Dear comrades and friends of the Congress

Please allow me first of all at this Second World Congress for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People to greet you from the bottom of my heart and from all the readers of the French Edition of NSC.

I am very happy to be amongst you, which under present circumstances is of unprecedented importance. As President Chavez of Venezuela said at the 16^th Festival of Youth: "We face an enormous challenge, it is a fight for the rescue of the planet, threatened by the greediness of American imperialism."

This Congress marks an important evolution of our movement. It is another step towards more unity and practical cooperation. By the experience, the force of our ideas and experiments, we can share these experiences here, agree upon the coordination of the struggle and on various forms of co-operation. Thanks to this kind of approach and its success, we constantly advance in unison, efficiency and unprecedented meaning and devotion.

Already four years ago at the First World Congress we united and agreed to set us the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People. This hard task was well carried out, and the holding of this Second Congress is proof of that. We must discuss, analyse with vigour ding this Congress as to what we can do to move ahead to fulfill some of the tasks that we did not fulfill since that first congress. It is the only way to ensure the future successes and to set up even a stronger organization to help our Soviet friends in the resurrection of the USSR – to work in order to unite all the citizens in their struggle for the construction of socialism, such as existed up to 1953.

Since the First Congress enormous progress was carried out but there are still debatable positions that we must try to resolve here. If there are erroneous positions, let us indicate them, let us fully analyze them, let us have opinions and suggestions. Let us not fall into provocations.

As regards the work carried out by the International Council, I consider that the work here in Canada was immense. It goes without saying that the biggest part of the work was done by Michael Lucas and Helen Lucas, who in spite of immense difficulties always persisted in the pursuit of their activities. We congratulate them and thank them for the success and all those others who helped.

The Soviet friends in their turn started to fulfill some of the tasks that were agreed upon during the First World Congress. And this was due to the fact that the International Council was elected at this First World Congress. The Soviet comrades organized the Friendship Society and proceeded to spread the idea of this Society far and wide.

There were and still are many questions about the unity in the Communist movement. Since the First World Congress there were many splits in the communist parties in former Soviet Union and also much recrimination and misunderstanding, which also shows itself in other communist forums that are held in many countries of the word.

There are over 50 parties in Russia alone that call themselves Communist and even Bolshevik. This is one of the serious problems which the present regime of President Putin utilizes to "divide and rule".

In view of the situation in former USSR, only Marxists-Leninists that follow the teachings of Lenin and Stalin will be able to take the correct steps to resurrect the Soviet Union. In order to clarify as to the situation in former USSR and explain the dialectics in Northstar Compass, it is very important that the International Council exists and gets stronger. It is evident that there are more and more references, quotations, speeches of Stalin are quoted not only in the former Soviet Union, but all over the world.

We must infirm our readers of this truth, in order for them to understand better the necessity of the resurrection of the Soviet Union, and to show the present reality as to what is happening to the people there.

Our work asks us for total objectivity as regards the events that took place in the USSR. Our two journals and our Web Page which is very effective, thanks to George Gruenthal in New York as its Editor.

We believe in the correctness of our cause and of our struggles, and, that is why we shall not deviate under any circumstances from the road that we have chosen!

Thank you comrades for your attention.