From La Forge
Organ of the Communist Party of the Workers of France
November 1995

Message of the Revolutionary Communist Party of the Ivory Coast
to the 4th Congress of the PCOF
(Communist Party of the Workers of France):

Ivory Coast
Ivorian Revolution

Comrades of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of the Workers of France,

Comrade delegates,
Comrade members,

[The beginning of the message contains greetings to the congress and support for the work done on "an approach to a summation of the socialist experience in the USSR" and "the analysis of the technology in the capitalist system and the evolution of the working class."]

The Revolutionary Communist Party of the Ivory Coast wages its struggle in extremely difficult conditions. We are faced with an autocratic power, a medieval obscurantism, strongly supported by imperialism, particularly French imperialism.

In spite of this situation, our party, which has only been in existence for a few years, wages a firm combat in which it seeks to carry out all the democratic tasks necessary to the advance of the conditions for the socialist revolution.

The struggle of the Ivorian people has entered a particular phase several months ago. From October to December 1995 there will be held general, presidential, legislative and municipal elections. The autocratic power has fixed conditions of elections that will guarantee its party, the Democratic Party of the Ivory Coast (PDCI), a certain "victory." While denouncing the electoral code, the reformist parties have prepared for the elections and appealed to the people to vote for their candidates. But, faced with the refusal of the autocracy to give in to their demands, these parties, in this case the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and the Assembly of Republicans (RDR) have decided to appeal for a boycott of all the elections. The taking of this position is a tactic of the opportunist leaders to present themselves in the eyes of the masses as fighters for democracy and freedom. During this time, they negotiated with the power and made concessions which renders obsolete their slogan of boycott. They have in effect passed from demanding the withdrawal of the electoral code to requesting minor modifications. However the autocratic Ivorian power, totally opposed to every overture, has finally rejected all the offers made by the reformists.

The attitude of the pro-imperialist Ivorian power since the opening of the electoral process shows that the Ivorian big bourgeoisie, counting on the support of the French bourgeoisie, is still not ready to share power with other bourgeois sections. The reformists, who were caught unprepared for such intransigence, went on to appeal to the people, who for five years have shown a real desire for change, to adventurist actions. Without any preparation and without guarantee of showing the firmness in relation to an insurrectional option, they appealed to the people to confront with bare hands the forces of repression. This has lead to the deaths of at least six people since the power gave the order to fire without warning on the demonstrators.

Our party, the PCRCI, has made a correct analysis of the repressive and anti-democratic character of the power, and has come to the conclusion that the Ivorian proletariat and people will not gain anything by participating in these elections in which the results will not be rendered by the reality of the terrain. It appeals to the workers and the people to not participate in these elections, to boycott them and to fight for a provisional revolutionary government. The activities that we are carrying on at the present moment are based on this orientation. The people are realizing as time passes that they have been deceived for five years by the reformists with their slogan of 'peaceful transition to democracy."

Conscious of the fact that the people aspire to a profound change and that the taking of positions of the PCRCI have an undeniable attraction for all those who are really engaged sincerely in the struggle for liberty and democracy, the opportunist leaders hesitate. They wished to agree to the conditions fixed by the power; it happened, that they necessarily cut themselves off from their base, thus creating conditions for an immediate and spectacular reinforcement of the revolutionary democracy. This is evidently feared by all the imperialists and the Ivorian bourgeoisie. To avoid this issue, they are obliged to radicalize their position, launching adventurist slogans which will not lead to anything good.

In either case, the conditions are developing for the people to understand that only the revolution can put an end to the current pro-imperialist dictatorship and that reforms can not do anything. The revolutionary process is being reinforced in the Ivory Coast. In the present period, in which the people are not sufficiently prepared for the confrontation and in which the reformist parties are limiting the struggle of the masses to the withdrawal of the electoral code, our party is fighting to show that, without the fall of the autocracy, there can not be free and democratic elections. One must buckle down to take advantage of the mobilization of the people to consolidate the organization of these in view of the future struggles, so that the insurrection, as the conditions progressively mature, will be a fortunate issue.

We know that you are following closely the development of this situation. The PCOF and the PCRCI have, as you know, many reasons to be particularly close to each other in the common struggle to contribute to the world proletarian revolution. Every blow struck by the PCOF against the French bourgeoisie constitutes a precious aid to the struggle of the PCRCI. In the same manner, every advance of the anti-imperialist struggle waged by the PCRCI reinforces the action of the PCOF, since this anti-imperialist struggle weakens world imperialism, French imperialism in particular.

In the expectation of the resolutions of your 4th Congress and in wishing you, dear comrades, a brilliant success in the work of your sessions, we ask you to accept the expression of our communist greetings.

Long live the Communist Party of the Workers of France!
Long live the proletarian revolution in France!
Long live proletarian internationalism!

The Central Committee of the
Revolutionary Communist Party of the Ivory Coast

Click here to return to the Ivory Coast Index