The revolutionary mass movement reflects all the contraditions inherent in the dependent capitalist society. But the main contradiction is between those who are organising on behalf of the imperialists and social-imperialists and those who organise against them. The Anglo-American bourgeoisie is quite an experienced bourgeoisie. They have a long history of undermining the revolutionary mass movement by sending their agents and disrupting it from within. In Canada, there is an alliance of fascists, social-fascists and police which is working from within the revolutionary mass movement to dismember and disrupt it from within. Opposing this alliance is the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) which is the target of attack of this alliance. The Party is resolutely resisting their attacks through active defense. CPC(M-L) has been burnt by them and our comrades have been physically assaulted. Since 1968 nearly 1,600 arrests of comrades have taken place. Apart from these violent attacks this alliance spreads ideological confusion, gossip and slanders against the Party. The contradiction between this reactionary alliance and the people is antagonistic and can only be resolved with the overthrow of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and a very long period of suppression of this alliance under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is extremely important that the comrades remain vigilant against this alliance all the time.
We have been handling this contradiction by following the line of struggle against the enemy to unite the people and unite the people to struggle against the enemy. This means that we actively support the thirteen revolutionary mass movements among the people which is struggle against the enemy and we wage consistent revolutionary propaganda through newspapers, conferences, meetings and demonstrations among the people to clarify the proletarian revolutionary line which is to unite the people. Furthermore, we continuously wage struggle inside the Party to weed out the reflection of the reactionary alliance from within our midst. This struggle consolidates the ranks of the people, builds links with the masses and isolates the enemy from the people. This entire struggle must be carried out consistently and without let up.
The revolutionary mass movement is the physical reflection of class struggle in the society. It is the concentrated expression of the class struggle which is being waged by the working class against the monopoly capitalist class and the U.S. imperialists. There is also a reactionary mass movement which always attempts to destroy the revolutionary mass movement. The reactionary mass movement is the movement to mobilise the people for reactionary politics; for example, the reactionary mass movement in Quebec is represented by the unilingualists who are actually financed by various sections of the monopoly capitalist class.
Apart from this basic class division in the revolutionary mass movement, there is division and regrouping in the revolutionary mass movement itself. Various tendencies vie for influence there. It takes a very long period of sustained work before the Marxist-Leninists achieve a dominant position in the revolutionary mass movement. It is our firm belief that this dominant position in the physical sense will only be attained on the eve of anti-imperialist socialist revolution and not before and even then the overthrown erroneous tendencies will attempt to make a come back all the time. At this time the responsibility of the Marxist-Leninists is to clarify the political line – that is, clarify the tactical line – and to provide cadres who are professional revolutionaries. Those cadres take this line to the revolutionary mass movement and actively propagate it and fight for its acceptance. Apart from this responsibility to clarify strategic position and arm the minds of the Party cadres, it is also the responsibility of the Marxist-Leninists to disseminate Marxist-Leninist theory. This entire responsibility can only be fulfilled if the Marxist-Leninists have influential leaders in the revolutionary mass movement. They must be professional cadres who have links and who have influence in actual struggles. Their views must be listened to and discussed by various militants. Not to have influential cadres and not to have any links with the militants means that it does not matter how clear the tactical or theoretical position of the Party is; it does not matter how many documents are written and distributed to popularise it, it will have no influence what-so-ever in any revolutionary section to any appreciable degree. It is the resposibility of the Marxist-Leninists to be influential in as many circles of militants as possible and devise ways of influencing those circles. Revolutionary war is the war of the masses. Without masses there will be no revolutionary war. This process of influencing the militants builds ties with the masses and arouses them to go into action. Although the Party may itself fight some battles directly, the main battles have to be waged by the masses under the leadership of the Party. This leadership is built by making contacts with the militants though the actual training of disciplined cadres in a disciplined Party which is based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. Our Party is such a Party. Our cadres are such cadres. Our policy is such a policy. Under the leadership of Comrade Bains, we have been able to influence several groups of militants who have come out of actual class struggles. Our main source of cadres has been actual struggles; and because of the consistent analysis and mass work, our literature is very much read and discussed by the militants and our influence is growing rapidly. This correct line of influencing the revolutionary mass movement must be tenaciously adhered to. No circle, no group and no organisation should be left alone without influencing it, no matter how complicated it is to make a visible contact with it. This aspect of struggle is very decisive as it is through this struggle that we form viable, reliable and stable links with the masses, have eyes and ears among them and are able to isolate the enemy. Without this activity the revolutionary mass movement will suffer a serious setback.
