Introduction
The engine of history is the class struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. The direction of history is determined by the class that outweighs the other in this struggle.
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 has 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 made a huge step forward with the Grand 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 has marked the start of the new century.
However, the logic of history tells us that this period is temporary and that the progress of humanity towards the classless society still persists. Capitalism continues to create conditions preparing for its own end.
The economic crisis that re-emerged in the first decade of the century continues to unsettle the international capitalist system. On the one hand, the crisis inherent in the nature of 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, it also increases the possibility that all of humanity’s historical gains, and even all human life will be destroyed by the capitalist class.
The crisis will either end up with the strengthening of international capitalism, the plunge of history into darkness and barbaric extermination, or the working class will rise up again, heading for socialism and striking capitalism a death blow.
Today, socialism is the only real and concrete option 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 necessity.
The Communist Party is cognizant of the fact that the period of socialist revolutions that opened up at the start of 20th century has not actually ended. The conditions that made those revolutions necessary are not only still present, but they have actually intensified. In the period of revolutions of the new century, the Party struggles for strengthening socialism as a real and concrete choice in Turkey.
The Communist Party is taking 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
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 rational 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. During this time, world capitalism continued to grow until the economic crisis of 1970.
The Cold War marked this period of competition between the two systems. Initially, the Cold War was not able to contain the advance of socialism. Socialism was adopted across more than one third of the world, creating a balance against the imperialist system, keeping a tight rein on militarism and wars. Thanks to the influence of socialism, working classes in non-socialist countries were able to move forward and achieve gains. The social-state policies put into effect in the advanced capitalist countries, mass union organizations and strong leftist movements are among the products of this period.
Additionally, under the balance of forces between capitalism and socialism, colonialism collapsed in many regions around the world. The period gave rise to national liberation movements, and the gap between the struggle for independence and that for socialism started to narrow down.
This was the state of the world before the great capitalist crisis of the 1970's. Entering the crisis in a conjuncture of socialist advances and capitalist retreat, the only way out for the capitalist class was to increase its aggression.
At the end of 1970's, bourgeoisie initiated a total 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 under attack. 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. 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 impacted 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 military 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.
Reactionary religious movements had been deployed in systematic fashion during the Cold War. In the same period, these movements were further supported in many countries as a weapon against socialism.
The international workers movement, progressive and revolutionary forces, including the CPSU, could not produce the necessary ideological and political creativity and enthusiasm to withstand the attack and thus they retreated to a position of defence. When this retreat was coupled with major mistakes, inadequacies and betrayals, the socialist system collapsed at the end of 80's.
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 integrated backward countries into the system. While a minority of collaborators were rewarded immensely, large masses were left in poverty. 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. In its pursuit of more gains, capitalism did not hesitate to integrate pre-capitalist relations into the system, such as slavery.
With the end of real socialism, United States of America (USA), leading the imperialist system after World War II, undauntedly and violently enforced a "New World Order" designed to sustain its imperialist lead. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was claimed that the possibility of hot war had been reduced. The rules of capitalism being in effect, the exact opposite happened. Since the collapse of socialism, there has almost been not a single day without war, without people being killed in 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. The consolidation of USA’s leadership within this system was in fact the consolidation of the international capitalist system.
Also within the same framework, the underdeveloped countries and the countries who had acted within the sphere predicating upon the balance of the two competing systems under the conditions of existing socialism 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 manoeuvres, 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 European Union (EU) as a project of integration took over significant roles not only in Europe but also in the ideological terrain against the left. Through the assumption that the EU would balance USA’s power in all areas as a power rising against the USA, the EU appealed to popular sentiments and was supported by the masses, letting the imperialist system achieve another success. Liberalism was the most influential ideological current across the world.
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 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 prominent among those resistances and gained the ability to manoeuvre together with other actors. China's and Russia’s ability to act together, India's and Brazil’s achievement in creating a specific elbow room started to create disruptive effects in the world system. The failure of the US projects in the Middle East that have been updated and revived in different moments revealed the boundaries of USA’s and imperialism’s power.
As it is historically confirmed, the only way out of the crises for imperialism is to enhance its attack on the working class throughout the world. This is also true for solving the crisis created by the system’s own internal dynamics. Capitalism will impose the burden of the crisis on labour, 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 and the advanced capitalist countries at the core of the system will transform their inner competition into devastating regional armed conflicts. As contradictions intensify, the material conditions of larger battles will also be consolidated.
The semi-developed and underdeveloped countries, including Turkey, are doomed to remain at times audiences, at times victims and at other times stooges of the struggles over resources. The same imperialist centres will certainly shift the possibility of war to the zone of dependent countries. Another factor which will supplement the transfer of crisis' burdens on the shoulder of labour and the rising possibility of war in the zone of dependent countries is the instigation of religious reactionism, the trend towards authoritarian regimes, militarism and nationalism as its indispensable part.
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.
Cuba keeps up the flag of socialism high. Anti-imperialist movements seized the power in Latin America. Some countries, notably Venezuela, turned towards a progressive way. The legacy of resistance against imperialism and all reactionary ideologies that capitalism generated revived again in many countries.
