Marxism-Leninism Today was invited to the recent congress of the Communist Party of Mexico and Mark Burton filed this report.
The Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) held its seventh Congress on December 16, 17, and 18th of 2022 in Mexico City. The PCM was re-founded in 2010 as the original PCM was liquidated under the influence of Eurocommunism in 1981. The Communist Party of Mexico is an example of a party that has fought back against revisionism and reformed itself under Marxist Leninist principles.
The Congress was attended by 178 delegates from the Party and another 30 delegates from the communist youth (Federación de Jóvenes Communistas México). The delegates were present to discuss and vote on various reports on party work, the Political Thesis, (the guiding document of the Party for the near future) and elect the next central committee and party officers.
In addition to the convention delegates, there were also numerous representatives of international parties and movements. Most notably representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba, the Communist Party of Greece, the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain, the Communist Party of Peru, the Communist Party of Brazil, the Korean Workers Party, the Communist Party of Argentina, and Rebelión Popular of Argentina were present. Along with Marxism-Leninism Today, two other organizations from the United States attended the Congress. Ivan Pinheiro, former general secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), was awarded the David Alfaro Siqueiros Medal for Revolutionary Merit to a standing ovation for his years of work in the communist movement.
The morning of the first day of the Congress there was a memorial ceremony in honor of communist Julio Antonio Mella. The memorial occurred on a public street at the exact place where Mella was assassinated by agents of the Machado government of Cuba in 1929. Mella was a founding member of the Cuban Communist Party who also joined the PCM while in exile. Moving tributes were given by a diplomat from the Cuban Embassy and others. There were readings of poetry, revolutionary songs, speeches, and a replica of the original El Machete newspaper (the newspaper of the PCM) that announced the death of Mella in 1929 was distributed to the attendees.
The presentation and discussion of the Political Thesis was introduced by Pável Blanco Cabrera, the PCM First Secretary, who addressed many issues of interest to the international communist movement. The Political Thesis gives a background of the current political situation and asserted that we live in a period of increased capitalist competition which has led to war and the threat of more war due to friction between imperialist blocs. The Thesis states: “… the military aggression of Russia towards Ukraine is only a first scenario in the war to come between two groups of capitalist countries, one led by the US and the other by China…”. The PCM holds that the current Russia – Ukraine conflict is an inter-imperialist war.
The Congress also discussed “progressivism” and the class nature of the so-called “Pink Wave.” Progressivism was criticized as another way of managing capitalism and of merely being an alternative to neo-liberalism as a method of capitalist management. The PCM Thesis states as follows: “Socialism of the XXI century, Andean capitalism, democratic capitalism, all share the general feature of having the form of managing the state in an alternate way to neoliberalism to preserve the capitalist mode of production in the context of the imperialist system.”
The Political Thesis dissected the nature of Mexico’s government and in particular Mexico’s president, Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). The PCM Thesis held that AMLO and his party follow progressivism and that AMLO is a social democratic leader. AMLO was criticized for multiple anti-working class policies including privatizations of public property, anti-union actions, the militarization of the country, cooperating with the United States in suppressing migrants from Central America, and the promotion of continued economic, political, and military integration with the United States and Canada through the NAFTA/USCMA process, among other issues. The Political Thesis Stated: “… the government of López Obrador is an anti-worker and anti-popular government, exercising power on behalf of monopolies and its profits and gains.”
The question of whether China should be considered a socialist country was a prominent topic of discussion. Blanco noted that capitalist relations of production dominate the Chinese economy and that there were more billionaires in the central committee of the Communist Party of China than in the House and Senate in the US. The Thesis stated: “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, or market socialism, in the Chinese case resulted in a path of capitalist development and it is clear that capitalist relations predominate … It [China] is not a socialist country.”
The assembled delegates, in the final part of the Congress, voted on the Political Thesis and elected party officials. The Political Thesis was approved, Pável Blanco Cabrera was re-elected as First Secretary of the PCM, Diego Torres was re-elected as Second Secretary, Ángel Chávez was appointed as the editor of El Machete, the party newspaper, and a new central committee was elected to help guide the party until the next Congress.
