This is an appeal to those parties, organizations and publications that have not yet added their signatures to the "Call for an International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People," as well as a request that you send delegates or observers to the First World Congress in Toronto, Canada on September 21-23, 2001. The Congress will be held in English, with translations into/out of Spanish, French and Russian. As of now, there will be over 100 delegates, including more than a dozen from the Soviet Union. The Call is attached, as is the list of current signatories. If you wish to add your signature to the call, please send your organization's name to the address below by postal mail or fax, or by replying to this e-mail. If your organization can send delegate(s) or observer(s) to the Congress, please indicate the number of people who will be attending by the same methods. The Congress will be open to individuals as observers. I would highly recommend participation for those able to do so. Please excuse any duplications in this mailing. George Gruenthal Member of the Organizing Committee International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People Our Task Ahead While it is incumbent on our comrades in all of the territories of the former Soviet Union to strive with every ounce of their energy for the restoration of the Soviet Union, their task will be facilitated by fraternal solidarity and friendship from abroad as shall be the role of the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People. All those who call themselves friends of Soviet people, communists, friends and adherents of socialism, who profess and cherish the memory of the once glorious Soviet Union, have a duty to render every assistance to our Soviet comrades. They have a duty to propagate the cause of our Soviet comrades - A CAUSE WHICH IS OUR OWN! The Soviet Union at its height gave unstinting and generous fraternal support - material, political, ideological and diplomatic - to the proletarian revolutionary and national liberation movements the world over. It is now our turn to return this generosity by rendering every conceivable fraternal support to our Soviet comrades in their noble mission to re-establish the Soviet Union by overthrowing the present corrupt, filthy and rotten regime of the Russian Mafiosi and their Imperialist backers. In order that we may render this fraternal assistance, it is necessary for us to organize in the proposed International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People. I call upon you on behalf of the Organizing Committee to give your support to this project by signing the CALL and by sending your delegate(s) to the First World Congress for establishing this International Council. This International Council will not in any way take away the effectiveness and the dedication that is being waged by parties and movements in their own countries for Socialism and the resurrection of the Soviet Union. The World Congress will be held on September 21-22-23, 2001 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. On behalf of the Organizing Committee Michael Lucas Chairman Organizing Committee for an International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People 280 Queen St. W. Toronto, Ont. Canada M5V 2A1 Fax: (416) 593-0781 http://www.northstarcompass.org
To All Friends of Soviet People! Time has arrived to form an "International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People"! Dear Comrades and Friends! At the 5th NSC International Conference '98 held on February 21-22-23, 1998 in Toronto, Canada, the delegates representing Canada, USA, Cuba, Brazil, Germany, Great Britain and former Soviet Union unanimously supported the idea of electing an Organizing Committee which was entrusted with the task of promoting and organizing a Congress from September 21-23, 2001 in Toronto, Canada, where an International Council would be elected to carry on the work of the Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People. A decision was unanimously adopted that for the moment, Northstar Compass should serve as the organ of the Organizing Committee for an International Council until the First Congress shall take place in 2001 where the final decision shall be made as to the publication that will serve the needs of the International Council. Is There a Need for an International Council Now? International Conference '98 certainly felt that the need is great. Why? The birth of the Soviet Union marked the first time that the working class on this planet was able to take power for a prolonged period of time. The most significant aspect of the birth of the Soviet Union was that it served as a beacon of hope to the workers and oppressed peoples throughout the world and was, in reality, a model for all of mankind to follow. Socialism was no longer just a theory studied solely by idealists in ivory towers, hoping to make the world better. Now socialism was a living, growing political, socio-economic system followed by millions in one country and a model followed closely by millions of others throughout the world. Since the present temporary setback of the successful socialist experiment in the Soviet Union caused, first of all by Nikita Khrushchev after 1953 and ending it by Gorbachev's free market "perestroika", working people there have felt the full onslaught of capitalism. Imperialism has gained temporarily its objective. This year