THE POLEMIC ON THE GENERAL LINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST MOVEMENT From Marx to Mao ML © Digital Reprints 2006 THE POLEMIC ON THE GENERAL LINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST MOVEMENT FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS PEKING 1965 THE POLEMIC ON THE GENERAL LINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST MOVEMENT FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS Printed in the People¹s Republic of China C O N T E N T S A PROPOSAL CONCERNING THE GENERAL LINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST MOVEMENT The Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Reply to the Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of March 30, 1963 (June 14, 1963) THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CPSU AND OURSELVES Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (September 6, 1963) THE DIFFERENCES BEGAN WITH THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE CPSU THE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE CPSU THE 1957 MOSCOW MEETING OF FRATERNAL PARTIES THE GROWTH OF THE REVISIONISM OF THE CPSU LEADERSHIP THE SURPRISE ASSAULT ON THE CPC BY THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CPSU THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TWO LINES AT THE 1960 MEETING OF FRATERNAL PARTIES THE REVISIONISM OF THE CPSU LEADERSHIP BECOMES SYSTEMATIZED AN ADVERSE CURRENT THAT IS OPPOSED TO MARXISM- LENINISM AND IS SPLITTING THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST MOVEMENT WHAT HAVE THE FACTS OF THE PAST SEVEN YEARS DEMONSTRATED? Appendix I Outline of Views on the Question of Peaceful Transition (November 10, 1957) Appendix II Statement of the Delegation of the Communist Party of China at the Bucharest Meeting of Fraternal Parties (June 26, 1960) 1 55 59 67 70 75 79 83 89 93 99 105 109 Appendix III The Five Proposals for Settlement of the Differences and Attainment of Unity Contained in the Letter of the Central Committee of the CPC in Reply to the Letter of Information of the Central Committee of the CPSU (September 10, 1960) ON THE QUESTION OF STALIN Second Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (September 13, 1963) IS YUGOSLAVIA A SOCIALIST COUNTRY? Third Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (September 26, 1963) THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE CAPITAL IN YUGOSLAV CITIES YUGOSLAV COUNTRYSIDE SWAMPED BY CAPITALISM THE DEGENERATION OF SOCIALIST ECONOMY OWNED BY THE WHOLE PEOPLE INTO CAPlTALIST ECONOMY A DEPENDENCY OF U.S. IMPERIALISM A COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY SPECIAL DETACHMENT OF U.S. IMPERIALISM THE DEGENERATION OF THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT INTO THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE BOURGEOISIE THE PRINCIPLEED STAND OF THE CPC ON THE QUESTION OF YUGOSLAVIA HAS TITO ³REMOVED HIS ERRORS²? OR DOES KHRUSHCHOV REGARD TITO AS HIS TEACHER? BRIEF CONCLUSION APOLOGISTS OF NEO-COLONIALISM Fourth Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (October 22, 1964) ABOLITION OF THE TASK OF COMBATING IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM PRESCRIPTIONS FOR ABOLISHING THE REVOLUTION OF THE OPPRESSED NATIONS OPPOSITION TO WARS OF NATIONAL LIBERATION THE AREAS IN WHICH CONTEMPORARY WORLD CONTRADICTIONS ARE CONCENTRATED 113 115 139 145 147 154 161 166 171 175 177 181 185 188 193 197 200 DISTORTION OF THE LENINIST VIEW OF LEADERSHIP IN THE REVOLUTION THE PATH OF NATIONALISM AND DEGENERATION AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL-CHAUVINISM AGAINST THE ³THEORY OF RACISM² AND THE ³THEORY OF THE YELLOW PERIL² RESURRECTING THE OLD REVISIONISM IN A NEW GUISE TWO DIFFERENT LINES ON THE QUESTION OF WAR AND PEACE Fifth Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (November 19, 1963) THE LESSONS OF HISTORY THE GREATEST FRAUD THE QUESTION OF THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING A NEW WORLD WAR NUCLEAR FETISHISM AND NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL ARE THE THEORETICAL BASIS AND GUIDING POLICY OF MODERN REVISIONISM FIGHT OR CAPITULATE? THE ROAD IN DEFENCE OF PEACE AND THE ROAD LEADING TO WAR PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE ‹ TWO DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED POLICIES Sixth Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (December 12, 1963) LENIN AND STALIN¹S POLICY OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA UPHOLDS LENIN¹S POLICY OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE THE GENERAL LINE OF ³PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE² OF THE CPSU LEADERS THREE DIFFERENCES OF PRINCIPLE THE CPSU LEADERS¹ GENERAL LINE OF ³PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE² CATERS TO U.S. IMPERIALISM SOVIET-U S. COLLABORATION IS THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE CPSU LEADERS¹ GENERAL LINE OF ³PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE² A FEW WORDS OF ADVICE TO THE LEADERS OF THE CPSU 203 206 209 212 216 221 224 230 235 242 249 254 259 262 270 275 278 289 295 300 THE LEADERS OF THE CPSU ARE THE GREATEST SPLITTERS OF OUR TIMES Seventh Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (February 4, 1964) A REVIEW OF HISTORY EXPERIENCE AND LESSONS THE GREATEST SPLITTERS OF OUR TIMES REFUTATION OF THE CHARGE OF BEING ANTI-SOVIET REFUTATION OF THE CHARGE OF SEIZING THE LEADERSHIP REFUTATION OF THE CHARGE OF FRUSTRATING THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY AND VIOLATING INTERNATIONAL DISCIPLINE REFUTATION OF THE CHARGE OF SUPPORTING THE ANTI-PARTY GROUPS OF FRATERNAL PARTIES THE PRESENT PUBLIC DEBATE THE WAY TO DEFEND AND STRENGTHEN UNITY THE PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION AND KHRUSHCHOV¹S REVISIONISM Eighth Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (March 31, 1964) A DISCIPLE OF BERNSTEIN AND KAUTSKY VIOLENT REVOLUTION IS A UNIVERSAL LAW OF PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION OUR STRUGGLE AGAINST KHRUSHCHOV¹S REVISIONISM SOPHISTRY CANNOT ALTER HISTORY LIES CANNOT COVER UP REALITY REFUTATION OF THE ³PARLIAMENTARY ROAD² REFUTATION OF ³OPPOSITION TO LEFT OPPORTUNISM² TWO DIFFERENT LINES. TWO DIFFERENT RESULTS FROM BROWDER AND TITO TO KHRUSHCHOV OUR HOPES ON KHRUSHCHOV'S PHONEY COMMUNISM AND ITS HISTORICAL LESSONS FOR THE WORLD Ninth Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (July 14, 1964) SOCIALIST SOCIETY AND THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT 303 306 313 318 326 331 336 341 348 354 359 362 366 370 375 382 388 392 399 403 411 415 418 ANTAGONISTIC CLASSES AND CLASS STRUGGLE EXIST IN THE SOVIET UNION THE SOVIET PRIVILEDGED STRATUM AND THE REVISIONIST KHRUSHCHOV CLIQUE REFUTATION OF THE SO-CALLED STATE OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE REFUTATION OF THE SO-CALLED PARTY OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE KHRUSHCHOV¹S PHONEY COMMUNISM HISTORICAL LESSONS OF THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT WHY KHRUSHCHOV FELL (November 21, 1964) APPENDICES THE LETTER OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPSU TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPC (March 30, 1963) OPEN LETTER OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION TO ALL PARTY ORGANISATIONS, TO ALL COMMUNISTS OF THE SOVIET UNION (July 14, 1963) 428 436 444 453 459 467 481 495 526 A PROPOSAL CONCERNING THE GENERAL LINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST MOVEMENT The Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Reply to the Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of March 30, 1963 (June 14, 1963) 3 June 14, 1963 The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Dear Comrades, The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has studied the letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of March 30, 1963. All who have the unity of the socialist camp and the international communist movement at heart are deeply concerned about the talks between the Chinese and Soviet Parties and hope that our talks will help to eliminate differences, strengthen unity and create favourable conditions for convening a meeting of representatives of all the Communist and Workers¹ Parties. It is the common and sacred duty of the Communist and Workers¹ Parties of all countries to uphold and strengthen the unity of the international communist movement. The Chinese and Soviet Parties bear a heavier responsibility for the unity of the entire socialist camp and international communist movement and should of course make commensurately greater efforts. A number of major differences of principle now exist in the international communist movement. But however serious these differences, we should exercise sufficient patience and find ways to eliminate them so that we can unite our forces and strengthen the struggle against our common enemy. It is with this sincere desire that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approaches the forthcoming talks between the Chinese and Soviet Parties. In its letter of March 30, the Central Committee of the CPSU systematically presents its views on questions that need 4 to be discussed in the talks between the Chinese and Soviet Parties, and in particular raises the question of the general line of the international communist movement. In this letter we too would like to express our views, which constitute our proposal on the general line of the international communist movement and on some related questions of principle. We hope that this exposition of views will be conducive to mutual understanding by our two Parties and to a detailed, point-by-point discussion in the talks. We also hope that this will be conducive to the understanding of our views by the fraternal Parties and to a full exchange of ideas at an international meeting of fraternal Parties. 1. The general line of the international communist movement must take as its guiding principle the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory concerning the historical mission of the proletariat and must not depart from it. The Moscow Meetings of 1957 and 1960 adopted the Declaration and the Statement respectively after a full exchange of views and in accordance with the principle of reaching unanimity through consultation. The two documents point out the characteristics of our epoch and the common laws of socialist revolution and socialist construction, and lay down the common line of all the Communist and Workers¹ Parties. They are the common programme of the international communist movement. It is true that for several years there have been differences within the international communist movement in the understanding of, and the attitude towards, the Declaration of 1957 and the Statement of 1960. The central issue here is whether or not to accept the revolutionary principles of the Declaration and the Statement. In the last analysis, it is a question of whether or not to accept the universal truth of Marxism- Leninism, whether or not to recognize the universal significance of the road of the October Revolution, whether or not 5 to accept the fact that the people still living under the imperialist and capitalist system, who comprise two-thirds of the world¹s population, need to make revolution, and whether or not to accept the fact that the people already on the socialist road, who comprise one-third of the world¹s population, need to carry their revolution forward to the end. It has become an urgent and vital task of the international communist movement resolutely to defend the revolutionary principles of the 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement. Only by strictly following the revolutionary teachings of Marxism-Leninism and the general road of the October Revolution is it possible to have a correct understanding of the revolutionary principles of the Declaration and the Statement and a correct attitude towards them. 2. What are the revolutionary principles of the Declaration and the Statement? They may be summarized as follows: Workers of all countries, unite; workers of the world, unite with the oppressed peoples and oppressed nations; oppose imperialism and reaction in all countries; strive for world peace, national liberation, people¹s democracy and socialism; consolidate and expand the socialist camp; bring the proletarian world revolution step by step to complete victory; and establish a new world without imperialism, without capitalism and without the exploitation of man by man. This, in our view, is the general line of the international communist movement at the present stage. 3. This general line proceeds from the actual world situation taken as a whole and from a class analysis of the fundamental contradictions in the contemporary world, and is directed against the counter-revolutionary global strategy of U.S. imperialism. This general line is one of forming a broad united front, with the socialist camp and the international proletariat as its 6 nucleus, to oppose the imperialists and reactionaries headed by the United States; it is a line of boldly arousing the masses, expanding the revolutionary forces, winning over the middle forces and isolating the reactionary forces. This general line is one of resolute revolutionary struggle by the people of all countries and of carrying the proletarian world revolution forward to the end; it is the line that most effectively combats imperialism and defends world peace. If the general line of the international communist movement is one-sidedly reduced to ³peaceful coexistence², ³peaceful competition² and ³peaceful transition², this is to violate the revolutionary principles of the 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement, to discard the historical mission of proletarian world revolution, and to depart from the revolutionary teachings of Marxism-Leninism. The general line of the international communist movement should reflect the general law of development of world history. The revolutionary struggles of the proletariat and the people in various countries go through different stages and they all have their own characteristics, but they will not transcend the general law of development of world history. The general line should point out the basic direction for the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat and people of all countries. While working out its specific line and policies, it is most important for each Communist or Workers¹ Party to adhere to the principle of integrating the universal truth of Marxism- Leninism with the concrete practice of revolution and construction in its own country. 4. In defining the general line of the international communist movement, the starting point is the concrete class analysis of world politics and economics as a whole and of actual world conditions, that is to say, of the fundamental contradictions in the contemporary world. 