On behalf of the NLM I wish to express the deep honour that we feel at being invited to participate in the Fifth Consultative Conference of CPC(M-L). First, I want to inform comrades about Trinago. Trinago is located six miles to the east of Venezuela. It is a nation of one million people living on two islands: Trinidad, the larger of the two, around 1,800 square miles, and Tobago, the smaller, around 120 square miles.
The National Liberation Movement was formed in January of 1974. A first draft of the programme of the NLM was prepared by a group of young people who recognized the need to struggle against opportunism and revisionism, in the struggle of the people for national liberation.
It is important that comrades understand something of the history of Trinago, in order to appreciate the position of the NLM today.
Following the Second World War, in 1945, we witnessed at home the descendency of British colonialism and the ascendency of American imperialism. In fact, the end of the war heralded the beginning of American imperialist domination of our country. The anti-colonial movement at this time was developing. It was in 1946, as a direct response to the development of the anti-colonial movement in Trinidad and Tobago, that the British colonialists were forced to grant the concession to the people of full adult suffrage. So by the end of the war, in 1946, in effect what happened in Trinidad and Tobago was the coming of age of the bourgeois democratic system. The people suffered for hundreds of years under the heels of the colonialists, French, Spanish and later the British. The anti-colonial struggle has a long history, through slavery, through indentureship, and then through the development of capitalist society as we know it today. But the struggle of the people historically in Trinidad and Tobago has been led by opportunists, by petty-bourgeois, by parasitic elements in society who all claimed at one point or another to be Marxist. In the true sense of the term, our people have not had a history of Marxist leadership, prior to 1974. In the period of the ascendency of American imperialism, a puppet of American imperialism arrived on the scene in Trinago in the form of Eric Williams, a professor and a bourgeois historian, a direct agent of the American imperialists, who was appointed to lead the anti-colonial struggle against the British and to open the door to American imperialist penetration. It is important to grasp the position taken by the opportunists, trotskyites, revisionists of all kinds, when Eric Williams and his People’s National Movement came on the scene. Most important was the position taken by one of the most notorious enemies of the people of Trinago and the people of the world, C.L.R. James. The trotskyite James joined with Williams, completely exposing himself as having capitulated to the bourgeoisie and to American imperialism. He became the editor of the newspaper of the People’s National Movement. He retained this post for six years until 1961, just prior to the fraudulent independence, when he was removed. So the reformists and bourgeois agents masqueraded. At the time James was masquerading in Trinidad and Tobago as a Marxist.
Trinidad and Tobago is a neo-colonial society. The Chinese rightists are in the habit of calling Trinidad and Tobago a country with national independence.
We do not share that view. In fact the National Liberation Movement has been organized to fight against American imperialism, to fight against the Soviet social-imperialist agents in our midst and against Soviet social-imperialism, to join with the proletariat of the world in fighting against imperialism in any form. The NLM is a Marxist-Leninist organization. We consider ourselves to be the germ that wants to build the Communist Party of Trinago. We are very small, very weak, relatively,that is relative tothe parties of the proletariat across the world. But in terms of the situation at home, in terms of the situation relative to organizations of the bourgeoisie, masquerading as Marxist organizations which were formed at various times in our history, we have the support of the proletariat and people, and the line of the NLM is growing.
The political line of the NLM defines the stage of our revolution as a people’s democratic revolution, anti-fascist and anti-imperialist in character. The political line of the NLM defines the urgent necessity for the proletariat of Trinago of building the three weapons for liberation: building the party; building the People’s Army to lead in people’s war, to defeat the imperialists and to liberate our country from the clutches of mainly American imperialism; and to build the united front of all the sections of society, all the various classes of the society which are objectively opposed to American imperialism.
