BAGHDAD, May 21 (IslamOnline.net) - The Iraqi communist party made a comeback in postwar Iraq with an anti-occupation and pro-secular government agenda.

Hoping that its Marxist ideas would find a place on the country’s political landscape, the party’s activities started rolling again, taking one government building as its headquarters.

“The Iraqi communist party is one of Iraq’s ancient parties. It was established in 1933, carrying the indelible banners of defending the country’s proletariat,” Shaker al-Degeli, the party spokesman told IslamOnline.net correspondent Tuesday, May 20.

“We see ourselves as the legitimate heirs to the traditions of the Iraqi people and do respect Iraq’s different religions and ideologies,” he said.

Degeli denied that the leadership of the party is exclusive to Sunni Muslims, noting that the head of the party, Hamid Maguid Moussa, is a Shiite.

Asked about the party’s platform given the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in most of the Eastern Bloc, he said that the idea of communism had not collapsed but the regimes did.

“Marxism is a scientific philosophy that worth being followed as a panacea for all problems of world peoples, including the Iraqis,” said Degeli.

On the future of postwar Iraq, he said the party “envisages a secular federal country that places all Iraqi communities on equal footing.”

“Unity must be based on political and geographical basis and not an administrative one,” he added.

“To that end, all Iraqi national powers inside and outside the country should hold a general congress to set up a national Iraqi government and draw up a permanent constitution for the country.”

No To Occupation

The Iraqi communist party spokesman also made no secret of his opposition to the U.S.-led occupation, noting that Saddam could have been toppled by Iraqi national powers, if they had been politically and internationally supported.

“We are capable of running our country without a foreign trusteeship, but the reality tells us that Iraq is under occupation and we have to wait until the occupation authority meet its commitments and restore order and stability to the country.”

Asked whether or not the leaders of the party took part in one of the conferences grouping Iraqi opposition leaders and the occupation forces, Degeli said the party has not yet contacted the U.S.-led forces.

The communist party spokesman said the aforesaid parties are not enough to represent the Iraqi people, asserting that they themselves and the occupation forces were convinced of that.

“We are in contact with those parties to hold an all-inclusive national congress contrary to the one called by the occupation forces to unanimously set up a new government,” he said.

On the party’s activities in the anarchy-mired country, Degeli said the party’s main focus now is to raise the public awareness, noting it had a local radio station transmitting for four hours a day in addition to a Tareek Al-Shaab (the road of people) newspaper.

Degeli said that the communist party supervises garbage-collecting campaigns and organizes some patrols to maintain security.