7 If one avoids a concrete class analysis, seizes at random on certain superficial phenomena, and draws subjective and groundless conclusions, one cannot possibly reach correct conclusions with regard to the general line of the international communist movement but will inevitably slide on to a track entirely different from that of Marxism-Leninism. What are the fundamental contradictions in the contemporary world? Marxist-Leninists consistently hold that they are: the contradiction between the socialist camp and the imperialist camp; the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in the capitalist countries; the contradiction between the oppressed nations and imperialism; and the contradictions among imperialist countries and among monopoly capitalist groups. The contradiction between the socialist camp and the imperialist camp is a contradiction between two fundamentally different social systems, socialism and capitalism. It is undoubtedly very sharp. But Marxist-Leninists must not regard the contradictions in the world as consisting solely and simply of the contradiction between the socialist camp and the imperialist camp. The international balance of forces has changed and has become increasingly favourable to socialism and to all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world, and most unfavourable to imperialism and the reactionaries of all countries. Nevertheless, the contradictions enumerated above still objectively exist. These contradictions and the struggles to which they give rise are interrelated and influence each other. Nobody can obliterate any of these fundamental contradictions or subjectively substitute one for all the rest. It is inevitable that these contradictions will give rise to popular revolutions, which alone can resolve them. 8 5. The following erroneous views should be repudiated on the question of the fundamental contradictions in the contemporary world: a. the view which blots out the class content of the contradiction between the socialist and the imperialist camps and fails to see this contradiction as one between states under the dictatorship of the proletariat and states under the dictatorship of the monopoly capitalists; b. the view which recognizes only the contradiction between the socialist and the imperialist camps, while neglecting or underestimating the contradictions between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in the capitalist world, between the oppressed nations and imperialism, among the imperialist countries and among the monopoly capitalist groups, and the struggles to which these contradictions give rise; c. the view which maintains with regard to the capitalist world that the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie can be resolved without a proletarian revolution in each country and that the contradiction between the oppressed nations and imperialism can be resolved without revolution by the oppressed nations; d. the view which denies that the development of the inherent contradictions in the contemporary capitalist world inevitably leads to a new situation in which the imperialist countries are locked in an intense struggle, and asserts that the contradictions among the imperialist countries can be reconciled, or even eliminated, by ³international agreements among the big monopolies²; and e. the view which maintains that the contradiction between the two world systems of socialism and capitalism will automatically disappear in the course of ³economic competition², that the other fundamental world contradictions will automatically do so with the disappearance of the contradiction between the two systems, and that a ³world 9 without wars², a new world of ³all-round co-operation², will appear. It is obvious that these erroneous views inevitably lead to erroneous and harmful policies and hence to setbacks and losses of one kind or another to the cause of the people and of socialism. 6. The balance of forces between imperialism and socialism has undergone a fundamental change since World War II. The main indication of this change is that the world now has not just one socialist country but a number of socialist countries forming the mighty socialist camp, and that the people who have taken the socialist road now number not two hundred million but a thousand million, or a third of the world¹s population. The socialist camp is the outcome of the struggles of the international proletariat and working people. It belongs to the international proletariat and working people as well as to the people of the socialist countries. The main common demands of the people of the countries in the socialist camp and the international proletariat and working people are that all the Communist and Workers¹ Parties in the socialist camp should: adhere to the Marxist-Leninist line and pursue correct Marxist-Leninist domestic and foreign policies; consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and the worker-peasant alliance led by the proletariat and carry the socialist revolution forward to the end on the economic, political and ideological fronts; promote the initiative and creativeness of the broad masses, carry out socialist construction in a planned way, develop production, improve the people¹s livelihood and strengthen national defense; strengthen the unity of the socialist camp on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, and support other socialist countries on the basis of proletarian internationalism; 10 oppose the imperialist policies of aggression and war, and defend world peace; oppose the anti-Communist, anti-popular and counterrevolutionary policies of the reactionaries of all countries; and help the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed classes and nations of the world. All Communist and Workers¹ Parties in the socialist camp owe it to their own people and to the international proletariat and working people to fulfil these demands. By fulfilling these demands the socialist camp will exert a decisive influence on the course of human history. For this very reason, the imperialists and reactionaries invariably try in a thousand and one ways to influence the domestic and foreign policies of the countries in the socialist camp, to undermine the camp and break up the unity of the socialist countries and particularly the unity of China and the Soviet Union. They invariably try to infiltrate and subvert the socialist countries and even entertain the extravagant hope of destroying the socialist camp. The question of what is the correct attitude towards the socialist camp is a most important question of principle confronting all Communist and Workers¹ Parties. It is under new historical conditions that the Communist and Workers¹ Parties are now carrying on the task of proletarian internationalist unity and struggle. When only one socialist country existed and when this country was faced with hostility and jeopardized by all the imperialists and reactionaries because it firmly pursued the correct Marxist-Leninist line and policies, the touchstone of proletarian internationalism for every Communist Party was whether or not it resolutely defended the only socialist country. Now there is a socialist camp consisting of thirteen countries, Albania, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, the Democratic People¹s Republic of Korea, 11 Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, the Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. Under these circumstances, the touchstone of proletarian internationalism for every Communist Party is whether or not it resolutely defends the whole of the socialist camp, whether or not it defends the unity of all the countries in the camp on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and whether or not it defends the Marxist-Leninist line and policies which the socialist countries ought to pursue. If anybody does not pursue the correct Marxist-Leninist line and policies, does not defend the unity of the socialist camp but on the contrary creates tension and splits within it, or even follows the policies of the Yugoslav revisionists, tries to liquidate the socialist camp or helps capitalist countries to attack fraternal socialist countries, then he is betraying the interests of the entire international proletariat and the people of the world. If anybody, following in the footsteps of others, defends the erroneous opportunist line and policies pursued by a certain socialist country instead of upholding the correct Marxist- Leninist line and policies which the socialist countries ought to pursue, defends the policy of split instead of upholding the policy of unity, then he is departing from Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. 7. Taking advantage of the situation after World War II, the U.S. imperialists stepped into the shoes of the German, Italian and Japanese fascists, and have been trying to erect a huge world empire such as has never been known before. The strategic objectives of U.S. imperialism have been to grab and dominate the intermediate zone lying between the United States and the socialist camp, put down the revolutions of the oppressed peoples and nations, proceed to destroy the socialist countries, and thus to subject all the peoples and countries of the world, including its allies, to domination and enslavement by U.S. monopoly capital. 12 Ever since World War II, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting propaganda for war against the Soviet Union and the socialist camp. There are two aspects to this propaganda. While the U.S. imperialists are actually preparing such a war, they also use this propaganda as a smokescreen for their oppression of the American people and for the extension of their aggression against the rest of the capitalist world. The 1960 Statement points out: ³U.S. imperialism has become the biggest international exploiter.² ³The United States is the mainstay of colonialism today.² ³U.S. imperialism is the main force of aggression and war.² ³International developments in recent years have furnished many new proofs of the fact that U.S. imperialism is the chief bulwark of world reaction and an international gendarme, that it has become an enemy of the peoples of the whole world.² U.S. imperialism is pressing its policies of aggression and war all over the world, but the outcome is bound to be the opposite of that intended ‹ it will only be to hasten the awakening of the people in all countries and to hasten their revolutions. The U.S. imperialists have thus placed themselves in opposition to the people of the whole world and have become encircled by them. The international proletariat must and can unite all the forces that can be united, make use of the internal contradictions in the enemy camp and establish the broadest united front against the U.S. imperialists and their lackeys. The realistic and correct course is to entrust the fate of the people and of mankind to the unity and struggle of the world proletariat and to the unity and struggle of the people in all countries. Conversely, to make no distinction between enemies, friends and ourselves and to entrust the fate of the people and of mankind to collaboration with U.S. imperialism is to lead peo 13 ple astray. The events of the last few years have exploded this illusion. 8. The various types of contradictions in the contemporary world are concentrated in the vast areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America; these are the most vulnerable areas under imperialist rule and the storm-centres of world revolution dealing direct blows at imperialism. The national democratic revolutionary movement in these areas and the international socialist revolutionary movement are the two great historical currents of our time. The national democratic revolution in these areas is an important component of the contemporary proletarian world revolution. The anti-imperialist revolutionary struggles of the people in Asia, Africa and Latin America are pounding and undermining the foundations of the rule of imperialism and colonialism, old and new, and are now a mighty force in defence of world peace. In a sense, therefore, the whole cause of the international proletarian revolution hinges on the outcome of the revolutionary struggles of the people of these areas, who constitute the overwhelming majority of the world¹s population. Therefore, the anti-imperialist revolutionary struggle of the people in Asia, Africa and Latin America is definitely not merely a matter of regional significance but one of overall importance for the whole cause of proletarian world revolution. Certain persons now go so far as to deny the great international significance of the anti-imperialist revolutionary struggles of the Asian, African and Latin American peoples and, on the pretext of breaking down the barriers of nationality, colour and geographical location, are trying their best to efface the line of demarcation between oppressed and oppressor nations and between oppressed and oppressor countries and to hold down the revolutionary struggles of the peoples in these 14 areas. In fact, they cater to the needs of imperialism and create a new ³theory² to justify the rule of imperialism in these areas and the promotion of its policies of old and new colonialism. Actually, this ³theory² seeks not to break down the barriers of nationality, colour and geographical location but to maintain the rule of the ³superior nations² over the oppressed nations. It is only natural that this fraudulent ³theory² is rejected by the people in these areas. The working class in every socialist country and in every capitalist country must truly put into effect the fighting slogans, ³Workers of all countries, unite!² and ³Workers and oppressed nations of the world, unite!²; it must study the revolutionary experience of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, firmly support their revolutionary actions and regard the cause of their liberation as a most dependable support for itself and as directly in accord with its own interests. This is the only effective way to break down the barriers of nationality, colour and geographical location and this is the only genuine proletarian internationalism. It is impossible for the working class in the European and American capitalist countries to liberate itself unless it unites with the oppressed nations and unless those nations are liberated. Lenin rightly said: The revolutionary movement in the advanced countries would actually be a sheer fraud if, in their struggle against capital, the workers of Europe and America were not closely and completely united with the hundreds upon hundreds of millions of ³colonial² slaves who are oppressed by capital. 1 Certain persons in the international communist movement are now taking a passive or scornful or negative attitude towards the struggles of the oppressed nations for liberation. 1 V. I. Lenin, ³The Second Congress of the Communist International², Selected Works, Eng. ed., Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1952, Vol. II, Part 2, pp. 472-73. 