I want to deal with some of the events that have taken place since 1962 and the declaration of this fraudulent independence in order that comrades may understand the incorrectness of the position taken by the rightists in China. This fraudulent independence in 1962 was in fact the formal declaration of American imperialist domination of our country – the formal declaration, because during the Second World War there was the military presence of American imperialism in our country, and the anti-colonial movement also took up the issue of struggling against the military presence of American imperialism in Trinago. The American imperialist puppet Williams who usurped leadership of the anti-British colonialist movement, also struggled against the military presence of American imperialism, but at the same time he laid the basis and did the propaganda work to justify and to usher in the economic presence of American imperialism. So in 1963, just after the fraudulent independence, the U.S.-Trinidad Accord was signed. This was an agreement between the United States and the so-called newly-independent state of Trinidad, which gave the right to the American imperialist troops to enter Trinidad under the pretext of protecting the life and well-being, and most importantly, the property, of American imperialism. By this time the economy of the country was totally in the hands of American imperialism. The economy of the country was based mainly on oil, and the oil companies, such as Texaco, Amoco, etc. were mainly from America. The finance capitalists were the finance capitalists of America. In addition to that accord, the Organization of American States agreement was also signed by the puppet regime, which gave the right to OAS troops, which included troops from Venezuela and troops from Brazil, to enter Trinago at any time to protect the interests of the American imperialists. This OAS agreement can be compared to the NATO agreement of the U.S. imperialists in Western Europe or the Warsaw Pact of the Soviet social-imperialists. It was the military pact of U.S. imperialism for Latin America. In the same year, 1963, a commission was set up to look into subversive activity, to weed out anyone who appeared to be a Marxist, to find out, whether in truth and in fact there were communists to be found in the society. All the trade unionists, all leaders of any mass organizations, even people such as C.L.R. James and trade union leaders who had capitulated completely and had betrayed the proletariat and supported the position of the People’s National Movement, led by the traitor Eric Williams, were hauled before this commission and the witchhunt, the persecution of the communists began in 1963. But the resistance of the people mounted, and 1964-1965 witnessed strikes on a mass scale which brought the country to a standstill for several months. This was followed by the passage of various pieces of repressive legislation. We saw the growth of fascism immediately following “independence”. The spontaneous struggle developed. At this time, as before, the leadership of the spontaneous struggle of the people against domination, against oppression, against exploitation, was in the hands of reformists and revisionists of various types. This struggle developed up to 1970.
1970 is an important year in understanding the development of the history of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. In 1970, a mass movement developed, which in essence was anti-imperialist, the Black Power movement. And many of the people who later formed the NLM and over 90 percent of the young people of Trinago were in one way or another involved in the spontaneous uprising, under the leadership of the Black Power movement. The importance of this event was that for the first time in the history of Trinago the need for revolution was popularized on a mass scale. Prior to that the struggles led by reformists, etc., and anti-communist elements never saw the need, or put forward the call, for revolution of the people, for overthrowing the state. But the anti-imperialist Black Power movement put forward this call. In that way, and in that way only, the Black Power movement laid the basis for the formation of the National Liberation Movement.
By 1974, several events had developed in the struggle of the people. One was the development of terrorism. Many of the young people were slaughtered because they were misled by a terrorist line into thinking that all that was necessary was to follow the example of Guevara, take up arms, take to the hills, and somehow or other, the masses of the people will follow. In a very short space of time the experience of the people has taught that that line is incorrect. It was in 1974, when the failure of that line became obvious to very many people in the society, that comrades began to examine where the whole movement of the people, the whole general movement of the people against American imperialism, was going wrong. And that is when comrades in Trinagodiscovered Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. So with the declaration of the NLM in 1974, for the first time Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought was brought to the proletariat and people of Trinago. The position taken by the NLM at this time was: 1) declaring the ideological line which guides our activity to be Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, 2) declaring that the task of the proletariat was to lead the people, and 3) to lead the people the proletariat had to build the three weapons of liberation: the communist party, the united front, and the people’s army to lead the people’s war. The very declaration of the three weapons of liberation represented a significant breakthrough in terms of revolution in our country. Further, the NLM defined the principal task at the stage of development of the revolution as building the party of the proletariat. And this is the task we are engaged in at present. We have accepted and have recognized the general truth that there is the need for the communist party. And we are in the process of struggling to come to grips with the question of how to build that party. It would be false if we were to pretend that we have grasped this. But the commitment is there among the comrades to build the party of the proletariat, in order to lead the revolution of the people.
In 1975, further developments took place in our country. We saw the growing of fascism in our country take the form of armed intervention in workers’ struggles. For the second time in the history of our country, armed soldiers and police were used to replace workers at their jobs, and this was among the largest concentration of workers in the country, at the oil refineries. The slogan which was issued at the time to combat the line of the reformists and revisionists that all that was necessary was to replace Eric Williams and what we should do is begin to organize for the next election, was that the task of the proletariat is to smash the state machine, and not to take it over. The growing fascism developed, and as time went on, the NLM put forward the slogan that the task of the proletariat is to combat the growing fascism, by preparing for people’s democratic revolution. As a result, all activity of the comrades in the mass organizations, all activity in village organizations among the workers, activity on the cultural front, was aimed at mobilizing the people against the growing fascism of the state,at exposing thetrue nature of the state, and at drawing lessons from these struggles so that the people can prepare for people’s revolution.
