Capitalism was not the initial system, nor is it the terminal system, in Humankind’s History. Its revolutionary overcoming and the construction of a new society, without exploiters or exploited, are a requirement of the present and of the future, which takes on increasing importance in the struggle of the workers and peoples.
Portuguese Communists rally at the Avante! festival, September 2024 -- image via the PCP
XXII Congress of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP)
December 13, 14 and 15, 2024
Political Resolution - English translation posted March 10, 2025
Chapter 1
Developments in the international situation and the struggle of the workers and the peoples
The developments in the international situation are characterised by great instability and uncertainty with, in general, a substantial overall worsening.
The essential tendencies and aspects of the situation are marked by the structural crisis of capitalism and by imperialism’s exploitative and aggressive offensive, which seeks to counteract the relative decline of the United States of America (USA) and other capitalist powers of the G7, and to safeguard their hegemonic domination in the face of a continuing resistance and struggle by the workers and peoples and of a broad process of realignment of forces on the world stage.
The situation has seen dangerous developments, namely with imperialism’s escalation of confrontation and war; with the promotion and advancement of reactionary and fascist conceptions, projects and forces; with the exacerbation of international tensions and with growing threats of a worldwide conflict of catastrophic proportions.
In this context, it is of the utmost importance to develop the peoples' struggle in defence of their rights and sovereignty, for peace, for social progress; to strengthen the Communist parties and their cooperation within the framework of the world Communist and revolutionary movement; to bring together diverse forces in a broad anti-imperialist front that can stop and reverse imperialism’s designs and that can pave the way for a new international order ensuring peace and justice in the relations between the peoples.
1.1 Capitalism, a system in crisis that does not solve Humanity’s problems and yearnings
The international situation’s evolution confirms that capitalism is incapable of solving Humanity’s main problems, which are themselves a consequence of the nature and contradictions of this system. Despite the huge ideological operation on a mass scale seeking to conceal it, the social, economic, political and cultural reality proves the exploitative, oppressive, aggressive and predatory nature of capitalism and the need to overcome it in a revolutionary way.
The development of capitalism and the imposition of imperialist domination, namely as a result of the disappearance of the USSR and the socialist camp in Eastern Europe, furthered the concentration and centralization of capital, exploitation, the unequal distribution of income between Labour and Capital, the processes of privatisation, mergers and acquisitions, the funnelling of public resources to big capital and its speculative activities, the worsening of social inequalities and injustice.
Increasing exploitation, its consequences in the deterioration of the workers’ labour and living standards and in deepening social problems that affect the overwhelming majority of the world's population; the instability and succession of crises in the main capitalist economies; the great disparities in development between countries; the contrasts in demographic trends; extensive migratory movements; deepening environmental problems; growing instability and international tension; the dramas that affect refugees; the promotion of reactionary and fascist forces; the systemic nature of corruption and organised crime – these are elements that, among others, confirm capitalism’s irreconcilable contradictions and that highlight a structural crisis, which is expressed on the economic, social, political and cultural levels, thus highlighting the historical limits of this system.
Contrary to the neo-liberal theses about an "emergence" from the 2008 crisis, marked by a new period of growth and expansion of the main capitalist economies of the G7, and even taking into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, what can be seen is an almost two decades-long trend of anaemic growth or stagnation, accompanied by processes of relocation of companies and of de-industrialization, by profound changes in international trade and value chains, by an increase in public and private debts, as can be seen in the main capitalist powers, particularly in the USA and within the European Union (EU). At the same time, an increasing concentration of wealth is taking place.
The capitalist system has found it difficult to relaunch significant growth cycles and to counter the downward trend of the rate of profit, a reality that the ruling classes attempt to overcome through the intensification of workers’ exploitation; through an attack on rights; through privatizations; through the curtailment and destruction of the social functions of States; through the attempt to create new lines of capitalist reproduction and accumulation, namely in the field of the so-called "green economy" and "digital economy"; through the commodification of spheres of social life; through an incessant financialization of the economy and through support for monopoly groups, particularly financial ones; through the promotion of a "war economy".
Unable to counter the underlying trend, this course exacerbates problems, as can be seen in the consequences of the strategy of confrontation and war in Europe, namely in the "blowback" effect of the sanctions policy, or in the consequences for the US and EU economies of the ongoing technology-related economic war targetting China.