marks the 80th Anniversary of the movement "Hands Off Russia Committees" that sprang into life at the time (1918-1920) in support of the heroic working class of Russia and their Bolshevik Party led by V.I. Lenin and, time has now come to reassess the past and examine where we stand today in this era of rampant, brutal and mindless pillaging of our world economy by monopoly capitalism's Transnational Corporations and the present capitalist class and rulers of former Soviet Union. Across the former Soviet Union, people are dying of hunger, epidemics and wars, but Corporate America is rejoicing. Globally, USA Imperialism, the Pentagon and CIA feel free to menace Cuba, North Korea, Yugoslavia and any other country on the map. It is a known fact that the most effective weapon that capitalism-imperialism uses is the concept of divide and rule. That is why the temporary collapse of the USSR has led to an upsurge in the revival of pogroms and ethnic genocide. The former Soviet Union was the first state to create legislation against racism, anti-Semitism and national oppression and to institute equality between people of all nationalities. Since 1917, world imperialism has spent trillions of our tax dollars to undermine and overthrow Socialism in the USSR, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Yeltsin is solely supported by IMF, World Bank, and other agencies, in spite of the massacre of Soviet patriots in October of 1993. We all know that the unity of patriotic forces and the unity of Communist forces in former Soviet Union at this time unfortunately is not yet solidified and Yeltsin and his Western backers, plus internal enemies are doing everything possible to undermine, split, water down, form and reform these parties and movements. The question of unity of the working class and its allies to struggle against the present regime is the only answer for the resurrection of the Soviet Union and Socialism. We must stand in solidarity with the struggle to restore socialism and to defend the right of Soviet people to determine their own destiny, free from overt and covert U.S. intervention heading Western Imperialism through its agencies, one being NATO. When the peoples of the world needed to help in fighting Imperialism, the Soviet Union was always there to help. Now that they are struggling to restore the USSR as a socialist state, it is imperative for us to help them. Conference '98 Reaffirmed the Validity of our Path The Conference reaffirmed that Northstar Compass journal is not an organ of any political party ... and it is not the venue for ideological debates or formations. Northstar Compass was started in order to bring some semblance of information from former USSR when other publications 6 years ago were either not informed or were enamored with the "Perestroika-Glasnost" mirage being perpetuated by the turncoat Gorbachev. The Eastward thrust by NATO forces to the boundaries of Russia should awaken everyone to the potential internal intervention as was done when 14 countries invaded the young Soviet State in 1918-1920. This is an omen of very great consequences that Friends of Soviet People must counter now! It is hoped that all various Communist and Patriotic forces that are now struggling inside the former Soviet Union shall find the dedication to see the extreme danger that awaits them and the working class of the world if that elusive unity is not achieved soon. Forces of division, emplaced and backed by world monopoly capitalism using the filthy canard of new anti-Communism, are bent on the new phase of their war to end forever Socialism and the resurrection of the USSR! Until such time that the anti-Imperialist forces both inside and outside the borders of former Soviet Union and other former Peoples Democracies of Eastern Europe find the formula to unite their efforts, we feel that the formation of the "International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People" as a United Front, has a very necessary and important role to play as did our parents and grandparents when they mobilized the people of many countries of the world through the formation of the "Hands Off Russia Committees". This proposed International Council must grow on a worldwide scale, focusing on the trials and obstacles our Soviet comrades encounter each day. The participation of Soviet comrades, together with dedicated friends all over the world, could and must make the difference between victory or defeat for mankind. How Should the Mechanics of this International Council Work? It is hoped that all friends of Soviet people, either in people's organizations, parties or movements, will give their support to this "International Council" by adopting this call and by electing or appointing their representative(s) to this "Organizing Committee" and thus help in promoting, advising, and having interchange of ideas as to the formulation of the aims and purposes of the International Council and, at the same time, lend it their whole-hearted support both morally and financially to set the date and venue for calling all those representatives to gather at the First Congress where the International Council shall be elected and discussions take place for its future work and expansion. Comrades from countries that will not be able to attend shall have equal voice in the decision making for an International Council. Means shall be found to keep everyone informed and their opinions taken into account and acted upon. May We Suggest the Following Steps Be Taken? 