15 They are in fact protecting the interests of monopoly capital, betraying those of the proletariat, and degenerating into social democrats. The attitude taken towards the revolutionary struggles of the people in the Asian, African and Latin American countries is an important criterion for differentiating those who want revolution from those who do not and those who are truly defending world peace from those who are abetting the forces of aggression and war. 9. The oppressed nations and peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America are faced with the urgent task of fighting imperialism and its lackeys. History has entrusted to the proletarian parties in these areas the glorious mission of holding high the banner of struggle against imperialism, against old and new colonialism and for national independence and people¹s democracy, of standing in the forefront of the national democratic revolutionary movement and striving for a socialist future. In these areas, extremely broad sections of the population refuse to be slaves of imperialism. They include not only the workers, peasants, intellectuals and petty bourgeoisie, but also the patriotic national bourgeoisie and even certain kings, princes and aristocrats who are patriotic. The proletariat and its party must have confidence in the strength of the masses and, above all, must unite with the peasants and establish a solid worker-peasant alliance. It is of primary importance for advanced members of the proletariat to work in the rural areas, help the peasants to get organized, and raise their class consciousness and their national self-respect and self-confidence. On the basis of the worker-peasant alliance the proletariat and its party must unite all the strata that can be united and organize a broad united front against imperialism and its lackeys. In order to consolidate and expand this united front it is necessary that the proletarian party should maintain its 16 ideological political and organizational independence and insist on the leadership of the revolution. The proletarian party and the revolutionary people must learn to master all forms of struggle, including armed struggle. They must defeat counter-revolutionary armed force with revolutionary armed force whenever imperialism and its lackeys resort to armed suppression. The nationalist countries which have recently won political independence are still confronted with the arduous tasks of consolidating it, liquidating the forces of imperialism and domestic reaction, carrying out agrarian and other social reforms and developing their national economy and culture. It is of practical and vital importance for these countries to guard and fight against the neo-colonialist policies which the old colonialists adopt to preserve their interests, and especially against the neo-colonialism of U.S. imperialism. In some of these countries, the patriotic national bourgeoisie continue to stand with the masses in the struggle against imperialism and colonialism and introduce certain measures of social progress. This requires the proletarian party to make a full appraisal of the progressive role of the patriotic national bourgeoisie and strengthen unity with them. As the internal social contradictions and the international class struggle sharpen, the bourgeoisie, and particularly the big bourgeoisie, in some newly independent countries increasingly tend to become retainers of imperialism and to pursue anti-popular, anti-Communist and counter-revolutionary policies. It is necessary for the proletarian party resolutely to oppose these reactionary policies. Generally speaking, the bourgeoisie in these countries have a dual character. When a united front is formed with the bourgeoisie, the policy of the proletarian party should be one of both unity and struggle. The policy should be to unite with the bourgeoisie, in so far as they tend to be progressive, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal, but to struggle against their 17 reactionary tendencies to compromise and collaborate with imperialism and the forces of feudalism. On the national question the world outlook of the proletarian party is internationalism, and not nationalism. In the revolutionary struggle it supports progressive nationalism and opposes reactionary nationalism. It must always draw a clear line of demarcation between itself and bourgeois nationalism, to which it must never fall captive. The 1960 Statement says: Communists expose attempts by the reactionary section of the bourgeoisie to represent its selfish, narrow class interests as those of the entire nation; they expose the demagogic use by bourgeois politicians of socialist slogans for the same purpose. . . . If the proletariat becomes the tail of the landlords and bourgeoisie in the revolution, no real or thorough victory in the national democratic revolution is possible, and even if victory of a kind is gained, it will be impossible to consolidate it. In the course of the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed nations and peoples, the proletarian party must put forward a programme of its own which is thoroughly against imperialism and domestic reaction and for national independence and people¹s democracy, and it must work independently among the masses, constantly expand the progressive forces, win over the middle forces and isolate the reactionary forces; only thus can it carry the national democratic revolution through to the end and guide the revolution on to the road of socialism. 10. In the imperialist and the capitalist countries, the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat are essential for the thorough resolution of the contradictions of capitalist society. In striving to accomplish this task the proletarian party must under the present circumstances actively lead the work 18 ing class and the working people in struggles to oppose monopoly capital, to defend democratic rights, to oppose the menace of fascism, to improve living conditions, to oppose imperialist arms expansion and war preparations, to defend world peace and actively to support the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed nations. In the capitalist countries which U.S. imperialism controls or is trying to control, the working class and the people should direct their attacks mainly against U.S. imperialism, but also against their own monopoly capitalists and other reactionary forces who are betraying the national interests. Large-scale mass struggles in the capitalist countries in recent years have shown that the working class and working people are experiencing a new awakening. Their struggles, which are dealing blows at monopoly capital and reaction, have opened bright prospects for the revolutionary cause in their own countries and are also a powerful support for the revolutionary struggles of the Asian, African and Latin American peoples and for the countries of the socialist camp. The proletarian parties in imperialist or capitalist countries must maintain their own ideological, political and organizational independence in leading revolutionary struggles. At the same time, they must unite all the forces that can be united and build a broad united front against monopoly capital and against the imperialist policies of aggression and war. While actively leading immediate struggles, Communists in the capitalist countries should link them with the struggle for long-range and general interests, educate the masses in a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary spirit, ceaselessly raise their political consciousness and undertake the historical task of the proletarian revolution. If they fail to do so, if they regard the immediate movement as everything, determine their conduct from case to case, adapt themselves to the events of the day and sacrifice the basic interests of the proletariat, that is out-and-out social democracy. 19 Social democracy is a bourgeois ideological trend. Lenin pointed out long ago that the social democratic parties are political detachments of the bourgeoisie, its agents in the working-class movement and its principal social prop. Communists must at all times draw a clear line of demarcation between themselves and social democratic parties on the basic question of the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat and liquidate the ideological influence of social democracy in the international working-class movement and among the working people. Beyond any shadow of doubt, Communists must win over the masses under the influence of the social democratic parties and must win over those left and middle elements in the social democratic parties who are willing to oppose domestic monopoly capital and domination by foreign imperialism, and must unite with them in extensive joint action in the day-to-day struggle of the working-class movement and in the struggle to defend world peace. In order to lead the proletariat and working people in revolution, Marxist-Leninist Parties must master all forms of struggle and be able to substitute one form for another quickly as the conditions of struggle change. The vanguard of the proletariat will remain unconquerable in all circumstances only if it masters all forms of struggle ‹ peaceful and armed, open and secret, legal and illegal, parliamentary struggle and mass struggle, etc. It is wrong to refuse to use parliamentary and other legal forms of struggle when they can and should be used. However, if a Marxist-Leninist Party falls into legalism or parliamentary cretinism, confining the struggle within the limits permitted by the bourgeoisie, this will inevitably lead to renouncing the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. 11. On the question of transition from capitalism to socialism, the proletarian party must proceed from the stand of class struggle and revolution and base itself on the Marxist 20 Leninist teachings concerning the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Communists would always prefer to bring about the transition to socialism by peaceful means. But can peaceful transition be made into a new world-wide strategic principle for the international communist movement? Absolutely not. Marxism-Leninism consistently holds that the fundamental question in all revolutions is that of state power. The 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement both clearly point out, ³Leninism teaches, and experience confirms, that the ruling classes never relinquish power voluntarily.² The old government never topples even in a period of crisis, unless it is pushed. This is a universal law of class struggle. In specific historical conditions, Marx and Lenin did raise the possibility that revolution may develop peacefully. But, as Lenin pointed out, the peaceful development of revolution is an opportunity ³very seldom to be met with in the history of revolutions². As a matter of fact, there is no historical precedent for peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism. Certain persons say there was no precedent when Marx foretold that socialism would inevitably replace capitalism. Then why can we not predict a peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism despite the absence of a precedent? This parallel is absurd. Employing dialectical and historical materialism, Marx analysed the contradictions of capitalism, discovered the objective laws of development of human society and arrived at a scientific conclusion, whereas the prophets who pin all their hopes on ³peaceful transition² proceed from historical idealism, ignore the most fundamental contradictions of capitalism, repudiate the Marxist-Leninist teachings on class struggle, and arrive at a subjective and groundless conclusion. How can people who repudiate Marxism get any help from Marx? It is plain to everyone that the capitalist countries are strengthening their state machinery ‹ and especially their 21 military apparatus ‹ the primary purpose of which is to suppress the people in their own countries. The proletarian party must never base its thinking, its policies for revolution and its entire work on the assumption that the imperialists and reactionaries will accept peaceful transformation. The proletarian party must prepare itself for two eventualities ‹ while preparing for a peaceful development of the revolution, it must also fully prepare for a non-peaceful development. It should concentrate on the painstaking work of accumulating revolutionary strength, so that it will be ready to seize victory when the conditions for revolution are ripe or to strike powerful blows at the imperialists and the reactionaries when they launch surprise attacks and armed assaults. If it fails to make such preparations, the proletarian party will paralyse the revolutionary will of the proletariat, disarm itself ideologically and sink into a totally passive state of unpreparedness both politically and organizationally, and the result will be to bury the proletarian revolutionary cause. 12. All social revolutions in the various stages of the history of mankind are historically inevitable and are governed by objective laws independent of man¹s will. Moreover, history shows that there never was a revolution which was able to achieve victory without zigzags and sacrifices. With Marxist-Leninist theory as the basis, the task of the proletarian party is to analyse the concrete historical conditions, put forward the correct strategy and tactics, and guide the masses in bypassing hidden reefs, avoiding unnecessary sacrifices and reaching the goal step by step. Is it possible to avoid sacrifices altogether? Such is not the case with the slave revolutions, the serf revolutions, the bourgeois revolutions, or the national revolutions; nor is it the case with proletarian revolutions. Even if the guiding line of the revolution is correct, it is impossible to have a sure guarantee 22 against setbacks and sacrifices in the course of the revolution. So long as a correct line is adhered to, the revolution is bound to triumph in the end. To abandon revolution on the pretext of avoiding sacrifices is in reality to demand that the people should forever remain slaves and endure infinite pain and sacrifice. Elementary knowledge of Marxism-Leninism tells us that the birth pangs of a revolution are far less painful than the chronic agony of the old society. Lenin rightly said that ³even with the most peaceful course of events, the present [capitalist] system always and inevitably exacts countless sacrifices from the working class².1 Whoever considers a revolution can be made only if everything is plain sailing, only if there is an advance guarantee against sacrifices and failure, is certainly no revolutionary. However difficult the conditions and whatever sacrifices and defeats the revolution may suffer, proletarian revolutionaries should educate the masses in the spirit of revolution and hold aloft the banner of revolution and not abandon it. It would be ³Left² adventurism if the proletarian party should rashly launch a revolution before the objective conditions are ripe. But it would be Right opportunism if the proletarian party should not dare to lead a revolution and to seize state power when the objective conditions are ripe. Even in ordinary times, when it is leading the masses in the day-today struggle, the proletarian party should ideologically, politically and organizationally prepare its own ranks and the masses for revolution and promote revolutionary struggles, so that it will not miss the opportunity to overthrow the reactionary regime and establish a new state power when the conditions for revolution are ripe. Otherwise, when the objective conditions are ripe, the proletarian party will simply throw away the opportunity of seizing victory. 1 V. I. Lenin, ³Another Massacre², Collected Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1961, Vol. V, p. 25. 23 The proletarian party must be flexible as well as highly principled, and on occasion it must make such compromises as are necessary in the interests of the revolution. But it must never abandon principled policies and the goal of revolution on the pretext of flexibility and of necessary compromises. The proletarian party must lead the masses in waging struggles against the enemies, and it must know how to utilize the contradictions among those enemies. But the purpose of using these contradictions is to make it easier to attain the goal of the people¹s revolutionary struggles and not to liquidate these struggles. Countless facts have proved that, wherever the dark rule of imperialism and reaction exists, the people who form over 90 per cent of the population will sooner or later rise in revolution. If Communists isolate themselves from the revolutionary demands of the masses, they are bound to lose the confidence of the masses and will be tossed to the rear by the revolutionary current. If the leading group in any Party adopt a non-revolutionary line and convert it into a reformist party, then Marxist-Leninists inside and outside the Party will replace them and lead the people in making revolution. In another kind of situation, the bourgeois revolutionaries will come forward to lead the revolution and the party of the proletariat will forfeit its leadership of the revolution. When the reactionary bourgeoisie betray the revolution and suppress the people, an opportunist line will cause tragic and unnecessary losses to the Communists and the revolutionary masses. If Communists slide down the path of opportunism, they will degenerate into bourgeois nationalists and become appendages of the imperialists and the reactionary bourgeoisie. There are certain persons who assert that they have made the greatest creative contributions to revolutionary theory since Lenin and that they alone are correct. But it is very dubious whether they have ever really given consideration to 24 the extensive experience of the entire world communist movement, whether they have ever really considered the interests, the aims and tasks of the international proletarian movement as a whole, and whether they really have a general line for the international communist movement which conforms with Marxism-Leninism. In the last few years the international communist movement and the national liberation movement have had many experiences and many lessons. There are experiences which people should praise and there are experiences which make people grieve. Communists and revolutionaries in all countries should ponder and seriously study these experiences of success and failure, so as to draw correct conclusions and useful lessons from them. 13. The socialist countries and the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples and nations support and assist each other. The national liberation movements of Asia, Africa and Latin America and the revolutionary movements of the people in the capitalist countries are a strong support to the socialist countries. It is completely wrong to deny this. The only attitude for the socialist countries to adopt towards the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples and nations is one of warm sympathy and active support; they must not adopt a perfunctory attitude, or one of national selfishness or of great-power chauvinism. Lenin said, ³The foreign policy of the proletariat is alliance with the revolutionaries of the advanced countries and with all the oppressed nations against all and any imperialists.