The concentration and centralization of capital has reached such a scale, and the degree of dominance by financial capital is such, that measures that had been used in the past to relaunch cycles of economic growth, if momentarily adopted, today have an increasingly limited impact.
The relative reduction in the installed productive capacity of the capitalist powers of the G7 is clearly evident in the changes in supply chains and in their diminishing overall relative weight in the world economy, thus impacting the process of realignment of forces on a worldwide level.
Humanity, in its historical process, is currently making remarkable scientific and technical achievements. As a whole, these developments represent a new leap in the scientific and technical revolution, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence, computing, data processing, storage and use, communications, robotics, nanotechnology, genetic engineering or synthetic biology.
Such achievements of human knowledge induce a significant increase in the social productivity of Labour and could, and should, represent extraordinary advances in the living standards of the workers and peoples, namely in the key issue of reducing working times.
However, their private appropriation and use for the benefit of big Capital, including in the development of the arms industry, not only prevents such achievements from being used to overcome problems, inequalities and injustice as, in a contradictory way, it limits the potential for scientific and technological development, accentuates the tendency to decrease the rate of profit and also affects the scale of crises of overproduction and of capitalist over-accumulation. Instead of responding to human needs and promoting social progress, these achievements are used by big Capital as a form of blackmail and a pretext to increase exploitation, for new attacks on the rights of the workers and peoples and on their organized struggle, and for new threats in the economic, social, democratic and sovereign levels, particularly in the media and communications.
Global awareness of the serious and deepening environmental problems has grown, but it is not yet grasped on a mass scale that this reality to a large extent stems from the incompatibility between the capitalist mode of production and the need to preserve natural resources, ecosystems and the environment, to mitigate climate change and to effectively fight the causes of these problems.
The concept of "green economy", one of the new dogmas of capitalism that instrumentalizes and seeks to distort real and legitimate concerns about the environment, has in reality other goals, namely: the financialization of environmental issues and their use for capitalist accumulation; the commodification of nature and its resources; the imposition of renewed forms of economic domination on an international level, the attempt to maintain the supremacy of the imperialist powers in the field of raw materials and energy production technologies; the attempt to hold individuals accountable for problems that are systemic; the use of the perverse concept of "the polluter pays"; or the exploitation of environmental issues as a pretext for attacks on rights, sovereignty and democracy and to subordinate labour and workers' rights.
The facts highlight the growing responsibilities of social democracy as an instrument of Capital and imperialism in a wide range of countries, as can be seen in its convergence with policies that serve monopoly capital and oppose the workers, in the EU’s process of neo-liberal, federalist and militarist integration, or in NATO and its aggressive worldwide strategy.
Developments in the social and political situation of the capitalist powers prove the thesis that capitalism’s development in its imperialist phase, and in particular neoliberalism, calls into question freedom and democracy. The imposition of neoliberalism and the single mindset that accompanies it – in which the right-wing and social democracy converge – with its ensuing consequences, enhances the reactionary and anti–democratic aspects in the systems of bourgeois political representation, including in the promotion by the ruling classes of reactionary and fascistic conceptions, projects and forces, which today marks the reality in various countries. As History proves, the far-right and fascism are instruments to which capitalism and imperialism resort whenever they consider it necessary.
Along with confrontation and war, resorting to fascism is part of the strategy of big Capital to try to safeguard its interests, to strengthen its instruments of domination and to impose its goals of exploitation and oppression. This strategy is pursued ideologically with an intense and continuous offensive against democratic and humanist values, against critical thinking and the right to information, and by the promotion of individualism, lies, censorship, obscurantism, fear, conformism, xenophobia and racism, chauvinism, war, hatred, anti-communism and the rewriting and falsification of History. A strategy in which the control of the mass media, of information agencies and centres and of new information and communication technologies, in particular of “social networks”, by gigantic oligopolies plays a fundamental, deeply manipulative, demagogic, anti-democratic and reactionary role.
The structural crisis of capitalism and the ongoing process of realignment of forces at the world level, with the relative weakening of the role of imperialist power structures (IMF, World Bank, WTO, G7, Davos Forum, Bilderberg), exacerbate contradictions between the main imperialist powers. At the same time, the strategy of hegemonic domination adopted by the US is implemented based on an iron-clad imperialist concert around the goals of confrontation and economic war, with its associated war propaganda and ideological offensive. This is reflected in the submission of the capitalist powers of the G7 and the EU to the interests and strategy of US imperialism.
