The Political Bureau of the Iraqi CP issued the following statement on 25 October 2019:

Stop the Suppression of the Demonstrators Immediately!

Once again peaceful demonstrators are subjected to a bloody repression no less severe than what happened on the first of this month and afterwards, which received widespread condemnation from political and popular organisations, both local and international. After the horrific deliberate killings that took place at the time, the government promised to act differently in future.

Today these promises were to be tested. Yet what happened is another catastrophe and a new tragedy for our people and homeland, where 30 demonstrators were martyred and more than 2000 others were injured after tear gas was used intensively and intentionally to hit the protesters, in addition to the use of live and rubber bullets in several locations.

This development of events demonstrates the government's inability to fulfil its promises and provide protection to peaceful demonstrators, and to ensure the security and stability of our country. It also vindicates our party’s demand in its statement on 23 October 2019, calling for the resignation of the existing government and the formation of a new national government, characterised with integrity and given exceptional powers, away from the quota system, to stop the continuous deterioration and address the crises that are bleeding the country, and put it on the road to safety, stability, reconstruction and development.

The reprehensible repression that has taken place in Iraq today must stop immediately. We call on the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament and the judiciary to take an immediate serious step to get the country out of its crisis.  Otherwise, they bear the historical responsibility for what is happening now and what is going to happen tomorrow in our dear homeland.

This condemned repression must stop immediately!

25/10/2019

Iraqi Communist Party

Statement of the party’s Central Committee:It is time to form a government

that responds to the demands of the people

4-10-2019

For the fourth consecutive day, crowds in Baghdad and many other provinces and cities took to the streets, continuing their legitimate protest movement and confronting live bullets and other forms of excessive violence that led to the death of dozens of martyrs and hundreds of wounded among demonstrators and security forces.

Reaffirming our support for this peaceful mass uprising and our support for the legitimate demands of the protesters, we stress at the same time the need for halting the violence against them.

In this context, and in response to the demands of the protesters, we believe that the time has come to move towards the option of forming a government with exceptional powers, that includes figures known for their patriotism, competence and integrity, and away from the abhorrent power-sharing quota approach. This government should address, as soon as it assumes power, the urgent and  pressing tasks, including:

- To declare the victims of the protests as martyrs of the people and release all the detainees among the demonstrators.

- To maintain and provide security and take effective measures to put arms exclusively under the control of the state.

- To begin serious and concrete measures to combat corruption, and to bring those accused of it on all levels, especially the most corrupt, to justice.

- To begin a major campaign to build decent economic houses and distribute them to the poor and all those who do not have homes for their families.

- To form the Public Service Council and entrust it all the appointments in the state, to ensure fair access to job opportunities for all the citizens.

- To allocate monthly salaries to poor citizens and unemployed youth, saving them from want and misery.

- To abolish unjustified ‘special grades’.

- To reduce the salaries of the three presidencies (the President, PM and Speaker of Parliament), ministers, members of Parliament and ‘special grades’ by at least 50%, and abolishing all unjustified privileges and allocations.

- To adopt an immediate and rapid program to promote the productive sectors, which would provide job opportunities.

These and other urgent measures can reassure the inflamed Iraqi society and meet people's legitimate and urgent demands.

In order to achieve this, the pace and momentum of the protest movement must be increased, along with a commitment to maintain its peacefulness.

We renew our position in support of the just and legitimate demands of the masses of our people, and participation in its continuing movement.

Glory to the martyrs and speedy recovery to the wounded

Glory to our Iraqi people

Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party

Mass protests are a Warning to the System

of Power-Sharing Quota and Corruption

The widespread nationwide popular protests that are continuing since they began on 1st October 2019, have served as a real warning to the government and dominant political forces, that are responsible for the tragic situation in the country and the dire living conditions of the citizens, especially the poor, toilers and youth, and its repercussions demonstrated by the current state of unprecedented anger. This makes it an urgent matter that sweeping fundamental reforms should be taken at various political, economic and social levels. The government is therefore today facing the moment of truth in the full sense of the word, and it must take urgent serious and just measures, which the people are expecting and demanding.

