First Published: People’s Voice, Vol. I, No. 10-11, October 25-November 1, 1965.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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(The following is an interview of the PEOPLE'S VOICE had with M. I. Laski, General Secretary of the Communist Party U.S.A. (Marxist-Leninist) following the Vietnam Day Demonstrations on October 15-16, 1965.)
Question: Comrade Laski, what role did the C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.) play in the Viet Nam Day demonstrations?
Answer: The main role that we sought to play was to expose the relationships between the revisionists and the ruling class in terms of the Viet Nam Day struggle. Our ultimate objective is to provide proletarian leadership and direction to the struggle against the rise of fascism. This type of anti-imperialist, anti-fascist struggle is not possible without a struggle against modern revisionism.
Question: How did the revisionists react to the participation of the C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.) in the Viet Nam Day demonstration?
Answer: The revisionists and Trotskyites–the W.E.B. Dubois clubs, the Progressive Labor Party, the revisionist-CP.U.S.A.–attempted to block the CP. U.S.A. (M.-L.) from making any statement. We met the situation by holding a counter-rally at the same time where we exposed the fact that the leadership of the Viet Nam Day Committee was not concerned with confronting and exposing U.S. imperialism and the rise of fascism but rather was concerned with chanelling the struggle into safe areas and liquidating it.
The main demand of the revisionists and the Trotskyites was to “negotiate.” The position of the C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.) is to call for the acceptance of the March 22 statement of the National Liberation Front and the April 8 statement of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam as the basis of any discussion or negotiation.
Question: What is the view of the C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.) toward intellectuals as a force in the anti-imperialist struggle?
Answer: The students, and intellectuals, and other sections of the petty bourgeoisie, can and will provide an important force in the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist united front. But at the present time the mobilization of the working class in the anti-fascist united front is decisive. The petty bourgeoisie in alliance with the working class is key to an effective united front against the rise of fascism.