1.2 The strategy of confrontation and war promoted by imperialism is the greatest threat to the peoples of the world
Imperialism seeks to use all means available to impose its hegemonic domination, to counteract the ongoing process of realignment of forces and to halt the struggle of the workers and peoples.
This offensive pursues the goal of destroying economic, social, political and cultural rights. It stigmatizes and criminalizes labour and social struggles. It tries to impose regressions in the awareness of the peoples regarding their legitimate rights and aspirations and in their sovereign capacity to decide their future, namely by concealing the nature of capitalism and the alternatives of development and social emancipation that the communist ideal and project represents.
Militarism and the accelerated construction of a "war economy" are promoted under the pretext of fictitious permanent threats, and are instituted through operations of blackmail and conditioning of the popular will. These aim to impose the acceptance of increased exploitation and impoverishment in the name of a supposed defence of freedom and, on the other hand, to conceal the real imperialist interest in planetary domination to control markets, technologies, trade and energy routes; to take over raw materials and natural resources; to impose neocolonial relations; and to contain processes of sovereign and progressive affirmation of the peoples.
The USA, with its allies, advances militarism and the arms race, instrumentalizes and promotes fascist and terrorist forces, generalizes hotbeds of tension and destabilization, foments interference, aggression and war, disrespects and brutally attacks the rights and sovereignty of peoples, in a strategy that represents the most serious threat to world peace.
The results of the 2024 US presidential election are an expression of that country’s acute crisis and of the discredit of the Biden Administration among large sectors of the population. Notwithstanding differences and even divisions within the ruling class regarding domestic policy measures and how to counteract the relative decline of the United States, the election of Trump, with his profoundly reactionary agenda, not only continues, but steps up, the policy at the service of economic and financial groups and the strategy of confrontation, interference and aggression, with all that it represents as a threat to peace, sovereignty and the rights of peoples.
NATO, with its successive enlargements and its global intervention, accounts for over one half of the world's military expenditure. It is the most dangerous instrument of imperialism's aggressive offensive under US hegemony. The increasingly clear assertion of the EU's militaristic path, as the European pillar of NATO, does not represent a counterpoint to US imperialism, but rather its embodiment as an ally in the imperialist strategy of oppression, exploitation and neo-colonisation.
The European Union, aligning itself with the strategy of the United States and NATO, is promoting an increase in military expenditures and in its own arms industry, is increasing militarism and is taking steps towards its transformation into a new military-political bloc complementary to NATO, at the expense of peace and of the rights and living standards of the workers and peoples.
Confronted with the enormous dangers that imperialism's aggressive strategy poses to Humanity – namely, the arms race; the escalation of conflicts; acts of destabilization and interference, including in electoral processes; the intensification of a policy of sanctions and blockades; permanent attempts to instrumentalize or attack the United Nations; and the growing disregard for the principles of International Law, which is being subordinated to a so-called "rules-based world order" dictated by imperialism – it is particularly important to ensure the struggle for peace; for a general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament; in defence of the principles of the UN Charter; against the militarisation of the EU; for the dissolution of NATO and the creation of a system of collective security.
Blatant manifestations of imperialism’s strategy of confrontation and war are the growing tensions and provocations against China, which is singled out by the US as the main strategic target, and which has among its expressions the creation of new military blocs and centres of coordination such as AUKUS (Australia, USA, UK) and QUAD (Australia, USA, India and Japan), or the provocations regarding Taiwan; the strategy of encirclement and confrontation with Russia – including NATO’s enlargement to Eastern Europe, the 2014 coup d'État in Ukraine or the long–prepared war in that country – which is not constrained by the fact that [Russia] is a capitalist country, with its resulting class options; or the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the escalation of war in the Middle East, including with the encirclement, destabilization and aggression against Syria, leading to its fragmentation and destruction as a sovereign and secular State.
The ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people at the hands of Israel is particularly serious, as is the escalation of war that the latter promotes in the Middle East, with the invasion of Lebanon and the attacks on Iran or Yemen, counting on the support and protection of the USA and the other powers of NATO and the EU. This shows how far imperialism is willing to go in order to impose its intentions.
To the current worrying situation in Europe and the Middle East, and to the instigation of confrontation in Asia-Pacific, must be added the profusion of manoeuvres of external interference and destabilisation by imperialism against countries in Africa, or in Latin America and the Caribbean, notably against Cuba and Venezuela.
