# International Communist Seminar

The International Communist Seminar (ICS) was an annual communist conference held in May in Brussels, Belgium. It was organized by the Workers' Party of Belgium (WPB).
In 1992, Ludo Martens, leader of the WPB initiated the conference, which gathered various tendencies of Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations. He is noted for having proposed the unification of the four main tendencies of the Marxist-Leninist movement. These are the pro-Soviet groups, the pro-Chinese, the pro-Albanian, and pro-Cuban. Around 200 organizations of Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe have taken part in it. For four years, from 1992 to 1995, the ICS worked on identifying "the true causes of the capitalist restoration in Soviet Union" and in Eastern Europe and to draw lessons from it for the future.
The last seminar took place in June 2014. The member parties have largely been absorbed into International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties.

## Annual conference

Themes of the recent ICS Conferences:
* 2014: 100 years after World War I – The world in 2014
* 2013: The attacks on the democratic rights and freedoms in the world capitalist crisis
* 2011: The strengthening of communist parties in times of a deepening capitalist systemic crisis
* 2006: Present and past experiences in the international communist movement: "The impact of the Communist International on the founding and the development of the communist parties in particular countries", "The exchange of concrete experiences of Party work in the working class and among the youth"
* 2005: Internationalist experiences and tasks of Communists in the struggle against imperialism
* 2004: The strategy and tactics of the struggle against global US imperialist war
* 2003: The Marxist-Leninist Party and the anti-imperialist Front facing the war
* 2002: Economical crises and the possibility of a major world crisis
* 2001: The world socialist revolution in the conditions of imperialist globalization.
* 2000: Imperialism, fascization and fascism
* 1999: Imperialism means war
* 1998: The working class, its leading role, new forms of exploitation and experiences of struggle and organization.
* 1997: The way of the October revolution is the way of the liberation of the workers
* 1996: The anti-imperialist struggle under the New World Order.

## Participating parties

* Afghanistan, People's Party of Afghanistan
* Algeria, Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism
* Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Communist Party
* Belarus, Belarusian Communist Workers' Party
* Belgium, Workers' Party of Belgium
* Benin, Communist Party of Benin
* Brazil, Communist Party of Brazil
* Brazil, Free Homeland Party
* Bulgaria, Party of Bulgarian Communists
* China, Communist Party of China
* Colombia, Colombian Communist Party
* Cuba, Communist Party of Cuba
* Cyprus, Progressive Party of Working People
* Denmark, Communist Party of Denmark
* Denmark, Communist Party in Denmark
* France, Union of Revolutionary Communists of France
* France, Pole of Communist Revival in France
* Germany, German Communist Party
* Greece, Communist Party of Greece
* Hungary, Hungarian Workers' Party
* Iran, Tudeh Party of Iran
* Ireland, Workers' Party
* Laos, Lao People's Revolutionary Party
* Latvia, Socialist Party of Latvia
* Lebanon, Lebanese Communist Party
* Lithuania, Socialist People's Front
* Luxembourg, Communist Party of Luxembourg
* Malta, Communist Party of Malta
* Mexico, Popular Socialist Party of Mexico
* Netherlands, New Communist Party of the Netherlands
* North Korea, Workers' Party of Korea
* Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
* Palestine, Palestinian Communist Party
* Philippines, Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930
* Portugal, Portuguese Communist Party
* Russia, Communist Party of the Russian Federation
* Russia, Russian Communist Workers' Party of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
* Russia, Communist Party of the Soviet Union (2001)
* Serbia, New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
* South Sudan, Communist Party of South Sudan
* Spain, Communist Party of Spain
* Spain, Spanish Communist Workers' Party
* Spain, Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
* Sri Lanka, People's Liberation Front
* Sweden, Communist Party
* Switzerland, Swiss Party of Labour
* Switzerland, Communist Party of Southern Switzerland
* Switzerland, Communist Party of Geneva - "Les Communistes"
* Taiwan, Labor Party
* Tunisia, Democratic Patriots' Party
* Turkey, Communist Party of Turkey
* Turkey, Labour Party
* Ukraine, Union of Communists of Ukraine
* United Kingdom, Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist)
* USA, Freedom Road Socialist Organization
* Venezuela, Communist Party of Venezuela
* Vietnam, Communist Party of Vietnam