Is there a way out?: Speech by TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan at the 24th IMCWP

Kemal Okuyan meeting with Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, May 8

Speech by Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) General Secretary Kemal Okuyan at the 24th International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties

Dear comrades,

I would like to begin by thanking the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba, Comrade Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the President of the Republic of Cuba, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba and Secretary of Organization Roberto Morales Ojeda, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, and comrade Emilio Lozada, Member of the Central Committee Head of International Relations Department, and all the party cadres for hosting this meeting and bringing us together here in Havana despite the immense hardships created by the US imperialist blockade, which has now become an outright crime of genocide. I bring them the solidarity and revolutionary greetings of the communists and people of Turkey. I also greet all the comrades who are present in this meeting representing different parties struggling all around the world.

The theme of this meeting also covers the political and intellectual legacy of the great revolutionary Fidel Castro, whose 100th birthday we are celebrating. Over the past few months, I have started reading again Fidel Castro’s writings and speeches. Undoubtedly, his life unfolded through different periods, each defined by its own circumstances and objectives. Yet all of these periods shared three defining characteristics: never yielding to the enemy, never abandoning revolutionary ideals, and upholding an exceptionally strong moral ethic. Fidel Castro defended these three principles by pushing the possibilities offered by circumstances to their utmost limits.

It is clear that he recognized the problems and weaknesses of the world communist movement well before the collapse of the Soviet Union. At times, he expressed severe—but justified—criticisms. He was deeply saddened by the subsequent retreat and turned his attention increasingly to the question of how socialist Cuba could endure under those global conditions. In doing so, he continued to spread that profound moral vision throughout the world, especially across Latin America.

As we pay tribute today to Fidel Castro and his struggle, I would like to express my thoughts in the manner he always preferred: openly, honestly, and sincerely. Now is the right time to do so. Comrades there is a constant lie put forward by US imperialism; the narrative is that Cuba is practising subversive activities in other countries including United States. This is a big, big, very big lie, a dirty lie. Many decades ago this groundless attack was against the Soviet Union. Interestingly the history of the Cuban revolution pointed just the opposite. We all know and I am sure that CIA knows very well that the Cuban Revolution had nothing to do with the so-called Soviet intentions. Revolutions, real revolutions are the outcomes of internal dynamics and Yankees who are seeking for external fingers should concentrate on their own. Because revolutions are provoked by the multi-national monopolies, by NATO, by imperialist wars, by the consequences of exploitation, by the dictatorial regimes that are supported by the imperialists. In that sense, communists are the only force within their countries, who defend a real independence, who defend non interference to each countries internal affairs. Yes we are internationalists in every sense but revolutionary struggle in each country demands an independent vanguard party that takes its own decisions and that can fulfill those decisions. The victorious movement that was created and led by Fidel was a genuine and successful example of this principle.

Comrades, the nightmare confronting the world today should come as no surprise to any of us. We are paying the price for the needless prolongation of the capitalist system whose inner mechanisms Marx laid bare in remarkable detail some 150 years ago. The difficulties faced by socialist Cuba, our gracious host today, together with the many measures it has been forced to take in response, are part of that same price.

Wars, waves of migration, the relentless assault on the rights won by the working class in the twentieth century, the shrinking of political space and the systematic denial of working people's right and ability to engage in politics. None of these are temporary phenomena. They are all products of capitalism's inherent crisis.

When we return to our own countries, none of us will be surprised to find new issues waiting for us. My own country has become, step by step, a party to the war in Ukraine under the pretext of fulfilling its NATO obligations. It has joined the military alliance forged by the reactionary regimes of the region against Yemen and Iran. The same pattern can be seen in many other countries.

Indeed, in recent years we have struggled even to find a venue for the IMCWPs. Some countries are engaged in armed conflicts. The visa policies of others have become barriers for citizens of many countries. Others still face the direct threat of invasion or coup orchestrated by the United States.

Comrades,

Is there a way out?

Of course, we will develop defensive tactics to blunt these attacks and push them back. We will look for ways to avoid surrendering further ground.

But we must also recognize that, for as long as we continue to grant capitalism the time and space to maneuver, the scale of the disaster will only grow. And let me stress the word capitalism. I am not talking about one particular policy or a handful of countries at the top of the imperialist system. I am talking about a social system, a social system that we have no choice but to overthrow.

There is no reason to believe that capitalism will somehow enter a more stable, more orderly or a peaceful phase. Every economic and political indicator points in the same direction. Capitalism has broken free of its chains.

Yet it was the international proletariat that was meant to break its chains.

Comrades, today, billions of people are searching for a way out of this nightmare. Yet, with only a handful of exceptions, socialism has fallen off their political horizon, even though it remains capitalism's only real alternative.

Whatever the obstacles, we must reverse this situation. I am not calling for suicide missions or kamikaze dives. We must recognize the constraints imposed by present conditions, act with intelligence and avoid adventurism. But it is equally imperative that the socialist alternative once again asserts itself in the political and ideological struggle.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a well-known anti-communist slogan. It even appeared on posters: “Visit Russia Before Russia Visits You.” We too should remember a slogan of our own: “Destroy capitalism before capitalism destroys humanity.”

We are racing against time. Whatever the conditions in which we are forced to struggle, I hope you will not regard it as disrespectful if I insist that we must place the actuality of socialism in front of the people.

Let me remind you something:

We are a long way from the commanding position we held in culture, the arts and the media throughout much of the twentieth century. Nazım Hikmet, the great poet who was a member TKP, wrote much of his poetry in the Soviet Union. Yet when he wrote about his own country, he championed a new way of life in an Islamic country where not only the Communist Party but even trade unions were outlawed. To put forward a vision of a new way of life is to inspire creativity, to generate enthusiasm and to forge a bond with the young. In Turkey we had Nazım, in France Aragon, in Greece Ritsos, in Chile Neruda and many others. They were all poets who proclaimed hope and the promise of a different life.

Comrades,

The Communist Party of Turkey is carrying out its struggle in a country that has endured two fascist military coups and a bloody, US-backed coup attempt over the past fifty years, a country where abnormality has become the norm. Fundamental freedoms have been steadily eroded. The government is consumed by imperial ambitions and eager to involve the country in regional conflicts. Working people are demoralized. Young people are trying to leave the country. It is a dark picture, one that offers little cause for hope.

Some of our friends argue that, if we are to rid our country of the AKP government after twenty-five uninterrupted years in power, we must wage the struggle for “democracy” under the leadership of the social democratic party. Comrades, if that is what is expected of us, then we might as well abandon the name “communist” altogether. We did not bring the TKP back into the light after eighty years of illegality for that.

In a country of eighty-five million people, we must do whatever it takes to rescue even a single unemployed young person driven to the brink of suicide from the darkness created by the bourgeoisie, to restore the will to live to even a single desperate pensioner waiting for death, and to help workers cast off their sense of shame and become conscious of their own strength.

Sometimes the value of a revolutionary position becomes clear only years, even decades, later. under a capitalist system that generates crises and contradictions on this scale, there is no policy more realistic, or more genuinely revolutionary, than preparing for a historic rupture.

This is our perspective from Turkey. We welcome disagreement and criticism. These are the conclusions we have reached through our own experience. Let us hope we prove equal to the weight of the words we have spoken today.

I extend to you all my warmest communist greetings. We demand end to the blockade and to the aggression towards Cuba!

Hands off Cuba!

Long live communism! Long live Fidel!