On the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Foundation of the
Communist Party of Turkey Marxist-Leninist
Statement by the Committee
of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement
“It should be emphatically said that our movement is
a product of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.”
— Ibrahim Kaypakkaya. “Critique of the Programme of
Shafak”.
In these words Comrade Kaypakkaya, the founder of the Communist
Party ofTurkey Marxist-Leninist (TKP ML), pointed to the historic
context and the soil which gave rise to this party. The TKP ML under
the leadership of Comrade Kaypakkaya was founded as part of the new
international communist movement, which was born in the great struggle
against modern revisionism led by Comrade Mao Tsetung at the time
of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR). From its inception
the TKP ML was based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought (which
today we call Marxism-Leninism-Maoism).
In 1985, the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement
(CoRIM) wrote in a message on the occasion of the 12th anniversary
of the cowardly assassination of Comrade Kaypakkaya by the reactionary
Turkish regime in 1973, “Under the leadership of Comrade Mao
Tsetung and inspired to a large degree by the GPCR that Comrade
Mao Tsetung had initiated, revolutionaries throughout the world
launched a fierce struggle against revisionism on the ideological,
political and organizational fronts. In most cases this meant a
rupture with the old revisionist parties, which had long abandoned
even the pretence of revolution, and the creation of new revolutionary
parties based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought.” The
message continued,” In Turkey, it was Comrade Kaypakkaya who
led this process in all its aspects. He developed a lucid and devastting
critique of revisionism on a whole series of fronts and, furthermore,
took the lead in putting this political line into practice —
specifically by initiating the first serious attempt to launch a
genuine people̓s war in the history of Turkey.” [A
World to Win 1985/3]
Since the birth of the TKP ML, more than once the ideological
and political foundations laid down by Comrade Kaypakkaya have come
under attack by forces who have raised their heads right from both
within the party and without. After the coup in China in 1976 and
the ensuing crisis in the International Communist Movement (ICM),
centrist trends grew in the Party, and the ideological basis of
the Party, especially the grasp of Mao̓s development of our
ideology to a qualitatively higher third stage, came under attack.
Some, such as the self-proclaimed “Bolsheviks” and other
renegades, tried to exploit the high prestige of Comrade Kaypakkaya
and hypocritically claimed to defend his legacy while launching
an all-out attack against Kaypakkaya̓s ideological and political
line.
The formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM)
based on its Declaration, a process which the TKP ML was
part of, was a great victory for the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist (MLM)
forces worldwide. It marked a major turning point in the crisis
of the ICM and laid the basis for ending the dynamic of disintegration
and collapse and moving towards higher unity and the growth of the
revolutionary forces. As we wrote in our message of 1985, “Comrade
Kaypakkaya did not live to see the great advance and great victory
for the world proletariat that is represented by the creation of
RIM. RIM, together with other Maoist forces, are the inheritors
of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tsetung, and the formation
of this Movement is a precious fruit of the struggle of the proletariat
and oppressed people throughout the world. The experience of the
proletariat and oppressed peoples of Turkey, of the struggle of
Ibrahim and of his successors, is reflected, along with the
struggle in different corners of the world, in the Declaration
of RIM (and since 1993 also in the RIM document Long Live
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!) to which the TKP ML is a signatory....
Comrades, the most important way of honouring the memory of Comrade
Kaypakkaya is by persevering and advancing along the revolutionary
road. [Marxism-Leninism-Maoism] is the basic compass which charts
the road ahead. It is this basic orientation that is embodied by
the Declaration of RIM. By persevering on this path, strengthening
the unity of the proletariat on a world scale as well as its contingents
in each country, by striving to correctly assimilate the lessons
of the past, we can march ahead victoriously!” [A World
to Win 1985/3]
The TKP ML under the leadership of Comrade Kaypakkaya
not only defended Mao and his development of the proletarian
ideology but also ruthlessly exposed all false defenders
of Mao who tried to take away Mao̓s proletarian revolutionary
essence and leave it as a hollow shell to be used to hoodwink the
revolutionary masses. As CoRIM emphasized in its message on the
occasion of the 20th anniversary of Comrade Kaypakkaya̓s martyrdom
[A World to Win 1993/19], Kaypakkaya exposed the reformist,
legalist and economist activities of the “Shafak” group
who imposed these activities on the masses as “revolutionary
mass work”. Comrade Kaypakkaya ruthlessly uncovered their
poisonous revisionist eclecticism and convincingly argued that “these
gentlemen think that by changing the name they can change the content”.