The struggle for peace today is a struggle for sovereignty, for democracy, for economic and social development, for a future.
The imperialist offensive, which is undergoing dangerous and rapid developments, threatens all of Humanity. It is in itself an expression of the nature of the capitalist system. However, the resistance and struggle of the workers and peoples, as well as the process of realignment of forces on a world level, are showing that imperialism does not have its hands totally free to impose its intents.
1.3 The world-wide process of realignment of forces and the struggle for sovereignty, development and social progress
The development of a vast world-wide process of realignment of forces continues. Its fundamental features are the relative decline of the USA and other imperialist powers gathered in the G7, and the economic, social and scientific-technical advances achieved by China, with its international affirmation and its resulting and important impacts and broad repercussions.
Also noteworthy is the growing economic and political weight of developing countries and their capacity for initiative on the international arena, developing bilateral relations and partnerships, as well as creating arenas for cooperation and integration on a multilateral level, with different objectives and scopes, such as BRICS (created by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and in the meantime expanded to other countries with the prospect of further enlargements), or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in addition to the existence of other important regional cooperation structures, such as the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America - Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP).
These relationships, partnerships and arenas involve cooperation of a diverse nature, configuration and stability, with contradictions that result from the different paths and economic and political realities of the countries that take part in them. But they seek to converge, among other aspects, in resisting subordination to imperialism’s domination and dependence on the institutions that it commands.
Developments in the situation of several countries, namely in Africa – where several States are seeking to free themselves from dependence on imperialist powers – and the important multilateral forums of developing countries and their growing role – such as the G77+China – reveal the increasing expression of the need and aspiration for a world freed from unequal relations, from neocolonialism, from the imposition of sanctions and blockades, from the blackmail of debt and the dollar, as well as the demand for a new, more equitable international order, based on the sovereign equality of States, on the right to development, on mutually advantageous cooperation.
In this context, it is of particular importance that a number of countries question the dollar as an international reserve and exchange currency, in particular by making payments in their own national currencies, or by seeking to use new trading systems on a bilateral and multilateral level.
This is a positive trend in the development of the international situation, which imperialism seeks to counteract at all costs.
Using powerful political, economic and military means, and media manipulation, the USA, with the support of the other major capitalist powers, promotes all kinds of pressure, threats and manoeuvres, including instrumentalizing the international financial system and applying coercive measures in the economic, commercial, financial or technological fields. They thus seek to impose the political and economic isolation of countries and peoples, to impede sovereign options for development and in international relations, and to continue, in old and new forms, their exploitation, their plunder of natural resources, and their domination over these countries.
Despite efforts to impose its policy of confrontation and war in international relations, imperialism has had to face resistance from several countries that choose to normalize international relations in compliance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and of International Law. The proposals advanced at the global level by China constitute a significant contribution to this effect.
In this worldwide process of realignment of forces, an essential role is played by China – which aims to build socialism, advances social progress, has a mixed economy, defends peace and cooperation in the world. This process has the participation of countries that are targetted by imperialism’s attempt to isolate and hinder their development. Without delusions regarding the different interests involved, it opens up space for the assertion of each country’s sovereignty concerning the paths that they choose.
Not sharing certain conceptions of a multipolar international framework – either those that reduce the process of realignment of forces to an inter-imperialist competition or those that underestimate the nature of the socio-economic systems of some of its actors – the PCP considers that the present process requires, as in all situations, the initiative and appropriate strategy and tactics by the forces that retain the goal of the revolutionary overcoming of capitalism by socialism, based on the assessment of concrete situations and on the clear definition of the main threat.
This process of realignment of forces on a worldwide scale can create alternatives for countries that want to free themselves from economic dependence, from the plunder of their resources, from the fate of underdevelopment and poverty, which are imposed by imperialism’s interference and predatory action. The future evolution of this process is objectively inseparable from the struggle for peace and against war, from the rapprochement and articulation between those who resist imperialism, from the struggle for sovereignty and the right to development, from the promotion of relations of friendship and cooperation, from the development of the struggle of the workers and peoples.
1.4 The struggle of the workers and peoples for their rights and for social and national emancipation
In a context of resistance and accumulation of forces at the world level, the international situation demonstrates that, while serious dangers arising from imperialism’s exploitative and aggressive offensive persist, the action of the workers and peoples continues, with the potential to develop the struggle for progressive and revolutionary transformations. Resistance and struggles continue in the most differentiated conditions, taking on various forms and with diverse concrete and immediate goals.