The struggle against opportunism at this time entered a new phase. By this time, the Soviet social-imperialists had been exposed to the extent that the agents of Soviet social-imperialism, rather than declaring themselves openly, were beginning to say, let us not get involved with any Sino-Soviet conflict. At the same time, in 1974 we noticed a development in the Chinese Communist Party which I would like to bring to the attention of the comrades, a development which, quite frankly, confused us, and led us to believe at that time that there were some elements within the Party who did not have proper information about what was happening in our country. Frankly, we did not see it in terms of the development of what has now become known as the “Pingist line”, the line of Teng Hsiao-ping and of the revisionists within the Party in China. But Peking Review of January 11, 1974, in analyzing the Caribbean region, made this statement, and I quote: “The dependencies in that region are fighting for independence, while the states which have already gained independence, are striving to consolidate it.” It went on: “Thanks to the brilliant struggle of the people, the process of realizing national independence and self-determination in the region has been accelerated since the beginning of the 1970’s.”The article went on to state that more than 86 percent of the population of the whole Caribbean region is out of direct colonial rule, but did not talk about neo-colonialism. Instead it went on to say that after Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Barbados became independent in the 1960’s and the Bahamas proclaimed independence last July, more than 86 percent of the population of the region had got rid of direct colonial rule. Further it stated: “The sovereign states are striving to consolidate their independence,” – referring to the states which we have defined and which the facts reveal are puppet states, which are neo-colonial in their nature, and which serve the interests of American imperialism. “These sovereign states,” they said, “are striving to consolidate their independence. Economically the governments of these states in the past few years have imposed various degrees of restrictions on U.S. and other foreign capital in equity ownership and investments.”
It is important that comrades understand the dangerous falsehood that is included in this statement, because of what has happened in the Caribbean. The fact is that as the struggle against American imperialism developed, the American imperialists were forced to adopt a new posture, to put on a new disguise; they were forced into the position where they could no longer wave the star-spangled banner and declare: “Look, we are the dominators, we are the oppressors, we are the ones that own and control and you will keep in your place.” They were forced to grant as a concession to the people, as a mask to try to disguise the oppression and exploitation, 51 percent “participation”, and in some cases 100 percent “participation”.
To understand the fraudulence of the so-called nationalization, let us take the oil industry as an example. In Trinago what has happened is that at present, Texaco, an American imperialist corporation, is preparing to hand over its refinery and oilfields to the Trinidad and Tobago government. What is being handed over are the production aspects, so that the problem of extracting the oil from the ground, of organizing the workers, of dealing with the workers when the contradiction between labour and capital develops – all of these problems are now the responsibility of the puppet state. But the finished product, the oil that has been taken out, the crude oil, the oil that has been refined to the first stage of refining, is handled by the imperialists who control marketing, who control all secondary products, who control the petrochemical industry. So in truth and in fact, the least profitable aspect of the entire operation is what is being nationalized. But the Chinese rightists, speaking in Peking Review as far back as 1974, have made the statement, that “economically the governments of these states in the past few years have imposed various degrees of restriction on the U.S.” In the same article they go on to state that Trinidad and Tobago has “taken certain localization methods against foreign business”. The example that they cite is Trinidad and Tobago’s sugar industry, because in the sugar industry the same thing has happened. In the sugar industry, the state in Trinago has taken over 100 percent control of the 73,000 acres of land that are under sugar cultivation, and of the sugar refinery. But the transportation of sugar, the marketing of sugar on the world market, the bulk-handling facilities by which the sugar is transferred from trucks to boats, the production of all secondary products from sugar, the production of all secondary products of molasses – remain firmly in the hands of American imperialism. Yet this is given as an example by the Chinese rightists of the Trinidad and Tobago state “taking certain localization methods”. In fact the nationalization of the sugar industry was a result of the revolutionary struggle of the people in 1970 that was led by the Black Power cultural chauvinists, but which reflected the sentiment of the people against foreign domination. But then the Chinese rightists go further. In the same article in Peking Review in 1974, they resort to blatant lies and distortions to add weight to their arguments. They state in the same article: “Above all, measures are being taken to achieve self-sufficiency in food,as the importance of this as a solid basis of sound economic development is being gradually realized. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are putting into execution plans to increase cultivated land.” This is the most vicious distortion of the truth.
