imperialism will be ensured. All agreements and liabilities arising from the past ties and relationships with these organizations, which are against our country’s interests, are invalid.
2. We will participate in all the international organizations which protect mutual interests and serve worldwide peace. Effective efforts will be made to ensure that these organizations serve the goal to improve international relations, restrict the impact of imperialist countries and fight against international reactionary forces.
3. Solidarity with all socialist and revolutionary governments will be ensured. Enthusiastic and supportive attitudes will be built up to form and consolidate international alliances to help reverse the power and impact of imperialism.
4. a)Necessary measures will be taken to develop and ensure the continuity of the internationalist consciousness in the society.
b) Solidarity will be established with revolutionary and communist movements in capitalist countries.
c) The people who had to leave their country due to their communist, socialist, anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, anti-war opinions will be under the protection of our socialist society and the law.
5. a) The fundamental defence force of the country is the armed forces.
b) Armed forces are at the service of the socialist society. Alienation of the armed forces from the society will be prevented. The armed forces participate in the production process during times of peace.
c) Military service is mandatory for all male and female citizens. The duration of military service is determined according to the state of international relations.
d) Armed forces adapt themselves to technological developments with a modern organization. All kinds of measures will be taken to protect the defence forces of the country. The national character of the arms industry will be built up and protected.
e) The sole body to declare ‘state of war’ is the Assembly alone.
f) All of the country’s political, organizational, economic and human potential will respond together in the face of an imperialist attack and the attack will be converted into a revolutionary and patriotic war with the participation of all the citizens.
g) The relation of rank among soldiers in armed forces will have a democratic character and hierarchical order will be maintained with the help of cultural and ideological education processes. Permanent personnel of the armed forces will not be educated only as soldiers but will also be educated to become the kind of people the socialist society needs.
h) Armed forces personnel are entitled with all the political and social rights given to other citizens including the right to vote and stand for election.
i) Internationalist character of the armed forces will be protected and consolidated.
j) Homeland Security will be maintained by people’s militia formed within the armed forces.
E. The Creation Of The New Man/Woman
1. The creation of the new man/woman is the indication, result and means of the establishment of socialism. The new man/woman is complete with his/her ideological, cultural and physical existence. Society and the State are responsible for the healthy and harmonious development of this new man/woman.
2. The Communist Party deals with the fields such as education, mass media, political and cultural life, health, sports events not individually but as a whole in order to help individuals express themselves in the society and raise them as individuals who believe in the equality and fraternity of all human beings and nations.
3. A social security system, which covers all citizens and their humanitarian needs, will be established.
4. a) Education will be reorganized as a public service that is provided for free at all stages in accordance with the interests of the society. All private educational institutions will be expropriated.
b) Education will be transformed into a scientific activity where the skills and creative power of people are unleashed and improved.
c) Education in native language is secured by the socialist state. One of the goals of the education system is to help citizens get acquainted with the language and culture of other nations in the region and the country.
d) Foreign language education policy will be determined in accordance with the goal of benefiting from the cultural and scientific inheritance of the humanity at full capacity and to fortify the fraternity among nations.
e) Education of the people in the fields of their choice will be ensured in line with the needs of the society.
f) All elements of the educational institutions will have a say in educational policies. Teachers, students, parents and workers in educational institutions will participate in the educational policy making process via individual and collective organizations.
g) Education helps the struggle for building up a classless society in scientific and moral ways, considering the point that the new man/woman is also “ a struggling man/woman”.
h) Children and teenagers under the age of 18 are prohibited from working/being forced to work at jobs which are not part of their education process.
i) Making sure that every single citizen is literate is one of the most fundamental tasks of socialist society. In addition, all opportunities will be provided for the people to improve their skills and knowledge without any age restriction.
5. All private hospitals and health care institutions will be expropriated. All health services including medication and treatment will be provided by the state free of charge. A fight for the elimination of health impairing factors will be put up and practices of preventive medicine and structured health care will be extended.
6. People have right to live in the places where they shall recreate themselves in moral and physical ways. Proper housing will be provided for everyone in accordance with this right. All measures will be taken to ensure that the houses are sturdy enough to resist earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. Heating, electricity and water will be provided free of charge.
7. Prices of goods and services offered to the use of the people will be determined considering the goal to accelerate the intellectual development of the society and to shift consumption habits in a way to help create the new man/woman.
