One of the theoretical arguments of the pro-Asumir types (appearing in papers written by pro-negotiations forces abroad) is that the nation needs peace, because the principal contradiction has shifted from the contradiction between the people and feudalism to that between the nation and imperialism. In the oppressed countries, right opportunist lines have often used the argument of the "principal contradiction between the nation and imperialism" as a pretext for class collaboration with the local comprador-feudal classes or for tailing the national bourgeoisie. The problem is that this kind of line does not see that the old state is the representative of imperialism and that imperialism controls the country through it. A feature of this line is that it separates the struggle against semi-feudalism from the struggle against imperialism. It paints imperialism as something separate from the internal relations of production and something "external." On this basis, it separates national liberation from the New Democratic Revolution, while both national liberation and social liberation can only be achieved inseparably and as part of the process of the NDR.
Whatever changes that the old state has gone through, its ties with imperialism have been strengthened. And as of now, Yankee imperialism carries out its interests through this old state. The anti-imperialist struggle mainly means to overthrow this state. Today class collaboration with this state is indeed national betrayal. As comrade Mao stressed, class collaboration is a reserve for national betrayal.
"When the line is in question, when the overall situation is at stake....When a wrong tendency surges towards us like a rising tide, the only way to be able to stick to the positions of the proletariat and resolutely struggle against this erroneous trend is with proletarian revolutionary audacity and a mind free of fear." (A Basic Understanding of the CPC, pp. 54-55)
Two and a half years after the start of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Mao made the comment: we have been singing the Internationale together for fifty years, and still there are people in the Party who have tried ten times to destroy it, and in my opinion they might resort to this ten, twenty or thirty times more.
Important ideological and political struggles have occurred within the PCP, especially over the question of the proletariat's central task of seizing power through violence and over the concept that "power grows out of the barrel of the gun"; both of these points have been hammered home in the PCP through 13 years of war itself. But now the most important two-line struggle since the initiation of People's War is over these very same questions. As long as class struggle exists, two-line struggle will erupt. As Chairman Mao said, "the wind will blow, the petals will fall, no matter what."
There is always internal struggle in the party, and this is the source of its liveliness and advance; but not always is this internal struggle articulated into two major opposing lines with distinct protagonists. Periodically, it breaks out as major two-line struggles, the outcome of which will decide the upcoming course of the party and the revolution. This is inevitable, because problems pile up as a result of advances of the revolution, and they need sorting out. Both the fact that there is no Chinese wall between the proletariat and other classes, and that the world is ever-changing matter which requires the subjective factor to catch up with it continually expose the proletarian party to wrong influences, which, if not rectified, would cause a proletarian party to degenerate. And there will always be people who will want to stop in the middle of the road and preach going backwards.
If the matter is not grasped in this way, there will be confusion in the face of outbursts of rightism. These conditions are serious, because if the wrong lines win the colour of the party can change, but at the same time within these conditions are the seeds of further revolutionary leaps in the party.
The impact of waging a thoroughgoing two-line struggle is far-reaching; it goes even beyond overthrowing a wrong line and knocking down a group of revisionists. In this process, even more transformation of the revolutionary character and the capabilities of the party in leading the revolution can occur; the whole body and base of the party go through tremendous revolutionary changes in their ideology and political understanding and abilities to carry out the revolution. These changes are part and parcel of the class becoming prepared for seizing power.
Different class interests--petit bourgeois and even national bourgeois--that engaged in supporting the People's War are reflected in this struggle. Moreover, in the history of the communist parties, the major struggles between the correct line and various erroneous lines have been in essence the acting out within the party of the class struggle in society.
The line expressed in Asumir and the prison article has its roots in particular social and historical conditions. This line is not an accidental nor isolated phenomenon, and uprooting it requires delving into these conditions.
What are some of the specific material conditions giving rise to this kind of line? Peru is a semi-feudal country dominated by imperialism. In order to make a socialist revolution, the proletariat first must lead a New Democratic Revolution. The targets of this revolution are the three mountains of imperialism, semi-feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. This revolution is in the interests of the popular classes. It is carried out under the leadership of the proletariat and its party with the peasantry (especially the poor and landless peasantry) as the main force, but also with other strata of the people--the petite bourgeoisie and sometimes the national bourgeoisie. Because of these conditions, unremoulded bourgeois-democrats and petit-bourgeois elements can find their way into the party. In addition, the outlook of the broad strata of the petite bourgeoisie influences proletarian revolutionaries and the party's line. All this becomes a source for the emergence of particular wrong tendencies and lines within a party that is operating under these conditions.