²1 Whoever fails to understand this point and considers that the support and aid given by the socialist countries to the oppressed peoples and nations are a burden or charity is going counter to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. 1 V. I. Lenin, ³The Foreign Policy of the Russian Revolution², Collected Works, Eng. ed., Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1964, Vol. XXV, p. 87. 25 The superiority of the socialist system and the achievements of the socialist countries in construction play an exemplary role and are an inspiration to the oppressed peoples and the oppressed nations. But this exemplary role and inspiration can never replace the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples and nations. No oppressed people or nation can win liberation except through its own staunch revolutionary struggle. Certain persons have one-sidedly exaggerated the role of peaceful competition between socialist and imperialist countries in their attempt to substitute peaceful competition for the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples and nations. According to their preaching, it would seem that imperialism will automatically collapse in the course of this peaceful competition and that the only thing the oppressed peoples and nations have to do is to wait quietly for the advent of this day. What does this have in common with Marxist-Leninist views? Moreover, certain persons have concocted the strange tale that China and some other socialist countries want ³to unleash wars² and to spread socialism by ³wars between states². As the Statement of 1960 points out, such tales are nothing but imperialist and reactionary slanders. To put it bluntly, the purpose of those who repeat these slanders is to hide the fact that they are opposed to revolutions by the oppressed peoples and nations of the world and opposed to others supporting such revolutions. 14. In the last few years much ‹ in fact a great deal ‹ has been said on the question of war and peace. Our views and policies on this question are known to the world, and no one can distort them. It is a pity that although certain persons in the international communist movement talk about how much they love peace and hate war, they are unwilling to acquire even a faint understanding of the simple truth on war pointed out by Lenin. Lenin said: 26 It seems to me that the main thing that is usually forgotten on the question of war, which receives inadequate attention, the main reason why there is so much controversy, and, I would say, futile, hopeless and aimless controversy, is that people forget the fundamental question of the class character of the war; why the war broke out; the classes that are waging it; the historical and historico-economic conditions that gave rise to it.1 As Marxist-Leninists see it, war is the continuation of politics by other means, and every war is inseparable from the political system and the political struggles which give rise to it. If one departs from this scientific Marxist-Leninist proposition which has been confirmed by the entire history of class struggle, one will never be able to understand either the question of war or the question of peace. There are different types of peace and different types of war. Marxist-Leninists must be clear about what type of peace or what type of war is in question. Lumping just wars and unjust wars together and opposing all of them undiscriminatingly is a bourgeois pacifist and not a Marxist-Leninist approach. Certain persons say that revolutions are entirely possible without war. Now which type of war are they referring to ‹ a war of national liberation or a revolutionary civil war, or a world war? If they are referring to a war of national liberation or a revolutionary civil war, then this formulation is, in effect, opposed to revolutionary wars and to revolution. If they are referring to a world war, then they are shooting at a nonexistent target. Although Marxist-Leninists have pointed out, on the basis of the history of the two world wars, that world wars inevitably lead to revolution, no Marxist- 1 V. I. Lenin, ³War and Revolution², Collected Works, Russ. ed., State Publishing House for Political Literature, Moscow, 1949, Vol. XXIV, p. 362. 27 Leninist ever has held or ever will hold that revolution must be made through world war. Marxist-Leninists take the abolition of war as their ideal and believe that war can be abolished. But how can war be abolished? This is how Lenin viewed it: . . . our object is to achieve the socialist system of society, which, by abolishing the division of mankind into classes, by abolishing all exploitation of man by man, and of one nation by other nations, will inevitably abolish all possibility of war.1 The Statement of 1960 also puts it very clearly, ³The victory of socialism all over the world will completely remove the social and national causes of all wars.² However, certain persons now actually hold that it is possible to bring about ³a world without weapons, without armed forces and without wars² through ³general and complete disarmament² while the system of imperialism and of the exploitation of man by man still exists. This is sheer illusion. An elementary knowledge of Marxism-Leninism tells us that the armed forces are the principal part of the state machine and that a so-called world without weapons and without armed forces can only be a world without states. Lenin said: Only after the proletariat has disarmed the bourgeoisie will it be able, without betraying its world-historical mission, to throw all armaments on the scrap heap; and the proletariat will undoubtedly do this, but only when this condition has been fulfilled, certainly not before.2 What are the facts in the world today? Is there a shadow of evidence that the imperialist countries headed by the 1 Ibid., p. 363. 2 V. I. Lenin, ³The War Program of the Proletarian Revolution², Selected Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1952, Vol. I, Part 2, p. 574. 28 United States are ready to carry out general and complete disarmament? Are they not each and all engaged in general and complete arms expansion? We have always maintained that, in order to expose and combat the imperialists¹ arms expansion and war preparations, it is necessary to put forward the proposal for general disarmament. Furthermore, it is possible to compel imperialism to accept some kind of agreement on disarmament, through the combined struggle of the socialist countries and the people of the whole world. If one regards general and complete disarmament as the fundamental road to world peace, spreads the illusion that imperialism will automatically lay down its arms and tries to liquidate the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples and nations on the pretext of disarmament, then this is deliberately to deceive the people of the world and help the imperialists in their policies of aggression and war. In order to overcome the present ideological confusion in the international working-class movement on the question of war and peace, we consider that Lenin¹s thesis, which has been discarded by the modern revisionists, must be restored in the interest of combating the imperialist policies of aggression and war and defending world peace. The people of the world universally demand the prevention of a new world war. And it is possible to prevent a new world war. The question then is, what is the way to secure world peace? According to the Leninist viewpoint, world peace can be won only by the struggles of the people in all countries and not by begging the imperialists for it. World peace can only be effectively defended by relying on the development of the forces of the socialist camp, on the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat and working people of all countries, on the liberation struggles of the oppressed nations and on the struggles of all peace-loving people and countries. 29 Such is the Leninist policy. Any policy to the contrary definitely will not lead to world peace but will only encourage the ambitions of the imperialists and increase the danger of world war. In recent years, certain persons have been spreading the argument that a single spark from a war of national liberation or from a revolutionary people¹s war will lead to a world conflagration destroying the whole of mankind. What are the facts? Contrary to what these persons say, the wars of national liberation and the revolutionary people¹s wars that have occurred since World War II have not led to world war. The victory of these revolutionary wars has directly weakened the forces of imperialism and greatly strengthened the forces which prevent the imperialists from launching a world war and which defend world peace. Do not the facts demonstrate the absurdity of this argument? 15. The complete banning and destruction of nuclear weapons is an important task in the struggle to defend world peace. We must do our utmost to this end. Nuclear weapons are unprecedentedly destructive, which is why for more than a decade now the U.S. imperialists have been pursuing their policy of nuclear blackmail in order to realize their ambition of enslaving the people of all countries and dominating the world. But when the imperialists threaten other countries with nuclear weapons, they subject the people in their own country to the same threat, thus arousing them against nuclear weapons and against the imperialist policies of aggression and war. At the same time, in their vain hope of destroying their opponents with nuclear weapons, the imperialists are in fact subjecting themselves to the danger of being destroyed. The possibility of banning nuclear weapons does indeed exist. However, if the imperialists are forced to accept an agreement to ban nuclear weapons, it decidedly will not be because of their ³love for humanity² but because of the pres 30 sure of the people of all countries and for the sake of their own vital interests. In contrast to the imperialists, socialist countries rely upon the righteous strength of the people and on their own correct policies, and have no need whatever to gamble with nuclear weapons in the world arena. Socialist countries have nuclear weapons solely in order to defend themselves and to prevent imperialism from launching a nuclear war. In the view of Marxist-Leninists, the people are the makers of history. In the present, as in the past, man is the decisive factor. Marxist-Leninists attach importance to the role of technological change, but it is wrong to belittle the role of man and exaggerate the role of technology. The emergence of nuclear weapons can neither arrest the progress of human history nor save the imperialist system from its doom, any more than the emergence of new techniques could save the old systems from their doom in the past. The emergence of nuclear weapons does not and cannot resolve the fundamental contradictions in the contemporary world, does not and cannot alter the law of class struggle, and does not and cannot change the nature of imperialism and reaction. It cannot, therefore, be said that with the emergence of nuclear weapons the possibility and the necessity of social and national revolutions have disappeared, or the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism, and especially the theories of proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat and of war and peace, have become outmoded and changed into stale ³dogmas². 16. It was Lenin who advanced the thesis that it is possible for the socialist countries to practise peaceful coexistence with the capitalist countries. It is well known that after the great Soviet people had repulsed foreign armed intervention the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Government, led first by Lenin and then by Stalin, consistently 31 pursued the policy of peaceful coexistence and that they were forced to wage a war of self-defence only when attacked by the German imperialists. Since its founding, the People¹s Republic of China too has consistently pursued the policy of peaceful coexistence with countries having different social systems, and it is China which initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. However, a few years ago certain persons suddenly claimed Lenin¹s policy of peaceful coexistence as their own ³great discovery². They maintain that they have a monopoly on the interpretation of this policy. They treat ³peaceful coexistence² as if it were an all-inclusive, mystical book from heaven and attribute to it every success the people of the world achieve by struggle. What is more, they label all who disagree with their distortions of Lenin¹s views as opponents of peaceful coexistence, as people completely ignorant of Lenin and Leninism, and as heretics deserving to be burnt at the stake. How can the Chinese Communists agree with this view and practice? They cannot, it is impossible. Lenin¹s principle of peaceful coexistence is very clear and readily comprehensible by ordinary people. Peaceful coexistence designates a relationship between countries with different social systems, and must not be interpreted as one pleases. It should never be extended to apply to the relations between oppressed and oppressor nations, between oppressed and oppressor countries or between oppressed and oppressor classes, and never be described as the main content of the transition from capitalism to socialism, still less should it be asserted that peaceful coexistence is mankind¹s road to socialism. The reason is that it is one thing to practise peaceful coexistence between countries with different social systems. It is absolutely impermissible and impossible for countries practising peaceful coexistence to touch even a hair of each other¹s social system. The class struggle, the struggle for national liberation and the transition from capitalism to socialism in various countries are quite another thing. They are 32 all bitter, life-and-death revolutionary struggles which aim at changing the social system. Peaceful coexistence cannot replace the revolutionary struggles of the people. The transition from capitalism to socialism in any country can only be brought about through the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat in that country. In the application of the policy of peaceful coexistence, struggles between the socialist and imperialist countries are unavoidable in the political, economic and ideological spheres, and it is absolutely impossible to have ³all-round co-operation². It is necessary for the socialist countries to engage in negotiations of one kind or another with the imperialist countries. It is possible to reach certain agreements through negotiation by relying on the correct policies of the socialist countries and on the pressure of the people of all countries. But necessary compromises between the socialist countries and the imperialist countries do not require the oppressed peoples and nations to follow suit and compromise with imperialism and its lackeys. No one should ever demand in the name of peaceful coexistence that the oppressed peoples and nations should give up their revolutionary struggles. The application of the policy of peaceful coexistence by the socialist countries is advantageous for achieving a peaceful international environment for socialist construction, for exposing the imperialist policies of aggression and war and for isolating the imperialist forces of aggression and war. But if the general line of the foreign policy of the socialist countries is confined to peaceful coexistence, then it is impossible to handle correctly either the relations between socialist countries or those between the socialist countries and the oppressed peoples and nations. Therefore it is wrong to make peaceful coexistence the general line of the foreign policy of the socialist countries. In our view, the general line of the foreign policy of the socialist countries should have the following content: 33 to develop relations of friendship, mutual assistance and cooperation among the countries in the socialist camp in accordance with the principle of proletarian internationalism; to strive for peaceful coexistence on the basis of the Five Principles with countries having different social systems and oppose the imperialist policies of aggression and war; and, to support and assist the revolutionary struggles of all the oppressed peoples and nations. These three aspects are interrelated and indivisible, and not a single one can be omitted. 