R.YURUKOGLU MEMORIAL LECTURE 2007 

R. Yurukoglu Memorial Lecture 2007 has been held on December 1 in London. Mr Stephen Castles, Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies, University of Oxford, spoke on "Understanding the Political Economy of the New Global Workforce". The conference has been attended by a crowded and lively audience. Prof Castles' lecture can be summarised as follows:

Full Story                 15 December 2007                                Stephan Castles Lecture        MP3

BITTER REALITY OF POLITICAL ISLAM:

Lessons of 26 years of Islamic Power in IRAN

Comrade Yassamine Mather’s Yurukoglu lecture (delivered on 10^th December 2005 in London)

Thank you very much for this introduction. It is indeed a great honour that you have asked me to give this lecture especially on the occasion of the memorial lecture for comrade Yurukoglu given his  prominent role in the activities of not only the Turkish left in London but of the Middle Eastern left. (At least as far as I can gather from other Iranian comrades.)

Full Story                 15 May 2006

Labour Education Foundation Appeal

Pakistan Progressives in Need of Help

by Khalid Mahmood,  October 09, 2005

Dear Friends,

A strong earthquake, the most powerful in 100 years, hit Pakistan yesterday at 8:52 am. More than 20,000 deaths and around 50,000 injured are reported so far, toll may rise to thousands more. Due to the destruction of communication means and bad weather, actual figures are not known so far. Kashmir is the worst hit area, where many villages have been completely destroyed. NWFP province and northern areas of Pakistan are also severely hit. We in Lahore also felt strong earthquake, many huge buildings have got cracks and one three story building was collapsed.

Full Story                 19 October 2005

FIRST YUGOSLAV CONFERENCE OF COMMUNIST AND WORKERS’ PARTIES HELD

The First Yugoslav Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties has been held in Belgrade on March 26 and 27. There were present representatives of five political parties: Croatian Communists, Workers’ Communist Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, League of Communists of Yugoslavia in Serbia, League of Communists of Yugoslavia – Communists of Montenegro and Renewed Communist Party of Macedonia. Representatives of the Independent Communist Board of Slovenia were not able to attend the meeting, so they sent a message of greetings and support.

Full Story                 15 April 2005

For CooperatIon Among The Forces For Peace In The MIddle East

Joint Communication Communist Party of Israel, Palestina People’s Party and Communist Party of Jordan 

Delegations of 3 parties- the Communist Party of Israel, the Jordanian Communist Party, and the Palestinian Peoples’ Party – met on March 13, 2005 in Amman for the purpose of coordinating and cooperating in the struggle against the imperialist American strategy of the “Greater Middle East”, in other words - war, occupation, the theft of national resources, privatization, and the enslavement of the people as a cheap work force for the multinational corporations. We three parties, offer a political and social alternative, based on a socio-economic class outlook, which serves the interests of all of the peoples, and strives for peace democracy and social justice.

Full Story                 12 April 2005

Communist Manifesto – Few comments under the light of some present-day problems^[1]

Mercan Koklu, from Communist Party of Turkey 

Everyone agrees that the Communist Manifesto is the primary programmatic document for communists all over the world. It is still a guiding text. I assume that everyone has read the Communist Manifesto so I will not say a lot about the contents. I will rather limit myself and concentrate on the world market, the organisation of the world today and what Marx explained in the Communist Manifesto. I am more interested in what Marx and Engels wrote, rather than the interpretations by the modern Marxist theoreticians.

Full Story                02 March 2005

Some Questions on Marx’s thinking?

Mercan Koklu, CPT 

Anybody who has cast a look at the legal CPT’s (the previous Socialist Government Party that took up the name of CPT at their congress) programme, theses and the documents of their last congress would easily grasp that their language is foreign to Marxism. One needs special training in patience and perseverance to overcome all the burdens of reading them. I tried and still try my best to do this. I follow the writings of previous leading ‘official’ factions of CPT as well. What follows from this is that several ‘communist’, socialist groupings and parties have amazingly similar views on communism, socialism... It is hard to understand why all these comrades keep themselves so far from Marx.

Full Story                22 February 2005

The Stand of Communists vis-à-vis the European Union

Levent Dalyan 

The significance of a principled and correct approach to the question of the European Union has gained added impetus for the left movement in Turkey in general and the working class in particular at a time when the Turkish government is on the brink of commencing accession negotiations to the Union. Different sections of the left have been approaching the issue in different and sometimes diametrically opposed ways.

Full Story                22 February 2005

On the Negative Proposal of the Central Committee of AKEL

 A Uzun 

The Central Committee of AKEL met in plenary session on 9 and 10 April 2004.

General Secretary Christofias made the introductory speech. Subsequently the recommendation of the Politburo, held a short while before the CC plenum, was read. The Politburo had voted in favour of the Annan Plan with a majority of ten votes to four, with the General Secretary abstaining. Following a “debate”, the CC made a proposal consisting of 12 points to be submitted to the Pancyprean Conference to be held on 14-15 April 2004.

Full Story                14 Nisan 2004

ANNOUNCEMENT: THE TASKS OF COMMUNISTS

Communist Party of Turkey - Central Committee

The Communist Party of Turkey held a meeting in March with the participation of a number of invited active cadres. The main item on the agenda was the key tasks facing Turkish communists today. This subject was discussed at length and a number of resolutions were passed. These resolutions are binding for all comrades who submit themselves to party discipline. 

Full Story                14 Nisan 2004

ISLAMIC POLITICAL MOVEMENT

The late General Secretary of Communist Party of Turkey, comrade R. Yurukoglu, wrote this article and it was published in Turkey May 1993. The article was the evaluation of Islamist political movement from the perspective of the communists of Turkey, following the success of Islamist political movement in the guise Welfare Party (RP) n the local elections that was held in 1993. 

When this article that ends with the warning “we fear that this evil will be the cause of many more tragedies” was published, Al Qaida organisation of blind supporters of Sharia was yet to be splashed across the front pages, and atrocities such as the 11 September attack on the World Trade Centre and the Bali bomb were yet to come.

Full Story                14 Kasım 2002                                   Full Story with PDF format