The events of the past two days in Baghdad and a number of other cities have confirmed that the power-sharing quota approach followed by the political process does not lead to any solutions, but rather perpetuates and exacerbates crises, and does not provide a minimum level of social justice. Today, the depth of the gap between the masses of the people and this system and the rampant corruption has been exposed. The power-sharing quota cannot address the big daily problems and recurrent crises, economic, social and others, and cannot ensure the constitutional rights of the people and listen to their just demands. To make matters worse, the calls by the people for justice are often ignored and sometimes are even met with violence.

As we follow the ongoing disturbing developments in our dear homeland, we feel the need to affirm the following principles and measures:

• Peaceful demonstrations are a constitutional right that must not be violated, under any pretext or justification.
• The duty of state institutions, including the military and security, is to provide protection to demonstrators and protesters.
• We condemn and denounce the acts of repression and violence against the demonstrators, whatever their means: live or rubber bullets, helicopters, hot water, arrests, indecent and insulting words, etc. We call for the setting up of a broad commission of inquiry, that includes civil society organisations and representatives of the protesters, and to hold accountable those who gave orders to use violence and live bullets and bring them to justice.
• It is imperative to immediately stop the security forces from pursuing the wounded to hospitals, and to release the detainees, in addition to declaring the fallen demonstrators as martyrs of the people and Iraq.
• Maintaining the peaceful character of the demonstrations and protests in all its forms, and ensuring the protection of public and personal property, is a source of strength for the demonstrators and protesters. The peacefulness of the protest movement must therefore be maintained.
• It is necessary to summon the Prime Minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the ministers and the heads of the security services to discuss the current developments in an emergency session of the Parliament.
• Our party has been and continues to extend solidarity, providing support and participating with the masses in their just demands. It will always stand by their side and fight to provide a decent and secure life.

 We renew our party's stance of siding fully with the just and peaceful demands of the citizens, opening spaces for radical change, ending the system of power-sharing quotas and corruption, and achieving the patriotic alternative of building a state based on citizenship, democracy and social justice.

We salute the memory of the martyrs and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.

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بعد أفول نجم الدولة العثمانية ، واحتلال بريطانيا للعراق عام 1914 -1917 ، وبفعل انتشار أفكار المدرسة الماركسية في أوربا وتحول بعض النقابات العمالية إلى أحزاب عمالية يسارية متأثرة بالحركات الجارتية لعام 1848، وفي أثر الظلام الذي ولده الحكم العثماني للشعوب المحتلة ، ان لاقت الأفكار اليسارية الجديدة القبول لدى شعوب الشرق،  خاصة لدى الشباب ، رغم خشية رجال الدين من انتشار هذه الأفكار مطلع القرن العشرين وتبنيهم نهجا معاديا لها ، غير ان الظروف التي احاطت بتورة 30 حزيران 1920( ثورة العشرين ) وقيام بعض الحركات اليسارية بالاسهام فيها رغم قياداتها الدينية ، ان اتضح الفرز بين أهداف الثوار، فقد كان الإسلاميون يرون أن الاحتلال البريطاني هو عمل ضد دولة اسلامية، غزو صليبي، في حين رأى الشبان وخاصة ذوي الميول اليسارية على انه احتلال استعماري يهدف إلى سرقة واستنزاف دول المشرق ، وهكذا بدأ الخلاف يظهر بين اليسار الذي ابتعد عن الحكم الجديد الذي تزعمته جنرالات تدربت وتعلمت في اسطنبول ، وبين اليمين الذي التحق بادارة دولة الاحتلال وتعاون مع العسكر الحاكم ، ومن بين كل هذا الكم المتلاطم من التيارات ، وبفعل ظلم الاقطاع القديم الموروث عن الدولة العثمانية وكذلك الاقطاع الجديد المتحالف مع المحتل البريطاني الذي منحه امتيازات استغلال الاراضي الاميرية ، وظهور نواة الطبقة العاملة بعد استخراج النفط وقيام بعض المعامل والورش التي تقوم بتلبية احتياجات الجيش البريطاني ، ان بدأت ملامح التكوين الطبقي في العراق . وتبلورت الافكار الخام المناوئة للاستعمار لدى بعض الشباب لتلتقي بفعل عوامل كثيرة مشكلة هنا وهناك تنظيمات يسارية مناوئة للاقطاع ومناوئة للاحتلال ومبصرة بالمستقبل الجديد للعراق . وهذه التنظيمات ما لبثت ان اضحت مترابطة بفعل وحدة الفكر ووحدة الهدف ممهدة السبيل لقيام الحزب الشيوعي في العراق عام 1934 .