17. For a very long historical period after the proletariat takes power, class struggle continues as an objective law independent of man¹s will, differing only in form from what it was before the taking of power. After the October Revolution, Lenin pointed out a number of times that: a. The overthrown exploiters always try in a thousand and one ways to recover the ³paradise² they have been deprived of. b. New elements of capitalism are constantly and spontaneously generated in the petty-bourgeois atmosphere. c. Political degenerates and new bourgeois elements may emerge in the ranks of the working class and among government functionaries as a result of bourgeois influence and the pervasive, corrupting atmosphere of the petty bourgeoisie. d. The external conditions for the continuance of class struggle within a socialist country are encirclement by international capitalism, the imperialists¹ threat of armed intervention and their subversive activities to accomplish peaceful disintegration. Life has confirmed these conclusions of Lenin¹s. 34 For decades or even longer periods after socialist industrialization and agricultural collectivization, it will be impossible to say that any socialist country will be free from those elements which Lenin repeatedly denounced, such as bourgeois hangers-on, parasites, speculators, swindlers, idlers, hooligans and embezzlers of state funds; or to say that a socialist country will no longer need to perform or be able to relinquish the task laid down by Lenin of conquering ³this contagion, this plague, this ulcer that socialism has inherited from capitalism². In a socialist country, it takes a very long historical period gradually to settle the question of who will win ‹ socialism or capitalism. The struggle between the road of socialism and the road of capitalism runs through this whole historical period. This struggle rises and falls in a wave-like manner, at times becoming very fierce, and the forms of the struggle are many and varied. The 1957 Declaration rightly states that ³the conquest of power by the working class is only the beginning of the revolution, not its conclusion². To deny the existence of class struggle in the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the necessity of thoroughly completing the socialist revolution on the economic, political and ideological fronts is wrong, does not correspond to objective reality and violates Marxism-Leninism. 18. Both Marx and Lenin maintained that the entire period before the advent of the higher stage of communist society is the period of transition from capitalism to communism, the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In this transition period, the dictatorship of the proletariat, that is to say, the proletarian state, goes through the dialectical process of establishment, consolidation, strengthening and withering away. In the ³Critique of the Gotha Programme², Marx posed the question as follows: 35 Between capitalist and communist society lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. There corresponds to this also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.1 Lenin frequently emphasized Marx¹s great theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat and analysed the development of this theory, particularly in his outstanding work, ³The State and Revolution², where he wrote: . . . the transition from capitalist society ‹ which is developing towards communism ‹ to a communist society is impossible without a ³political transition period², and the state in this period can only be the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.2 He further said: The essence of Marx¹s teaching on the state has been mastered only by those who understand that the dictatorship of a single class is necessary not only for every class society in general, not only for the proletariat which has overthrown the bourgeoisie, but also for the entire historical period which separates capitalism from ³classless society², from communism.3 As slated above, the fundamental thesis of Marx and Lenin is that the dictatorship of the proletariat will inevitably continue for the entire historical period of the transition from capitalism to communism, that is, for the entire period up to the abolition of all class differences and the entry into a classless society, the higher stage of communist society. What will happen if it is announced, halfway through, that the dictatorship of the proletariat is no longer necessary? 1 Selected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1955, Vol. II, pp. 32-33. 2 V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1952, Vol. II, Part 1, p. 289. 3 Ibid., p. 234. 36 Does this not fundamentally conflict with the teachings of Marx and Lenin on the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat? Does this not license the development of ³this contagion, this plague, this ulcer that socialism has inherited from capitalism²? In other words, this would lead to extremely grave consequences and make any transition to communism out of the question. Can there be a ³state of the whole people²? Is it possible to replace the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat by a ³state of the whole people²? This is not a question about the internal affairs of any particular country but a fundamental problem involving the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. In the view of Marxist-Leninists, there is no such thing as a non-class or supra-class state. So long as the state remains a state, it must bear a class character; so long as the state exists, it cannot be a state of the ³whole people². As soon as society becomes classless, there will no longer be a state. Then what sort of thing would a ³state of the whole people² be? Anyone with an elementary knowledge of Marxism-Leninism can understand that the so-called ³state of the whole people² is nothing new. Representative bourgeois figures have always called the bourgeois state a ³state of all the people², or a ³state in which power belongs to all the people². Certain persons may say that their society is already one without classes. We answer: No, there are classes and class struggles in all socialist countries without exception. Since remnants of the old exploiting classes who are trying to stage a comeback still exist there, since new capitalist elements are constantly being generated there, and since there are still parasites, speculators, idlers, hooligans, embezzlers of state funds, etc., how can it be said that classes or class 37 struggles no longer exist? How can it be said that the dictatorship of the proletariat is no longer necessary? Marxism-Leninism tells us that in addition to the suppression of the hostile classes, the historical tasks of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the course of building socialism necessarily include the correct handling of relations between the working class and peasantry, the consolidation of their political and economic alliance and the creation of conditions for the gradual elimination of the class difference between worker and peasant. When we look at the economic base of any socialist society, we find that the difference between ownership by the whole people and collective ownership exists in all socialist countries without exception, and that there is individual ownership too. Ownership by the whole people and collective ownership are two kinds of ownership and two kinds of relations of production in socialist society. The workers in enterprises owned by the whole people and the peasants on farms owned collectively belong to two different categories of labourers in socialist society. Therefore, the class difference between worker and peasant exists in all socialist countries without exception. This difference will not disappear until the transition to the higher stage of communism is achieved. In their present level of economic development all socialist countries are still far, far removed from the higher stage of communism in which ³from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs² is put into practice. Therefore, it will take a long, long time to eliminate the class difference between worker and peasant. And until this difference is eliminated, it is impossible to say that society is classless or that there is no longer any need for the dictatorship of the proletariat. In calling a socialist state the ³state of the whole people² is one trying to replace the Marxist-Leninist theory of the state by the bourgeois theory of the state? Is one trying to replace the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat by a state of a different character? 38 If that is the case, it is nothing but a great historical retrogression. The degeneration of the social system in Yugoslavia is a grave lesson. 19. Leninism holds that the proletarian party must exist together with the dictatorship of the proletariat in socialist countries. The party of the proletariat is indispensable for the entire historical period of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The reason is that the dictatorship of the proletariat has to struggle against the enemies of the proletariat and of the people, remould the peasants and other small producers, constantly consolidate the proletarian ranks, build socialism and effect the transition to communism; none of these things can be done without the leadership of the party of the proletariat. Can there be a ³party of the entire people²? Is it possible to replace the party which is the vanguard of the proletariat by a ³party of the entire people²? This, too, is not a question about the internal affairs of any particular Party, but a fundamental problem involving the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. In the view of Marxist-Leninists, there is no such thing as a non-class or supra-class political party. All political parties have a class character. Party spirit is the concentrated expression of class character. The party of the proletariat is the only party able to represent the interests of the whole people. It can do so precisely because it represents the interests of the proletariat, whose ideas and will it concentrates. It can lead the whole people because the proletariat can finally emancipate itself only with the emancipation of all mankind, because the very nature of the proletariat enables its party to approach problems in terms of its present and future interests, because the party is boundlessly loyal to the people and has the spirit of self-sacrifice; hence its democratic centralism and iron discipline. Without such a party, it is impossible to maintain the 39 dictatorship of the proletariat and to represent the interests of the whole people. What will happen if it is announced halfway before entering the higher stage of communist society that the party of the proletariat has become a ³party of the entire people² and if its proletarian class character is repudiated? Does this not fundamentally conflict with the teachings of Marx and Lenin on the party of the proletariat? Does this not disarm the proletariat and all the working people, organizationally and ideologically, and is it not tantamount to helping restore capitalism? Is it not ³going south by driving the chariot north² to talk about any transition to communist society in such circumstances? 20. Over the past few years, certain persons have violated Lenin¹s integral teachings about the interrelationship of leaders, party, class and masses, and raised the issue of ³combating the cult of the individual²; this is erroneous and harmful. The theory propounded by Lenin is as follows: a. The masses are divided into classes. b. Classes are usually led by political parties. c. Political parties, as a general rule, are directed by more or less stable groups composed of the most authoritative, influential and experienced members, who are elected to the most responsible positions and are called leaders. Lenin said, ³All this is elementary.² The party of the proletariat is the headquarters of the proletariat in revolution and struggle. Every proletarian party must practise centralism based on democracy and establish a strong Marxist-Leninist leadership before it can become an organized and battle-worthy vanguard. To raise the question of ³combating the cult of the individual² is actually to counterpose the leaders to the masses, undermine the party¹s 40 unified leadership which is based on democratic centralism, dissipate its fighting strength and disintegrate its ranks. Lenin criticized the erroneous views which counterpose the leaders to the masses. He called them ³ridiculously absurd and stupid². The Communist Party of China has always disapproved of exaggerating the role of the individual, has advocated and persistently practised democratic centralism within the Party and advocated the linking of the leadership with the masses, maintaining that correct leadership must know how to concentrate the views of the masses. While loudly combating the so-called ³cult of the individual², certain persons are in reality doing their best to defame the proletarian party and the dictatorship of the proletariat. At the same time, they are enormously exaggerating the role of certain individuals, shifting all errors onto others and claiming all credit for themselves. What is more serious is that, under the pretext of ³combating the cult of the individual², certain persons are crudely interfering in the internal affairs of other fraternal Parties and fraternal countries and forcing other fraternal Parties to change their leadership in order to impose their own wrong line on these Parties. What is all this if not great-power chauvinism, sectarianism and splittism? What is all this if not subversion? It is high time to propagate seriously and comprehensively Lenin¹s integral teachings on the interrelationship of leaders, party, class and masses. 