8. An important part of the struggle for the creation of new man/woman is the elimination of discrimination and contradictions between men and women in the areas such as social effectiveness, equal opportunity and social roles, which emerged throughout historical process.
a) The Communist Party fights to transform the women’s rights which are under protection of the law into a real and permanent gain in all areas of life and opposes the use of sexuality as an ideological tool to humiliate women and stands up against all discriminatory practices against women.
b) All efforts will be made to eliminate the division of labour with its social and ideological aspects, which is based on the difference of sex that causes women’s confinement to household chores and childcare. Burdens such as cooking, cleaning and childcare, which are put on the shoulders of women in capitalist societies, will be taken upon by the whole community with the mobilization of collective resources. In this respect as part of the planned urbanization kindergartens, cafeterias and launderettes will be opened everywhere.
c) All kinds of organizational opportunities will be encouraged for the effective participation of women in the social and cultural life.
d) The Communist Party will fight to remove the economic and ideological functions of the family established under capitalist conditions and to turn it into voluntary relationships based on love.
9. Childcare, nutrition, children’s development as healthy individuals and their education will be under the protection of the Socialist State.
10. Young people will be encouraged to participate in the social life, policy making processes, cultural, artistic and scientific production starting from early years of their lives. Young people will be provided with opportunities to get equal rights and responsibilities with other citizens in the educational and sports institutions and their local branches to which they attend. Socialist society will unleash the creative energy of the youth who were oppressed in the capitalist society and will grant them freedom in all areas of life.
11. The financial and moral conditions will be built to enable seniors, who are left on their own without support and pushed away from social productivity in capitalism, to live as equal, well-cared citizens of the new society who are also encouraged to participate in the public life.
12. Conditions that enable the participation of the disabled citizens in education and production processes and the social life will be created.
13. Art is one of the most important areas that will contribute to the self-fulfillment of the new man/woman.
a) The Communist Party leads the initiatives that aim at unleashing the creativity of artists.
b) Socialization of art in a free environment, organization of art workers, removing all the obstacles that prevent people from accessing art are among fundamental goals of the Communist Party. In this respect;
i. Art workers will be able to use social resources set aside for their use in an organized and collective manner.
ii. The state will not prevent but support the creation of new and different forms and techniques in art.
iii. All kinds of censorship in art will be lifted.
iv. Commodification of art will be prevented.
v. Efforts will be made to stop artistic production to be a minority activity and turn it into a social activity.
vi. The Communist Party puts up an ideological struggle to prevent artistic products from contradicting with the needs of the society and the new man/woman.
c) Cultural and historical heritage will be preserved and be open to public.
14. Science and scientific activity are among the main subjects for the competency of the socialist society and the creation of new man/woman. As soon as the conditions that allow science and technology to be used to enhance exploitation or get them improved as long as they serve to enhance exploitation only and that commodify science and technology and alienate them from the large masses are completely terminated, conducting scientific studies for holistic interests of the society will be possible. Scientists will be organized and be able to participate in the determination process of the resources to be reserved for scientific studies and their distribution. Scientific achievements and inventions gained as a result of scientific studies are the common property of all the humanity.
15. a) A social organization will be formed to replace the commercialization of sports that became a professional activity with new sports activities provided for the people from every age, sex, profession, and region.
b) The main objective of sports activities will not be the destructive and hostile competition; the main goal will be developing health, entertainment and solidarity.
c) Sports will become a widespread activity in workplaces, schools and all residences instead of being restricted to special arenas. People will be encouraged to stop being passive audiences.
16. a) Everyone is entitled to the freedom of belief. No institution can pose a moral oppression on people.
b) Politicization of religion will be prevented. Religious beliefs of people will not be stated in any official documents.
c) Religion will be studied as a research subject in social sciences in educational institutions.
d) The Communist Party will be the pioneer in the political and ideological fight against metaphysical beliefs and for replacing them with the scientific achievements of humanity.
17. a) Environmental and cultural wealth will be at the service of the whole society and will be no longer used for material gain. Stringent sanctions will be implemented in case of the destruction of coasts, forests, natural and historical heritages.
b) Protection of environment and human health will be of primary importance in practices of socialist industrialization and urbanization. The whole society and relevant communities will be ensured to participate in decision process of environmental policies and concrete practices.
c) Precautionary measures will be taken to eliminate inequalities arising form the relevant superiority of cities over towns in economic, social and cultural aspects.
d) Public transportation will be encouraged and become a free public service in the cities. Safer and more efficient modes of transportation will be widely used in urban and inter-urban transport by reducing the importance given on highway transportation system in the capitalist society.
e) Allocation of necessary resources to eliminate the destructive impacts of natural disasters and conducting scientific studies in this respect is the responsibility of the socialist state. These studies are open to public information, participation and audit.