As the ideological attractions of liberalism began to dissolve, the international capitalist system underwent such a crisis. The EU project's complete deadlock hit the Euro-based diffusion of leftist seeming liberal discourses hard. The USA became no longer able to promote discourses like “the new world order”, “globalization”, “the end of history” and derivatives thereof.
The main assumptions used by the bourgeoisie for decades were dissipated one by one. The relationship of capitalism with reactionism, militarism and oppression became obvious. It became plain that globalization and integration were tools for imperialism to tie the other countries and nations to the system.
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 a 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 we are totally right.
Humanity in general and the working class in specific are equipped with lessons of the twentieth century. It has been perceived that capitalism, at its best, brings barbarity. Lessons have been deduced from the true experiences of socialism to create more advanced examples.
We will leave behind this reactionary period humanity is going through and we will overcome this period in all its aspects.
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 has to undertake such a duty in Turkey.
Turkey calls for socialism
The Westernisation and progress adventure of 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 Westernisation 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.
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 1923 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 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 1923 Republic would be re-evaluated by the imperialist-capitalist system, 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 to the political and social life.
This radical transformation meant the end of the First 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 12 but then essentially in September 12 military interventions. 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, independence and anti-imperialism accordingly. This republic will be established with the triumph of socialist revolution in Turkey.
The Turkish and Kurdish labour, as equal founding actors of the new republic which will definitely have an anti-imperialist character, 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 ground 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.
Socialism will be triumphant by means of party struggle
The objective premises of the socialist revolution of Turkey lie in the facts that the capitalism of Turkey is advanced enough to determine all social relations and structures, the possibility to relate all of the current primary problems with capitalism and the physical presence of the working class of Turkey. The revolution of Turkey will have a socialist character. The working class of Turkey as the vanguard of this revolution constitutes a unity including labour from Turkish, Kurdish and other national and ethnic origins and this integrity must be considered while organizing the working class.
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 12 and September 12 military interventions. The capitalist class intended to exterminate the left in its entirety by physical and ideological assaults.
True, the bourgeoisie inflicted great ideological and physical damages to the left; nonetheless, 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 and Communist Party, 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 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.
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.
The Communist Party, Turkey, embraces the whole legacy of the Marxist and revolutionary movements and the working class struggles in Turkey, a history that traces back to the turn of the twentieth century. The Communist Party, Turkey, adopts the September 10, 1920 Baku Congress of the Communist Party of Turkey as its founding date.
The reactionary and dark era which covers the dissolution of the actually existing socialism delivered a blow to the left, labour and intellectuals worldwide and in Turkey; despite this blow, the people’s quest for organizing could not be eliminated, the aspiration of hope could not be destroyed, 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 12 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 revealed its persistence through the Party for Socialist Turkey and the Party for Socialist Power during the 1990's founded the Communist Party of Turkey and the Communist Party, Turkey and following a continuous organizational legacy moves on with the name of Communist Party, Turkey today.
The reconstruction of the party after 2001 starting with the naming of TKP transformed into a phase of maturity for the party and the attempts to reach the masses continued.
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 obliterated without recourse, the construction of a new and reactionary regime was initiated, dragging our country to the brink of civil war. The unions and other economic, democratic mass organizations of labour also retreated, 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.
The crisis that rose within the ranks of the Communist Party of Turkey in 2014 cannot be discussed outside this context. The Communist Party, Turkey, represents, in the crisis within the party, the determination to preserve the Marxist-Leninist traditional party form, to continue the legacy of party based organization, ideologically and politically.
There is a vanguard party in Turkey that will carry the socialist revolution to victory.
The Communist Party, Turkey, is the leading, conscious and organized power of the working class.
The Communist Party, 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 pursuit 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, Turkey, approaches the elections, which it considers as a part of the bourgeois parliamentary system, from the standpoint of organizing the society and regards this practice in terms of the enrichment of its means of addressing the society in the context of socialist propaganda.
The elections in Turkey will not be the way of conquering political power by the working class. The Communist Party, Turkey, is determined to assess the objective opportunities in our country by forgin ties with the society through a revolutionary perspective.
Either the Communist Party, Turkey will organize this historical assault and socialism as a real alternative will establish a social support base or the reactionary forces supported by imperialism will imprison our country to profound darkness.
With this perspective and consciousness, the Communist Party, 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.
The Communist Party, Turkey, calls all labour and youth, independent of their native languages, disregarding their sexual identity and sexual orientation, to mobilize according to this imperative, to defy barbarism, to join the organized struggle for our emancipation, our party who is the wisdom, conscience and hope of Turkey.
Socialism will be gained via the party struggle.
8 November 2014
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 is the main task 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. propagandises 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 to 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.
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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Foreign trade is conducted by the State alone.
6. 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.
7. 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 industrilization 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 which 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 make 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 imperialists 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 is 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 is responsible for the healthy and harmonious development of this new man/woman.
2. 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 child care. Burdens such as cooking, cleaning and child care 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 laundrettes 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. Child care, 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 fulfilment of the new man/woman.
a) The Communist Party leads the initiatives which 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 determantion 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.