Comrade Kaypakkaya̓s observations on revisionist deception
are still valid today for understanding political struggles.
Under the leadership of Comrade Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, the
TKP ML was founded on the basis of drawing sharp lines of demarcation
with revisionism. His method of crushing eclecticism and making
the correct stand out in sharp relief from the incorrect was a result
of his thorough-going revolutionary ideology. Without this firm
orientation based on the teachings of Marx, Lenin, and Mao Tsetung,
the TKP ML could not have come into existence as a party and a trend.
A firm MLM stand has been called dogmatic and extremist and ridiculed
and considered a burden and source of problems by some forces. But
the reality is that a lack of sharp political and ideological clarity
will eat away at the strengths of any revolutionary party; a diffused
and eclectic line will leave the rank and file confused; it will
erode the line and practice of the party on all other fronts including
the organizational and military fronts; it will push wrong solutions
and answers to complicated problems and constantly emerging contradictions
in the process of revolutions — problems and contradictions
that every revolutionary party will face again and again in its
history. Maoism teaches us that we should fight for a correct and
clear ideological, political, organizational and military line.
And Comrade Kaypakkaya has left a great legacy on this front. This
is very important for forging a single strong revolutionary party
united in RIM and capable of launching and developing a People̓s
War in Turkey. To lead the masses of Turkey to liberation it is
necessary to have a correct political and ideological line, a revolutionary
party united around this line, and a revolutionary army to wage
a people̓s war and a revolutionary united front. In the struggle
to forge these weapons, the TKP ML can count on RIM to do its utmost
to assist.
Our Movement has advanced experiences on these fronts
which all Maoists worldwide should learn from.
For example, the experience of the Communist Party
of Peru and of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), both part
of RIM, show how the restructuring of the party
on the basis of a correct political and ideological line has been
the decisive factor for being able to initiate a people̓s war.
The revolutionary optimism of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya is needed
very much today to answer defeatist trends in Turkey and around
the globe that try to thrive on the problems that revolutions face
in order to claim that revolution is not possible. Comrade Kaypakkaya
was able not only to recognize the favourable revolutionary situation,
but also to develop the line and practice to unleash the revolutionary
potential of the masses.
The proletariat and oppressed masses of Turkey are waging heroic
struggles and resistance against the reactionary comprador and feudal
classes and their state, which is groomed and protected by the imperialist
powers. These reactionaries want to suppress the masses. As part
of doing so they hound, torture and kill revolutionary communists
as well as try to corrupt them and move them away from the revolutionary
interests of the masses. Attempts to undermine the line and heritage
of Comrade Kaypakkaya as well as the ideological and political foundations
of the TKP ML and RIM would only strengthen the chains that continue
to shackle the masses of Turkey. To uphold the struggle of the basic
masses of Turkey for liberation is inseparable from upholding the
Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary line whch represents their
political interests.
The foundation of the TKP ML was a great achievement for the proletariat
and oppressed masses in Turkey and worldwide. We are confident that
the proletarian revolutionaries of the TKP ML will safeguard this
achievement and will boldly face present problems and challenges
in order to conquer still higher peaks. In this struggle the Revolutionary
Internationalist Movement stands shoulder to shoulder with our comrades
of the TKP ML.
Develop and Strengthen the TKP ML along the Road Charted by
Comrade Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, Tightly United in RIM!
Unite Around a Correct Line and Develop a Strong Revolutionary
Organization Capable of Launching and Developing People̓s War
as Part of the World Revolution!
Strengthen the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement!
Long Live the Memory of the Comrades who Have Fallen in Battle
Against the Reactionary Turkish State!
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