The current situation underlines the importance of the national question and its interconnection with the class question. It confirms the national framework as a decisive field of struggle and the assertion and exercise of national sovereignty as a condition to defend and achieve rights, to promote economic and social development, to move forward processes of transformation.
The convergence of the struggle of the working class and of the workers with the struggle of other anti-monopoly classes and social strata and the struggle of the peoples in defence of their rights and sovereignty and for peace are fundamental factors to broaden and diversify the forces that can, objectively, converge in the resistance to imperialism’s designs.
Reality demonstrates the need for strong, organized Communist and revolutionary parties, rooted in the working class and the popular masses; linked to their national realities; with political, ideological, social influence; with their class ideology and independence; with their communist identity and revolutionary project; with their internationalist cooperation and solidarity.
It being necessary to strengthen the unity, cooperation and solidarity of the world Communist and revolutionary movement, experience shows that the fulfilment of the national task of a Communist Party is not only its own raison d'être but also constitutes its main contribution to strengthen the international Communist and revolutionary movement and to advance the struggle for social and national emancipation on the world level.
Confronted with the violent political and ideological offensive of the ruling class – in which, among other aspects, anti-communism, the persecution and banning of Communist parties and other progressive and democratic forces, and operations to falsify history and reality abound – we continue to see situations that demonstrate solidity of analysis, firm positioning and persevering activity, but also liquidationist and social-democratizing conceptions and practices – with the abandonment of the ideological references, organisational principles and revolutionary project that characterise a Communist Party – as well as dogmatic and sectarian conceptions and practices, which point to the imposition of single models of social transformation, to the seizure of power as an immediate universal task, to organizational centralization and political and ideological homogenization in the Communist movement.
Dogmatic and sectarian conceptions and practices introduce factors of misunderstanding, mistrust and division that delay the necessary advances in strengthening the cooperation and solidarity of the world Communist and revolutionary movement, as well as in the relationship with other progressive and anti-imperialist forces, namely in the development of unity in action against the common enemy.
Reality continues to prove that the problem does not lie in differences of opinion or even disagreements – which are all the more natural in view of the complexity of the international situation and the diversity of national realities – but in methods of action that do not respect tested principles of relations between parties, such as equal rights, mutual respect, autonomy of decision, non-interference in internal affairs, mutual solidarity and frankness. It is necessary that relations at the bilateral or multilateral level between Communist parties may contribute to a more profound acquaintance and mutual understanding, to the fraternal discussion of common problems and differences of opinion, to an appreciation of what unites, thus contributing to cooperation, mutual solidarity and unity in action.
On a European level, there is a need to deepen dialogue and for common and convergent action of Communist parties, as well as between them and other progressive forces that do not surrender to neoliberalism, to militarism, to the attacks on sovereignty and democracy, to anti-communism – which are promoted within the EU. At the forefront must be the issues most felt by the workers and peoples and the struggle for a Europe of peace, cooperation between sovereign States with equal rights, social progress.
Capitalism’s worsening structural crisis and the corresponding violent imperialist offensive reinforce the need for greater articulation, cooperation and unity in action among the patriotic, progressive and revolutionary forces, within a broad anti-imperialist front that can halt imperialism’s offensive and open the way to building a new international order of peace, sovereignty and social progress. Imperialism’s offensive, promoted by the US and its allies – particularly in NATO, the EU, the G7 – represents the most serious threat confronting the workers and the peoples. In order to stand up to it, it is essential that, within a context of very different and sometimes contradictory situations, there be a confluence of the countries that, headed by Communist parties, state the goal of building socialism; of the countries that, headed by progressive forces, assume as fundamental the defence of national sovereignty and independence and the option for paths of development and social progress; of the countries that, headed by politically and ideologically diverse forces, objectively contribute to confront imperialism’s designs, even if with contradictory elements or in a momentary or restricted way; of Communist and other revolutionary parties; of the class movements and trade union organizations that fight to defend workers’ rights and interests; of the progressive and patriotic forces, which embody the defence of their peoples’ interests; of the movement for peace and solidarity; and of other mass movements with different expressions and goals, which – not being divisive or disaggregating – are part of progressive dynamics.