In 1974 a conference was held in Trinago, called the Oil and Food Conference. I quote one of the decisions of that conference: “Arising out of discussions between the Prime Minister and certain U.S. companies, one of them an oil company, the possibility of associating such business corporations with agricultural development in Trinidad and Tobago, especially food production, is now being investigated. The tentative ideas now being elaborated include: 1) company expertise (that is, the foreign company’s expertise) being made available to the Minister of Agriculture; 2) each company to accept responsibility for assisting (that is the term they use) in development in at least one area approximating 1,000 acres. This area is to develop along cooperative lines, that is to say the workers would be organized cooperatively; 3) the government is to be responsible for the required infrastructure, roads, water, irrigation, electricity and housing; 4) the companies to assist principally in the field of a) extension services, b) domestic marketing (these companies to be involved in domestic marketing), c) export outlet,d) processing, and e) supply or inputs of pesticides, petrochemicals, fertilizers, and so on; and 5) the new settlements are to emphasize farm mechanization.” Now this was the same year that Peking Review was stating that “above all, measures are being taken to achieve self-sufficiency in food, as the importance of this as a solid basis for sound economic development is gradually being realized”. And they cite the example of Trinidad and Tobago.
And the distortion continues to further depths. In the same article, it is stated: “It is worth noting that the Caribbean countries are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of union in their efforts to achieve political and economic independence.” The reference here is to the Caribbean Economic Community, CARICOM, which can be compared to the European Economic Community of the U.S. imperialists in Western Europe, and to COMECON of the Soviet social-imperialists of the bourgeois states of Eastern Europe. These Chinese rightists, as early as 1974, stated that CARICOM exists “to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between members, unite them, gradually, into a unified common market, with a common protective policy and coordinate their respective foreign policies in the interest of the development of national economy.” In truth and in fact CARICOM is nothing but one of the new guises of American imperialism in the region. And further, the problems which CARICOM is facing at present – there is a threat that CARICOM will break up – results from the fact that two of the countries, which participated in CARICOM, Guyana and Jamaica, were led by regimes which took up the position of trying to flirt with Soviet social-imperialism, of getting into a sweetheart sort of arrangement with Cuba. This went to the extent that in Jamaica, for example, the state police force, the bourgeois state police, is being trained in Cuba, and the revisionists in Jamaica put forward the line that that is a good thing because now the police are socialist.
One of the things contributing in fact to the collapse of CARICOM is the Havana Declaration. Now these same two regimes represent the interests of the classes of Jamaica and Guyana which are sold out completely to American imperialism – the comprador classes – the bureaucrat-capitalists and the parasitic classes and sections of society, and the local bourgeois class which depends for its existence on American imperialism. The Havana Declaration put forward the line that since the regimes in these two countries were using socialist phrases, were calling themselves socialists, were calling the fascist police the people’s militia, as they did in Guyana, were bringing together the youth for bourgeois indoctrination, and calling it national service, then these regimes should be supported. In the case of Jamaica, it was even more blunt and blatant. The very same regime led by Manley had made it possible for anyone whom the police charged for possession of arms and ammunition to be jailed indefinitely, violating even the basic bourgeois democratic right to have a trial by jury.
The Havana Declaration came out, and Soviet social-imperialism instructed its agents in the Caribbean and in Latin America that the thing to do was to critically support these regimes because they were anti-imperialist and they were moving in the direction of socialism. The line that is being put forward on the Caribbean by the rightists in China is in essence exactly the same line. In fact, the excuses they use to justify the line are exactly the same. The Soviet social-imperialists put forward the view that the balance of forces is now such that the very existence of the military might of the Soviet Union would 1) frighten the bourgeoisie into recognizing that socialism is a reasonable thing; and 2) make it possible for the peoples of the world to have peaceful revolution, to take over and establish socialism using the peaceful road. The Chinese rightists put forward the view that there is a new world situation, and put forward the “three worlds” theory.
Later on, in February 1977, following the death of Chairman Mao, Peking Review of February 11,1977, stated that: “The countries of Latin America are now facing the much more arduous task of national revolution to consolidate political independence by completely stamping out the entrenched superpower control over their national economy.” Separating politics from economics and giving the impression that you can have political independence but economic slavery, it goes further. It cites Venezuela, the third largest exporter of petroleum in the capitalist world, and it says that Venezuela nationalized its petroleum industry on January 1,1976. It goes on to say that Venezuela took back all its oil-rich resources and so on, which had been controlled for 61 years and it cited Venezuela as an example of one of those countries consolidating its national independence.