1. We suggest that this Appeal be discussed by your group, movement, committee or party in order to make suggestions or improvements to this Call. 2. After your suggestions are received and the final Call is formulated, then we ask that as many organizations, parties, movements that support this call be informed and asked about their agreement to this Call and whether their names can be used as one of the signatories for the upcoming Congress to elect an "International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People." 3. When this Call shall go out to our mailing list, accompanying this Call will be a letter from the Organizing Committee asking them to elect/appoint a representative(s) to the Organizing Committee (which is only pro-tem), thus keeping a constant interchange of ideas and suggestions flowing. 4. After regular contacts are established and correspondence is on regular basis, then the question of compiling an enlarged list of all those organizations, parties, movements that were not contacted shall be collected. These names should be sent by you to the above address where a Master List shall be compiled. Northstar Compass (being the initiator) shall act as the publication of the Organizing Committee until the First Congress is held. Hoping to hear from you shortly, Michael Lucas Chairman
>From The Soviet Union * All Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks * All Ukrainian Movement for USSR * All Union Communist Party (B) of Ukraine * Arguments and Counter Arguments newspaper - Russia * Bolshevik Platform -CPSU * Central Committee of Communists and Bolsheviks - Azerbaijan * Central Committee of Azerbaijan Front of Left Forces * Central Committee - Party of Communists (B) Ukraine * Communist Herald journal-Ukraine * Communist Party of Russian Federation - Novocherkassk * Executive Committee of Congress of Citizens of USSR * For a Soviet State Movement of Ukraine * Georgian Association of Friendship with People * International Committee for Unity and Brotherhood of Peoples - Russia * Molniya newspaper - Russia * AUCPB, Orlov Region - Russia * Our Compass newspaper - Minsk, Byelorussia * Peoples Movement for USSR * The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine * Proletarian Gazeta newspaper in Leningrad * Russian Communist Party - CPSU * Russian Communist Workers Party * Stalin Bloc for the USSR * Socialist Choice Movement -Murmansk, Russia * Social-Political Movement, Marxist Platform and Enlightenment journal - Moscow * Stalin Bloc - Trudovaya Rossia - Russia * Union of Communist Parties CPSU * United Marxist-Leninist Party of Russia * Word of a Communist newspaper - Ukraine * Workers Ukraine - Canada Society * Workers-Farmers newspaper (AUCPB) of Ukraine * Workers-Peasants Russian Party * Young Communist League Novocherkassk - Russia * Trade Union Zashchita of Russia * United Front of National Salvation of Kuban and the Adygeya Republic - Russia * Movement of Ukraine - Lugansk >From Europe * Circolo Lenin - Italy * Centre D'Etudes Politiques et Sociales - France * Communist League of Britain * Communist Party of Finland * Communist Party of Spain (PCE(r)) * Communist Party of Sweden * Editions Democratic journal - France * La Forge newspaper - France * Kominform - Finland * Kommunistisks Partiet (KPML(r)) - Sweden * Lalkar newspaper - Great Britain * Marxist Labor Party of Germany * Michael Opperskalski -Editor of Marxist newspapers - Germany * New Communist Party of Britain * The New Worker newspaper -Britain * Parti du Travail du Belgique -Belgium * Proletaren newspaper - Sweden * Red Rebel newspaper - Scotland * Slav Committee - Prague -Czech Republic * Socialist Labor Party of Britain * Revolutionary Marxist Organization A/synechia - Greece * Union of Working People of Greece * Mass Formation of the Youth of Greece * The Stalin Society - England * Wales Section of the New Communist Party of Britain * Workers Party of Finland * Socialist Party of Romania * Scintilla - Marxist-Leninist Review - Italy >From North America * Canadian Friends of Soviet People * Northstar Compass journal * U.S. Friends of Soviet People * Society of Carpatho-Russian Canadians Gregory A. Butler, Editor and Chief Content Provider, Gangbox Construction Workers News Service * Ray O Light Group - USA * The Hammer magazine - USA * Freedom Road Socialist Organization - USA >From Central And South America * Revolutionary People's Movement of Chile * Resistencia Redskin - Colombia * Central de Trabajadores de Cuba * Chilean Committee of Friendship with Peoples of former USSR * Communist Party of Brazil * Instituto Brasilio de Cultura Socialista - Brasil * Partido Communista (Accion Proletaria) - Chile * Partido Comunista Mexicano - Mexico >From Africa * Rassemblement des Travailleurs Africains - Senegal * XAL WI - Journal du Movement et Populaire - Senegal >From Asia * Workers Party of Bangladesh * Communist Party of India (ML) * Communist Revolutionary Party of Turkey * Ila Al-Aman newspaper of Syria * Indian Council of Trade Unions - India * National Democratic Front of the Philippines * Revolutionary Communist Union of Turkey * Revolutionary Democracy journal of India * Revolutionary Left of Turkey and Kurdistan * Revolutionary Workers Party of Nepal * University of Mumbia - India >From Oceania * Communist Party of Australia * Marxist Workers Party of Australia * Marxist-Leninist Collective of New Zealand