21. Relations between socialist countries are international relations of a new type. Relations between socialist countries, whether large or small, and whether more developed or less developed economically, must be based on the principles of complete equality, respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, and non-interference in each other¹s internal affairs, and must also be based on the principles of 41 mutual support and mutual assistance in accordance with proletarian internationalism. Every socialist country must rely mainly on itself for its construction. In accordance with its own concrete conditions, every socialist country must rely first of all on the diligent labour and talents of its own people, utilize all its available resources fully and in a planned way, and bring all its potential into play in socialist construction. Only thus can it build socialism effectively and develop its economy speedily. This is the only way for each socialist country to strengthen the might of the entire socialist camp and enhance its capacity to assist the revolutionary cause of the international proletariat. Therefore, to observe the principle of mainly relying on oneself in construction is to apply proletarian internationalism concretely. If, proceeding only from its own partial interests, any socialist country unilaterally demands that other fraternal countries submit to its needs, and uses the pretext of opposing what they call ³going it alone² and ³nationalism² to prevent other fraternal countries from applying the principle of relying mainly on their own efforts in their construction and from developing their economies on the basis of independence, or even goes to the length of putting economic pressure on other fraternal countries ‹ then these are pure manifestations of national egoism. It is absolutely necessary for socialist countries to practise mutual economic assistance and co-operation and exchange. Such economic co-operation must be based on the principles of complete equality, mutual benefit and comradely mutual assistance. It would be great-power chauvinism to deny these basic principles and, in the name of ³international division of labour² or ³specialization², to impose one¹s own will on others, infringe on the independence and sovereignty of fraternal countries or harm the interests of their people. 42 In relations among socialist countries it would be preposterous to follow the practice of gaining profit for oneself at the expense of others, a practice characteristic of relations among capitalist countries, or go so far as to take the ³economic integration² and the ³common market², which monopoly capitalist groups have instituted for the purpose of seizing markets and grabbing profits, as examples which socialist countries ought to follow in their economic co-operation and mutual assistance. 22. The 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement lay down the principles guiding relations among fraternal Parties. These are the principle of solidarity, the principle of mutual support and mutual assistance, the principle of independence and equality and the principle of reaching unanimity through consultation ‹ all on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. We note that in its letter of March 30 the Central Committee of the CPSU says that there are no ³higher-ranking² and ³subordinate² Parties in the communist movement, that all Communist Parties are independent and equal, and that they should all build their relations on the basis of proletarian internationalism and mutual assistance. It is a fine quality of Communists that their deeds are consistent with their words. The only correct way to safeguard and strengthen unity among the fraternal Parties is genuinely to adhere to, and not to violate, the principle of proletarian internationalism and genuinely to observe, and not to undermine, the principles guiding relations among fraternal Parties ‹ and to do so, not only in words but, much more important, in deeds. If the principle of independence and equality is accepted in relations among fraternal Parties, then it is impermissible for any Party to place itself above others, to interfere in their internal affairs, and to adopt patriarchal ways in relations with them. 43 If it is accepted that there are no ³superiors² and ³subordinates² in relations among fraternal Parties, then it is impermissible to impose the programme, resolutions and line of one¹s own Party on other fraternal Parties as the ³common programme² of the international communist movement. If the principle of reaching unanimity through consultation is accepted in relations among fraternal Parties, then one should not emphasize ³who is in the majority² or ³who is in the minority² and bank on a so-called majority in order to force through one¹s own erroneous line and carry out sectarian and splitting policies. If it is agreed that differences between fraternal Parties should be settled through inter-Party consultation, then other fraternal Parties should not be attacked publicly and by name at one¹s own congress or at other Party congresses, in speeches by Party leaders, resolutions, statements, etc.; and still less should the ideological differences among fraternal Parties be extended into the sphere of state relations. We hold that in the present circumstances, when there are differences in the international communist movement, it is particularly important to stress strict adherence to the principles guiding relations among fraternal Parties as laid down in the Declaration and the Statement. In the sphere of relations among fraternal Parties and countries, the question of Soviet-Albanian relations is an outstanding one at present. Here the question is what is the correct way to treat a fraternal Party and country and whether the principles guiding relations among fraternal Parties and countries stipulated in the Declaration and the Statement are to be adhered to. The correct solution of this question is an important matter of principle in safeguarding the unity of the socialist camp and the international communist movement. How to treat the Marxist-Leninist fraternal Albanian Party of Labour is one question. How to treat the Yugoslav revisionist clique of traitors to Marxism-Leninism is quite another 44 question. These two essentially different questions must on no account be placed on a par. Your letter says that you ³do not relinquish the hope that the relations between the CPSU and the Albanian Party of Labour may be improved², but at the same time you continue to attack the Albanian comrades for what you call ³splitting activities². Clearly this is self-contradictory and in no way contributes to resolving the problem of Soviet-Albanian relations. Who is it that has taken splitting actions in Soviet-Albanian relations? Who is it that has extended the ideological differences between the Soviet and Albanian Parties to state relations? Who is it that has brought the divergences between the Soviet and Albanian Parties and between the two countries into the open before the enemy? Who is it that has openly called for a change in the Albanian Party and state leadership? All this is plain and clear to the whole world. Is it possible that the leading comrades of the CPSU do not really feel their responsibility for the fact that Soviet- Albanian relations have so seriously deteriorated? We once again express our sincere hope that the leading comrades of the CPSU will observe the principles guiding relations among fraternal Parties and countries and take the initiative in seeking an effective way to improve Soviet- Albanian relations. In short, the question of how to handle relations with fraternal Parties and countries must be taken seriously. Strict adherence to the principles guiding relations among fraternal Parties and countries is the only way forcefully to rebuff slanders such as those spread by the imperialists and reactionaries about the ³hand of Moscow². Proletarian internationalism is demanded of all Parties without exception, whether large or small, and whether in power or not. However, the larger Parties and the Parties in power bear a particularly heavy responsibility in this respect. 45 The series of distressing developments which have occurred in the socialist camp in the past period have harmed the interests not only of the fraternal Parties concerned but also of the masses of the people in their countries. This convincingly demonstrates that the larger countries and Parties need to keep in mind Lenin¹s behest never to commit the error of great-power chauvinism. The comrades of the CPSU state in their letter that ³the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has never taken and will never take a single step that could sow hostility among the peoples of our country towards the fraternal Chinese people or other peoples². Here we do not desire to go back and enumerate the many unpleasant events that have occurred in the past, and we only wish that the comrades of the CPSU will strictly abide by this statement in their future actions. During the past few years, our Party members and our people have exercised the greatest restraint in the face of a series of grave incidents which were in violation of the principles guiding relations among fraternal Parties and countries and despite the many difficulties and losses which have been imposed on us. The spirit of proletarian internationalism of the Chinese Communists and the Chinese people has stood a severe test. The Communist Party of China is unswervingly loyal to proletarian internationalism, upholds and defends the principles of the 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement guiding relations among fraternal Parties and countries, and safeguards and strengthens the unity of the socialist camp and the international communist movement. 23. In order to carry out the common programme of the international communist movement unanimously agreed upon by the fraternal Parties, an uncompromising struggle must be waged against all forms of opportunism, which is a deviation from Marxism-Leninism. The Declaration and the Statement point out that revisionism, or, in other words, Right opportunism, is the main danger 46 in the international communist movement. Yugoslav revisionism typifies modern revisionism. The Statement points out particularly: The Communist Parties have unanimously condemned the Yugoslav variety of international opportunism, a variety of modern revisionist ³theories² in concentrated form. It goes on to say: After betraying Marxism-Leninism, which they termed obsolete, the leaders of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia opposed their anti-Leninist revisionist programme to the Declaration of 1957; they set the League of Communists of Yugoslavia against the international communist movement as a whole, severed their country from the socialist camp, made it dependent on so-called ³aid² from U.S. and other imperialists. . . . The Statement says further: The Yugoslav revisionists carry on subversive work against the socialist camp and the world communist movement. Under the pretext of an extra-bloc policy, they engage in activities which prejudice the unity of all the peace-loving forces and countries. Therefore, it draws the following conclusion: Further exposure of the leaders of Yugoslav revisionists and active struggle to safeguard the communist movement and the working-class movement from the anti-Leninist ideas of the Yugoslav revisionists, remains an essential task of the Marxist-Leninist Parties. The question raised here is an important one of principle for the international communist movement. Only recently the Tito clique have publicly stated that they are persisting in their revisionist programme and anti-Marxist- Leninist stand in opposition to the Declaration and the Statement. 47 U.S. imperialism and its NATO partners have spent several thousand millions of U.S. dollars nursing the Tito clique for a long time. Cloaked as ³Marxist-Leninists² and flaunting the banner of a ³socialist country², the Tito clique has been undermining the international communist movement and the revolutionary cause of the people of the world, serving as a special detachment of U.S. imperialism. It is completely groundless and out of keeping with the facts to assert that Yugoslavia is showing ³definite positive tendencies², that it is a ³socialist country², and that the Tito clique is an ³anti-imperialist force². Certain persons are now attempting to introduce the Yugoslav revisionist clique into the socialist community and the international communist ranks. This is openly to tear up the agreement unanimously reached at the 1960 meeting of the fraternal Parties and is absolutely impermissible. Over the past few years, the revisionist trend flooding the international working-class movement and the many experiences and lessons of the international communist movement have fully confirmed the correctness of the conclusion in the Declaration and the Statement that revisionism is the main danger in the international communist movement at present. However, certain persons are openly saying that dogmatism and not revisionism is the main danger, or that dogmatism is every bit as dangerous as revisionism, etc. What sort of principle underlies all this? Firm Marxist-Leninists and genuine Marxist-Leninist Parties must put principles first. They must not barter away principles, approving one thing today and another tomorrow, advocating one thing today and another tomorrow. Together with all Marxist-Leninists, the Chinese Communists will continue to wage an uncompromising struggle against modern revisionism in order to defend the purity of Marxism-Leninism and the principled stand of the Declaration and the Statement. 48 While combating revisionism, which is the main danger in the international communist movement, Communists must also combat dogmatism. As stated in the 1957 Declaration, proletarian parties ³should firmly adhere to the principle of combining . . . universal Marxist-Leninist truth with the specific practice of revolution and construction in their countries². That is to say: On the one hand, it is necessary at all times to adhere to the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. Failure to do so will lead to Right opportunist or revisionist errors. On the other hand, it is always necessary to proceed from reality, maintain close contact with the masses, constantly sum up the experience of mass struggles, and independently work out and apply policies and tactics suited to the conditions of one¹s own country. Errors of dogmatism will be committed if one fails to do so, if one mechanically copies the policies and tactics of another Communist Party, submits blindly to the will of others or accepts without analysis the programme and resolutions of another Communist Party as one¹s own line. Some people are now violating this basic principle, which was long ago affirmed in the Declaration. On the pretext of ³creatively developing Marxism-Leninism², they cast aside the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. Moreover, they describe as ³universal Marxist-Leninist truths² their own prescriptions which are based on nothing but subjective conjecture and are divorced from reality and from the masses, and they force others to accept these prescriptions unconditionally. That is why many grave phenomena have come to pass in the international communist movement. 24. A most important lesson from the experience of the international communist movement is that the development and victory of a revolution depend on the existence of a revolutionary proletarian party. There must be a revolutionary party. 49 There must be a revolutionary party built according to the revolutionary theory and revolutionary style of Marxism- Leninism. There must be a revolutionary party able to integrate the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution in its own country. There must be a revolutionary party able to link the leadership closely with the broad masses of the people. There must be a revolutionary party that perseveres in the truth, corrects its errors and knows how to conduct criticism and self-criticism. Only such a revolutionary party can lead the proletariat and the broad masses of the people in defeating imperialism and its lackeys, winning a thorough victory in the national democratic revolution and winning the socialist revolution. If a party is not a proletarian revolutionary party but a bourgeois reformist party; If it is not a Marxist-Leninist party but as revisionist party; If it is not a vanguard party of the proletariat but a party tailing after the bourgeoisie; If it is not a party representing the interests of the proletariat and all the working people but a party representing the interests of the labour aristocracy; If it is not an internationalist party but a nationalist party; If it is not a party that can use its brains to think for itself and acquire an accurate knowledge of the trends of the different classes in its own country through serious investigation and study, and knows how to apply the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism and integrate it with the concrete practice of its own country, but instead is a party that parrots the words of others, copies foreign experience without analysis, runs hither and thither in response to the baton of certain persons abroad, and has become a hodgepodge of revisionism, dogmatism and everything but Marxists-Leninist principle; Then such a party is absolutely inculpable of leading the proletariat and the masses in revolutionary struggle, absolutely 50 incapable of winning the revolution and absolutely incapable of fulfilling the great historical mission of the proletariat. This is a question all Marxist-Leninists, all class-conscious workers and all progressive people everywhere need to ponder deeply. 