May 1st 1999 - Set Your Eyes on the Goal of Communism!
Statement by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist
Movement
This year the international proletariat is holding the last May
Day of the century. As was the case at the turn of the last century,
there is no part of the globe where our class has nationwide power.
Yet our class has gained the experience of carrying out successful
proletarian revolutions and building socialism in vast areas of
the world. In the passing century, our class fought the most momentous
battles of humanity's entire history, battles that changed the course
of history completely. Our class carried out three earth-shaking
revolutions to establish socialist countries and move the world
to a new epoch of communism: the October revolution in Russia in
1917, the October revolution in China in 1949, and finally the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, begun in 1966. It was
in the process of these epic battles and in the midst of these momentous
proletarian revolutions that the revolutionary science of Marxism
was enriched and became Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM).
Today, we have lost both our great socialist bastions where the
proletariat held power. World imperialism and new capitalist classes
within these socialist states fought tooth-and-nail to overthrow
proletarian rule, first in Russia in 1956 and then in China in 1976
in the aftermath of Mao Tsetung's death. These defeats, as well
as our victories in revolution and socialist construction, concentrate
the two opposite poles, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, of
the present epoch -- the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution.
Standing at the threshold of the 21st century, the capitalist/imperialist
system continues its restless and ruthless pursuit of profit --
subjecting the majority of the world's people to vicious exploitation,
squeezing their labour, stealing their very lives, promoting a dog-eat-dog
mentality and carrying out extermination, mass murder and the enslavement
of entire peoples to protect its profit machine. Our class worldwide
is fighting to abolish bourgeois rule and to establish proletarian
rule once again in as many parts of the world as possible, to establish
socialist states as base areas in the larger fight for a whole world
without classes -- communism.
Imperialism has not and cannot do away with the material basis for
proletarian revolution. Even today, when U.S. imperialism is boasting
of its success, conditions for huge sections of people in large
parts of the world are sharply deteriorating. Even in the most advanced
imperialist countries, unemployment, homelessness, and state brutality
are on the rise. Today's situation can only worsen for the masses,
as new waves of crisis inevitably sweep through the imperialist
system. The East Asia crisis is a taste of what is in store around
the world.
But the masses are resisting imperialism's vicious exploitation
and oppression. The reactionary client states of imperialism in
the Third World are fortifying their police states, but still are
facing new waves of struggle and resistance from the people, which
have already led to the collapse of long-established reactionary
regimes, such as in Indonesia and Zaire.
The imperialists develop their international "policing"
apparatuses to hound and bully the revolutionaries, as when they
kidnapped the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. But this repression
only fuels the flames of anger and revolt and breeds new generations
of revolutionaries around the world.
At the same time, too often and in too many countries the struggling
masses are leaderless and fight blindly, without the liberating
ideology of MLM. This only makes it easier for bourgeois and reformist
forces to derail their struggle and betray their hopes, ultimately
trading the sacrifices of the masses for a share of power in the
reactionary system. In contrast to that stand the People's Wars
in Peru and Nepal and the advance of armed struggle under the leadership
of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties more generally _ this constitutes
real progress towards our goal of winning state power for the proletariat.
Yet these advances, however crucial, are still not commensurate
with the international proletariat's goal of "winning the world".
In most countries of the world there is still no vanguard proletarian
party to lead the rebellion of the masses towards genuine revolution
and the establishment of new socialist states. This great weakness
is related to the restoration of capitalism in the ex-socialist
states and the degeneration of communist parties into the swamp
of revisionism and reformism in many parts of the world. To reverse
this trend, 15 years ago Maoist forces from around the world formed
the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) as their embryonic
centre. The formation of RIM was a product of going against the
tide of revisionism and opportunism that engulfed the international
communist movement in the aftermath of Mao's death and the restoration
of capitalism in China in 1976. Many communist parties followed
the Chinese revisionists and ended up betraying the proletariat,
and many others were caught up in confusion and centrism between
revolution and reformism. But the parties and organisations who
went against the tide and took the bold step of forming RIM as a
step towards forming a new Communist International fought vigorously
to overcome this crisis and re-build the international communist
movement on the basis of MLM. This process has prepared and steeled
the MLM forces to organise and lead the coming waves of world revolution.
RIM must be further strengthened to be able to spread Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
to every corner of the planet and to help form new MLM organisations
and parties wherever they do not exist. Building and strengthening
such vanguards is a burning task if the coming waves of revolution
are to yield real advances on the road to communism.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the earth-shaking revolution
in China in 1949, led by Mao Tsetung, which freed a quarter of humanity
from the clutches of semi-feudalism and imperialism. The legacy
of proletarian revolution is a nightmare for the capitalist/imperialist
powers and their reactionary clients in the Third World. But it
is a source of power and inspiration for the proletarians and oppressed.
RIM calls upon the proletarians and oppressed peoples the world
over, especially all MLM parties and organisations, to mark the
end of the 20th century by celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
Chinese revolution in a resounding way and by proudly reaffirming
the "old" idea that the proletarians around the world
must resort to (in the words of the Communist Manifesto)
the "forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions".
With power in its hands, the proletariat can embark upon building
a new world in which no private property is used to exploit the
labour power of the workers, in which no division of labour can
be a source of privilege for some and misery for others, in which
no difference of race or sex can be the cause of social superiority,
and where, at last, humanity, unfettered by classes, can enter into
voluntary association in order to create the wealth and well-being
of all.
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Victory of Revolution in China!
Down with Imperialism and Reaction!
Form MLM parties wherever they do not exist!
Fight for power for the proletariat and people - Towards a new communist world!
Long live People's War in Peru, Nepal and around the World!
The original version of this statement omitted the word "nationwide".
As some comrades have pointed out, this would not take into account
the political power constituted in the base areas where protracted
people's war is taking place.