Today we must ask the landless and poor peasants to attack the state machinery; we must give them total politics. We should tell them about Mgurjaan (through the Magurjan incident, the Indian People’s Liberation Army was formed – Editor). Then they will decide – whether they will annihilate the class enemy, or capture arms. This is viable for Bengal and also for the rest of India. If we only put stress on ‘annihilation’, it will be economism. We should say these same words even in areas where no class enemies have been annihilated.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
On Revolutionary Headquarter (Unpublished Note – April, 1972)
A Revolutionary Headquarter cannot emerge spontaneously. It emerges through conscious struggles (polirical and ideological fight); it grows through intra-party two line struggles. As political fight develops, criticisms also develop. Until you do a political fight, political consciousness will not develop. The method of political education is fighting the wrong trend on the basis of living ideas. Living ideas need to be understood – through Individual contact it is possible to grasp an individual’s thought. The wrong notions in him/her should be fought, i.e. politicizing that individual through it (conscious ideological fight). This is the only method of political education. There are no other methods.
Qualitative Leap Forward Takes Place through Setbacks (Unpublished Note - April, 1972)
Struggle is the chief criterion, not failure. Our qualitative leap forward will take place through setbacks. And for that you need to give some time. Youth may come and go; but the working class is constant.
Why did Chairman say – ‘Setback is necessary’? There are two reasons – (firstly) so that the notion of easy victory gets destroyed; and secondly - so that one can master what is right and what is wrong.
Why did Chairman say – ‘Setback is necessary’? There are two reasons – (firstly) so that the notion of easy victory gets destroyed; and secondly - so that one can master what is right and what is wrong.
On Relation between Internationalism and Panchasheel (Unpublished Note - Sometime in 1971)
Internationalism and Panchasheel are apparently contradictory but actually they are not. This is the dialectics. Ashim & Com. could not grasp (see) dialectics. That is why their outlook is metaphysical, that is, bourgeois outlook. They only shout to support Yahia Khan. We support Yahia Khan so long as he fights against Indian expansionism. But we must fight against him as he suppresses the people. Only to lend support to Yahia Khan is bourgeois slogan. That is why their slogan is a liquidationist one.
Letter to His Wife (political part only) – 14 July, 1972
[The letter in the original Bengali appeared in Aajkaal, 24 May, 1992.]
…Our conditions here are satisfactory. It has been decided to bring out a procession of worker comrades. The date is 20 July. The news will surely appear in the papers. We have been conducting very few anti-imperialist struggles as too much importance has been given to annihilation. This is a deviation and we are overcoming it. It is being increasingly criticized within the party and so it will be rectified. Ours is a very young party with not much experience; so deviation is natural. It is a good sign that it has been detected by comrades…
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Hate, Stamp and Smash Centrism (Speech at the 1st Party Congress of the CPI-ML in 1970)
In the present world situation there are two important phenomena.
On the one hand, there is U.S. imperialism's naked aggression against Cambodia. The U.S. imperialists have thrown away all pretences and invaded Cambodia. Their logic is Hitler's logic — the logic of all aggressors. They cannot wait anymore, they can no longer talk of peace. Now they will attack one country after another. So this is the beginning of the Third World War.
On the other hand the revolutionary united front of the peoples of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, under the leadership of China, has been built up to fight the U.S. aggressors. The unity of the three Indo-Chinese peoples has been achieved. This is a great thing in the world history, which did not exist when Hitler's hordes marched across Sudetenland. The Second World War was preceded by Munich - by great betrayal. But now the united front of revolutionary peoples under the leadership of China is taking shape. So this is the great beginning of the defeat of imperialism and the great beginning of the victory of the world’s people.
The same kind of phenomena exists in India also. India's reactionary ruling classes are making frenzied preparations to suit the global strategy of U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism. They are hatching criminal war plans against China. But the emergence of the C.P.I. (M-L) has changed the internal situation in India. The armed revolutionary peasant struggle led by the C.P.I. (M-L) has become the motive force of history. We must take into account not only the offensive of the ruling classes but also the counter-offensive of the revolutionary people.
Our cardinal tasks, therefore, are: to build up the Party and to get it entrenched among the landless and poor peasants. The building up of the Party means the development of the armed class struggle. And without armed class struggle the Party cannot be developed and cannot entrench itself among the masses.
The struggle between the two lines is there within the Party and will continue to be there. We must oppose and defeat the incorrect line. But we must be on our guard against centrism. Centrism is a brand of revisionism - its worst form. In the past, revisionism was defeated again and again by revolutionary elements but centrism always seized the victories of the struggle and led the Party along the revisionist path. We must hate centrism. On the question of boycotting elections, Naggi Reddy said: "Yes we accept it but it should be restricted to a certain area at a certain period. We will participate in elections where there is no struggle." This is Naggy Reddy's line. This is centrism. We have fought against it and have thrown the Naggy Reddy's out of our organization. Regarding Soviet social - imperialism some say: “The Soviet leaders are revisionists. But how can they be imperialists? Where is that development of monopoly capital?" These are centrists. We have fought them and thrown them out of our Party. So the centrists raised the questions of trade unions and "working class based party" when armed clash is to be developed by relying on the peasantry. We fought Asist Sen and company on these lines and threw them out of the Party.