25. It is the duty of Marxist-Leninists to distinguish between truth and falsehood with respect to the differences that have arisen in the international communist movement. In the common interest of the unity for struggle against the enemy, we have always advocated solving problems through inter-Party consultations and opposed bringing differences into the open before the enemy. As the comrades of the CPSU know, the public polemics in the international communist movement have been provoked by certain fraternal Party leaders and forced on us. Since a public debate has been provoked, it ought to be conducted on the basis of equality among fraternal Parties and of democracy, and by presenting the facts and reasoning things out. Since certain Party leaders have publicly attacked other fraternal Parties and provoked a public debate, it is our opinion that they have no reason or right to forbid the fraternal Parties attacked to make public replies. Since certain Party leaders have published innumerable articles attacking other fraternal Parties, why do they not publish in their own press the articles those Parties have written, in reply? Latterly, the Communist Party of China has been subjected to preposterous attacks. The attackers have raised a great hue and cry and, disregarding the facts, have fabricated many charges against us. We have published these articles and speeches attacking us in our own press. We have also published in full in our press the Soviet leader¹s report at the meeting of the Supreme Soviet on December 12, 1962, the Pravda Editorial Board¹s article of January 7, 51 1963, the speech of the head of the CPSU delegation at the Sixth Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany on January 16, 1963 and the Pravda Editorial Board¹s article of February 10, 1963. We have also published the full text of the two letters from the Central Committee of the CPSU dated February 21 and March 30, 1963. We have replied to some of the articles and speeches in which fraternal Parties have attacked us, but have not yet replied to others. For example, we have not directly replied to the many articles and speeches of the comrades of the CPSU. Between December 15, 1962 and March 8, 1963, we wrote seven articles in reply to our attackers. These articles are entitled: ³Workers of All Countries, Unite, Oppose Our Common Enemy!², ³The Differences Between Comrade Togliatti and Us², ³Leninism and Modern Revisionism², ³Let Us Unite on the Basis of the Moscow Declaration and the Moscow Statement², ³Whence the Differences? ‹ A Reply to Thorez and Other Comrades², ³More on the Differences Between Comrade Togliatti and Us ‹ Some Important Problems of Leninism in the Contemporary World², ³A Comment on the Statement of the Communist Party of the U.S.A.². Presumably, you are referring to these articles when towards the end of your letter of March 30 you accuse the Chinese press of making ³groundless attacks² on the CPSU. It is turning things upside down to describe articles replying to our attackers as ³attacks². Since you describe our articles as ³groundless² and as so very bad, why do you not publish all seven of these ³groundless attacks², in the same way as we have published your 52 articles, and let all the Soviet comrades and Soviet people think for themselves and judge who is right and who wrong? You are of course entitled to make a point-by-point refutation of these articles you consider ³groundless attacks². Although you call our articles ³groundless² and our arguments wrong, you do not tell the Soviet people what our arguments actually are. This practice can hardly be described as showing a serious attitude towards the discussion of problems by fraternal Parties, towards the truth or towards the masses. We hope that the public debate among fraternal Parties can be stopped. This is a problem that has to be dealt with in accordance with the principles of independence, of equality and of reaching unanimity through consultation among fraternal Parties. In the international communist movement, no one has the right to launch attacks whenever he wants, or to order the ³ending of open polemics² whenever he wants to prevent the other side from replying. It is known to the comrades of the CPSU that, in order to create a favourable atmosphere for convening the meeting of the fraternal Parties, we have decided temporarily to suspend, as from March 9, 1963, public replies to the public attacks directed by name against us by comrades of fraternal Parties. We reserve the right of public reply. In our letter of March 9, we said that on the question of suspending public debate ³it is necessary that our two Parties and the fraternal Parties concerned should have some discussion and reach an agreement that is fair and acceptable to all². * * * The foregoing are our views regarding the general line of the international communist movement and some related questions of principle. We hope, as we indicated at the beginning of this letter, that the frank presentation of our views will be conducive to mutual understanding. Of course, comrades may agree or disagree with these views. But in our opinion, the questions we discuss here are the crucial 53 questions calling for attention and solution by the international communist movement. We hope that all these questions and also those raised in your letter will be fully discussed in the talks between our two Parties and at the meeting of representatives of all the fraternal Parties. In addition, there are other questions of common concern, such as the criticism of Stalin and some important matters of principle regarding the international communist movement which were raised at the 20th and 22nd Congresses of the CPSU, and we hope that on these questions, too, there will be a frank exchange of opinion in the talks. With regard to the talks between our two Parties, in our letter of March 9 we proposed that Comrade Khrushchov come to Peking; if this was not convenient, we proposed that another responsible comrade of the Central Committee of the CPSU lead a delegation to Peking or that we send a delegation to Moscow. Since you have stated in your letter of March 30 that Comrade Khrushchov cannot come to China, and since you have not expressed a desire to send a delegation to China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has decided to send a delegation to Moscow. In your letter of March 30, you invited Comrade Mao Tsetung to visit the Soviet Union. As early as February 23, Comrade Mao Tse-tung in his conversation with the Soviet Ambassador to China clearly stated the reason why he was not prepared to visit the Soviet Union at the present time. You were well aware of this. When a responsible comrade of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China received the Soviet Ambassador to China on May 9, he informed you that we would send a delegation to Moscow in the middle of June. Later, in compliance with the request of the Central Committee of the CPSU, we agreed to postpone the talks between our two Parties to July 5. We sincerely hope that the talks between the Chinese and Soviet Parties will yield positive results and contribute to the preparations for convening the meeting of all Communist and Workers¹ Parties. It is now more than ever necessary for all Communists to unite on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and of the Declaration and the Statement unanimously agreed upon by the fraternal Parties. Together with Marxist-Leninist Parties and revolutionary people the world over, the Communist Party of China will continue its unremitting efforts to uphold the interests of the socialist camp and the international communist movement, the cause of the emancipation of the oppressed peoples and nations, and the struggle against imperialism and for world peace. We hope that events which grieve those near and dear to us and only gladden the enemy will not recur in the international communist movement in the future. The Chinese Communists firmly believe that the Marxist- Leninists, the proletariat and the revolutionary people everywhere will unite more closely, overcome all difficulties and obstacles and win still greater victories in the struggle against imperialism and for world peace, and in the fight for the revolutionary cause of the people of the world and the cause of international communism. Workers of all countries, unite! Workers and oppressed peoples and nations of the world, unite! Oppose our common enemy! With communist greetings, The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CPSU AND OURSELVES Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU by the Editorial Departments of Renmin Ribao (People's Daily) and Hongqi (Red Flag) (September 6, 1963) 57 T is more than a month since the Central Committee of I the Communist Party of the Soviet Union published its Open Letter of July 14 to Party organizations and all Communists in the Soviet Union. This Open Letter, and the steps taken by the leadership of the CPSU since its publication, have pushed Sino-Soviet relations to the brink of a split and have carried the differences in the international communist movement to a new stage of unprecedented gravity. Now Moscow, Washington, New Delhi and Belgrade are joined in a love feast and the Soviet press is running an endless assortment of fantastic stories and theories attacking China. The leadership of the CPSU has allied itself with U.S. imperialism, the Indian reactionaries and the renegade Tito clique against socialist China and against all Marxist- Leninist Parties, in open betrayal of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, in brazen repudiation of the 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement and in flagrant violation of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance. The present differences within the international communist movement and between the Chinese and Soviet Parties involve a whole series of important questions of principle. In its letter of June 14 to the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Central Committee of the CPC systematically and comprehensively discussed the essence of these differences. It pointed out that, in the last analysis, the present differences within the international communist movement and between the Chinese and Soviet Parties involve the questions of whether or not to accept the revolutionary principles of the 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement, whether or not to accept Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, whether or not there is need for revolution, whether or 58 not imperialism is to be opposed, and whether or not the unity of the socialist camp and the international communist movement is desired. How have the differences in the international communist movement and between the leadership of the CPSU and ourselves arisen? And how have they grown to their present serious dimensions? Everybody is concerned about these questions. In our article ³Whence the Differences?²1 we dealt with the origin and growth of the differences in the international communist movement in general outline. We deliberately refrained from giving certain facts concerning this question, and particularly certain important facts involving the leadership of the CPSU, and left the leadership of the CPSU some leeway, though we were ready to provide a fuller picture and to thrash out the rights and wrongs when necessary. Now that the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU has told many lies about the origin and development of the differences and completely distorted the facts, it has become necessary for us to set forth certain facts in order to explain the matter in greater detail. In its Open Letter, the Central Committee of the CPSU dares not state the truth to its Party members and the masses of the people. Instead of being open and above-board and respecting the facts as Marxist-Leninists should, the leadership of the CPSU resorts to the customary practice of bourgeois politicians, distorting the facts and confusing truth and falsehood in its determined attempt to shift the blame for the emergence and growth of the differences on to the Chinese Communist Party. Lenin once said, ³Honesty in politics is the result of strength; hypocrisy is the result of weakness.²2 Honesty and respect for the facts mark the attitude of Marxist-Leninists. 1 Renmin Ribao editorial, February 27, 1963. 2 V. I. Lenin, ³Polemical Notes², Collected Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1963, Vol. XVII, p. 166. 59 Only those who have degenerated politically depend on telling lies for a living. The facts are most eloquent. Facts are the best witness. Let us look at the facts. THE DIFFERENCES BEGAN WITH THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE CPSU There is a saying, ³It takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep.² The present differences in the international communist movement did not, of course, begin just today. The Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU spreads the notion that the differences in the international communist movement were started by ³Long Live Leninism!