The Worker, #6, October 2000
ARTICLE
RIM DEVELOPS IN LEAPS FORWARD
-Com. GauravIn the face of attacks from the enemies, the imperialists and the reactionaries, the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) is enabling itself as an important vehicle for the oppressed in fighting against their enemies, with a clear vision of complete emancipation of mankind from the clutches of exploiters and oppressors, in order to build a new world free from all exploitations & oppression. Despite vicious attacks from the revisionists and different shades of opportunists,RIM is establishing itself as an international "embryonic centre" of world proletarian revolution, which exposes counter- revolutionary and anti-people character of the revisionists and opportunists and supports & helps all genuine revolutionary struggles. Maoist are very clear that to be attacked by the enemy is not a bad thing, but a good thing. RIM is also being strongly criticised & opposed from the "close quarters" for its conscious efforts to develop itself as an "embryonic center" of the Maoists, instead of being simply a forum that can carry out interactions among various forces, and forges "broad unity. .among them. No matter with how much good intention this question is being
raised, but it can hardly help unite genuine Maoists internationally on the correct base of Marxism-Leninism-Maoist. RIM has never claimed that it has developed to the full-fledged international centre, but "embryonic centre" should not be considered as an exaggeration. Proletariat is an international class and thus it needs an international organisation in carrying out and leading hard battles to emancipate the mankind including himself, The founding international conference of RIM in 1984 was a step forward in this direction. The international conference adopted a Declaration, which "served as the political platform upon which RIM has developed and advanced"'. "In the given situation of the development of the ICM, adoption of the Declaration as the basis of unity among the genuine Maoists, was a correct approach, which has been proved correct by the practice of the last one and a half decade. Therefore, to consider RIM as only a platform, is like a step going back, not going forward.
The basis of unity among the Maoist forces is a dynamic process & thus. it is always in the process of development. According to the laws of motion, the decisive points of the process of developments are qualitative & advance in leaps. The Second Enlarged Meeting (E.M.) of the RIM has established itself as a leap in the life of the Movement by adopting Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the third, higher & qualitative development in our ideology, thus giving rise to a new basis of unity in our Movement. It is the manifestation of a leap in the life of RIM. It was quite natural that some of the fatigued fellow travellers refused to go together ahead and turned their way back. The long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! document made the view of the RIM explicitly clear, "Today the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement declares that Marxism-Leninism- Maoism must be the commander & guide of the world revolution"2. "Today, without Maoism there can be no Marxism- Leninism. Indeed, to negate Maoism is to negate Marxism-Leninism itself' 3, This clear and distinct formulation in regards of our guiding ideology drew a clear-cut line of demarcation in between the Maoists & non-Maoists. Thus the ideological basis of unity in our Movement was raised high. Those people, who dreamed to sabotage the unity of the RIM, by stunting the growth & development of our ideology, utterly failed to do so.. The fellow travellers of once upon a time, are now constantly heading to neo-revisionism and there is a tendency among them to degenerate further to reaction. Masal group of Nepal is r its glaring example. The parties and organisations who resolutely upheld, defended and applied Marxism-Leninism- Maoism have been leading or making serious preparation of the great People's Wars, shaking the whole world. Thus the higher level of unity within the RIM has been achieved both in terms of the ideology, which is Marxism-Leniism-Maoism, as well as in its application in revolutionary practice. This is expression of the real unity among the true Marxist-Leninist-Maoists in the world level, today.
THE MOVEMENT IS FURTHER UNITED:
It will not be an exaggeration to say that it is only the RIM which is solidly united at the international level on a concrete and consistent ideological basis, which is Marxism- Leninism-Maoism. This unity of genuine Maoists at the world level is a very significant event in the ICM. RIM has been established to fulfil an historic task and its history of the . last fifteen years clearly shows that it is advancing in the onward journey as set by its ideological & political commitments. In order to accomplish this historic mission, solid & strong unity among the Parties & organisations of the RIM is a must. This unity itself is a dynamic process. It can be achieved & its level is further advanced through a correct method of internal struggle based upon MLM. Lines struggle is the motive force to advance the Movement further. Many people know this fact but only few can implement it. Why? Because, lines struggle can only be waged when there is strong ideological unity in that centre. In the absence of this unity line's struggle is not possible. In such conditions, compromises not the line's struggle take the leading role. Which in turn gives rise to more eclecticism, more confusion & more unclarity. Thus the strong ideological weapon which our class has, becomes more blunted, which ultimately helps in receding the Movement. The reality is being repeatedly verified in the context of contemporary ICM. Lines' struggles have been continuing since the very birth of the RIM & will continue further. What experience shows is that the lines' struggle have played very important role for the overall advancement of the RIM. Most important aspect for this to happen, is strong ideological unity within the RIM. Other important aspect is handling of the lines' struggle correctly. Way & method of handling the lines struggle in the RIM is collective. When the struggle is hard & deep the whole Movement participates in it & is resolved by collective efforts. It felt necessary important lines' struggles & any internal problem of the RIM is resolved by the higher level of collective meetings. Through this correct method of work, RIM is advancing to further higher level.
