At 11.30 A.M., on 15th November, 41 delegates, including three women delegates, assembled in the Conference hall for the first session. A COC member delivered the welcome address inviting the delegates drawn from the state units of AP, North Telangana, Dandakaranya, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana and a few other regions and the fraternal delegate from the CPI (M-L) (Party Unity). Briefly referring to the many ups and downs in the revolutionary movement and the various splits in the M-L Party, the welcome address brought out the immense significance of the present All India Special Conference almost after a quarter of a century following the 8th Congress of the Party in May 1970.
The Secretary of the COC then introduced the delegates to the entire house, giving a brief resume of the political history and Party standing of each of them. The delegates came to the dais, one by one as they were called out, and saluted the house. The house then elected a three-member presidium from among the delegates to conduct the Conference deliberations and they were invited to the rostrum.
In the afternoon session, the COC secretary delivered the inaugural address. Outlining the history of the revolutionary movement in India since the formation of the CPI (M-L), he pointedly brought out the actual context of the present Special Conference of the Party. Starting from the intensifying onslaught of the enemy forces and growing momentum of the armed resistance of the peasantry in the struggle areas, taking an over-view of the increasing instability and internal squabbles of the ruling classes and the quagmire of parliamentary politics in India, and drawing attention to the international scene of ripening rivalries among major imperialist powers, and finally focussing on the existing excellent revolutionary situation, the inaugural address urged the delegates to bear in mind the crucial significance of the times and thoroughly deliberate the Conference documents, and other items of the agenda. He fervently hoped that the house will formulate necessary tasks and adopt appropriate decisions to achieve unification of revolutionaries, to extend and fortify the Party and to advance the revolutionary movement throughout the country to further heights.
The fraternal delegate from the CPI (M-L) (Party Unity) then addressed the delegates. He particularly recounted the long-standing close fraternal links between our two parties, the common features in the struggles and development of the revolutionary movements led by both the parties and dwelt at length on the immediate task of unifying all genuine revolutionaries into a single Party to make the best use of the growing revolutionary situation and achieve victory.
Afterwards, the house adopted two separate detailed resolutions one paying homage to martyrs and the other sending revolutionary greetings to the comrades incarcerated in various jails inside the country as well as in other countries such as Peru, Philippines, Turkey, Bangladesh, Nepal etc. The Conference demanded that all political prisoners including comrade Gonzalo be released immediately unconditionally. The resolution specially hailed the recent successful historic struggles of the political prisoners in AP jails, who successfully rallied not only the entire prisoners in all the AP jails and co-ordinated their hunger-strikes, but also stirred the democratic-minded people outside into action, who formed a Joint Action Committee for Democratic Rights (JACDR), staged dharnas and stood firmly behind the jail struggles. The resolution hoped "the jail struggles will become part of the New Democratic Revolution" and said it awaits "the day you will break your chains and come and join with us..." The house decided to adopt later a separate resolution demanding the release of comrade Gonzalo.
Then, the Steering Committee--all the seven members of the out-going COC-- were invited to take their seats on the dais. After discussing and deciding on the voting procedures and the actual manner of proceeding with the deliberations, the inaugural session was concluded late in the evening.
Draft Agenda was presented by the Steering Committee in the morning session on 16.11.'95 and was adopted with a few additions. From then on three sessions were held every day from 8.30 A.M., to 12.30 P.M., from 2.30 P.M., to 6.00 P.M., and from 6.30 P.M., to 9.30 P.M. Four documents--the Party Programme & Constitution; Strategy and Tactics; the Political Resolution and the Political and Organisational Review --were discussed thread-bare and adopted with some amendments. Apart from these, a special resolution adopting the Self-Critical Report of 1980 was passed. The delegates detailedly discussed and expressed their opinions on another document "The Indian Revolutionary War - Guerilla Zones" and authorised the next CC to finalise it. The Conference heard the detailed accounts of income and expenditure of the Party for the period 1990-'95 and approved them on 28.11.'95. The new CC was authorised to formulate and adopt a detailed "Financial Policy" document in consultation with the state committees. All the members of the COC individually offered their self-criticism, followed by their further response to the criticism levelled by the delegates. After a brief recess when the session re-assembled the Steering Committee presented a panel of nine-members and five alternative members for election to the new CC which the house accepted unanimously after due discussion.
On the final day the Conference adopted seven special resolutions, viz., (i) On expulsions; (ii) Hailing National Liberation Struggles and workers struggles throughout the world; (iii) condemning imperialist propaganda against Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought; (iv) Hailing revolutionary struggles of other countries; (v) supporting nationality struggles in India; (vi) demanding com. Gonzalo's release; and (vii) calling for united struggle against Indian expansionism. Then the fraternal delegate made his concluding speech in which he commended the disciplined way of conducting the camp and the high level of political maturity and the systematic method in the conduct of deliberations. With a vote of thanks by the Presidium, the deliberations of the Conference were successfully concluded.