Trinidad and Tobago is six miles off the coast of Venezuela and the relationship between the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the people of Venezuela is such that, in fact, the fishermen, for example, have homes on both shores. They have a home in Trinidad and they have a home in Venezuela. So when they fish across, they sleep in Venezuela a week or two, and when they fish back across again, they sleep in Trinidad. That is the reality. But in 1970, following the uprising which I spoke about, there was a declaration of a state of emergency. In keeping with the OAS agreement, the troops which came to Trinago under direction of the American imperialists to support the puppet regime in Trinago were Venezuelan troops. In fact, Venezuela has been aggressing against the Trinago fishermen for a number of years over the question of who has the right to fish in the waters there. The bourgeoisie in Venezuela, not the fishermen of Venezuela, raised this question because the fishermen of Venezuela and the fishermen of Trinidad are the same people, more or less. They live on both shores. But the bourgeoisie of Venezuela, in an effort to put the fishermen on the western coast of Trinidad into their complete grip, have been escalating this aggression. But in 1977, it is put forward that Venezuela is one of these countries which forms part of the “third world”, that is most revolutionary.
But the Peking Review article goes further. It says that Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean countries either nationalized all foreign aluminium companies or requisitioned the majority of shares of these companies. But this is the most blatant lie because there is no aluminium company in Trinago. But it adds weight to the argument.
The article of February 1977 states that the nationalization movement, the movement against economic hegemony, arose under the impetus of the historical trend “countries want independence, nations want liberation, and people want revolution”, a complete distortion of reality.
But comrades, that is not all. Recently, there have been other developments which we would like to share with the comrades here. Because in the name of Comrade Mao Tsetung and in the name of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, the regime of Eric Williams is being boosted and supported by the representatives of the Chinese state, the charges d’affaires, the Ambassador and so on, who are located in Port-of-Spain.
This is a quotation from a statement they made about Eric Williams: “We warmly congratulate the Trinidad and Tobago government and people on their progress and achievements made under the leadership of Prime Minister Williams in safeguarding national independence and state sovereignty, protecting natural resources and developing the national economy.” Then on September 13, 1977, that is, quite recently, the Ambassador representing the Chinese state in Trinidad made the statement that Comrade Mao Tsetung “had great respect and admiration for the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Eric Williams, both as an historian and for the tremendous role Dr. Williams played in bringing Trinidad and Tobago from colonialism to independence”. The quotation goes on: “Chairman Mao followed with interest the development of the country economically and felt that there was much in the development of Trinidad and Tobago from which China can learn”. This was said to the mayor of San Fernando, which is the city in which the Texaco oil refinery exists. This was stated at a meeting on September 13 of this year. The same representative went on to say: “He was pleased to hear from the mayor that members of the Chinese community in Trinago had made a useful and significant contribution to the economic life and development of the country.” He said it was “in keeping with the philosophy of Chairman Mao that the Chinese community should intermingle with local communities, that they could become active citizens, working with all others, for the betterment of the national life and development”.
It is important that we understand the role of the Chinese community in Trinago. The first Chinese who came to Trinago came as indentured servants, following the struggle of the African slaves and the abolition of slavery. Very few Chinese came at that time. And most of these Chinese, in fact, intermarried with the people of Trinago, who were essentially at that time of African and Indian origin. And so to say that the Chinese community – that came over a hundred years ago as indentured servants – still exists, would be to give a misconception. But during the war of revolution in China between 1920 and the 1940’s and even into the 1950’s, all kinds of vagabonds escaping from the wrath of the proletariat in China came to Trinago and settled. The Chinese community in Trinago is essentially a community of businessmen. A few are small businessmen, but the vast majority are big businessmen, totally sold out to imperialism, who form part of the backbone of the comprador bourgeoisie in Trinago. In point of fact the people whom this particular Ambassador fraternizes with and moves around with are the leaders of the Chinese community in Trinago, are of this class. So when they speak of a significant contribution to the economic life and development of the country, it is a significant development in terms of a bourgeois contribution; in terms of exploitation, it is a significant contribution. But when it is said that it is the philosophy of Chairman Mao that the Chinese community should intermingle in this way, then that is carrying a bad joke too far.