But under what kind of specific conditions do these tendencies and lines find full expression? One example is the occurrence of dramatic events and changes in the national and international situations; important turns in the process of revolution and the life of the party are the conditions which would nourish the emergence of these kind of deviations. In these type of situations, the vanguard party comes to face new questions and challenges. Correct and incorrect lines can develop in the party in response to these questions and challenges. The September 1992 blow by the enemy against the PCP was a dramatic event. This has inevitably raised important questions, such as how the new situation should be assessed and dealt with. What is the correct line for developing the revolution under these new conditions? These are very important questions to which different lines provide different answers. Undoubtedly, the answer provided by the line under discussion is not a proletarian one.
All of the arguments in these two documents flow from a certain class prism that does not belong to the proletariat (or at best they tail the desires of other classes). By this, we are thinking of their views glorifying the past of the People's War and burying its future, saying that bureaucrat capitalism is becoming viable, that the counter-revolutionary war has succeeded, that people want peace, that public opinion is not inclined towards communism as during the 1960s, and that the world situation is bleak in terms of revolutionary possibilities. Its method of thinking is subjectivism, one-sidedness in viewing problems, and taking a single aspect for all aspects, and it fails to rely on achievements to solve problems arising in the new conditions, such as the leadership question. Its political-ideological tendency is to overestimate the accomplishments of the enemy and to underestimate the potential of the people and to stop in the middle of the road under the pressure of difficulties.
In the final analysis, Asumir is a class phenomenon which has raised its head in a concrete set of conditions and must be dealt with as such.<$FTo draw conclusions about wrong views and the class nature of the line reflected in these two documents does not mean that we are drawing conclusions about the class nature of the people who are putting forward the line in the Asumir and prison articles. To do so will require more knowledge about them, including their persistence in practising this line. What we have done so far is to take them at their word and analyze the nature of their line.>
Major two-line struggles are very important in the life of the communist parties; at the same time, they are complex because they usually involve big forces and big issues. In internal struggles, it is important to go against a wrong tide. However, it is also necessary to oppose the wrong line with a correct line. Also it is important to pay attention to uniting the largest number of people possible. It is necessary to differentiate between outright revisionism and seriously wrong policies. (For example, we know that in the history of the international communist movement there have been sad occasions in which the communists have made disturbing mistakes. But all in all, to go against the wrong tide and uphold the correct line is the principal aspect.)
The fact that such an important line struggle has arisen from a corner of the world in which the most advanced struggle of the proletariat today is being carried out is at first shocking, but upon reflection it can be seen that it is further testimony to dialectical materialism and to its correct application by Chairman Mao to party life: one divides into two. This two-line struggle carries with it the possibility of further revolutionary leaps in our line and practice as a whole for changing the world.
The present document is a contribution to this struggle. This struggle will help our organization understand the contributions of the PCP and the PW under its leadership deeper than before. This in turn will serve to develop our struggle to initiate People's War in Iran as soon as possible.
Some national bourgeois outlooks from amongst the forces who had and have interests in supporting the PW in Peru might consider this "interference." Our response is that international proletariat has the deepest interest of all in the victory of the PCP and the war it is leading, and in the complete destruction of the old state of Peru. That is why it is capable of seeing the problems of revolution in Peru far better than such national bourgeois and petit-bourgeois critics. This is true for all countries, and we have experienced it in our case so clearly. Therefore, it is our internationalist duty to engage in this struggle, as part of RIM. However, in keeping with the MLM theory of knowledge, we have limitations on how much further we can go here.
Different revolutions under the leadership of the proletariat are inseparable parts of a single whole of the world proletarian revolution. We are chained together. At times one, as the most advanced detachment, should take the burden of pulling forward the rest; at other times, others should rush to the aid of one. In short, either we will all go to communism or nobody goes.
Long Live the People's War!
Move Heaven and Earth to Defend the Life of Chairman Gonzalo!
Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!
Long Live Proletarian Internationalism!
Long Live the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement!
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