The international communist and revolutionary movement has a special responsibility in building social and political alliances that can contain and push back the most reactionary and aggressive sectors of imperialism and defeat the attempts at hegemonic domination by US imperialism and its allies. This goal underlines the need for rapprochement, for strengthening ties of solidarity and for the development of cooperation among the Communist parties and other revolutionary forces – with the assertion of their own goals and without diluting their identity – with other peace-loving, patriotic, democratic, progressive, anti-imperialist forces, contributing towards unity in action around immediate goals of struggle in defence of peace, sovereignty and the rights of peoples.
1.5 Socialism, the alternative to capitalism
Capitalism was not the initial system, nor is it the terminal system, in Humankind’s History. Its revolutionary overcoming and the construction of a new society, without exploiters or exploited, are a requirement of the present and of the future, which takes on increasing importance in the struggle of the workers and peoples.
Socialism is a necessity of our time. The extraordinary growth in the concentration and centralization of capital; worsening social inequalities and scourges; capitalism’s increasingly acute and irreconcilable contradictions; its inability to respond to the problems and aspirations of Humanity despite the extraordinary potential of scientific-technical development; the conflicts that it instigates and the wars that it foments in different parts of the world – all contribute to the ripening of objective conditions for the development of revolutionary processes that aim at socialism, with the phases and stages and the forms that they may come to take, in accordance with each country’s concrete situation.
The October Revolution, with its profound transformations and extraordinary historical achievements and its worldwide impact that endures to this day, was a historical experience of universal scope and inaugurated a new epoch in the history of Humanity, the epoch of the transition from capitalism to socialism.
The disappearance of the USSR and the defeats of socialism in Eastern Europe, which weighed negatively on the emancipation path of the peoples, and the systematic anti-communist campaigns aimed at denigrating the reality of the construction of socialism and what it represented in those countries, will not make us forget the extraordinary political, economic, social, cultural and scientific achievements and their role as a powerful factor of progress and world peace.
The contribution of the USSR to the great revolutionary and national liberation advances in the Twentieth Century, as well as its decisive contribution to the victory over Nazi-fascism, constitute an expression of the superiority of socialism that cannot be erased.
The evolution and today’s situation in the world show the relevance of the communist ideal and project and the need and possibility of building a new society. This goal is indicated by several countries. Millions of human beings are committed to it, and it represents the most solid prospect for the future of Humankind.
The historical process of overcoming the capitalist economic-social formation by the socialist one is not automatic. It requires:
the struggle for concrete and immediate goals; the struggle for workers ' demands; the struggle of the populations in defence of their rights and aspirations; the struggle in defence of freedoms and for a more profound democracy in its fundamental aspects – economic, social, political and cultural; asserting national sovereignty and independence; the struggle against war and to defend peace. These struggles are not contradictory, but rather part of the struggle for the more general and strategic goal of building socialism.
a policy of alliances of the working class with other anti-monopoly classes and social strata, in accordance with the tasks of each phase and stage of the process of social transformation.
the organization and creative intervention of the working class and of all workers, of the popular masses, as protagonists of the entire process of social transformation.
the essential condition of the existence of a revolutionary vanguard force capable of, in each country, leading the struggle of the workers to take power.
the establishment of a revolutionary power, bearing in mind that the question of the State is the central question in every revolution.
the creative application of Marxism-Leninism, a materialist and dialectical conception of the world, an instrument of analysis and a guide for action, which is indispensable in interpreting the world and for its revolutionary transformation.
The historical experience of struggle – with its multiple aspects and teachings both in successes and achievements and in mistakes and defeats – reveals the extraordinary complexity, irregularity and harshness of the process of social emancipation of the workers and peoples. It also demonstrated that the paths of revolution, while being diversified and following different phases and stages in different countries, obey scientific and general laws, which reality has confirmed, regarding the role of the working class, workers’ power, the nature of the State, social ownership of the main means of production, planning and, above all, the creative intervention by the popular masses.
Bearing in mind the experience of the international Communist and revolutionary movement and the experiences of the construction of socialism, it is from the concrete Portuguese reality and the Portuguese Communists’ own experience that PCP indicates the path to socialism and the fundamental characteristics of the socialist society in Portugal. Its fundamental lines – which are inseparable from the particularities that mark the history of the Portuguese people, the social reality and the international insertion of our country – are systematized in the PCP Programme "An Advanced Democracy - The Values of April in the Future of Portugal".
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