ان للأفكار الواقعية التي يحملها القادة الشيوعيون والاصطفاف الطبقي الذي بدأ يتشكل في اواسط الثلاثينات وقيام الرأسمالية بالتعاون مع الإنكليز ببناء المصانع وقيام المحتل بمساعدة الحكومات المتتابعة بإنشاء البريد وبناء السكك الحديدية والموانئ لتسهيل إمدادات الجيش البريطاني وتسهيل مراسلاته  ان تشكلت النقابات العمالية بفعل تنظيم واضح للحزب الشيوعي العراقي ،وامتدت جذور هذه النقابات إلى شركات النفط ، وبسبب ظروف العمل والعوائد الكبيرة التي تحصدها الشركات ان قامت الخلافات بين إدارات الشركات المستقلة وبين العمال ، مما دفعت بالحزب في الكثير من الأحيان للدفع بقيام الإضرابات والاعتصامات لغرض حصول العمال على حقوقهم ، وهكذا وبعد ان توسعت قواعد الحزب الشعبية لتمتد الى الطلبة بعد العمال والى الفلاحين بعد الطلبة .  وان الحزب في الاربعينات والخمسينات كان قد أغلق مناطق كبيرة لصالح تنظيماته وخاصة في الوسط والجنوب ، وبفعل الظروف الموضوعية انذاك فقد كان الحزب الشيوعي العراقي من بين كل الاحزاب العراقية هو الحزب الوحيد صاحب القواعد المريدة دون تنظيم ، بتعبير اخر كان الولاء له  تلقائيا وعفويا لأنه كان يمثل امال وتطلعات الكادحين .  ولقد كانت لتنظيماته العسكرية ادوارا كبيرة في التأثير الايجابي على الجيش وتحركاته .  ومن خلال عمره السياسي الطويل وبسبب خبرة قادته ان قاد الحزب المظاهرة تلو المظاهرة ضد هذه المعاهدة او تلك الاتفاقية ، او ذلك العدوان الثلاثي الاستعماري على مصر عام 1956 ، ولقد كان للمحتل واتباعه اليد الطولى في السيطرة على مقدرات الشعب مما كان يدفع بالحزب رغم عمله السري ان يطفو على السطح معارضا لهذا القانون او ذاك القرار ، وردا على ذلك  تقوم الحكومات  المتعاقبة بزج  قادته  في غياهب السجون ، او تعدم زعماءه . ولقد كان لكل ذلك العمل السري المنظم ان مهد السبيل لقيام جبهة الاتحاد الوطني قبل عام 1958، التي بدورها اضافة الى تحركات الضباط الاحرار ان مهد السبيل لقيام ثورة 14 تموز الخالدة .

ان المؤرخ المنصف لا يمكنه أن يفصل حركة 14 تموز عن  نضال الحزب الشيوعي العراقي قبل غيره من الاحزاب ، من دون نكران  دور التنظيمات الاخرى ، ولكن أفكار الحزب وأهدافه كانت منصبة على معاداة المحتل كونه مستغل لثروات الشعوب وكونه معاديا لحركات التحرر التي كانت تطالب  بحرية الشعوب واستقلال بلدانها. 

ان الباحث في الاحزاب السياسية، يجد نفسه مجبرا على الدخول في حركة هذا الحزب الدائبة رغم عمله السري او الضربات الموجعة التي تلقاها من جميع الحكومات والعهود ، لكنه كان ينهض بنشاط يثير استغراب المراقبين والذي كانت له بصماته  في تاريخ العراق الحديث ، وله اليوم رأي مسموع على مدى الساحة السياسية بسبب تراكم الخبرة لديه ولالتصاقهة بالناس، التي كانت ولا تزال تكن الاحترام لثورة تموز.