1 May 2003 An Emerging New Tide of World Revolution

The class-conscious proletarians and the revolutionary masses of all countries are celebrating May First this year under exceptional conditions. Throughout the world, the people are furious with the US imperialists for their brutal rape of Iraq and determined to settle accounts. Resistance in the early days of the war showed that the masses in Iraq were determined to fight. A people's movement of tens of millions stormed the world stage. But the sudden collapse of the Saddam regime has shown, yet again, that there can be no effective struggle against imperialism under the leadership of the reactionary classes. It is the great task of the proletariat, and to it alone, to unite and lead the people in revolutionary struggle aimed squarely at the imperialists and the reactionary rulers of every country.

It is only the international proletariat, the class that stands opposite the imperialists on a world scale, whose interests lie in the complete destruction of the imperialist system, in the full liberation of all nations and in the creation of a society without classes and exploitation - communism. The enemy mouthpieces have been working overtime for many years to declare this vision and this mission an impossible and dangerous dream. But it is a dream that is rooted in the material conditions of the international proletariat itself, in its co-operative labour, its conditions of exploitation and its common struggle. It is a dream that must and does constantly fight to reassert itself, despite the mountains of distortions and lies, and continues to provide enthusiasm and a sense of direction and purpose. The truly dangerous deception is the strange idea that the problems of humanity could be solved without uprooting the capitalist system itself. A social system whose very motor is the exploitation of man by man, which breeds every kind of oppression and inequality, which has sacrificed many millions of people in its unjust wars of aggression and plunder - such a system can never be reformed.

The beneficiaries and protectors of this predatory world system will never listen to reason nor bow to the demands of the people, even when that will is expressed in an overwhelming and forceful way. In the mouths of the imperialists, words like "international law", "democracy", "consent of the governed" and "freedom", whether eloquently preached by Tony Blair, grunted by George Bush or even when translated into French or German, are nothing but decorations to cover over this naked reality.

The imperialists and reactionaries are a small minority and can only maintain their domination of the planet through their armies, police forces and intelligence services, not to mention their huge arsenals of weapons of mass destruction over which they are so determined to keep a monopoly. The war on Iraq proved once again the truth of Mao Tsetung's words, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".

However strong the imperialists may appear, they are ultimately weak. Why? Because their exploitation, oppression, injustice and aggression make people all over the world hate them, including the people within their own countries.

The communist science and ideology, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, is powerful, not only because it correctly analyses the world, but also because it corresponds to the interests of the majority of humanity. When communist understanding is grasped by the proletariat and the oppressed, it becomes a material force and can transform the world.

We repeat our call to look to the Himalayas, where we can see millions of the downtrodden standing up firearms in hand, taking political power for the immense majority of the people. Bit by bit Nepal is being transformed by People's War from a very backward country into a shining example of the future for the proletariat and oppressed of all countries. In Peru, Turkey, India, the Philippines and elsewhere Maoist revolutionaries persevere in holding high the banner of People's War.

The entire political and social framework in the Middle East has been shaken by the US imperialist invasion of Iraq. It is sure to be an even sharper arena of class struggle in the months and years to come. What is lacking now is the powerful presence of the genuine communist movement in most of the region.

South Asia is one of the important storm centres of world proletarian revolution. The hundreds of millions of people in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are suffering tremendously from the imperialist system and semi-feudal oppression. Unlike many other places in the world where the revolutionary energy of the masses finds no positive outlet, the existence of genuine Maoist parties is opening the way for a real revolutionary alternative in South Asia.

In Europe, North America, Japan and Oceania, possibilities for big advances in the class struggle are also coming into sharper focus. The powerful movement against the US aggression in Iraq gives a glimpse of the underlying discontent with the domination of the world by the monopoly capitalists even in the imperialists' own heartlands.

In Africa, disease and malnutrition is ravaging the people. The regimes of the petty tyrants who rule on behalf of their imperialist masters are weak, and conflicts and warfare have erupted in country after country. Today it is the people who are suffering from these wars for the right to loot and pillage, but these conditions show that the possibility for a wholly different kind of warfare for genuine liberation is also maturing.

The United States has long considered Latin America its "backyard", and it is easy to see the results of the neo-colonial domination of these countries and the subordination of their economic life to the Yankee masters. Under the dictates of the International Monetary Fund, hunger has arisen in once wealthy Argentina and the threat of deeper crisis and dislocation hangs over the whole region.

This is why a new tide of revolution is emerging all over the planet. The people want a different world, and they are increasingly determined to fight for it.

This makes the formation of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist vanguard parties all the more urgent and crucial. Where such parties do not exist, they must be formed. Where they do exist, they must be strengthened so as to fulfil their revolutionary tasks. And these parties must be united in a new Communist International, toward which the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement is an important first step.

The battles of the last few months are only a taste of what is to come. The US imperialists are driven to pursue their mad gamble of trying to violently reshape the world and sink their fangs ever deeper into the necks of the people. But the people in all countries have not and will never tolerate such a future. New storms of resistance are inevitable. However strong the imperialist enemy may be, our strength in our hundreds of millions is potentially much greater. The arrogance of the class enemy can never conceal that they are fighting desperately to defend an outmoded system fit only for the museum, just like the ancient slave empires and feudal systems that went before. Step up the struggle and get ready for the even bigger battles looming on the horizon!

Oppose, Resist and Defeat the US Imperialist War on the World!

Look to the Himalayas-A Better World's in Birth!

Build and Strengthen Vanguard Maoist Parties United in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement!

Long Live Proletarian Internationalism!

Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement