The proletariat is the greatest class in the history of mankind. It is the most powerful revolutionary class ideologically, politically and in strength. It can and must unite the overwhelming majority of people around itself so as to isolate the handful of enemies to the maximum and attack them.
Vol. 4, No. 3
April 23, 1973
Newspaper of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) PO 5221, Cleveland, Ohio
10¢
22ND CONGRESS OF THE CPC (ML) CONCLUDED SEE PAGE 6
ORGANIZE ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNITS
STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE OF THE ACWM(M-L)
Oppose Israeli Zionist Aggression
The Worker
Workers Affairs
22ND CONGRESS OF THE CPC (ML) CONCLUDED IN GREAT REVOLUTIONARY ATMOSPHERE OF DETERMINATION!
ADVANCE THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT--BUILD THE COMMUNIST PARTY
for your reference:
NEWS IN BRIEF & COMMENT:
Upstate NY Marxist--Leninists Organize
Ann Arbor - Asian Latin American Peoples' Solidarity Forum Formed
The number one problem facing the American working class is the U.S. monopoly capitalist class. Besides carrying out vicious super-exploitation of the working class, the monopoly capitalists are unleashing fascism against the entire working class and people and preparing for further wars of aggression against the people of the whole world.
The dictatorship of the monopoly capitalist class which supervises the basic contradiction between labor and capital in favor of the bourgeoisie is being strengthened and consolidated in every cell of society through unleashing of fascist rules and regulations, build up of police and the military arm of the state, organizing of fascist committees in the universities, communities and places of work, propagation of rabid chauvinist and fascist ideology, etc. Already large-scale, MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLES led by communist cadre have broken out in universities, communities and work places across the country. The DECISIVE QUESTION IN COMBATTING THIS GROWING FASCISM is the BUILDING OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY to serve and lead the anti-fascist struggles and develop them stepwise towards proletarian revolution. The AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) firmly holds that the party is the head and the revolutionary MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTIFASCIST STRUGGLES are the backbone of the impending proletarian revolution.
As well as developing the basic and over-all revolutionary movement for the DISSEMINATION OF MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT and for PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION, the ACWM (ML) has initiated and participated in struggles of the working class to politically organize in the communities and places of work, the over-all resistance movement against fascism and social fascism, struggles of working class against capitalist exploitation and wage slavery, struggles of Afro Americans and other national liberation movements against national-class exploitation and oppression and for full emancipation, struggles against imperialist wars of aggression, struggles of youth and students against fascist culture and the decadent bourgeois educational system and many other struggles. Our entire experience and the whole history of the international working class and communist movement shows that the PRESSING TASK is to BUILD THE INSTRUMENTS OF WORKING CLASS PROPOGANDA in the MIDST OF THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT (that is, to build the basic communist units and national leadership, the communist mass organizations and the Marxist-Leninist propaganda and agitational newspapers of the working class). Without the dissemination of the proletarian revolutionary line and proletarian ideology of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought it is impossible for advanced elements to come forward and take up the task of building the party. Thus building the instruments of WORKING CLASS PROPAGANDA IS OUR PRIMARY TASK and we can only fulfill this task by releasing the initiative of the working class through MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLES.
Our basic method of work is to BUILD THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF THE PARTY AND TO BUILD THE BASIC COMMUNIST UNITS under the general guidelines: ALL RIGHTS TO THE CENTER TO PUT FORWARD THE POLITICAL LINE, ALL RIGHTS TO THE BASIC UNITS TO IMPLEMENT THE POLITICAL LINE, BE EYES AND EARS OF THE CENTER and constitute the stable leading group in their respective local areas.
The entire organization is involved in building ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNITS at the university, in the community and at the place of work. The ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNITS constitute the firm foundation and material base for building the Party and the Party centralized leadership. An ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNIT comes into being only through a long period of mass struggles led by communist cadres in a given locality. First a DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT is sent by the center to begin work in a certain locality. The DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT s immediate task is to begin revolutionary political work at a very low level, bggin propagation of proletarian ideology and do thorough-going investigation and study by going deep among the masses and learning from their history. After completing' a first stage of investigation and study of the concrete conditions, the DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT decides on a practical program for implementing the over-all proletarian revolutionary line of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) and arousing the masses in the local area. The communist cadre, in implementing the basic program, must follow the revolutionary methods of work: 1. SEEK TRUTH FROM FACTS TO SERVE PEOPLE 2. UNITE WITH THE PEOPLE TO STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ENEMY 3. STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ENEMY TO UNITE THE PEOPLE, The basic program is aimed at uniting the advanced, mobilizing the middle elements and arousing the maximum majority of the people around the revolutionary political line in order to isolate the principle enemy, wage revolutionary political struggles on various fronts and contribute to the over-all work of building the Party and advancing the mass democratic, anti-fascist revolution. SEEKING TRUTH FROM FACTS TO SERVE PEOPLE means doing detailed investigation and study amongst the masses, guided by MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT, for the purpose of grasping the dominant aspect of the contradiction in the area and releasing the masses initiative to change the situation. UNITING THE PEOPLE TO STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ENEMY means doing constant, protracted and painstaking ideological work among the cadres and among the masses around the Marxist-Leninist political line and in favor of the concrete revolutionary struggles developing amongst the masses and doing it in time. NOT TO ORGANIZE IN TIME AND NOT TO ORGANIZE STEP-BY-STEP IS NOT TO ORGANIZE AT ALL. STRUGGLING AGAINST THE ENEMY TO UNITE THE PEOPLE means initiating and leading actual mass struggles against the principle enemy. Right from the start the communist cadres must strive to build the revolutionary committee around itself, even in embryonic form, by mobilizing the middle elements on the basis of principled opposition to fascism. The communist cadres constantly share the weal and woe of the masses and participate in the manifold struggles of the masses with the main motive of strengthening the Marxist-Leninist political line amongst the masses and creating conditions for the overthrow of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class and the seizure of state power by the proletariat. The communist cadres must persist in doing ideological and political work in the open and under the supervision of the masses while keeping all organizational work secret. Cadres must use the weapon of criticism and self-criticism to strengthen the organization and raise the political level of the masses, persisting in doing self-criticism in the open and under the supervision of the masses. Only through a long period of mass struggles can a DIRECTED STRUGGLE UNIT become an ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNIT by creating a material base for revolution amongst the masses, steeling and training new cadres who come forward out of the mass struggles and who have won the support of the masses, and consolidating itself within the centralized leadership of ACWM (ML). Through this process a basic unit which is steeled in the fire of class struggle, united, disciplined and self-moving, resolute and fearless in defense of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought and the basic revolutionary masses, always adhering to revolutionary principle and employing flexible revolutionary tactics, will come into being. The ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNIT expands, divides and cadres are sent to begin work in a new area. It is through building the ACTUAL STRUGGLE UNITS that the organization becomes one with the masses and it is on this firm foundation that the revolutionary Party must be built.
THE TASKS OF THE BASIC UNITS OF ACWM(ML) ARE:
1. Disseminate widely Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought.
2. Uphold the proletarian revolutionary line of the ACWM (ML) and implement all centralized guidelines and directives with maximum initiative locally.
3. Organize regular study sessions amongst the sesses on Marxism- Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought to deal with the actual problems facing them.
4. Organize mass democratic ideological struggles amongst the masses for the purpose of raising the political level of the masses by dealing with concrete problems facing them.
5. Do constant study and investigation amongst the masses and summing up.
6. Initiate and lead actual political struggles.
7. Resist all attacks by the enemy by boldly mobilizing the masses against the enemy and waging tit-for-tat struggle.
8. Constitute the core of the revolutionary committee.
9. Wage class struggle inside the basic unit and inside the ACWM(ML) against all erroneous political and ideological trends.
The National Executive of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) held an important meeting from April 2 to April 4.
The National Executive summed up the revolutionary experience gained by the ACWM(ML) since the last meeting of the National Committee on October 7, 1972 and the general features of the class struggle in the U.S. at this stage of revolution. The National Executive re-affirmed the general line to BUILD THE NATIONAL ORGANS OF WORKING CLASS PROPOGANDA and summed up various aspects of the class struggle against liquidationism and bourgeois individualism within the communist movement.
The National Executive resolutely denounced the bourgeois individualist lines of liberalism towards building the national organization, refusal to participate in developing over-all national policy and refusal to implement agreed upon national policy. The National Executive resolutely denounced the line of RUNNING AWAY FROM PROBLEMS AND FROM CLASS STRUGGLE. The National Executive noted that this class struggle inside the organization is sharpest in the leading bodies and is reflected in every single unit. The National Executive is fully conscious of the fact that the reactionary line of bourgeois individualism and liquidationism relies on an atmosphere of class peace and informality within the movement. The proceedings of the National Executive itself were carried out in an atmosphere of resolute class struggle against informality and liberalism. All the comrade members of the National Executive showed tremendous spirit to strike blows at the reactionary line of class peace and to implement the basic Marxist-Leninist political line. The National Executive calls upon all comrade members to NEVER FORGET CLASS STRUGGLE and to participate in FORMALLY ORGANIZING THE MARX1ST-LENIN1ST PARTY by persisting in BUILDING THE NATIONAL ORGANS OF WORKING CLASS PROPAGANDA through vigorous class struggle against the bourgeoisie inside and outside the organization.
The National Executive hailed the NEW TREND OF UNITY AMONGST MARXIST-LENINISTS which has been developing in North America, especially since the Preparatory Committee Meeting in November 1972 and the publication of the CALL FOR A CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARX1ST-LENINISTS. This CONFERENCE is serving as a focal point of class struggle against revisionism and dogmatism. The National Executive calls upon all Marxist-Leninists to organize for the CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS and to persist in BOMBARDING THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE BOURGEOISIE IN THE RANKS OF THE WORKING CLASS AND PEOPLE. The National Executive upholds that the correct method for BOMBARDING THE HEADQUARTERS OF REVISIONISM AND DOGMATISM is to persist in COMING UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE MASSES by UNITING ON THE BASIS OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST POLITICAL LINE, that is on the basis of WHAT IS TO BE DONE to build the communist party and serve the proletarian revolution.
The National Executive dealt in full with the organizational tasks facing the movement and took action on a number of important fronts. Immediately after the closing session of the National Executive meeting all the comrade members returned to their local areas to implement the decisions.
In mid-April, 2 1/2 months after the Paris Agreement was signed, South Vietnamese troops and armoured vehicles crossed the Cambodian border and joined forces with the Lon Nol regimes' puppet troops to attack the troops of the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces and the U.S. resumed the bombing of Laos in total disregard of the Paris Agreement. These desperate and vicious acts are part of the strategy of U.S. imperialism to maintain the rule of the Lon Nol fascist clique in Phnom Penh. This demonstrates that the U.S. imperialists have not given up their wild designs of subjugating the peoples of Indo-China. Since the signing of the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam the U.S. imperialist air forces have been concentrating their attacks on the Cambodian liberation fighters (over 250 sorties per day) in a desperate attempt to slow down their advance. The historical experience of the Vietnamese people and the other Indo-Chinese peoples shows that this sinister plot of the U.S. imperialists is doomed to fail, Arthur Hummel Jr., a state department official, admitted as much on April 16 when he told a Senate subcommittee that the bombings were so far unsuccessful in providing an "incentive" for the Liberation fighters to enter into negotiations.
The desperate strategy of U.S. imperialist chieftain Nixon is to encourage both the South Vietnamese puppet regime and the Thai reactionaries to send troops into Cambodia to support Lon Nol's collapsing regime.
The present large-scale U.S. imperialist bombing attacks against Cambodia and Laos, the use of U.S. advisors to coordinate American bombing missions with Lon Nol's puppet troops' ground actions and the major efforts to send armed supply columns to Phnom Penh all represent major U.S. aggression against the Indo-Chinese people and show the rabid fascist and warlike character of U.S. imperialism will never change. Nixon, Thieu and other reactionaries are already doing propaganda to escalate war once again. They are strongly hinting that if things don't satisfy them politically, militarily or territorially in Indochina then they are ready to renew their aggression on a large scale.
In the three years since the U.S.-engineered coup by Lon Nol the National United Front of Cambodia led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk has liberated 90% of the territory and 80% of the population of Cambodia. Lon Nol's fascist clique in Phnom Penh is isolated and has aroused growing opposition inside and outside Phnom Penh. Although he declared a "state of dange" to his regime on April 5 the situation has not improved for him and regardless of any reorganization, repression or last desperate struggles his regime cannot escape total defeat. Meanwhile the strength and prestige of the National United Front of Cambodia is growing. It is now officially recognized by governments and national liberation movements of 37 countries. The heroism and unity of the Cambodian persevering in people's war for the liberation of their country will certainly defeat U.S. aggression and and win national salvation.
[Photo: Samdech Norodom Sihanouk. Head of State of Cambodia, at a mass Peking rally supporting the struggle of the world's people against U.S. imperialism in May, 1970.]
On April 10th Israeli aggressor troops snuck ashore in Lebanon and launched a series of attacks against Palestinian Liberation fighters and against the offices of the Palestinian organizations in Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon. The bands of Israeli commandos gunned and bombed their way through three residential areas and two Palestinian refugee camps. In this blatant act of aggression which the Israeli Zionists and their U.S. imperialist backers called a "pre-emptive strike" and "counter-terror", at least 12 persons were killed and 29 wounded, Three of the persons killed were leaders or spokesmen for the Palestinian Liberation movement, Kamal Nasser, Youssef Najjar and Kamal Adwan. Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, numerous Arab diplomats and many others have correctly stated that Israeli Zionist raids, provocations and preparations for war against the Arab peoples and states are directly and indirectly supported by the U.S. government and could not be continued without that support.
The U.S. imperialist propaganda concerning the struggle of the Palestinian people has always been that the Palestinian liberation fighters are "extremists" and "terrorists" who have no right to question or resist Israeli expansionism and its racist and terrorist policies directed against the Arab peoples while Israel is "just" and "reasonable" and that its terroristic raids are "imaginative", "a triumph of the commando art" and are directed at securing a "reasonable settlement" of the political conflict. The U.S. imperialists and the Israeli Zionists would like to cover up the elementary fact that the Zionists long ago initiated violent aggression and oppression against the Palestinians while the Palestinians have taken up revolutionary violence to resist the aggression, oppression and counter-revolutionary violence of the Zionists. Right from its establishment in 1897 the world Zionist movement, with the support of British and U.S. imperialism, has been resorting to terrorist means against the Arab people of Palestine. In the 1940's the Hagana, the Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern terrorist gangs waged a war of terror, massacre and destruction against the Arab population of Palestine. While the United Nations was debating the Palestine question from early April to mid-May 1948 armed Zionist forces attacked and evicted over 300,000 un armed Arab inhabitants from the towns they resided in. From its birth the history of Israel is a long and dirty record of terrorist violence inflicted on the Palestinian and other Arab people. Over two million Palestinians have been driven out of their homelands in the last 25 years. Today all Arab people in the land occupied by Israel are subjected to violent terrorism and racial discrimination by the Israeli Zionists and over 4000 Palestinians are subject to torture in Israeli prisons. In recent years the Israeli Zionists have resorted to terrorism on an international scale to attack the struggle of the Palestinian people. This has included commando raids, assassinations, bombings, etc. in the Arab states and Western Europe• Look at Lebanon which has 250,000 Palestinian residents. It, like its Arab neighbors has been the victim of many Israeli Zionist crimes including:
-- On February 21, 1973, less than 2 months ago, Israeli troops attacked a Palestinian settlement near Tripoli, Lebanon and killed over 30 unarmed Palestinian refugees, including women and children.
-- During 1972 Israeli aggressor forces launched 7 attacks against Palestinian commando bases in southern Lebanon. These attacks were repulsed, with the aggressors suffering the loss of over 250 men, 22 tanks, 4 planes and one gunboat.
-- Also in 1972, Ghasan Kalafani, spokesman for the PFLP was murdered by a bomb in his car in Beirut.
-- In December 1968 Israeli aggressors blew up thirteen airliners of the Middle East Airline, a Lebanese Airline at the Beirut airport.
Turning truth on its head and fully supported by U.S. imperialism, Israel's Premier Golda Meir has proclaimed a "war against terror." Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Dayan threatened Lebanon with further aggression on April 13 when he said that Israel in the future did not intend to limit itself to acts against individual terrorists inside Lebanon. Israel's Chief of Staff Lt. General David Elazar declared "There is no possibility of honoring the sovereignty of Lebanon and its capital as long as it is serving as a complete haven for terrorists." Such threats of war are intended to dictate policy to Lebanon and the other Arab states and are a concrete infringement on their sovereignty. If they do not buckle under and join with the U.S. imperialists and the Israeli Zionists in fighting the "extremist, unreasonable" Palestinians then their countries are threatened with and subject to U.S.-backed Zionist invasion. The daily newspaper sof the U.S. imperialists have been full of these threats of aggression in recent days.
Response to the U.S. backed Zionist aggression against Lebanon and to threats of future.aggression has been swift. The funeral of the murdered Palestinian leaders in Beirut on April 12 was the largest funeral in Beirut in three years, with over 100,000 marchers demonstrating their resolute support of the Palestinian liberation struggle. April 12 was also observed as a symbolic general strike in Beirut; stores and offices and shops were closed, Many diplomats and others have thoroughly denounced the role of the U.S. government. Haissam Ke- lani, Syria's representative at the UN Security Council said that the U.S. "by providing Israel with the most advanced weapons as well as funds and other support was encouraging Israel to commit aggressive acts, Al Ahram, a major Egyptian newspaper, said the U.S. "cannot be relieved of responsibility toward continued Israeli aggression and particularly the latest crime." Huang Hua, the Chinese delegate at the Security Council debate on the recent Israeli aggression, is reported, to have said "the connivance and encouragement by the two superpowers are the basic cause why Israeli Zionists have continued to occupy Arab territories, and continue their murderous activities...One superpower has been supporting the Israeli aggressors with arms and economic aid and the otheY is pouring a steady flow of manpower to Israel to supply the Israeli aggressors with sources for troop recruitment and even technical specialists."
The aggression and oppression by U.S.-backed Israeli Zionism against the Palestinian and all Arab people has continuously given rise to resistance and struggle. The struggle of the Palestinian and other Arab people against Zionism, U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism is developing vigorously. The desperate acts of the Israeli Zionists will only unite the Palestinian and other Arab peoples more firmly against them. Persisting in armed struggle for the sacred cause of national salvation, the Palestinian people, with the support of the other Arab peoples and the people of the whole world, will certainly be victorious.
"THE WORKING CLASS MUST EXERCISE LEADERSHIP IN EVERYTHING"--CHAIRMAN MAO TSETUNG
Organ of the December 25th Branch of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist)
April 13, 1973 Vol.1 No.1 SPECIAL ISSUE
Selected portions of THE WORKER, Vol. 1, No, 1 are reprinted on pages 3 and 4 of this issue of THE WORKERS ADVOCATE.
This country was built by the sweat and blood of the working class and slaves. The Midwest is the heartland of the modern U.S. proletariat. Large numbers of immigrant workers were brought here to clear the land, dig the canals, lay the rail lines and build up modern industry. Masses of enslaved Black working people were forced to migrate to the Midwest to become the most oppressed section of the modern proletariat. The history and struggles of the working and oppressed peoples of the world are the history and struggles of the working and oppressed peoples of the Midwest.
As opposed to the working class the very existence of the monopoly capitalist class is based on exploitation of our land and labor. In the U.S. the monopoly capitalist class arose by usurping the fruits of the great anti-colonial War of Independence of 1776. Hiding in the ranks of the people by giving broad democratic slogans in the fight against English colonialism the American capitalist class only aim was to become the #1 colonialists and nazis of all times. Right from the beginning the U.S. capitalist class has based its existence on reducing whole nations and peoples to the condition of slaves or wage slaves. Right from the founding of the U.S. the capitalist class enforced armed dictatorship over the working and oppressed people in order to do this. It throve on the expropriation of the land of the Native Indians, the enslavement of the Black people and the exploitation of the working class. Today the monopoly capitalist parasites live off the plunder of the land and labor of the whole world's people.
Right now U.S. monopoly capitalism is stepping up its policies of fascism, super-exploitation and war. The monopoly capitalists are daily consolidating fascist "law and order," banning all democratic rights including the right to strike and building up the police and military arm of the state. Right within the ranks of the working class and people they are feverishly developing fascist and social-fascist committees as organs of suppression of the working class and people. Externally, the imperialists are launching new aggressions daily, especially in Indo-China and the Middle East, and preparing for a new world war. The monopoly capitalist system is in financial and economic decay and collapse. Our daily existence is threatened by soaring unemployment, slave wages, soaring inflation, rising taxes, etc.
NONE OP OUR PROBLEMS GAN BE SOLVED AS LONG AS THE MONOPOLY CAPITALIST CLASS ENFORCES ITS RULE OVER OUR PEOPLE. The future of our country lies in the WORKING CLASS OVERTHROWING MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND FASCISM AND BUILDING A SOCIALIST PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF AMERICA with the WORKING CLASS AS THE RULING CLASS. To seize state power from the monopoly capitalist class, we must start to build our own organs of political power right away. Nationally we must build a genuine revolutionary COMMUNIST PARTY and locally we must build Party units and revolutionary committees to lead the struggle of the working and oppressed people against monopoly capitalism and fascism. The December 25th Branch of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) is issuing this Draft Statement and Program of WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY. COMMITTEES. The Draft Program follows:
THE WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES OF THE DECEMBER 25TH BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST)
1. Seek to unite the working class in local areas to fight for our class interests and against the interests of the bourgeoisie.
2. Unite all oppositional trends in the working class into one revolutionary movement against monopoly capitalism and fascism,
3. Oppose all capitalist influence within the working class, particularly the development of fascist ideology and organization.
4. Strive to achieve the genuine aspirations of the working class, the seizure of state power and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat,
5. Any worker, employed or unemployed, who agrees with the general statement and program and participates in implementing it can become a member of a WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE.
6. The WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES democratically elect their leadership and sort out all internal contradictions on the mass democratic basis.
7. To strengthen the solidarity of the working class and develop our political consciousness
the WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES will develop regular discussion of proletarian ideology, MARXISM-LENINISM-MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT, among the working people.
8. The immediate task of the WORKERS REVOLUTI0-NARY COMMITTEES is to establish propaganda
centers among the working people to speak in the name of our class and initiate wide- scale denunciation, criticism, and repudiation of U.S. monopoly capitalism and fascism. To carry this out means to:
A. Establish the revolutionary propaganda organ, THE WORKER, and local propaganda organs.
B. Build revolutionary discussion groups and workers' schools in the communities and work places.
9. Become, through waging actual struggles, the centers of resistance to the attacks of the
monopoly capitalists and their fascist agents on the working and oppressed people.
10. THE WORKING CLASS IS THE MAIN AS WELL AS THE LEADING FORCE OF THE ANTI-FASCIST PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION. UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE DECEMBER 25TH BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST), THE WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES WILL CERTAINLY MOBILIZE THE MAIN FORCE AMD CONTRIBUTE TO THE OVERTHROW OF FASCISM AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT.
The December 25th Branch of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) held a Working Conference March 3 and 4 under the general line: MOBILIZE THE WORKING CLASS AS THE LEADING AND MAIN FORCE OF REVOLUTION BY BUILDING PARTY ORGANIZATION IN THE MIDST OF THE WORKING CLASS. A summary of the main points discussed at the Conference follows:
(Excerpts)
ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND RESOLUTION OF BASIC CONTRADICTIONS IN U.S. SOCIETY
Right from the beginning the U.S. capitalist class has based its existence on reducing whole nations and peoples to the condition of slaves or wage-slaves. They started out with the genocide against the native Indian people to rob their land. They kidnapped the African people and held them as chattel slaves from 1619 on. They imported indentured servants and other Europeans as wage-slaves. They launched wars of aggression to annex the Southwest and colonize the Mexican people, the Puerto Rican people and others. Throughout their bloody history they have launched aggression and annexation to enslave whole nations and peoples. In order to enforce this exploitation the U.S. capitalist class has built the most terrorist dictatorship in history.
From the time of the Monroe Doctrine the U.S. capitalist class has also dominated other countries and exploited their peoples. This became especially true after the Civil War with the rise of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. The U.S. monopoly capitalists brought in the age of imperialism with the first imperialist war in 1898 with Spain.
Today the U.S. monopoly capitalist class lives by the plunder of the people of the colonies and semi-colonies and by the super-exploltation of the American working class and people and the enslavement of whole nations and peoples in the U.S. It is impossible for the working class to overthrow monopoly capitalism today without giving full support to the national liberation struggles of the people of the colonies and semi- colonies. This is the external condition for revolution in the U.S. The internal basis for revolution is the struggle of the proletariat and its allies to wipe out the rule of the monopoly capitalist class.
Within the U.S. all the class and national contradictions which existed in 1776 have only gotten sharper. Today nearly everyone has been reduced to the condition of slave or wage-slave. Genocide still goes on against the native Indians. The Mexican national minority people are still specially oppressed and exploited as a people. The same is true for all the nationalities of color. The Afro-American people are still held in the chains of chattel slavery.
Today the working class cannot be united without the full support for the struggles of the peoples of the various nationalities, particularly for the struggle of the Afro-American people. At the same time members of the various oppressed nationalities must see themselves not only as members of oppressed nationalities but as advanced contingents in the struggle of the whole working class. The precondition for this unity is the unity of all the Marxist- Leninists of all nationalities to build the Party of the Proletariat.
Today the capitalist system is in the grips of a profound world-wide crisis. In order to maintain its world hegemony under these conditions the U.S. monopoly capitalist class must Increase the super-exploitation of the American working class and people and it must wage wars of aggression. In order to enforce the evil system of exploitation and war the monopoly capitalist class is busily consolidating a fascist dictatorship in every cell of society. The main characteristics of this fascist program are rabid national chauvinism, militarization of the state, fascist rules and regulations, war preparations, super- exploitation and wide-spread propagation of idealist and meta-physical ideology and degenerate and parasitic culture and life-style.
There is also struggle in every cell of society against this fascist drive. The contradiction between consolidation of fascism by the monopoly capitalists and the struggle against it by the working class and people is the leading contradiction in American society today. This contradiction can be resolved only through proletarian revolution. It is up to the communists to develop and lead this struggle
MOBILIZE THE WORKING CLASS AS THE LEADING AND MAIN FORCE OF REVOLUTION
The monopoly capitalist class exercises its dictatorship throughout the society and in every cell of it. This dictatorship works chiefly through doing propaganda against the working class and against class struggle. But class struggle is independent of the will of the monopoly capitalists and goes on throughout the society and in every cell of it. As masses of workers engage in class struggle these struggles are inexorably reflected in their minds and workers develop definite but unsystematic ideas of how to wage the struggle. Masses of workers have definite consciousness of the class struggle, but what is needed is class consciousness. Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, the scientific summation of thousands of years experience of the oppressed classes. Only with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought can the unsystematic ideas of the workers on how to wage the class struggle be concentrated and systematized and propagated among them in systematic fashion.
While the class struggle rages, the monopoly capitalist class trains its political cadre, its spokesmen, army and propaganda organs in order to suppress the working class. The working class too needs to train its political cadre, in order to take the long march toward state power. This is possible only with a revolutionary party, based upon revolut1onary theory and with revolutionary style, which participates in the actual struggles of the working masses and uses Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought in order to sum up the current history of the class struggle in the U.S. It is the revolutionary party and the party organization which is capable of serving as the instrument of working-class propaganda, working on a day-to-day basis to bring class consciousness and the scientific summation of the struggles to the workers right in the course of them. This is confirmed by the entire historical experience of ACWM (M-L). ACWM (M-L) was founded on the basis of disseminating Mao Tsetung Thought as the first step towards building the Party. In the course of many struggles we learned that only party organization could carry out the dissemination of Mao Tsetung Thought on a systematic basis and make analysis of the class struggle as it actually.takes place. It is the basic unit, the primary cell of party organization, which can carry this out among the masses on a day-to-day basis. To have genuine party organization it is necessary to build the centralized organs of party leadership. These are the main lessons of the historic October Conference sponsored by the ACWM (M-L).
The basic units can be built only on the basis of struggle against the dictatorship of the monopoly capitalist class. This means firstly, taking the revolutionary political line among the masses, and secondly, on this basis forging close links with the most active elements.
Today class struggle in the U.S. is sharpest right within the working class on the question of what road -- the communist road or the fascist road. Class struggle is raging between the communist workers and the fascist and social-fascist workers with the vast majority yet undecided, To unite the class and advance the struggle against the monopoly capitalist dictators, the fascist and social-fascist lines and organization within the working class must be smashed and the fascists and social-fascists thrown out of the ranks of the class. Today the reactionaries are busily floating fascist and social-fascist committees in the working class and spreading their poison. The working class must have the committees which represent its own class interests, which serve as a center for propagating the revolutionary political line within the class and provide a form in which workers who come forward can participate in revolution. The Revolutionary Committee with the basic communist unit at its core is such an organization.
The Revolutionary Committee is the embryonic organ of political power of the working class. The Revolutionary Committee is built by first establishing a center of propaganda amongst the working class which can speak in the name of the class, re-enunciating the political line. The revolutionary discussion groups are built as embryos of actual revolutionary organization. The Marxist-Leninist political line is established amongst the people, workers who come forward can participate in the revolutionary discussion groups and deal with the fundamental political questions which constantly come up in their lives. On the basis of taking the political line to the masses actual struggle can be developed. By relying on the revolutionary initiative of the masses, persisting in bringing to them the political line and building its strength step-by-step through actual struggle the Revolutionary Committee can smash the fascist and social-fascist committees and over a long period of time transform itself from the embryonic center of propaganda into an actual organ of political power of the class.
Summary of a talk given at the Workers' Political Affairs Discussion Group (Seattle).
The dollar crisis is part of the over-all crisis of U.S. imperialism, President Nixon's 10% devaluation of the doll.ar on February 12 only pushes the problem under the rug, and it will surface more and more violently in the future.
Since last January a big rush to sell dollars has taken place. Big banks and corporations throughout the world had lost faith in the dollar and were exhanging billions of dollars they held for stronger currencies, the West German mark and Japanese yen. In order to put a stop to this speculation the U.S. was forced to devalue the dollar.
The root cause of the present monetary crisis lies in the vulnerable position of the dollar because of huge U.S. balance of payments deficits since the 1950's. The balance of payments deficit stems from U.S. imperialism's huge export of capital following world war II, wars of aggression, military spending and "aid" to foreign countries (e.g. propping up fascist pro-U.S. dictatorships). Exporting capital to exploit other nations, the U.S. has only given rise to the world revolution against imperialism, thus necessitating further war expenditures, more troops overseas, etc. in a futile effort to stem the revolutionary tide. The net result is more dollars leaving the U.S. than coming in. When speculators (corporations, banks, governments) abroad are holding millions and billions of dollars they can unload them for more stable currencies when economic developements show cause for less faith in the dollar. By doing so, they are already acknowledging a drop in value of the dollar. Their speculation constitutes an attack on the dollar that forces its official devaluation.
The balance of payments deficit was also behind the December 1971 devaluation of the dollar. The last time the dollar had been devalued before then was in 1934, which shows the speed at which the economic crisis of U.S. monopoly capitalism is developing today -- two devaluations in 14 months. The 1971 devaluation showed the drastic decline of U.S. imperialist political and economic hegemony and the decline of the mighty U.S. dollar, symbolic of this hegemony. This event also heralddd the collapse of the capitalist world's International Monetary System which was propped up by the dollar.
By devaluing the dollar, Nixon hoped to strengthen U.S. monopoly capitalism's competitive power on the world market and make U.S. goods cheaper. He was hoping this would result in a trade surplus which would alleviate the balance of payments deficit, restore hope in the dollar and thus end the dollar crisis.
But the 1971 dollar devaluation did not solve the problem for the U.S. imperialists. The balance of payments deficit continued to grow, and the trade deficit reached 6.8 billion dollars in 1972, the largest trade deficit in U.S. history. This trade deficit convinced the various capitalist speculators around the world that the dollar was overvalued. Thus the current crisis developed.
To "solve" the dollar crisis and stabilize the international monetary system, the U.S. must do something about the huge balance of payments deficit. But the U.S. monopoly capitalists will not give up that part of the deficit resulting from military spending, wars of aggression, stationing troops abroad, etc. -- this means surrender to the world revolution! They also will not give up sending dollars overseas in order to set up shop and exploit the world's people. Their capital must go where it yields the highest return and this means places like Taiwan, S. Korea, etc.
The U.S. hopes to make up the balance of payments deficit through huge trade surplusses such as those the monopoly capitalists enjoyed following WW II. But today competition is much stiffer. With competitors like Japan and W. Germany the U.S. will have to do more than just devalue the dollar if it hopes to better its position in world trade. The 1971 devaluation showed this to be true.
To try to make up the trade deficit, the U.S. has two choices:
1) Putting up tariffs and quotas on imports into the U.S. If Nixon tries to better the U.S. trade position in this manner, other countries will only put up protectionist tariffs against U.S. goods. This policy can only give rise to a trade war and the sharpening of contradictions between U.S. and foreign monopoly capitalists.
2) Increase the exploitation of the American working class. Nixon began this fascist drive in earnest in 1971 when he imposed wage controls. By attacking workers wages and rights to organize, the monopoly capitalists hope to lower production costs and increase their competitiveness in world trade. This policy can only give rise to further revolutionary struggles in the U.S. by sharpening the contradiction between the monopoly capitalist class and the working class.
In the discussion following the talk it was pointed out that part of Nixon's preparations for trade war is to promote the idea that "greedy foreigners" are stealing "our" trade and causing industry to shut down in the U.S. They are promoting the idea that unemployment is caused by other countries. Thus all the talk of the trade union lackies about "Buy American." These grovelling flunkies for Nixon are trying to convince the working class that the economic crisis can be solved through an orgy of so-called "patriotism" (i.e. servility to monopoly capitalism). The facts are that these "glorious" mono-- poly capitalists and the union bureaucrats are asking us to enrich (buy American) the same monopoly capitalists who are carrying increased super-exploitation of the working class.
The answer to the monetary and economic crisis of U.S. imperialism does not lie in "Buying American" or in "begging for more jobs." The capitalist system based on the exploitation of the working class is a system of periodic crises, of insecurity and miserable conditions for the people. To eliminate crises, capitalism must be eliminated. The working class has this task on its agenda.
Recently, workers in the revolutionary discussion group of the BUFFALO WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENIN1ST) took up the question of trade unionism. A summary of the first discussion group meeting on this question follows.
Today the U.S. monopoly capitalist class, faced with national liberation struggles abroad, developing class struggle at home and deepening economic crisis, is on the verge of collapse. It there- force is desperately organizing to consolidate its fascist rule throughout the society. At the same time the working class is also organizing with the motive of overthrowing the criminal rule of the monopoly capitalists and putting an end to their system of exploitation. In the course of the developing class struggle every section of society is being moved to take a stand. This struggle is sharpest today right within the working class between fascism and social-fascism on the one hand and communism on the other.
What are the political spokesmen of trade unionism advocating and organizing?
Today, in the face of the fascist drive of the monopoly capitalists, the political spokesmen of trade unionism are advocating a program of capitulation and compromise and are openly advocating the complete enslavement of the working class and further consolidation of the state machine".
The particular ways in which the political spokesmen of trade unionism are actively supporting the growing fascism are:
1) Aiding the monopoly capitalists' drive to superexploit the working class. Reactionary labor leaders are participating in fascist "productivity councils" to devise new ways in which the monopoly capitalists can wring more sweat and blood out of the workers, and are advocating (as with Meany) "voluntary" arbitration in order to suppress the right to strike.
2) Promoting rabid chauvinism by supporting preparation for imperialist wars which use the U.S. working class as cannon-fodder against the working and oppressed people of other nations around the world.
3) Calling for consolidation of the fascist state machine, supporting more reactionary legislation against the working class and outright government takeover and control of trade unions, such as in the case of the UMW.
4) Promoting race war and attacks upon national minorities by organizing fascist "white power" committees at the same time as advocating organizing national minorities into separate unions within the larger unions.
These are the policies not only of the out-and-out fascist labor leaders, but also of the social-fascist s who parade under the guise of "militance" and "reform." Social-fascist labor leaders such as Jerry Wurf of AFSCME are the loudest advocates of compulsory arbitration, and are among the most active in dividing the working class down national lines.
With the increasing class struggle and growing fascism trade unionism is being used as a weapon a- gainst the working class to enforce fascist rules and regulations, oppose revolution and suppress communists. The political program of the fascist and social-fascist labor leaders today is to support increased government hold over the aristocracy of labor and increased hold of the labor aristocrats over the masses of organized workers.
The Twenty-Second Congress (Second Congress since the criticism and repudiation of the modern revisionist line in March, 1970) of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) concluded in great revolutionary atmosphere and determination on March 24th, 1973.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) was founded in March, 1970 to fulfill the basic need of the modern proletariat of Canada to have their own revolutionary political party. The founding of CPC (ML) was a historic occasion and a turning point in the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat against U.S. imperialism and the monopoly capitalist class. It marked the complete criticism and repudiation of the line of subservience to foreign imperialists and social imperialists and to the rule of the monopoly capitalist class pushed by the modern revisionists headed by Mr. William Kashtan.
Since March, 1970, the leadership of William Kashtan is increasingly discredited and he and his clique has currency in the quisling circles connected with Soviet social imperialism and no where • else. But the struggle against modern revisionism is, by no means, pver. New leaders espousing modern revisionism have gained ascendancy replacing the old ones. The class struggle against these modern revisionists and opportunists is acute and they comprise the main roadblock to revolution in their respective cities as well as nationally. The founding of the Communist Party of Canada(Marxist-Leninist) has created ample material conditic^hs for a revolutionary advance and it is for the purposes of checking the revolutionary advance that the modern revisionists and opportunists are showing their heads as representatives of the reactionary bourgeoisie in the ranks of the people.
The Twenty-Second Congress of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) was held at a time when the lines between Marxism-Leninism and modern revisionism and opportunism are clearly drawn. More specifically, the three years of the existence of the CPC (ML) has culminated into a clear division between those who follow the Marxist-Leninist political line and style of work and those who follow the modern revisionist and opportunist line and style of work. The demarcation between the two lines is drawn.
The Twenty-Second Congress was called by the Fourth Plenum of the Party which was held in January and February in Montreal. The plenum analysed that it is most urgent to further strengthen the work of the Central Committee and that it was a most appropriate time to elect a new Central Committee. This new Central Committee was comprised of comrades who had:
(1) Struggled against the modern revisionism and opportunism of the William Kashtan type;
(2) Struggled against the modern revisionism and opportunism of the Jack Scott type;
(3) Struggled against the fascism and social fascism of the entire holy alliance of the "left";
(4) Struggled against the attacks of the state machine and;
(5) Struggled against the splitting activities of the 'left"-sloganeering front of Khruschevite revisionism led by D. Varma.
These comrades had actively participated in the thirteen revolutionary movements, had extensive knowledge of the political situation and climate in Canada and the world and were relatively more experienced and mature in their leadership. The time was ripe to have these comrades in the Central Committee. The Twenty-Second Congress was the instrument through which the new Central Committee was established and members and supporters mobilised behind this leadership. The proceedings and the decisions of the Twenty-Second Congress showed that this analysis was entirely correct. The Twenty- Second Congress established a Central Committee which reflects the deep desire of the revolutionary masses to have an experienced and mature leading group. The Twenty-Second Congress gave birth to such a leading group.
There were altogether 225 participants. Of these, 57 were delegates and alternate delegates. One hundred and thirty-three were observers and thirty- five fraternal delegates. The cities represented were Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Windsor, London, Hamiltion, St. Catherines, Waterloo, Kitchener, Guelph, Ottawa, Montreal, St. Jerome, Quebec City, St. Jean and Halifax. The fraternal delegates came from the Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist) led by Comrade C. Reakes ; the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist) led by Comrade C. Coleman and a large delegation from the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist). Communist League (USA) was represented by one comrade.
The Twenty Second Congress has further "consolidated the Marxist-Leninist centre, defeated revisionism, splittism and informality inside the Party and has created ample enthusiasm to advance the mass democratic anti-imperialist revolution. The convening of this Congress and its entire proceedings reflect the growing revolutionary mass movement and the increasing difficulty of the reactionary forces to combat the forward trend of history. Class struggle Which has been summed up by the Congress is now back in the masses where the actual struggle is taking place. It is all to the glory of our members and supporters who made immense contributions in the resistance movement, in opposing revisionism, reformism and terrorism, in opposing splittism and informality and who have steadfastly held the proletarian revolutionary line of Comrade Bains. The holding of the Twenty-Second Congress is a glowing tribute to the work and sacrifices of these comrades. The Twenty-Second Congress of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) continues the great tradition of the Canadian proletariat in leading the anti-imperialist revolution and preparing material conditions for a proletarian revolution. The road of anti-imperialist-proletarian revolution is an irresistible road and the Twenty Second Congress is a shining milestone on it.
Excerpts from: "PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE PROPAGANDA COMMISSION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPC(ML)."
[Photo: The Twenty Second Congress of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) had altogether 225 participants. Photo shows delegates, alternate delegates and fraternal delegates applauding the formal opening of the Congress.]
Reprinted from April 6, 1973 issue of People's Canada Daily News
Analysis of the 22nd Congress of CPC (ML) -- Document No. 1. Issued by the Propaganda Commission of the Central Committee of CPC(ML).
The question of unity amongst the Marxist-Leninists is widely discussed in North America at the present time. This topic has been up for debate and discussion at the present time as well for over two years and for several years before this. On what basis should the Marxist-Leninists unite? In the sixties, various anti-revisionist individuals would sit together to find the basis of unity by discussing a "document of political program". Unless they reached full agreement on the document they refused to unite. Those who did unite on the basis of the document later split up, finding innumerable reasons for dividing and splitting with one another. It was exasperating for the younger Marxist-Leninists to see these individuals fighting, splitting and dividing. Historical experience has rejected this method of uniting as moribund and utterly useless in dealing with the problems of consolidating the communist revolutionaries into one concentrated and well-organised force.
The Twenty-Second Congress put forward the method used by us in uniting the Marxist-Leninists. An analysis of the Congress in terms of its formality, its ability to deal with the practical problems of leading the revolutionary mass movement, and its clarity in terms of the theoretical positions it adopted, reveals a very definite style and method of organising the Party, of leading the revolutionary mass movement and of uniting the Marxist-Leninists. This method is based on uniting on the basis of political line. In this style and method, even though agreement is required on the general political,' ideological and theoretical questions, the decisive factor is the attitude a Marxist-Lenin 1st takes towards the political line. If a Marxist-Len- inist implements a specific political line, then the unity with other Marxist-Leninists executing the same tasks comes easy and gets strengthened in practice. Similarly, if there is disagreement as to the tasks, then there is no possibility of unity even though there is agreement on the general political, ideological and theoretical questions. For lasting unity, the question of political line is decisive.
What is political-line? Political line is the sum total of tasks an organisation sets for itself in order to advance its over-all general tactical and strategic work. The organisation develops around the political line and those who implement the political line get united in the organisation which is being built for the purpose of executing that particular task as well as for the purpose of advancing from that stage to a higher stage. For example,when the Internationalists were founded in March; 1963, the political task they set for themselves was the building of a discussion group on the campus. This task of building the discussion group was decisive in advancing the revolutionary movement amongst the students. At the same time, the Internationalists were also engaged in all sorts of other tasks. Per example, the Internationalists were the first student organisation to take a clear-cut stand against modern revisionism, dating back to 1962-63; the Internationalists were the first to oppose the U.S. imperialist war of aggression in Vietnam in August 1964, as well as before; the Internationalists also participated in reformist struggles, struggles to support the worker's struggles, etc. But of all the struggles waged, the decisive struggle was whether or not there was to be a discussion group through which the progressive and democratic forces could present their views to. the broad masses of the students and faculty, and which could smash the monopoly of the bourgeois ideas, political line and theories. It is this struggle which transformed the campus. All the other struggles had their place but were, in no way, decisive in building the revolutionary youth and student movement. Those who supported this political line united with one another and advanced,, while those who opposed it split and divided.
As the Internationalists further developed, they immediately saw the necessity of taking a disciplined attitude to their work and for three years (1964-67), they fought to have a disciplined group with a clear political direction as the basis of developing the revolutionary youth and student movement. The more the work advanced on the question of building the disciplined group, the more the Internationalists developed. At the same time, the Internationalists participated in many, many other struggles -- for instance; in reformist struggles, in opposing the U.S. aggression in Vietnam, in supporting the strike struggles of the workers and in opposing the decadent bourgeois education system. From August, 1967, the political line adopted was to strengthen the theoretical basis of the organisation, strengthen discipline, disseminate revolutionary literature and begin the process of building the instruments of working class propaganda. As of August, 1967, to the re-organisation of the Internationalists in May, 1968, to the period of establishing the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist- Leninist), the political task was to establish the instruments of working class propaganda. From the time of the founding of CPC (ML) in March, 1970, to the convening of the 22nd.Congress of the Party, the political line was to ADVANCE THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT and ESTABLISH THE CENTRALISED ORGANS OF THE PARTY. Now the political line is to strengthen the centralised organs of the Party and lead the actual struggles of masses. So the decisive factor in the development of the revolutionary mass movement is the strengthening, expanding and deepening of the centralised leadership of the Party and the leading of the actual struggles of the masses. Unity amongst the Marxist-Leninists can only be built on this political line. There can be no political line other than the decisive task facing the revolutionary organisation. The revolutionary organisation can only be built around this decisive task.
The composition of the 22nd Congress proves the correctness of this analysis. Throughout the entire ten year period since the founding of the Internationalists, those who through their own revolutionary experience came to the conclusion that a particular task was decisive in developing the revolutionary movement during a particular period, came forward to unite, while others stood on the sidelines or divided or opposed the Marxist-Leninists. In the 22nd Congress, there were comrades who had participated in the reformist struggles against fee increases, the struggle against U.S. imperialist aggression in Vietnam and the struggles to support the strike struggles of the workers. One of these comrades is Comrade Bains who participated in various struggles during the period of Fall, 1962 to March, 1965 in Vancouver and later on in other cities. There are comrades who came out of the revolt of the intellectuals against the bourgeois culture. There are comrades who came out of the movement to democratise the university. They participated in sit-ins and occupations at McGill, at Simon Fraser University and various other universities. There are comrades who came out of the struggle to oppose the use of universities by the U.S. imperialist war machine. There are comrades who participated in the struggle against racism at Sir George Williams University. There are comrades who came out of the struggle for national liberation in Quebec, who supported the struggle of the taxi workers against Murray Hill monopoly at Dorval Airport. Comrades came out of all the struggles of importance which have taken place and all were represented at the Congress. There were comrades who came out of the reformist-terrorist past and many women comrades who participated in the women's liberation movement. What does all this show ? It shows that all these comrades, at one time or the other, decided through their experience that building the Party is decisive in leading revolution. And they recognized this necessity either during the period of building the discussion group, the period of building the disciplined core group, the period of building the instruments of working class propaganda, the period of building the centralised organs of the Party or during the present period of strengthening the centralised leadership of the Party and leading the actual struggles of the masses. It is their recognition of the necessity of executing that particular political line which has welded them together and united them with other comrades and not some "allegiance to a political program" in the abstract, or to some general political, ideological and theoretical positions. The entire Congress was frL of comrades who had participated in these various struggles and they all unanimously agreed that the best way to unite is on the basis of political line and that the political line is determined by the task which becomes decisive at a particular time. That decisiveness is, in no way, independent of the over-all tactics and strategy but is absolutely dependent.on it and, in fact, the over-all tactics and strategy reflect and present themselves through that decisive task during that period. Any other way of attaining unity brings about that false unity that will not last long. Unity can only be strengthened through struggle, and struggle can only be waged through a common political line. Any other way of unity is the unity of the bourgeois radicals and bourgeois socialists . They talk about unity purely for the sake of advancing their particular brand of interest and when they no longer need support for that brand they disunite and nicely continue their counter-revolutionary path.
The unity based on "agreement on the political document" first and unity later, much later -- that is -- never, is the unity demanded by chance individuals, the centrists -- those who flatter themselves as "great" Marxists and demand unity on the basis of "their line" and not on the basis of the demands of the objective world. The 22nd. Congress reflected total opposition to this sort of unity. The delegates and alternate delegates who participated in the 22nd. Congress considered them selves to be the representatives of the proletariat (and not of themselves) and the advanced representatives, for that matter. They came to the 22nd. Congress in order to strengthen the fighting headquarters of the Party of the proletariat, CPC (ML), and for no other reason and they gloriously participated in doing just that. Analysis of the actual proceedings of the 22nd. Congress shows that the entire delegation was united as one to deal with the problems of the Party. They had total rights to deal with the problems of the Party and no other rights. They opposed anyone who desired to take up other tasks than the tasks of the Party. This entire attitude strengthened the centralism in the Party as well as the democracy in the Party. The centrists (and there were some) were completely in retreat and in hiding. They did attempt to present themselves as the problems of the Party and asked questions in order to "enhance their understanding" as a devious method of opposing dealing with the political line of the Party.
Why was the 22nd. Congress so hostile to centrism ? The answer to this is straightforward when we look at the composition of the 22nd. Congress k and the origin of the delegates and alternate delegates. There was a large contingent of comrades, from Vancouver. Many of them have suffered at the hands of the centrists within their own organisation before they joined CPC (ML). Vancouver is also the seat of the chief and most notorious centrist, Jack Scott. They despise and hate centrism because it saps the revolutionary energy, promotes disintegration of the revolutionary movement and diverts the communist revolutionaries from the task of building the Party and leading the masses. Jack Scott's notoriety in this respect is all too well known to all our Vancouver comrades including Comrade Bains and Robert A. Cruise who both had direct experience with the technique and method used by him. Centrism is opposed to anything alive and growing. Centrists become panic-stricken at the mere thought of some comrades being interested in building something alive and vigorous. Centrists are like high-priests of the dead, of the have-been, and past revolutionary movements. They tell stories, spread gossips, confuse young comrades, and absolutely oppose any revolutionary advance.
There was also a large contingent of communist revolutionaries from Quebec. Montreal is the seat of another notorious centrist, D. Varma. This delegation also despised him and had utter contempt for his counter-revolutionary splittism and divisiveness. When D. Varma was inside the Party he was vigorously criticised for not leading others on the basis of political line. He used others to engage in some "political discussions", but he failed to unite with others to execute political tasks. He desired to build an organisation which participates in organising backward elements and sideline events from time to time. He was thoroughly opposed. Once all possibilities of manoeuvre and chance of spreading the centrist poison finished, he split. He whined: "There is no democracy in CPC(ML)". D. Varma shed tears on the shoulders of notorious opportunists, confessed his crimes and swore that he will never support the Party again. By democracy, Varma meant space for manoeuvre whereby he could have his line and the Party would not exercise dictatorship over him. He also moaned: "There was too much criticism!" For a centrist "too much criticism" means that criticism which dictates to him that he must change and which is not merely satisfied with pointing out the faults of a centrist. Centrists are quite happy to be criticised as long as the criticism does not lead to transformation. No sooner is transformation demanded, than the real bourgeois beast snarls from out of the centrist and he takes up the thoroughgoing anticommunist crusade, taking upon himself the mission of "liquidating" such a Party which had demanded transformation from him. This is what Varma did. Our comrades from Montreal have just emerged from the struggle against the centrist Varma and they were not about to tolerate anyone of his type at the Congress.
From Toronto also, the delegation had ample experience with the centrists. Centrism circled in Toronto around an "ex" Castroite who has always used the name of the working class to push his anti- Marxist-Leninist lines. For him the proletarian revolutionary line, that is, the political line of the revolutionary proletariat, is insignificant and worthless, while reformist and bourgeois political lines are everything. He pushed the "working class" line, that is, the "Working class minus its advanced section" line. In August, 1969, he used this line to split and divide. He was pushed out of the organisation for this crime. He came back, offered sham self-criticism and split again. He was pushed out again recently and he has been approaching the Party to present another sham self-criticism. The Toronto delegation was totally aware of the activities of this centrist. From Winnipeg also the comrades have experience of the splitting activities of the centrists.
With so much experience with the centrists, it is no wonder that the 22nd. Congress was vigorously hostile to centrism. The Congress took a deep-going stand against centrism and the centrist method of fooling the masses by claiming that "agreement on the political program" must come first and unity later - much later. It is a device to stop the advanced sections of the proletariat from organising. The analysis of the 22nd. Congress shows not only by the composition of the delegates that unity can only be built on the basis of political line but also by the delegates' deep-going sentiment against centrism that they were not going to tolerate any centrism inside the 22nd. Congress.
Behind centrism is the line of informality. The centrists give an appearance of being formal but, in fact, any formal agreements made with them they trample underfoot and arrogantly smash when it suits them. They are anarchists when it comes to formality. Take for example the document signed between the Internationalists and the Progressive Workers Movement in February 1969. Before the ink was even dry on this document which approved the establishment of one Marxist-Leninist centre in Vancouver, the PWM unilaterally violated the spirit and letter of it. They began spreading rumours and slanders about the content and never engaged the Internationalists in a formal decision to terminate it. Jack Scott showed the same attitude in the winter of 1972. He was given a document in February, 1972 containing the basis of unity with CPC (ML). It was requested that he study the document for a week. After the week was over, in a formal meeting, duly witnessed by various comrades, he agreed with certain proposals and disagreed with others. Soon after the agreement, however, Jack Scott played the same bourgeois trick. He broke the agreement unilaterally and used our spirit for unity with him as a device to get some revolutionary status. This sort of attitude was also reflected by Varma and other opportunists and revisionists. The 22nd Congress put an end to informality for this period.
The 22nd Congress was led by an extremely formal presidium. The Congress opposed informality and considered it alien to the spirit of the proletariat. Informality in executing political tasks can totally undermine their effect. Because the delegates were all field organisers and had themselves suffered immensely due to the informality practised by the bourgeois individualists of all hues, they vigorously opposed it in the Congress. The centrists oppose formality and thus oppose the unity of the Marxist- Leninists. Formal attitudes are extremely necessary and decisive for building unity amonst the Marxist-Leninists. A formal attitude goes against gossip and slander, cuts down confusion and unites Marxist-Leninists to fight the centrists and others opposing th£ building of the Party.
The analysis of the 22nd Congress further revealed that the proletarian concept of centralised leadership is extremely necessary for the unity of the Marxist-Leninists. The centrists and other opportunists oppose centralised leadership. The concept of centralised leadership is opposed to the concept of all centralism and no democracy or no concept of all centralism and no democracy or all democracy and no centralism or a 'balanced cent- to proletarian democratic centralism. The Congress rejected these alien notions and adopted the basic proletarian revolutionary line that both centralism and democracy must serve the proletariat and that the question of the extent of centralism or democracy is determined by the political line and that democratic centralism must always be based on political line. Sometimes centralism assists the basic interests of the proletariat and at other times democracy is much desired. The extent to which a Party practices democratic centralism in a given period is determined by the political line. Centralised leadership makes sure that both centralism and democracy are practiced in the Party to fulfill the political tasks and not independent of them. For example, before the 22nd. Congress we still practiced more democracy and less centralism. Local and regional branches could make decisions as to their work and the Central Committee encouraged this all over the country. The 22nd. Congress has decided that in order to continue democracy there must be a period of vigorous centralism and that local and regional branches should be deprived of any decision-making powers. Instead, the entire Party is mobilised around the Central Committee operating from the central office in Montreal, and all local and regional policy is entirely governed by the CC. Those who oppose building unity on the basis of political line also exhibit woodiness and sterility in exercising democratic centralism. They are mechanical in their approach and as their entire line begins from their own view of the world and not from the laws governing the real world, they adhere to democratic centralism of "their sort" which is total fascism and anarchism and goes from one extreme to the other. This question of democratic centralism is very much tied up with the attitude one takes towards uniting the Marxist-Leninists. Delegates from all over the country vigorously denounced the centrist view of "democratic centralism" and approved the line of democratic centralism based on the political line.
Further analysis of the Congress shows that delegates opposed all ideas of hegemony as a method of the centrists to build many centres inside the Party. Struggle for hegemony is alien to the spirit of proletarian revolution. Centrists always advocate hegemony. Marxist-Leninists oppose the theory of hegemony. Unity of the Marxist-Leninists can be built through example and by actually leading. Setting an example and actually leading come out of executing the political line, and not out of a demand for hegemony on the basis of agreement on a "political program". The delegates had suffered much from this attitude of the centrists and they opposed this line. The entire Congress proceedings were lively and reflected the spirit of unity and solidarity on the basis of political line and opposition to hegemony. Party comrades from Vancouver and Montreal have actually dealt with the theories of hegemony advocated by Varma and individuals like him. The theory of hegemony is based on the conspiracy theory. Around this line one finds the communal atmosphere of "unity based on friendship". The centrists cultivate small fiefdoms in order to wage struggle against the Party.
The composition of the 22nd Congress shows that the delegates came from over twelve organisations which had either merged with the Party or produced comrades who joined the Party. These comrades joined because the Party set an example of staunch proletarian spirit and practices the policy of leading which invigorated the communist enthusiasts and Won them over. Had CPC (ML) pursued the line of hegemony it would have degenerated along with the many organisations which covetously pursued this counter-revolutionary policy.
The composition of the 22nd Congress further showed that CPC (ML) is growing and consolidating itself because it follows the line of building itself on the basis of a political line. The total number of delegates, alternate delegates and observers to the Congress were 90 as compared to 38 in the 21st Congress. During a period of less than two years the numbers have increased nearly five times. During the 22nd. Congress the number of delegates and alternate delegates was 57, which is far more than the 32 during the 21st Congress, and the number of observers was 133, which is far greater than the 6 who participated in the 21st Congress. Not only has the quantity of delegates increased, but also the quality. Our comrades are more vigorous, more experienced, more united and more loyal to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tsetung Thought than ever before. This can only happen if the correct policy of organising the Party around a political line is followed. The centrist organisations have shriveled up. In those circled where the number is so-called "increasing", it is the increasing number of backward and reactionary elements which are joining them and not the advanced elements. The advanced elements are leaving the centrists in increasing numbers.
Further analysis of the composition of the 22nd Congress shows that over 80% of the participants are engaged in mass work in the community and at the place of work. Less than 20% of the cadres are in the educational institutions. This shows that with the. development of the political line, the shift from the university to the community and the place of work is also completed and the stage is set for the further consolidation of the centralised leadership of the Party with the advanced workers as the main force. This entire line has further consolidated the unity amongst the Marxist-Leninists, while the centrists like Jack Scott who began their work from the working class are eking out their political subsistence from the universities.
The centrists deny the existence of class struggle on the basis of actual political line. For example, whether to build a discussion group or to remain aloof or to oppose it is not class struggle for the centrists but a mere difference in point of view. For them, class struggle is something intellectual: "labour versus capital" in the abstract and not as this struggle is concretely reflected in every cell of the society. The entire composition of the Congress shows that those who did not take up the class struggle to execute the Party's political line were not in the Congress and were either removed in their local areas or expelled by the central organisation. To suggest that class struggle does not exist on the question of executing the political line is to suggest that class struggle is not the universal basis of change, development and motion in every cell of the society. To deny class struggle in every area of work is to deny the possibility of forward motion. The centrists deny class struggle as the basis of moving forward. Because the Party waged class struggle on the basis of political line it eliminated anyone opposing it and for this reason there was a spirit of unity prevailing in the Congress.
Further analysis of the Congress shows that the centrists exaggerate the role of the individual and are against the proletarian leadership. They have utter contempt for proletarian leadership. For example, the centrists despise the leadership of Comrade Bains. You ask these worthies, "If you do not like the leadership of Comrade Bains then why don't you lead. It is those who actually lead the Party that will be the leaders of the Party." They cannot answer this and they are reduced to spouting anti-communist attacks of "personality cult" and "one man dictatorship", while all the so-called personalities and petty dictators flatter themselves in that role in practice. Because they are "personalities" and petty dictators; they hate proletarian dictatorship which as a first principle smashes their personalities and dictatorships by exercising the dictatorship of the proletariat. They also deny the historical experience of the masses. For example, how can Jack Scott be such a"Marxist Leninist" when his own organisation degenerated and he has not given any self-criticism or led a campaign of learning from past mistakes in order to avoid future ones. While the Internationalists have flourished, are moving forward and are learning from their experience, this bourgeois reactionary is slandering and opposing from the sidelines. The centrists also oppose the role of the masses in changing history. They cannot see how the youth and students in the 1960's moved things forward, or how workers make daily contributions, or how CPC (ML) has changed the political scene and is leading the proletariat in making revolution. For them, "individuals are everything while the masses are nothing". For this reason, they cultivate themselves as big shots, sneer at the masses and refuse to assist them to move forward. They also put detail in command of the over-all and use differences for the purposes of splitting and dividing and not for the purpose of uniting. Their line of "agreement on the political program" before unity reflects their line of splitting and dividing the ranks of the revolutionaries and paralysing the entire revolutionary movement. Apart from these qualities, they deny the role of conscious participation in changing the world and give the revisionist theory of bourgeois culture -- revolutionary politics. They oppose making themselves the target of revolution and transforming themselves. The entire concept of building unity based on political line is opposed to centrism and the 22nd. Congress further concretised and concentrated this concept. Unity can only be based on political line and the 22nd. Congress united all those who see the urgent necessity of centralised leadership and the necessity of actually leading the struggle of the masses. End item.
The RESISTANCE MOVEMENT is a most precious part of the glorious history of the American working class. Right from the beginnings of the country, the working class has participated in heroic resistance to capitalist exploitation, political suppression and the entire dictatorship of the capitalist class. This resistance has inevitably advanced from low level of spontaneous and passive resistance to higher levels of active resistance. In the last ten years the monopoly capitalist class has carried out the most brutal suppression of fundamental and sacred rights of working people, murdering progressive and revolutionary individuals, carrying out massive suppression of Afro-Americans and national minorities, suppressing working class struggles, attacking the dissemination of revolutionary ideology of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought, etc. The essence of fascism is to completely suppress all rights of the working classes to organize ourselves politically. The most concentrated expression of this is the suppression of the political representatives of the working class, the Marxist-Leninist COMMUNISTS. Over the last three years, large numbers of ACWM(ML) comrades have been fascistically attacked, arbitrarily arrested and viciously beaten by the state machine of the monopoly capitalist class. Carrying forward the glorious history of the working class and HOLDING HIGH THE GREAT RED BANNER OP MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT our comrades have persisted in ACTIVE RESISTANCE TO FASCISM, thus opposing fascist counter-revolutionary attacks with revolutionary political struggle of the working class for the sacred cause of building the communist party and organizing proletarian revolution. The path of active resistance to fascism is the only correct path. The struggles of our comrades and other staunch antifascist fighters have greatly inspired the broad masses. It is this process of degeneration of the monopoly capitalist class, their fascist suppression of the working class, and of active resistance to fascism by the working class and led by the communist cadres which is clarifying the two roads and two destinies facing the entire U.S. working class -- the path of fascist counter-revolution and slavery or the path of proletarian revolution leading to the liberation of all oppressed mankind. It is this process of ACTIVE RESISTANCE TO FASCISM which is steeling the communist cadres and training the cadres and broad masses in THE SPIRIT AND LETTER OF FIGHTING and it is this process which is inevitably developing from a low level to a national and all-embracing PEOPLE'S ANTI-FASCIST WAR led by the working class and its communist party which will overthrow for all time the barbarous capitalist system.
In the last few months as revolutionary mass work of the ACWM (ML) has moved forward, the monopoly capitalist class is becoming frantic and has once again stepped up its fascist attacks on our members and supporters. The WORKERS ADVOCATE salutes the GREAT SPIRIT OF FIGHTING demonstrated by our comrades who are actively resisting the attacks of the monopoly capitalist class. Following are reports from several local areas on the developing resistance struggles.
On Monday, March 26 at 4i30pm at the corner of Jefferson and East Utica, Comrades Jack Ailey and Mike Hamilton were selling BUFFALO RED STAR as they do every Monday at that time. On this occasion fascist police from the Cold Springs Station launched a sneak attack upon the comrades. Fascist lackeys Anthony Knapik and Gregory Roesch attacked Comrade Jack from from behind with blackjacks, knocking him to the ground and brutally beating him. They then turned on Comrade Mike who had come running to Jack's aid and repeated their sordid performance. The comrades were arrested and charged with "assault", "resisting arrest", "inciting to riot", and "failing to obey the reasonable request of a police officer". That evening in the police lock-up the arresting officers, accompanied by three other police fascists, again attacked Comrade Mike, brutally beating him and cracking his rib while singing "God Bless America".
Throughout this the comrades have taken a resolute stance, fighting back at every step, refusing to capitulate for a single moment and taking the struggle right into the fascist courts.
Why have the monopoly capitalists unleashed this attack?
Today there is a big upsurge in revolutionary activity among the people. While nationally there is an excellent situation in the developing unity of Marxist-Leninists to build a revolutionary Communist Party, locally this excellent situation has taken form in an upsurge in widescale discussion amongst the working and oppressed people on HOW TO SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS. This upsurge has been greatly inspired by the communist political activities led by Buffalo Workers Revolutionary Committee. Many people have shown a deep interest in communist ideas and have developed great love for MASS DEMOCRACY, the the revolutionary method put forward by the communists to solve problems.
While having definite positive experience with MASS DEMOCRACY, many people have also had definite negative experience with the method of FASCIST SUPPRESSION used by the police against the people. Numerous times people have participated in mass democracy to deal with the problem of fascist police attacks and have defeated police attempts at FASCIST SUPPRESSION of distribution of revolutionary literature by using the revolutionary method of mass democracy. At Jefferson and East Utica people have repeatedly engaged in mass democracy in order to solve, problems and in February defeated a fascist attack on the right to distribute revolutionary literature, In the course of this many people have developed a keen awareness of the importance of defending the right to distribute revolutionary literature and have developed deep sentiment for mass democracy. This sentiment was shown on Monday when large numbers of people gathered, blocking traffic, and vigorously denounced this police crime of FASCIST SUPPRESSION and upheld the right to distribute revolutionary literature.
It is precisely because they so fear the vigorous discussion of revolutionary ideas among the people and the revolutionary method of MASS DEMOCRACY, that the reactionaries launched this criminal attack and did so in such brutal and cowardly fashion.
These police activities of FASCIST SUPPRESSION are a most serious matter. The people have every right to deal with this matter, to persist in the discussion HOW TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS, to engage in mass democracy, and to uphold the right to distribute revolutionary literature. WE WILL CERTAINLY COMBAT THIS GROWING FASCISM!
DOWN WITH POLICE ACTIVITIES OF FASCIST SUPPRESSION!
LONG LIVE MASS DEMOCRACY!
UPHOLD THE RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE REVOLUTIONARY LITERATURE!
The following article is reprinted from BUFFALO RED STAR, vol. 2, No. 4, March 26, 1973. BUFFALO RED STAR is the organ of the BUFFALO WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST).
Once again masses of people in Buffalo have rallied to take up the revolutionary line of ACTIVE RESISTANCE TO FASCISM.
Ever since the opening of the William Z, Foster Center, Revolutionary Propaganda Center of the Working Class in Buffalo, the monopoly capitalists have been in a frenzy over the upsurge in communist political activities and the rekindling of the mass movement to support the distribution of revolutionary literature, to have discussion of revolutionary politics and to ward off the attacks of the fascists upon these. Numerous times the fascist police have attempted to spy on, harass and attack our comrades in the course of disseminating revolutionary literature. Inspired by the politics of seizure of state power and filled with burning hatred for fascism masses of people have come forward to take part in the struggle to defend the right to organize politically and resist the attacks of the fascists. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the communists they have denounced the crimes of the police, exposed their hidden agents, and repeatedly put them on the run.
On Tuesday, February 27th, the fascist police once again attempted to kidnap supporters of the BUFFALO WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) off the streets of Buffalo where they were doing mass work. For over 70 minutes two decrepit fascist agents loitered on opposite corners at Grant and Ferry, always within a few feet of the comrades, posing as "disinterested citizens." When the streets became sparsely populated they quickly disappeared, to be immediately replaced by police car #31. The occupants of this vehicle, who frequently spend their afternoons spying on the comrades and the revolutionary masses, suddenly decided that they were "innocent" individuals who were "curious" about communism and wanted the comrades to explain it to them. The comrades, refusing to participate in convincing the fascist lackeys of monopoly capitalism of the necessity for the working class to seize st state power, turned to the people to continue political discussion.
Angered by the presence of the fascist police and knowing well their attempts to suppress people's democratic rights, many people came out of the stores on all four corners to ask the comrades what the fascists were up to this time. The police, hearing their crimes being exposed, jumped from their car, demanding to see the comrades' "vendor's license" and threatening to arrest them if they persisted in distributing revolutionary literature, The people defended the right of the communists to disseminate revolutionary literature and refused to turn this into a matter for debate with the fascists, denounced all the concocted excuses, fascist rules and regulations, and spying used by the fascists. The police, previously dreaming of separating the communists from the broad masses, now found themselves in a throng of people who persisted in defying all of the police demands. Frantic, the police claimed the communists were creating a "disturbance" and tried to disperse the people. One comrade was seized by the fascist police but ripped away from their nazi grip and persisted in leading mass democracy against them. Masses of people pointed out that it was the police who were causing a disturbance and demanded that they leave at once. The police, who had tried to launch a quick attack on the comrades, found themselves surrounded by masses of people the whole history of their crimes laid bare. Collapsing, they skulked away, muttering they "didn't want to see any disturbance."
Masses of people enthusiastically celebrated the weakness of the fascists and grasped their own strength in upholding the basic democratic right to distribute revolutionary literature and the right to engage in revolutionary political discussion.
This is a great victory for the people! Persisting in mass democracy and exposing the crimes of the fascists in broad daylight the revolutionary people successfully resisted the flimsy attack of the fascists and defended the right of the working class and oppressed people to organize ourselves politically. This revolutionary political struggle aims right at the fascist dictatorship of the monopoly capitalist class. By continuing on this path of ACTIVE RESISTANCE TO FASCISM starting at this low level and developing the struggles step-by-step the working and oppressed people of Buffalo, led by the BUFFALO WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST- LENINIST) will certainly succeed in developing actual organs of peoples defense and developing the revolutionary movement against the fascist state machine and for the overthrow of fascism and the seizure of political power by the working class.
(The following article is re-printed from a special joint issue of ADVANCE!, organ of the Rhode Island Revolutionary Youth, and RHODE ISLAND STUDENT, organ of the Rhode Island Student Movement - Under the leadership of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist).)
On Saturday, March 10 the University Heights shopping center on North Main St, was the scene of a vicious fascist attack by the Providence police on the sacred right of the working class to politically organize to overthrow monopoly capitalist exploitation and oppression. Acting on behalf of their masters, the owners of University Heights Inc. and all the U.S. monopoly capitalists, the fascist police first threatened and attempted to intimidate young communist workers and students selling WORKERS' ADVOCATE, newspaper of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist- Leninist) claiming that the shopping center was "private property". The communists exposed that line by pointing out that it was the labor of the American working class which build University Heights and it is our own property. No monopoly capitalist can keep us from organizing in the interest of our class with that ploy. When this attempt failed this attempt of the fascists failed, they launched an all-out frenzied attack.
Local members and close supporters of the ACWM(ML) have been distributing WORKERS' ADVOCATE late every Saturday afternoon since November at University Heights, During this time the broad masses have shown their very enthusiastic and warm support for the revolutionary political line of the paper and have always desired serious discussion over the necessity to build a genuine Communist Party to lead us in the anti-fascist revolution. It has been the vigorous dissemination and discussion of this political line which has won us such whole-hearted support from the broad masses.
When the full scale fascist attack was launched more than 50 people gathered to give their resolute support to the communists organizing among them and to denounce the attack. Members of the broad masses came forward to assist the comrades.
All the while the communists sought to clarify and discuss the situation with the masses. Shouting "THIS IS FASCISM!" and "THIS IS THE STAND OF THE MONOPOLY CAPITALISTS ON OUR RIGHT TO POLITICALLY ORGANIZE!" the comrades vigorously resisted the arrest and persisted in disseminating WORKERS' ADVOCATE even while the fascists attempted to pin them against the squad cars.
A lively mass democracy developed in which the masses began to clarify the role of the police in attacking the anti-fascist fighters, and how the American working class has a militant history of struggle against the fascist thugs of the capitalist state.
At several points during the struggle it was demanded that the police account for their fascist acts and they refused. The masses then took up discussion on this question.
With 10 police mobilized, they finally succeeded in forcing the communists into the squad cars, including one comrade who hadn't been selling the paper but had participated actively in the discussion. When this was pointed out to the anti-fascist masses a new storm of revolutionary denunciation arose.
Handcuffed in the back seats of the squad cars the comrades persisted in shouting "DEATH TO FASCISM!" and sang the Internationale at the top of their lungs. This continued on the way to the station on Fountain St. The mass democracy continued on the necessity for ACTIVE RESISTANCE TO FASCISM and many people came forward to take WORKERS' ADVOCATE which had been distributed throughout the struggle.
After the three comrades were released from a long period of "questioning" by the fascists, they immediately returned to the shopping center to discuss the anti-fascist struggle with the masses. People were anxious to hear the report of the struggle.
The day's struggle clearly points out that had it not been for the vigorous support of the masses these deathly-frightened agents of monopoly capitalism might have pressed their fascist "charges". This shows that nothing can keep us from organizing ACTIVE RESISTANCE TO FASCISM and our revolutionary COMMUNIST PARTY based on Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought. The American working class truly has revolutionary aspirations.
DOWN WITH THE REACTIONARY VIOLENCE OF THE U.S. MONOPOLY CAPITALISTS!
VICTORY TO THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS!
LONG LIVE MASS DEMOCRACY!
LET ALL MARXIST-LENINISTS UNITE TO BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY!
The following articles are excerpted from ANN ARBOR STUDENT, vol. 2, no, 2, March 1973. ANN ARBOR STUDENT is the organ of the ANN ARBOR STUDENT MOVEMENT, unit of AMERICAN STUDENT MOVEMENT under the leadership of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST).
In the middle of February a mass democracy under the title ACTIVELY RESIST FASCISM, was successfully held in the Fishbowl. The aims of the mass democracy were: 1) to denounce the recent attacks of the fascist state machine and its agents on progressive and revolutionary individuals, organizations and movements; and to decide what to do about it, 2) in the spirit of active resistance to fascism, to organize to defend the fundamental democratic rights to freely discuss various ideas to politically organize. The meeting was sponsored jointly by four organizations on campus. Ann Arbor Student Movement, New World Film Cooperative, Friends of Newsreel and American Revolutionary Media. A leaflet, giving a general picture of the revolutionary struggle of the people and the attacks of fascism in on the local, national and international levels and announcing the mass democracy, was prepared and distributed widely on the campus. Masses of students received the leaflet with great enthusiasm and responded warmly by engaging in serious discussions and went on to angrily denounce the fascists. Over 7,500 leaflets were distributed.
On the day of the mass democracy large banners with the slogans ACTIVELY RESIST FASCISM and DEFEND THE DEMOCRATIC RIGHT TO POLITICALLY ORGANIZE were raised in the Fishbowl, The mass democracy was started with presentations from the sponsoring organizations. Then the students contributed to the d discussion by their enthusiastic support, by bringing forward their experiences of resistance to various forms of fascist repression,etc. A plainclothes police agent who had sneaked into the meeting to carry on spying was openly denounced i when the chairman of the mass democracy declared, "We students will not be intimidated by the presence of the fascist police of the monopoly capitalist class!" the over one hundred participants enthusiastically applauded, expressing their sincere anti-fascist sentiment and thereby forced the agent to leave.
In the mass democracy the students took the important step of uniting to build a committee to defend their fundamental democratic right to politically organize and to resist fascist repression. A concrete proposal to from a "Committee to Defend the Democratic Right to Politically Organize" was made and many students came forward expressing their desire to participate. This is a significant development on our campus."
After outlining various aspects of the all-around fascistization of U.S. society, the article continues* "In front of this consolidation of fascism it is a very good thing that students in Ann Arbor have united to build the Committee to Defend the Democratic Right to Politically Organize. In the various meetings of the Committee that were subsequently held, it was seen that defending the democratic right to politically organize means to develop active resistance to fascism. For this reason the Committee has been renamed as the Committee to Actively Resist Fascism. The aims of the Committee are* 1) promote wide mass democratic discussion on various fundamental political questions facing the American working class and people today, 2) denounce various fascist ideas and personalities and 3) to develop actual resistance to fascist repression.
The formation of this Committee is a significant development of the struggle of the students in Ann Arbor; they finally have in their hands a tool with which they can fight ideological oppression and fascist repression.
Students! Let's unite to build the COMMITTEE TO ACTIVELY RESIST FASCISM!
(The following statement was published in ANN ARBOR STUDENT, vol.2, no.2, March 30, 1973, organ of the Ann Arbor Student Movement, local unit of the American Student Movement, under the leadership of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist).)
Mariano Bianca came to the U.S. in August 1970 as a foreign student and has lived mainly in Ann Arbor during the last two years and a half. Starting from May 1972 because of his political activities as supporter of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) he has been intimidated by the FBI and threatened with deportation. Recently while distributing communist literature for the students in the campus he was attacked by fascist goons of the YAF (Young Americans for Freedom); defending his right to distribute communist literature he stood up to these intimidations and as a result was charged with assault and battery by one of these dogs. He was then arrested by the Ann Arbor police and brought to City Hall (police department) where an FBI agent interrogated him for more than half an hour and then told him that he will be deported.
Following are excerpts from a statement made by comrade Mariano.
Since last May, because of my political activities as supporter of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) the FBI has been continuously intimidating and threatening me.
With the formation of the Ann Arbor Student Movement and the publication of ANN ARBOR STUDENT last fall, the fascist agents of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class became more desperate and vicious in the vain attempt to destroy the Ann Arbor Student Movement and stop the aspiration of the American students to come under the leadership of the working class and its party and actively participate in antifascist proletarian revolution.
[Finally] in February the FBI went and mobilized the fascist goons of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), whose only role was to create a trumped-up charge useful to the Immigration Department, to deport me and so try to cover up the real political nature of their desire to deport me. These goons came repeatedly to intimidate me and take my picture while I was distributing the ANN ARBOR STUDENT in the Fishbowl, When I was defending my right to distribute revolutionary literature one them, G. Krisbaura, physically attacked me and then went on to call the police and file charges of "assault and battery" against me. The goons have in this way done their job.
What is the crime I have committed? The only crime is to be a communist and supporter of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) and this is indeed a threat to U.S. imperialism! I never concealed the fact that I am communist among the masses of the American people and I am responsible only in front of them and not to their enemy the U.S. monopoly capitalist class, its state machine and its agents.
I am a foreign student and as such I share the same conditions of thousands of students who come to this country every year. I was sent here as part of a large program of the Italian monopoly capitalist class in collusion with the U.S. government to send a certain number of students to the U.S. to be trained technically, ideologically and politically. We foreign students have been sent here for the only reason of becoming traitors to our own people, become a loyal servant of the U.S. imperialist ruling class and finally become part of and serve loyally the comprador class in our country which oppresses our people and thus faithfully serve the interests of the U.S. imperialists. This is the reason why we foreign students are sent here. But this plan does not work!
The Italian immigrants forced to leave their homeland by the miserable economic conditions came to the U.S. misled by the dream of finding freedom and democracy and wealth, were turned into a large mass of slave laborers for the profit of a handful of capitalists.
The Italian immigrants have greatly contributed to building this country and in advancing the revolutionary struggle and are an integral part of the great American working class.
As Italian too, I have all the right to participate in the revolutionary struggle of the American working class to build its party, the Communist Party, based on Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought and finally overthrow the fascist rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class, build socialism and communism, Further, U.S. imperialism has, for more than 20 years now, been exploiting the Italian people in their own country and Italian immigrants are still every year coming to the U.S. The Italian people and the American people have the same enemy, ie., monopoly capitalism, and have the same aspiration of building socialism and communism.
This country was build by the immigrants, the Afro-Americans the Eskimos and the Indians, and every person of any country who comes here has the right to participate in the struggle against U.S. monopoly capitalism and build the revolutionary Communist Party, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought. This is also my right and no force on earth can stop me from supporting whole-heartedly the struggle of the American working class and people against fascism and monopoly capitalism.
The American people had come to Italy with the spirit of proletarian internationalism to fight against Mussolini's fascism. And when I am here I have the proletarian duty to support their struggle and exchange the contribution they have made to the advancement of the Italian people.
AN HISTORIC TURNING POINT IN PARTY-BUILDING IN NORTH AMERICA
(Right now there is tremendous enthusiasm and discussion in Marxist-Leninist circles all over North America about the upcoming CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS. As part of its preparations for the CONFERENCE the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) has called upon all comrades and friends to pay close attention to SUMMING UP HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE. In light of this call, a comrade has submitted the following article on the REGINA CONFERENCE.)
The REGINA CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS took place in May 1969 was organized by the CANADIAN INTERNATIONALISTS and delegates from Canada, Quebec and the United States participated. The REGINA CONFERENCE marked an historic victory for MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT in North America and was a mortal blow against revisionism. It can truthfully be said that the REGINA CONFERENCE brought the lessons of the GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION in China to North America with tremendous impact. It marked an end to the period of darkness among Marxist-Leninists and the beginning of the historical epoch of rebuilding genuine Marxist-Leninist Parties of the proletariat to lead the anti-imperialist, proletarian revolution. The significance of the REGINA CONFERENCE for the Canadian and Quebec working class and people is summed up in the POLITICAL REPORT OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST-LENINIST). For the American proletariat the REGINA CONFERENCE was the birthplace of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST), first national center for the widescale dissemination and living study and application of MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT.
The REGINA CONFERENCE itself was a CONFERENCE OF A COMPLETELY NEW TYPE. It was not an "educational conference" or a "gab-fest" like the conferences of the "new left". It was not a revisionist conference for promoting reformism and betraying Marxism-Leninism. It was not a conference of bureaucrats lording it over the masses. The REGINA CONFERENCE was a MASS DEMOCRATIC and PROLETARIAN REVOLUTIONARY CONFERENCE. The REGINA CONFERENCE was FIRSTLY AN ARENA OF CLASS STRUGGLE, in which a decisive victory was won over revisionism in the sphere of organizing the inner-party class struggle.
There were basically two types of people who attended the REGINA. CONFERENCE, representing two antagonistic classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. On one side the proletariat. stood certain chance individuals who had never lifted a finger for revolution, while on the other stood disciplined cadres, the INTERNATIONALISTS, who had come out of the mass movement and were solely dedicated to serving the revolution. The chance individuals wanted to enhance their "understanding" of the "laws of revolution" apart from actually serving the revolutionary masses and hence they raised all sorts of detached questions and objections to revolution in order to "be more convinced" before they could participate in revolution. The revolutionary cadres on the other hand had no desire to enhance their "understanding" apart from serving the revolutionary masses and building the revolutionary party. The revolutionary cadres came for the sole purpose of summing up experience in light of MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT in order to draw guidelines for changing the world; that is, they came to find the points in revolutionary mass work which needed immediate attention and develop definite forms, methods and disciplines for changing the situation amongst the masses. In other words, while the chance individuals wanted the conference to sit on the sidelines and "reach unity" based on some bourgeois individual, so-called "advanced understanding" of Marxism-Leninism, the genuine Marxist-Leninists took an active stand and UNITED WITH ONE ANOTHER ON THE BASIS OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST POLITICAL LINE, that is on the basis of WHAT WAS TO BE DONE to serve the revolutionary masses and build the proletarian party. This class struggle was characterized as ORGANIZE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD versus ORGANIZE TO CHANGE THE WORLD. The reactionary elements first attacked the revolutionary form of the conference in order to prevent the revolutionary summation from developing? with all the arrogance of the revisionist new czars they demanded "due respect to the status of the delegates", demanded to fraternize on an individual basis opposing the organizational discipline of the conference and refusing to come under its revolutionary authority. The staunch INTERNATIONALISTS led by Comrade Hardial Bains mobilized the vast majority of genuine delegates around the proletarian revolutionary line, isolated and defeated the bourgeois reactionary elements. This struggle released tremendous enthusiasm and initiative amongst the delegates and crystallized and concentrated the MASS DEMOCRATIC METHOD OF WORK. This revolutionary method of work and the lessons of this historic conference provided a firm foundation fop the development of the COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST- LENINIST) and the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST- LENINIST). Since the REGINA CONRENCE the same class struggle has taken place in the various conferences and units of the communist movement all across North America. That is the class struggle between conscious participation and development of over-all revolutionary policy and disciplined implementation of the revolutionary policy versus non-participation in the development of the policy and non-implementation of the policy.
The LESSONS QF THE REGINA CONFERENCE CAN BE SUMMED UP:
1) IT IS OBJECTIVE INNER AND OUTER PARTY CUSS STRUGGLE WHICH GIVES RISE TO CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT AND MOTION IN THE WORLD. 3y uniting on the basis of a definite analysis and a PRACTICAL PROGRAM FOR CHANGING THE SITUATION (that is, by uniting on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist political line), the Marxist-Leninists are able to go amongst the masses and advance the objective class struggle against the bourgeoisie. By waging class struggle inside, the Marxist-Leninists weed out the revisionists and dogmatists, clarify and purify the - analysis and further develop the practical guidelines which leads to a further development of the objective class struggle outside. The revisionists and dogmatists seek to liquidate the objective inner and outer party class struggle in hopes of liquidating the Party and revolution. They substitute abstract so-called "political discussions" for concrete analysis of concrete conditions and haggle over details in place of developing a practical political program.
2) PROLETARIAN IDEOLOGY IS THE IDEOLOGY OF CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT AND MOTION. The REGINA CONFERENCE correctly handled the relationship between theory and practice, showing that social-practice is primary and theory must be developed solely to serve revolutionary practice. The bourgeois intellectuals hold the opposite view and seek to prevent revolutionary mass work from developing and to suppress the development of concrete guidelines for proletarian revolution which can only be based on analysis of actual social practice.
3) MASS DEMOCRACY, which brings all the cadres under the supervision of the masses, is the key to developing the inner and outer party class struggle. While revisionists utilize a fascist and bureaucratic method of work based on 1) extreme contempt for the masses and 2) mystification of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought, the REGINA CONFERENCE and the MASS DEMOCRATIC METHOD OF WORK is based on 1) complete reliance on the revolutionary aspirations and capabilities of the masses and 2) arming the masses with Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought.
In May 1969 our analysis showed that the main priority in the U.S. was the building of a revolutionary party of the proletariat. Because of the dominant influence of bourgeois and revisionist ideology amongst the masses, the revolutionary cadre were unable to come forward to participate in building the party, thus the main missing ingredient was proletarian ideology. On this basis the ACWM (ML) was formed to take up the widescale dissemination and living study and application of MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT and prepare public opinion for antifascist, proletarian revolution. During 4 years we have learned that only through objective class struggle, that is only through the development of mass democracy amongst the working and oppressed masses, can the masses grasp Marxism-Leninism, overthrow revisionism in practice and contribute towards building the party. We have been building the instruments of working class propaganda to serve the revolutionary mass movement through active initiative of and participation in MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLES. We have established disciplined basic units in several cities, begun the establishment of a definite national leadership, led mass democratic, anti-fascist struggles in the universities, communities and places of work, carried out study and investigation amongst the masses all across the country and thus made a small start in developing the class analysis of U.S. society. Internally we have waged struggle against those bourgeois elements who have gotten "stuck" on the sidelines at crucial stages in the development of the communist organization and who refused to take BUILDING THE PARTY AS PRIMARY. When problems have faced us these bourgeois elements have refused to wage objective inner and outer party class struggle and summing up for the purpose of solving the problems, but instead have actively worked to split and undermine the organization. Thus during 4 years of revolutionary work, definite guidelines for the mass democratic, anti-fascist revolution have emerged:
1) ALWAYS TAKE DISSEMINATION, LIVING STUDY AND APPLICATION OF MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT AS A FIRST PRINCIPLE;
2) ALWAYS PERSIST IN BUILDING THE COMMUNIST PARTY AS THE DECISIVE FACTOR IN ADVANCING THE REVOLUTION;
3) INITIATE AND LEAD MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLE IN ORDER TO AROUSE THE MASSES AND BUILD THE PARTY;
4) ADHERE RIGIDLY TO THE MASS DEMOCRATIC METHOD OF WORK.
Our analysis has proven entirely correct through our own experience as well as the experience of other Marxist-Leninist groups and individuals. IT IS AN HISTORICALLY PROVEN FACT THAT SINCE 1969 ALL THE MARXIST -LENINISTS WHO HAVE FOUGHT TO RE-ENUNCIATE THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MARXISM-LENINISM AMONGST THE MASSES have advanced and contributed to building the revolutionary party. Today the many Marxist-Leninist centers which have struggled against revisionism are coming forward to participate in organizing the historic CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS to be held in Chicago, May 24-28.
Today as well as a new trend developing amongst the Marxist-Leninist forces, there is a rise of a new style of revisionist, the direct descendants of the "new left". These neo-revisionists although talking in the abstract about unity and about Marxism- Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought have declared themselves independent of 1) the actual historical experience of Marxism-Leninism in North America and 2) independant of the concrete steps being taken by the Marxist-Leninists to build unity and develop the objective inner and outer party class struggle. These neo-revisionists refuse to fight for the Marxist-Leninist political line amongst the masses and prefer to bring economism to the workers. They refuse to fight for Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought amongst the masses and prefer to keep it as a plaything for the bourgeois intellectuals, while promoting bourgeois ideology amongst the workers. They refuse to contribute to building the Party and prefer to build "worker's organizations", reformist "mass movements" and "leave the party to build itself, at some later date" (much later). On the one hand they organize their "educational conferences" and "united front conferences", while on the other hand they refuse to come under the discipline of sitting together with the Marxist-Leninists to develop over-all policy to serve the masses and implement this policy, but prefer to stand on the outside and vainly try to split the Marxist-Leninist forces.
Internally we are faced with those people who love to talk about unity in the abstract but who 1) promote disunity in practice and 2) refuse to take any practical steps towards building genuine unity of the Marxist-Leninists.
Today tremendous tasks face us. We still face the problem of establishing Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought amongst the working class and fighting masses and repudiating all revisionist and bourgeois ideology. We face the problem of fighting for and establishing the Marxist-Leninist political line amongst the masses. We face the problem of building the genuine Marxist-Leninist party of the proletariat. Our immediate practical tasks are to establish the working class propaganda units in every city throughout the country and especially in the working class, to build the national leadership and centralized organs of the party. We can only accomplish these tasks by initiating and leading actual struggles amongst the masses.
LET ALL THE MARXIST-LENINISTS COME FORWARD TO TAKE UP THE TREMENDOUS TASKS FACING US BY CONTRIBUTING TO THE OBJECTIVE INNER AND OUTER PARTY CLASS STRUGGLE!
LEARN FROM THE REGINA CONFERENCE!
ORGANIZE TO CHANGE THE WORLD!
DEATH TO REVISIONISM!
BUILD THE PARTY AND AROUSE THE MASSES!
ORGANIZE THE CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS!
(UPSTATE NEW YORK MARX1ST-LENINIST, organ of the Upstate N.Y. Committee to Uphold Marxism-Leninism, printed the following lead article in its first issue, dated April 9, 1973.)
Draft Statement of the Upstate New York Committee to Uphold Marxism-Leninism.
On April 3 at a public meeting held in Buffalo to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the Paris Commune, the formation of the Upstate New York Committee to Uphold Marxism-Leninism was announced. Amid thunderous applause the following Draft statement was presented.
We are young people from throughout Upstate New York. We come from different cities and different backgrounds and have fought in the different currents which make up the mass movement. All of us have participated in the manifold struggles of the 60's and 70's waged by the working class and people in the U.S. against imperialism and growing fascism. We fought in many battles and had deep desire to serve the genuine interests of the working class and people but in all our struggles we found a roadblock blocking us from fulfilling our aspirations. This was the roadblock of revisionism.
Time and time again we rose up in struggle against imperialism and growing fascism. This was in the great tradition of the oppressed classes. But Marxism- Leninism, the scientific summation of thousands of years of class struggle, was always hidden from us by the revisionists who expropriated Marxism-Leninism as a plaything for intellectuals and betrayed its every principle. While we had burning desire to make revolution, the revisionists never told us about Marxism-Leninism and never led our struggles forward in stepwise fashion, but instead left us ideologically disarmed in the face of the enemy and always tried to divert our struggles down the path of reformism and terrorism. While we always wanted to unite to serve the interests of the whole working class and people, the revisionist's influence always came up to divide the people into many small "interest groups" instead of uniting us for revolution.
Over a long period of persisting in struggle and daring to sum up our experience we have all come to the conclusion that Marxism- Leninism, the revolutionary ideology of the proletariat, is a reliable guide to making revolution and that only by daring to struggle to overthrow revisionism and arm ourselves with Marxism-Leninism and propagate it widely can we fulfill our revolutionary aspirations.
Today the most urgent task facing the entire working class is the building of a genuine revolutionary Communist Party. More and more Marxist-Leninists are uniting to take up this task. Toward this end a Call has been issued for a Conference of North American Marxist-Leninists. We support the Call for a Conference of North American Marxist-Leninists and take organizing for it as a fundamental task. It is to make a contribution toward building the party in order to serve the people that we take up the task of upholding Marxism- Leninism, We are determined that neither the counter-revolutionary activities of the revisionists nor these of any of the other modern day opponents of Marxism- Leninism will keep us from acquiring revolutionary ideology in order to apply it in waging revolution. We are determined to make a contribution to the cause of proletarian revolution and the proletarian party.
UPHOLD MARXISM-LENINISM!
SUPPORT THE CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS!
"LET ALL THE MARXIST-LENINISTS UNITE TO BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY!
Following the Draft Statement, the UPSTATE N.Y. MARXIST- LENINIST published an announcement of the formation of the UPHOLD MARXISM-LENINISM DISCUSSION GROUP. The first session of the discussion group is on "The Central Question in Revolution, Seizure of Political Power by Armed Force."
The following article is reprinted from ANN ARBOR STUDENT, vol. 2, no. 2, March 30, 1973. ANN ARBOR STUDENT is the organ of ANN ARBOR STUDENT MOVEMENT, unit of American STUDENT MOVEMENT under the leadership of the AMERICAN COMJWUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST)
The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America have rich revolutionary traditions and glorious cultural heritage.
For many centuries imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism have let loose savage wars of aggression on us, plundered our rich land, and exploited, massacred and enslaved our people. Starting right from the beginning our people stood up and resisted the colonialists and imperialists, and defended their independence and fought for national liberation.
Today, the national liberation movement has reached a new historical stage. Wars of national liberation are raging in many countries. The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America are realizing more and more clearly the necessity to stand united, take up arms and launch revolutionary wars against their foreign overlords. Gone forever are the days when imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism could run roughshod on our people at their will.
In Ann Arbor, for quite some time the people from Asia, Africa and Latin America have had a deep sense of unity -- unity based on support of the national liberation struggles in their homeland. This sense of unity expressed itself many times, in spontaneously coming together in mutual support. The formation of the Afro-Asian Latin American Peoples' Solidarity Forum (AALAPSF) is an outcome of this genuine sentiment and further, it is a conscious effort to consolidate the basic unity of all of our patriotic people who have deep sentiment to see their countries liberated, truly independent and free from all foreign domination, interference, subversion, bullying and control.
Thus the basis of unity will be the whole-hearted support of the national liberation movement in Asia, Africa and Latin America and of the struggle against U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism who are the biggest neo-colonialists of the present era, and thus the main enemies of the national liberation movement.
The American working class and people are waging a valiant struggle against U.S. imperialism here in its heartland. We fully support their just struggle and are united with them on this basis; their struggle is our struggle, their enemy is our enemy, and our unity is unbreakable. The imperialists try to separate and detach the struggle of the American people from the struggle of the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America. We are determined to smash all the evil schemes of imperialism directed at undermining this fundamental unity, by creating divisions and dissensions among the American people and people of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
We also see that imperialism is sending its agents among the people to disunite them. This they do by various methods to undermine the revolutionary aspirations and activities of our people, create and foment prejudices and make Asians fight Asians, Africans fight Africans, etc. In general the imperialists and their agents have two aims: 1) to obscure the real nature of the struggle of our people, the real enemy against whom our people are fighting, and the real cause of the armed uprisings; 2) to create public opinion and mass hysteria against the just struggle in the oppressed countries in order to prepare conditions for massive interference and suppression of the people's wars by the imperialists. The AALAPSF recognizes that the imperialists are organizing activities to serve its evil ends and sees the need to expose and denounce them in front of the masses in order that closer and deeper unity among the genuine people can be forged.
In opposition to the imperialist forums (such as those provided by the International Center, the Ecumenical Campus Center and the Area Centers -- Center for Chinese studies, Center for Japanese studies, Center for South and South Southeast Asian studies, etc.) we shall work to build a democratic f0rum which will at last enable people of our countries to discuss seriously and scientifically the problems facing us, free from the domination and supervision of police spies, CIA agents and imperialists stooges.
One of our activities will be to make scientific investigation and analysis of various national liberation struggles and present analysis to the masses and discuss it in a mass democratic way.
This way we will be in fact supporting the national liberation struggles of our people in two ways: 1) by uniting the people on the basis of principle, and 2) by doing propaganda in support of the just struggles.
(Resolution adopted by AALAPSF on March 19, 1973)
(UPSTATE NEW YORK MARX1ST-LENINIST, organ of the Upstate N.Y. Committee to Uphold Marxism-Leninism, printed the following lead article in its first issue, dated April 9, 1973.)
Draft Statement of the Upstate New York Committee to Uphold Marxism-Leninism.
On April 3 at a public meeting held in Buffalo to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the Paris Commune, the formation of the Upstate New York Committee to Uphold Marxism-Leninism was announced. Amid thunderous applause the following Draft statement was presented.
We are young people from throughout Upstate New York. We come from different cities and different backgrounds and have fought in the different currents which make up the mass movement. All of us have participated in the manifold struggles of the 60's and 70's waged by the working class and people in the U.S. against imperialism and growing fascism. We fought in many battles and had deep desire to serve the genuine interests of the working class and people but in all our struggles we found a roadblock blocking us from fulfilling our aspirations. This was the roadblock of revisionism.
Time and time again we rose up in struggle against imperialism and growing fascism. This was in the great tradition of the oppressed classes. But Marxism- Leninism, the scientific summation of thousands of years of class struggle, was always hidden from us by the revisionists who expropriated Marxism-Leninism as a plaything for intellectuals and betrayed its every principle. While we had burning desire to make revolution, the revisionists never told us about Marxism-Leninism and never led our struggles forward in stepwise fashion, but instead left us ideologically disarmed in the face of the enemy and always tried to divert our struggles down the path of reformism and terrorism. While we always wanted to unite to serve the interests of the whole working class and people, the revisionist's influence always came up to divide the people into many small "interest groups" instead of uniting us for revolution.
Over a long period of persisting in struggle and daring to sum up our experience we have all come to the conclusion that Marxism- Leninism, the revolutionary ideology of the proletariat, is a reliable guide to making revolution and that only by daring to struggle to overthrow revisionism and arm ourselves with Marxism-Leninism and propagate it widely can we fulfill our revolutionary aspirations.
Today the most urgent task facing the entire working class is the building of a genuine revolutionary Communist Party. More and more Marxist-Leninists are uniting to take up this task. Toward this end a Call has been issued for a Conference of North American Marxist-Leninists. We support the Call for a Conference of North American Marxist-Leninists and take organizing for it as a fundamental task. It is to make a contribution toward building the party in order to serve the people that we take up the task of upholding Marxism- Leninism, We are determined that neither the counter-revolutionary activities of the revisionists nor these of any of the other modern day opponents of Marxism- Leninism will keep us from acquiring revolutionary ideology in order to apply it in waging revolution. We are determined to make a contribution to the cause of proletarian revolution and the proletarian party.
UPHOLD MARXISM-LENINISM!
SUPPORT THE CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS!
"LET ALL THE MARXIST-LENINISTS UNITE TO BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY!
Following the Draft Statement, the UPSTATE N.Y. MARXIST- LENINIST published an announcement of the formation of the UPHOLD MARXISM-LENINISM DISCUSSION GROUP. The first session of the discussion group is on "The Central Question in Revolution, Seizure of Political Power by Armed Force."
The following article is reprinted from ANN ARBOR STUDENT, vol. 2, no. 2, March 30, 1973. ANN ARBOR STUDENT is the organ of ANN ARBOR STUDENT MOVEMENT, unit of American STUDENT MOVEMENT under the leadership of the AMERICAN COMJWUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST)
The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America have rich revolutionary traditions and glorious cultural heritage.
For many centuries imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism have let loose savage wars of aggression on us, plundered our rich land, and exploited, massacred and enslaved our people. Starting right from the beginning our people stood up and resisted the colonialists and imperialists, and defended their independence and fought for national liberation.
Today, the national liberation movement has reached a new historical stage. Wars of national liberation are raging in many countries. The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America are realizing more and more clearly the necessity to stand united, take up arms and launch revolutionary wars against their foreign overlords. Gone forever are the days when imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism could run roughshod on our people at their will.
In Ann Arbor, for quite some time the people from Asia, Africa and Latin America have had a deep sense of unity -- unity based on support of the national liberation struggles in their homeland. This sense of unity expressed itself many times, in spontaneously coming together in mutual support. The formation of the Afro-Asian Latin American Peoples' Solidarity Forum (AALAPSF) is an outcome of this genuine sentiment and further, it is a conscious effort to consolidate the basic unity of all of our patriotic people who have deep sentiment to see their countries liberated, truly independent and free from all foreign domination, interference, subversion, bullying and control.
Thus the basis of unity will be the whole-hearted support of the national liberation movement in Asia, Africa and Latin America and of the struggle against U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism who are the biggest neo-colonialists of the present era, and thus the main enemies of the national liberation movement.
The American working class and people are waging a valiant struggle against U.S. imperialism here in its heartland. We fully support their just struggle and are united with them on this basis; their struggle is our struggle, their enemy is our enemy, and our unity is unbreakable. The imperialists try to separate and detach the struggle of the American people from the struggle of the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America. We are determined to smash all the evil schemes of imperialism directed at undermining this fundamental unity, by creating divisions and dissensions among the American people and people of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
We also see that imperialism is sending its agents among the people to disunite them. This they do by various methods to undermine the revolutionary aspirations and activities of our people, create and foment prejudices and make Asians fight Asians, Africans fight Africans, etc. In general the imperialists and their agents have two aims: 1) to obscure the real nature of the struggle of our people, the real enemy against whom our people are fighting, and the real cause of the armed uprisings; 2) to create public opinion and mass hysteria against the just struggle in the oppressed countries in order to prepare conditions for massive interference and suppression of the people's wars by the imperialists. The AALAPSF recognizes that the imperialists are organizing activities to serve its evil ends and sees the need to expose and denounce them in front of the masses in order that closer and deeper unity among the genuine people can be forged.
In opposition to the imperialist forums (such as those provided by the International Center, the Ecumenical Campus Center and the Area Centers -- Center for Chinese studies, Center for Japanese studies, Center for South and South Southeast Asian studies, etc.) we shall work to build a democratic f0rum which will at last enable people of our countries to discuss seriously and scientifically the problems facing us, free from the domination and supervision of police spies, CIA agents and imperialists stooges.
One of our activities will be to make scientific investigation and analysis of various national liberation struggles and present analysis to the masses and discuss it in a mass democratic way.
This way we will be in fact supporting the national liberation struggles of our people in two ways: 1) by uniting the people on the basis of principle, and 2) by doing propaganda in support of the just struggles.
(Resolution adopted by AALAPSF on March 19, 1973)