PEOPLE'S WAR: UNIVERSAL AND CENTRAL TASK:
One of the most important themes the RIM has advanced as a leap forward in the last couple of years, is its higher level of understanding and development in the question of universality and inevitability of People's War. A deep-rooted understanding still prevailing in the contemporary communist movement is that the Chinese model or Mao's theory of PW is only applicable in the oppressed countries of the third world, while the Russian model or the path of armed insurrection charted by Lenin is applicable in the developed capitalist and imperialist countries. This idea has understood these two sets as mutually exclusive. On the basis of in depth and serious study and synthesis of the experiences of the armed struggles waged and successfully led by the proletariat, the RIM has reached at the higher level of understanding that Mao's theory of People's War is universally applicable, both in oppressed as well as imperialist countries. But the application of the theory of PW differs according to the development of socio-economic and other conditions of each countries. One of the major questions of the PW is "encircling the cities from the countryside", which cannot be mechanically applied in the imperialist countries, because countryside cannot play the principal role in the imperialist countries as it can do in the oppressed countries. Similarly, in the oppressed countries, the political power has to be seized locally by taking advantage of uneven development & enemy's weaknesses. But it cannot be done exactly in the same way in the imperialist countries. In the question of establishing the guerrilla zones & the base areas also, the conditions are quite different in these two types of countries. But base area is the fundamental question of Maoist people's war. Base area or areas can be established & sustained for long time in the oppressed countries whereas it is very difficult for a relatively small base area to be sustained for a long time in imperialist countries, if there is absence of significant upsurge to compel the enemy forces to be decentralised. There are ideas that two types of base areas can be established in the imperialist countries-simultaneous base areas and unstable base areas.
There are also some ideas in some sections of the Maoists of differentiating the role of the two types of countries in a big way, in terms of the PW. They divide the countries in two categories: the countries waging the people's war and the countries supporting the people's war. It is not a correct idea to differentiate the two types of countries, in such a way that Maoist parties of the oppressed countries have their sole role to wage people's war, i.e. , to wage armed struggle, but the' role of the Maoist parties of the imperialist countries is just to support the people's war being waged in the oppressed countries, not to wage by themselves. The formulation of universality and inevitability of the PW has correctly resolved this problem.
Now, it is quite evident that the responsibility of all the Maoist parties, whether that of oppressed countries or imperialist countries, is to wage the PW, making preparation of PW rapidly but seriously. This is what inevitability of PW means.
There is a high level of unity of understanding in the RIM that the PW of Peru led by the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) ,and the PW of Nepal led by the Communist Party of Nepal [CPN (Maoist)] are the advanced experiences of the RIM and also the contemporary International Communist Movement as a whole. It is a matter of pleasure for the RIM that PCP has declared overcome "the bend in the road" caused by the arrest of Chairman Gonzalo. There are revolutionary armed struggles going on in various parts of the world, waged and led by the Maoist forces, but all of them are not liable to be recognised as Maoist people's wars. There is no doubt, we have to acknowledge and unite with these armed struggles and help them to advance as real Maoist people's wars.
It is explicitly clear from the above discussion that the basis of unity within the RIM has been constantly developing, developing basically in leaps. When the RIM was first formed, the basis of unity of the Movement was upholding the Declaration. After the adoption of the Long Live MLM! document, basis of our unity developed to a leap forward, upholding Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the guiding ideology, which served as a demarcating line in between the Maoists and non-Maoists. Now our movement has grown a leap forward. Now the basis of unity among Maoist forces has also taken a leap, it is universality and inevitability of People's War. Thus the line of demarcation has also been changed and developed .
ICM IS ADVANCING IN STRIDES:
The RIM has considered and evaluated the total situation of the international communist movement. It was seriously felt that there were some organised and some unorganised Maoist forces outside the RIM and more efforts were necessary to bring them closer to our Movement, by intensifying ideological and political struggle in a correct way and uniting with them in various struggles of common concern. But it was necessary on the part of our forces to be cautious about unprincipled unity. CORIM has adopted a policy of struggling with these forces on the basis of MLM, by maintaining closer relations with them, which deserves to be appreciated.
The RIM has given utmost importance to both the aspect, i.e., grasp of the most advanced ideology, Marxism-Lehinism-Maoism and its application in revolutionary practice. These two fundamental aspects have been so correctly emphasised that it is the duty and obligation of all Maoist parties to uphold and apply them right from the formation of the party.