When we make a programme of influencing and leading the revolutionary mass movement which is a reflection of the basic sentiment of the masses for revolution, we should chalk out this programme on the basis of a very long, drawn out, protracted struggle. We should not aim for one year of two years or several years or even several decades; we should aim for an entire historical period of overthrowing the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat. We should aim at building these links on a long-term basis. Most of these links must be underground and secret and away from the eyes and ears of the alliance of the fasicsts, social-fascists and police. We should build these links cautiously and with a great deal of vigilance. We should not boast about them or talk about them loosely. We should remain modest, hard-working and give the impression to the reactionary alliance that we are just a small group with very few ties with anyone. We should maintain this posture for a very long period of time. There is nothing to gain by convincing some reactionary circles that we have influence. This correct line of ours has worked in the past. It has won us timely support when we needed to resist the attacks of the reactionary alliance. We must carry through this correct line right to the end.
While we aim at long-range struggle and do not push for quick victories, we also do not lose sight of the needs of revolution now and also prepare for victories. By aiming high and working hard we can influence the revolutionary mass movement and by quick and sustained practical activity, we can establish firm roots in certain areas. It is very important that wherever the reactionary alliance is weak, we reach there with maximum speed and in secrecy, build ties and surprise the erroneous tendencies vying for influence in the revolutionary mass movement and put them out of action. We achieved this in Montreal. Our reorganisation of the Internationalists in Montreal in 1968, cautious scientific establishment of ties in various influential circles, and sustained and vigorous propaganda for the Marxist-Leninist political line, put the reactionary alliance into a passive position and caught them by surprise. They did not know what hit them and that correct practical work can not be wiped out for a very long time. This correct position of advancing into one area secretly, with a plan and with a massive force (whatever can be mustered within given conditions) and carrying out systematic work will remain valid also for a long period of time. Our comrades instead of arousing the reactionary alliance against them by dogged straight-line moralistic battles, should pay close attention to organising struggles scientifically and with a plan, without prematurely telling the enemies to come forward and attack us and liquidate the struggle. To have influence means not only to have a just cause but also to have the correct method, the know-how of defeating the tricks and designs of the enemy and overwhelming and defeating the enemy. It has been our experience that wherever a straight moralistic sort of battle was waged without adequate preparation, we may have gained some experience and perhaps some friends but, in the main, we postponed the day of organising there. The reactionary alliance shows up wherever we organise: it is only natural. But not to take precautions against the reactionary alliance and not to give them tit for tat is to make a serious mistake.
In influencing the revolutionary mass movement, all our cadres must be recruited from the revolutionary mass movement without exception and all of them must work for the revolutionary mass movement without exception. We are the representatives of the proletariat. It is our task to kindle a single spark of revolutionary struggle in the working class. It is we who have to bring a high tide in the working class movement in the future. This we can bring about if we have our entire force in the working class movement and engaged in scientific work on a systematic basis. We have the cadres. We have the instruments of working class propaganda. With the correct method of work and by consistently learning through actual study and investigation and by thus enhancing our class consciousness and consciousness of class struggle we will certainly bring it about. We have unshakeable faith in the revolutionary capacity of the masses. We have very little fear of the reactionary alliance. We will certainly advance and make a small start towards organising the working class as the revolutionary class capable of mobilising everyone around itself, isolating the enemies to the maximum and attacking them when the material conditions are favourable.