When the recent Chinese trade delegation came to Trinago, there was a big struggle, in which I myself was involved, among many of the people in the city of Port-of-Spain over the question of whether these Chinese were different from those Chinese that we knew. And the vast majority of the people were holding the view, the view that was put forward by our comrades, that these Chinese are communists and that the Chinese in Trinago are capitalists, and that we should not take things on a sort of racial basis and make quick assessments. But then the Ambassador from China arrived in the car of a big Chinese businessman. And the car drove through the crowd which was gathered looking at the Chinese delegation setting up the exhibition and so on. This discussion was going on. They drove through the crowd very arrogantly, in the way the bourgeoisie treats the proletariat, and the Ambassador got out of the car with this man and he created the opportunity for various reactionary elements in the crowd to say: “You see, the same thing we are saying – those are the people you say are communists. Look at that man there, he is the big man representing the communists here.”
Now I mention these things because on behalf of the NLM, I wish to express our position on the “third world” theory that has been put forward and our position on the usurpation of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party by rightists. The position of the NLM is, that based on the evidence that we have about the position of the Chinese rightists on Trinidad and Tobago, we recognize the need to struggle along with all Marxist-Leninists throughout the world against this attempt to give a new life to international opportunism, to give a new life to the class which formerly supported the position of the Soviet social-imperialists and which can now take a different form because the Soviet social-imperialists have become increasingly exposed. And we see the opportunity to come to this conference as an excellent opportunity for us to express in our own way our solidarity with the comrades of the Party of Labour of Albania, with the comrades of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), and with all the Marxist-Leninist comrades throughout the world, of whom we have heard in some cases for the first time since we came to this conference, in the struggle against this new guise of international opportunism.
One of the things that we have benefited from in the few years of our relationship of some sort with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) is from the literature which we have received. In fact, PCDN is very widely read among the circles of people who support the line of the NLM, to such an extent, that the revisionists, when they become bankrupt in trying to combat our line, have put forward the theory that the NLM was founded and is led by Comrade Hardial Bains, (laughter, applause) But that is the level they have reached. I’ll give you an example of one of the contributions that the literature which we have received from here has made – and this may sound laughable in a sense – but it explains the reality of the situation in the Caribbean, the lack of information that exists in the Caribbean. It was in 1974, when we received literature and we got information from persons associated with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), that for the first time, the people of Trinago knew that Albania existed as a socialist country! That just gives you an idea of the lack of information. So you can understand from that the tremendous contribution to the development of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought that the literature which we receive from the National Publications Centre is making to the development of revolution. For that we thank the comrades this evening, (applause) One of the things which we have learnt from this conference, this Consultative Conference of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) is that meetings of this type afford the international proletariat the opportunity to exchange and share experiences. One of the things that has come out of this is that we recognize that the opportunists and the revisionists and all the other renegades and obstructionists to revolution throughout the world take up exactly the same position. In analyzing the situation in Italy, the situation in Western Europe, the situation in Canada, the same position has been put forward in describing the revisionists and the opportunists of various types. And this is exactly the same position taken by the opportunists and revisionists in Trinidad. For example, there is one particular band of opportunists in Trinago called the National Movement for True Independence which was formed at a time prior to the formation of the NLM. And the founders of this movement in fact boasted of having connections with certain individuals who, I discovered at this conference, betrayed the proletariat in Canada. One of the individuals was referred to by Comrade Bains yesterday. The National Movement for True Independence boasted of having this connection. Under the relentless criticism and struggle which the NLM has waged against opportunism, that particular section has taken up the position today that the Trinago proletariat is anti-communist and that anybody who talks about building a communist party is being “leftist” and “adventurist”. I mention this because it demonstrates very clearly that the opportunists are linked internationally, just as we know that the bourgeoisie, the imperialists are united internationally. It demonstrates to us very clearly the importance of setting up more deep, more thorough connections between the NLM and the Party. The relationship between the NLM and the Party will be deepened we hope so that we can benefit much more from the bond between the proletariat of Canada and the proletariat of our country.
To round off, I just want to say that in terms of contributing to the International Communist Movement, we see our major contribution as that of making revolution in Trinago, as that of leading the people’s democratic revolution and then leading the socialist transformation of the society. We see this as our major contribution and we are committed to work towards that end. Comrades, on behalf of the NLM of Trinago, on behalf of the proletariat and people of Trinago:
ON WITH THE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT TO LEAD THE PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION IN TRINAGO!
LONG LIVE THE PARTY OF LABOUR OF ALBANIA!
LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST-LENINIST)!
LONG LIVE THE STRUGGLE OF THE PROLETARIAT INTERNATIONALLY!
LONG LIVE THE STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD AGAINST ALL FORMS OF REACTION!
LONG LIVE PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM!