Published: Internal Bulletin, (To be distributed to members, candidate-members and close supporters of the COUSML) May 28, 1974.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Comrades,
We have won a great victory. After a long period of struggles, during which we were severely oppressed by the anarchist line in our organization and during which the revolutionary leading comrades and the revolutionary cadres in the COUSML struggled against the reactionary line in many ways, we have now waged a great struggle and have won initial victory over the anarchist line. This is a very good thing; the way is cleared to move forward vigorously.
The anarchist line, which had run roughshod over the comrades and supporters of the COUSML and some of its founding organizations for a matter of years, suffered its first major defeat during the meeting of the COUSML (central body) May 12-14. There the revolutionary leading comrades for the first time smashed through the formalistic so-called “discipline” imposed by the anarchist line to stop struggle over the ideological and political line and began repudiation of the anarchist line ideologically, politically and organizationally, especially denouncing its attacks on the workers’ movement and on the building of Marxist-Leninist organization. The COUSML (central body) decided to participate vigorously in the Third Consultative Conference of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) to discuss the general and tactical line on the working class movement.
But the anarchist line, though defeated in the leading body, continued its vicious struggle against the proletarian revolutionary line. It refused to carry out the decision of the COUSML (central body) to vigorously participate in the Consultative Conference and instead did surreptitious propaganda against participation and obstructed the preparations of many comrades for participation, claiming that the real problems of the COUSML were not ideological and political, but “organizational”. Thus the anarchist line worked to create an adverse counter-current, blaming the revolutionary leading comrades for its own crimes, inciting the masses of cadres against them and trying to reverse the verdict of the central body against the bourgeois reactionary anarchist line.
On May 18-25, the comrades and supporters of the COUSML participated in the Third Consultative Conference of the CPC(M-L) to discuss the general and tactical line on the working-class movement. Throughout the course of the conference, the anarchist line did its utmost to develop the adverse counter-current and save its own skin. But its efforts met with defeat. The revolutionary leading comrades of the COUSML summed up the situation and mobilized the overwhelming majority of the members of the American delegation to wage a determined two-line struggle against the dominance of the anarchist line over the COUSML. They pointed out that the reactionary anarchist line, while hiding behind the most “left” and “revolutionary” phrases, is in fact a deeply rightist line which for a long time had sabotaged the work of the COUSML in building the Party and leading the revolutionary workers’ movement. The anarchist line outright opposes the actual economic, political and theoretical struggles of the American working class by declaring, in a most arrogant manner, that the only task for Marxist-Leninists is to “organize proletarian revolution”. By raising this general slogan as the supposed answer to the burning question facing American revolutionaries–what is to be done to bring about the proletarian revolution?–the anarchist line in fact opposes every concrete step towards proletarian revolution, criminally tries to turn the great cause of the emancipation of the working class and of all mankind into an abstract hollow slogan and forces the Marxist-Leninists who are under its dominance into the position of being sideline pamphleteers to the working-class movement, gesticulating and criticizing as it passes them by. Further, the anarchist line uses “form” and “discipline” in the abstract to attempt to smash the struggles of the proletarian revolutionaries against itself, clamping down rigid “discipline” to stop all discussion when the time is ripe for opening wide and exposing the crimes of the anarchist line; and then, once views have been aired and the lines drawn, holding liberal “consultations” in an attempt to paper over contradictions and combine the two lines into one in hopes of stopping the revolutionary process. Grasping the principle enunciated by Chairman Mao: “The correctness or incorrectness of the ideological and political line decides everything”, the revolutionaries in the COUSML rebelled against the anarchist line, smashed its attempts to suppress the struggle under its slogan “organization, form and discipline, not political line, are decisive”, and repudiated in detail its attempts to split up the COUSML, isolate the revolutionary comrades from one another and keep the COUSML from struggling to take its rightful place at the head of the workers’ movement. A storm of denunciation of the reactionary anarchist line took place, in which the comrades and supporters of COUSML poured out their grievances and summed up the disastrous effects of the anarchist line on our organization. A great initial victory was won in this struggle and the overwhelming majority of the comrades united enthusiastically to move the organization forward on the basis of the proletarian revolutionary line of building the Party of the proletariat and leading the economic, political and theoretical struggles of the working class.
To consolidate the initial victory over the anarchist line, further repudiate the anarchist line and prepare to lead the workers’ movement, the Central Organization of U. S. Marxist-Leninists (central body) met on May 27 and unanimously voted to dissolve itself and establish in its place the National Committee of the COUSML as the leading political body of the organization. The National Committee consists of comrades who played a leading part in the struggle against the anarchist line in the organization, who are loyal to Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, who have taken stands at other crucial times in the struggle against “left” and right opportunism in the COUSML and its founding organizations, and who have ties with the masses and have participated in the struggles of the masses against the monopoly capitalist class. The National Committee met and began its work. It elected its standing committee, the National Executive Committee of the COUSML, and the officers of the COUSML. Comrade Tim Hall was unanimously elected Chairman of the COUSML; Comrade Eric Hoffman was unanimously elected National Secretary. The comrades of the National Committee immediately took up the task of deepening the repudiation of the anarchist line and preparing conditions to lead the workers’ movement. The National Committee decided to call upon the comrades and supporters of the COUSML to follow Chairman Mao’s teaching to “read and study seriously and have a good grasp of Marxism.” As an initial step the National Committee calls upon the comrades and supporters to continue their study of What Is To Be Done? by Comrade Lenin and Marx and the Trade Unions by Comrade Lozovsky, review their notes from the conference and work hard to deepen the repudiation of the anarchist line on the ideological and political fronts.
Comrades,
While we have won a great victory, the struggle against the anarchist line is not over. The National Committee is confident that the comrades and supporters of the Central Organization of U. S. Marxist-Leninists will vigorously deepen the repudiation of the anarchist line, unite still further on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist ideological and political line and resolutely build the Party to lead the workers’ movement towards the proletarian revolution.
LONG LIVE THE CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF U.S. MARXIST-LENINISTS!
VICTORY TO THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS!
NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF U.S. MARXIST-LENINISTS