There is volatile situation in many parts of the world, which is favourable for the revolutionary movement to grow very fast. But, because of the absence of Maoist parties or their presence being insignificant in these countries, reactionary forces are taking advantage of the situation and using it to fulfil their ugly interests, causing disaster to the nation and throwing the people to wretched conditions every passing day. Therefore, it was the duty of the Movement to help founding true Maoist organisation where it is not present and intensify their revolutionary activities where they are already present but unknown to the masses. Major task of every Maoist party was to wage and lead the PW to its ultimate victory, by involving itself in serious preparation of PW right from the beginning. The task of formation of a true revolutionary party is a task of paramount importance. It is also an arduous task, but never impossible. It is an acknowledged principle of the RIM in taking responsibility to contribute in the formation of such parties.
After the big setbacks, particularly after the big defeat of our class in China, through a counter-revolutionary coup, our class had to lose the only Socialist Base it was having for long, in 1976. The proletariat, whose ultimate victory is guaranteed, made its hard effort to overcome it. In course of advancing this great battle forward, the advanced detachment of the proletariat in Peru, initiated people's war, shaking the whole world, giving birth to the new people's power, which started to grow since the beginning of 80s and developing base areas in the vast countryside of Peru. Our class was able to make another big stride at the beginning of 1996, when another advanced detachment of the proletariat initiated another PW in Nepal, in which almost two million Nepalese people (out of total population of twenty millions of the country) are exercising the New People's Power. Sounds of the guns fired by the revolutionaries under the leadership of the Maoist forces are reverberating in the mountains and plains of the oppressed countries of Asia, Africa & Latin America. Proletarian vanguards are taking new initiatives in the imperialist countries, like USA & Italy. Thus the ICM has been growing and developing through strides by giving big blows to the imperialists and the reaction.
In this regard, RIM has played important role and it has to shoulder more responsibilities in the future.
NEW REVOLUTIONARY WAVES AND NEW RESPONSIBILITIES:
The imperialists and world reaction had & have been trying their best to make use of the events of the collapse of Soviet social imperialism & East revisionist block led by it, to portrait it as the "collapse of socialism", making deceptive & misleading propaganda in order to hoodwink the masses. US imperialism, which was the biggest gainer through the collapse of its rival super power, tried its best to impose its capacity in looting the world people. But imperialism has not got & can never get rid of its crisis. The crisis of the world imperialism has been growing & intensifying.
Today, the world is full of upheavals. People's Wars and revolutionary armed struggles are growing & developing rapidly. People's Wars of Peru & Nepal & revolutionary armed struggles of the Philippines, India, Turkey are its glaring examples. Many other Maoist parties & organisations are known to be involved in serious preparations of PW. Thus, the oppressed people of the world are eagerly waiting for series of new people's wars.
Apart from the Maoist armed struggles, series of national liberation movements are continuing, growing and intensifying in India, Kurdistan, Sri Lanka & other nations, causing a big threat and challenge to the reactionaries. Question of leadership is a key question of all the revolutionary movements, including national liberation movements. In history we can find many negative examples of betrayal of the national liberation movements by the leadership itself.
On the basis of the specific feature of present world situation, our Movement has developed common understanding that today new waves of revolutionary upsurge are emerging in world scale. It is just opposite to the claims made by imperialists and their running dogs that there was no future of communism and revolutionary movement & their hated system was the only reality. It is also contradictory to the pessimistic idea of the revisionists and opportunists that the present world situation was totally unfavourable to initiate & continue revolutionary armed struggle and other forms of revolutionary movement. Taking this as a big excuse they have become apologist of parliamentarism. It is responsibility of the Maoists to make serious and speedy preparation for the initiation of PW, initiate as soon as it is possible and develop to the higher level with the perspective of countrywide seizure of political power, in their own countries, as according to their situation and their levels of development.
RIM has clearly defined the goal of each communist party and the RIM as a whole, the ultimate goal of communism and the immediate goal of completing the revolutions in each countries as part and parcel of the world proletarian revolution. The goal has to be and can be achieved by successfully accomplishing New Democratic Revolutions in the oppressed countries and Socialist Revolution in the imperialist countries .The new waves of revolutionary upsurge are resounding. New and excellent opportunities are welcoming to us, the Maoists. As an "embryonic centre" of the Maoist forces of the world, the RIM has called upon all Maoists to come together to shoulder the responsibility bestowed upon us by history.
Let us reaffirm that either we all reach or none of us will reach to communism. Let us strengthen RIM as an "embryonic centre" and advance further to its goal of forming an international of a new type. Let us work hard to establish the RIM in the hearts of the oppressed.
Foot notes:There are no straight roads in the world; we must be prepared to follow a road which twists & turns and not try to get things on the cheap In a word, while the prospects are bright, the road has twists & turns.
- Note to the 1998 edition of the Declaration, by the CORIM, August 1998.
- 2. Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! pp.65
- 3. Ibid
Mao Tse- Tung ["On Chungking Negotiations]The masses have boundless creative power. They can organise themselves and concentrate on places and branches of work where they can give full play to their energy; they can concentrate on production in breadth and depth and create more and more undertakings for their own well-being.Mao Tse- Tung ["Surplus Labour Has Found a Way Out]The Worker (No-6) October 2000 [Scanned and formatted by INSOF]