² and two other articles which we published in April 1960. This is a big lie. What is the truth? The truth is that the whole series of differences of principle in the international communist movement began more than seven years ago. To be specific, it began with the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956. The 20th Congress of the CPSU was the first step along the road of revisionism taken by the leadership of the CPSU. From the 20th Congress to the present, the revisionist line of the leadership of the CPSU has gone through the process of emergence, formation, growth and systematization. And by a gradual process, too, people have come to understand more and more deeply the revisionist line of the CPSU leadership. From the very outset we held that a number of views advanced at the 20th Congress concerning the contemporary international struggle and the international communist movement were wrong, were violations of Marxism-Leninism. In 60 particular, the complete negation of Stalin on the pretext of ³combating the personality cult² and the thesis of peaceful transition to socialism by ³the parliamentary road² are gross errors of principle. The criticism of Stalin at the 20th Congress of the CPSU was wrong both in principle and in method. Stalin¹s life was that of a great Marxist-Leninist, a great proletarian revolutionary. For thirty years after Lenin¹s death, Stalin was the foremost leader of the CPSU and the Soviet Government, as well as the recognized leader of the international communist movement and the standard-bearer of the world revolution. During his lifetime, Stalin made some serious mistakes, but compared to his great and meritorious deeds his mistakes are only secondary. Stalin rendered great services to the development of the Soviet Union and the international communist movement. In the article ³On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat² published in April 1956, we said: After Lenin¹s death Stalin creatively applied and developed Marxism-Leninism as the chief leader of the Party and the state. Stalin expressed the will and aspirations of the people, and proved himself an outstanding Marxist- Leninist fighter, in the struggle in defence of the legacy of Leninism against its enemies ‹ the Trotskyites, Zinovievites and other bourgeois agents. Stalin won the support of the Soviet people and played an important role in history primarily because, together with the other leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he defended Lenin¹s line on the industrialization of the Soviet Union and the collectivization of agriculture. By pursuing this line, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union brought about the triumph of socialism in the Soviet Union and created the conditions for the victory of the Soviet Union in the war against Hitler; these victories of the Soviet people accorded with the interests of the working class of the 61 world and all progressive mankind. It was therefore natural that the name of Stalin was greatly honoured throughout the world.1 It was necessary to criticize Stalin¹s mistakes. But in his secret report to the 20th Congress, Comrade Khrushchov completely negated Stalin, and in doing so defamed the dictatorship of the proletariat, defamed the socialist system, the great CPSU, the great Soviet Union and the international communist movement. Far from using a revolutionary proletarian party¹s method of criticism and self-criticism for the purpose of making an earnest and serious analysis and summation of the historical experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat, he treated Stalin as an enemy and shifted the blame for all mistakes on to Stalin alone. Khrushchov viciously and demagogically told a host of lies in his secret report, and threw around charges that Stalin had a ³persecution mania², indulged in ³brutal arbitrariness², took the path of ³mass repressions and terror², ³knew the country and agriculture only from films² and ³planned operations on a globe², that Stalin¹s leadership ³became a serious obstacle in the path of Soviet social development², and so on and so forth. He completely obliterated the meritorious deeds of Stalin who led the Soviet people in waging resolute struggle against all internal and external foes and achieving great results in socialist transformation and socialist construction, who led the Soviet people in defending and consolidating the first socialist country in the world and winning the glorious victory in the anti-fascist war, and who defended and developed Marxism-Leninism. In completely negating Stalin at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Khrushchov in effect negated the dictatorship of the proletariat and the fundamental theories of Marxism-Leninism which Stalin defended and developed. It was at that 1 The Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Eng. ed., Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1964, p. 7. 62 Congress that Khrushchov, in his report, began the repudiation of Marxism-Leninism on a number of questions of principle. In his report to the 20th Congress, under the pretext that ³radical changes² had taken place in the world situation, Khrushchov put forward the thesis of ³peaceful transition². He said that the road of the October Revolution was ³the only correct road in those historical conditions², but that as the situation had changed, it had become possible to effect the transition from capitalism to socialism ³through the parliamentary road². In essence, this erroneous thesis is a clear revision of the Marxist-Leninist teachings on the state and revolution and a clear denial of the universal significance of the road of the October Revolution. In his report, under the same pretext that ³radical changes² had taken place in the world situation, Khrushchov also questioned the continued validity of Lenin¹s teachings on imperialism and on war and peace, and in fact tampered with Lenin¹s teachings. Khrushchev pictured the U.S. Government and its head as people resisting the forces of war, and not as representatives of the imperialist forces of war. He said, ³. . . the advocates of settling outstanding issues by means of war still hold strong positions there [in the United States], and . . . they continue to exert big pressure on the President and the Administration.² He went on to say that the imperialists were beginning to admit that the positions-of-strength policy had failed and that ³symptoms of a certain sobering up are appearing² among them. It was as much as saying that it was possible for the U.S. Government and its head not to represent the interests of the U.S. monopoly capital and for them to abandon their policies of war and aggression and that they had become forces defending peace. Khrushchov declared: ³We want to be friends with the United States and to co-operate with it for peace and international security and also in the economic and cultural spheres.² 63 This wrong view later developed into the line of ³Soviet- U.S. co-operation for the settlement of world problems². Distorting Lenin¹s correct principle of peaceful coexistence between countries with different social systems, Khrushchov declared that peaceful coexistence was the ³general line of the foreign policy² of the U.S.S.R. This amounted to excluding from the general line of foreign policy of the socialist countries their mutual assistance and co-operation as well as assistance by them to the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples and nations, or to subordinating all this to the policy of so-called ³peaceful coexistence². The questions raised by the leadership of the CPSU at the 20th Congress, and especially the question of Stalin and of ³peaceful transition², are by no means simply internal affairs of the CPSU; they are vital issues of common interest for all fraternal Parties. Without any prior consultation with the fraternal Parties, the leadership of the CPSU drew arbitrary conclusions; it forced the fraternal Parties to accept a fait accompli and, on the pretext of ³combating the personality cult², crudely interfered in the internal affairs of fraternal Parties and countries and tried to subvert their leaderships, thus pushing its policy of sectarianism and splittism in the international communist movement. Subsequent developments show with increasing clarity that the revision and betrayal of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism by the leaders of the CPSU have grown out of the above errors. The CPC has always differed in principle in its view of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, and the leading comrades of the CPSU are well aware of this. Yet the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU asserts that the Communist Party of China previously gave the 20th Congress full support, that we ³have made a 180-degree turn² in our evaluation of the 20th Congress, and that our position is full of ³vacillation and wavering² and is ³false². 64 It is impossible for the leadership of the CPSU to shut out the heavens with one palm. Let the facts speak for themselves. On many occasions in internal discussions after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, leading comrades of the Central Committee of the CPC solemnly criticized the errors of the CPSU leadership. In April 1956, less than two months after the 20th Congress, in conversations both with Comrade Mikoyan, member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and with the Soviet Ambassador to China, Comrade Mao Tse-tung expressed our views on the question of Stalin. He emphasized that Stalin¹s ³merits outweighed his faults² and that it was necessary to ³make a concrete analysis² and ³an all-round evaluation² of Stalin. On October 23, 1956, on receiving the Soviet Ambassador to China, Comrade Mao Tse-tung pointed out, ³Stalin deserves to be criticized, but we do not agree with the method of criticism, and there are some other matters we do not agree with.² On November 30, 1956, on receiving the Soviet Ambassador to China, Comrade Mao Tse-tung again pointed out that the basic policy and line during the period when Stalin was in power were correct and that methods that are used against enemies must not be used against one¹s comrades. Both Comrade Liu Shao-chi in his conversation with leaders of the CPSU in October 1956, and Comrade Chou Enlai in his conversations on October 1, 1956 with the delegation of the CPSU to the Eighth Congress of the CPC and on January 18, 1957 with leaders of the CPSU, also expressed our views on the question of Stalin, and both criticized the errors of the leaders of the CPSU as consisting chiefly of ³total lack of an overall analysis² of Stalin, ³lack of selfcriticism² and ³failure to consult with the fraternal Parties in advance². 65 In internal discussions with comrades of the CPSU, leading comrades of the Central Committee of the CPC also stated where eve differed on the question of peaceful transition. Furthermore, in November 1957 the Central Committee of the CPC presented the Central Committee of the CPSU with a written ³Outline of Views on the Question of Peaceful Transition², comprehensively and clearly explaining the viewpoint of the CPC. In their many internal discussions with comrades of the CPSU, leading comrades of the Central Committee of the CPC also systematically set forth our views on the international situation and the strategy of the international communist movement, with direct reference to the errors of the 20th Congress of the CPSU. These are plain facts. How can the leadership of the CPSU obliterate them by bare-faced lying? Attempting to conceal these important facts, the Central Committee of the CPSU in its Open Letter quotes out of context public statements by Comrades Mao Tse-tung, Liu Shaochi and Teng Hsiao-ping to show that at one time the Chinese Communist Party completely affirmed the 20th Congress of the CPSU. This is futile. The fact is that at no time and in no place did the Chinese Communist Party completely affirm the 20th Congress of the CPSU, agree with the complete negation of Stalin or endorse the view of peaceful transition to socialism through the ³parliamentary road². Not long after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, on April 5, 1956, we published ³On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat²; then, on December 29, 1956, we published ³More on the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat². While refuting the anti- Communist slanders of the imperialists and reactionaries, these two articles made an all-round analysis of the life of Stalin, affirmed the universal significance of the road of the October Revolution, summed up the historical experience of 66 the dictatorship of the proletariat, and tactfully but unequivocally criticized the erroneous propositions of the 20th Congress. Is this not a widely known fact? Since the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to display the portrait of Stalin along with those of the other great revolutionary leaders, Marx, Engels and Lenin. Is not this, too, a widely known fact? It needs to be said, of course, that for the sake of unity against the enemy and out of consideration for the difficult position the leaders of the CPSU were in, we refrained in those days from open criticism of the errors of the 20th Congress, because the imperialists and the reactionaries of all countries were exploiting these errors and carrying on frenzied activities against the Soviet Union, against communism and against the people, and also because the leaders of the CPSU had not yet departed so far from Marxism-Leninism as they did later. We fervently hoped at the time that the leaders of the CPSU would put their errors right. Consequently, we always endeavoured to seek out positive aspects and on public occasions gave them whatever support was appropriate and necessary. Even so, by stressing positive lessons and principles in their public speeches, leading comrades of the Central Committee of the CPC explained our position with regard to the 20th Congress of the CPSU. The Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU asserts that in his political report to the Eighth Congress of the CPC, Comrade Liu Shao-chi completely affirmed the 20th Congress of the CPSU. But it was in this very report that Comrade Liu Shao-chi spoke on the lessons of the Chinese revolution and explained that the road of ³peaceful transition² was wrong and impracticable. The Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU asserts that in his report to the Eighth Congress of the CPC on the revision of the Party Constitution, Comrade Teng 67 Hsiao-ping completely affirmed the ³struggle against the personality cult² conducted at the 20th Congress. But it was in this very report that Comrade Teng Hsiao-ping discussed at some length democratic centralism in the Party and the interrelationship between leaders and masses, explained the consistent and correct style of work of our Party, and thus in effect criticized the error of the 20th Congress concerning the ³struggle against the personality cult². Is there anything wrong in the way we acted? Have we not done exactly what a Marxist-Leninist Party ought to do by persevering in principle and upholding unity? How can this consistently correct attitude of the Chinese Communist Party towards the 20th Congress be described as full of ³vacillation and wavering², as ³false² and as representing ³a 180-degree turn²? In making these charges against us in the Open Letter, perhaps the Central Committee of the CPSU thought it could deny the criticisms we made because they were known only to a few leaders of the CPSU, and that it could use falsehoods to deceive the broad masses of the CPSU membership and the Soviet people. But does this not prove its own falseness? THE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF THE 20TH CONGRESS OF THE CPSU The Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU loudly proclaims the ³splendid² and ³majestic results² of the 20th Congress of the CPSU. But history cannot be altered. People not suffering from too short a memory will recall that by its errors the 20th Congress produced not ³splendid² or ³majestic results² but a discrediting of the Soviet Union, of the dictatorship of the proletariat and of socialism and communism, and gave an opportunity to the imperialists, the reactionaries and all the 68 other enemies of communism, with extremely serious consequences for the international communist movement. After the Congress, swollen with arrogance the imperialists and reactionaries everywhere stirred up a world-wide tidal wave against the Soviet Union, against communism and against the people. The U.S. imperialists saw the all-out attack on Stalin by the leadership of the CPSU as something that was ³never so suited to our purposes²,1 they talked openly about using Khrushchov¹s secret report as a ³weapon with which to destroy the prestige and influence of the Communist movement²2 and they took the opportunity to advocate ³peaceful transformation² in the Soviet Union.3 The Titoites became most aggressive. Flaunting their reactionary slogan of ³anti-Stalinism², they wildly attacked the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialist system. They declared that the 20th Congress of the CPSU ³created sufficient elements² for the ³new course² which Yugoslavia had started and that ³the question now is whether this course will win or the course of Stalinism will win again².4 The Trotskyites, enemies of communism, who had been in desperate straits, feverishly resumed activity. In its Manifesto to the Workers and Peoples of the Entire World the so-called Fourth International said: Today, when the Kremlin leaders are themselves admitting the crimes of Stalin, they implicitly recognize that the indefatigable struggle carried on . . . by the world Trotskyist movement against the degeneration of the workers¹ state, was fully justified. The errors of the 20th Congress brought great ideological confusion in the in