We must not only distinguish between the correct and incorrect line but also find out the centrist position and smash it.
Now the centrist attack is coming from inside the Party. On the question of using fire arms, the dependence on the petty-bourgeois intellectuals and the battle of annihilation, the Party is facing centrist attacks.
It must be understood that the battle of annihilation is both a higher form of class struggle and starting point of guerrilla war. There are two deviations on this question:
1. Some Comrades agree that annihilation is the starting point of guerrilla war but they do not agree that it is a higher form of class struggle. It should be borne in mind that only through the development of class struggle can all the problem be solved.
2. There are other Comrades who carried on class struggle — the struggle for the seizure of landlords land and property - but did not wage the battle of annihilation. So the cadres became degenerate, they were lost. The Comrades lost the point that annihilation is the starting point of guerrilla war.
Class struggle will solve all other problems — the problem of building liberated bases and the problem of building the revolutionary army.
We have tried to develop the army in some areas without class struggle and have failed. Without class struggle — the battle of annihilation — the initiative of the poor peasant masses cannot be released, the political consciousness of the fighters cannot be raised, the new man cannot emerge, the people’s army cannot be created. Only by waging class struggle — the battle of annihilation — the new man will be created, the new man who will defy death and will be free from all thoughts of self interest. And with this death defying spirit he will go close to the enemy, snatch his rifle; avenge the martyrs and the peoples army will emerge. To go close to the enemy it is necessary to conquer all thought of self. And this can be achieved only by the blood of martyrs. That inspires and creates new men out of the fighters, fills them with class hatred and makes them go close to the enemy and snatch his rifle with bare hands.
We have poured much of our blood in Srikakulam and we have spilled much blood of the enemy. Yet the class enemy exists there. Unless we throw the class enemy out of the land, a new consciousness, a new confidence cannot arise. We cannot then go close to the enemy and snatch his rifle. It is the class struggle that can solve this problem of building the peoples army.
The annihilation of the class enemy — this weapon in our hands — is the greatest danger of the reactionaries and revisionists all the world over. So the leaders of world revisionism are trying to contact the various groups which pay lip service to Chairman Mao and the C.P.C. and are trying to unite them to oppose the battle of annihilation of the class enemy. We refuse to unite with these groups because they are opposed to annihilation of the class enemy, to class struggle and so, are enemies of the people.
Why am I against taking up fire arms now? Is it not our dream that landless and poor peasants will take up rifles in their shoulders and march forward? Yet the use of fire arms at this stage, instead of releasing the initiative of the peasant masses to annihilate the class enemy, stifles it. If guerrilla fighters start the battle of annihilation with their conventional weapons, the common landless and poor peasants will come forward with bare hands and join the battle of annihilation. A common landless peasant, ground down by age old oppression, will see the light and avenge himself on the class enemy. His initiative will be released. In this way the peasant masses will join the guerrilla fighters, their revolutionary enthusiasm will know no bounds and a mighty wave of peoples upsurge will sweep the country. After the initiative of the peasant masses, to annihilate the class enemy with bare hands or home made weapons has been released and the peasant’s revolutionary power has been established, they should take up the gun and face the world. The peasant with the rifle will be the guarantee of the continuation of the peasant’s revolutionary power.
Comrades the peasants suffering has reached a stage when they can no longer endure it. If we can show them the way, there is not a single point in India where the peasants will not be roused to action. There is the possibility of a tremendous upsurge in India if we consciously work for it. Guerrilla war can be waged through the battle of annihilation in every village in India. So, start as many points of armed struggle as possible. Don’t try to concentrate. Expand anywhere and everywhere. This is one principle to be followed. The other principle is: Carry on the battle of annihilation of the class enemy.
All the revisionists, all the groups taking the name of Chairman Mao, are attacking us on this issue of the battle of annihilation. So Comrades anyone who opposes this battle of annihilation cannot remain with us. We will not allow them to remain in our Party. One can see how the revolutionary armed peasant struggle is rousing the other classes. Look at Calcutta. The revolutionary struggle of the youths of Calcutta surges forward under the impact of the armed peasant struggle. The working class in Calcutta is also rising. And I hope there will be revolutionary upsurge of the working class not only in Calcutta, but in all other cities of India. This is bound to happen. The situation in the cities will then change completely.
Comrades, let a vigorous armed peasant struggle rage all over India after the victorious conclusion of our Congress. Then a spontaneous mass upsurge in the wake of the armed guerrilla struggle will come as an avalanche, as a thunderbolt. It is sure the Red Army can be created not only in Srikakulam but also in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. With these contingents of the Liberation Army, the Indian Peasants will march forward and complete the revolution. Three factors guarantee the victory of the revolution. First, the revolution that has been delayed by more than twenty years brooks no further delay. Second, the revolution is taking place in the era of total collapse of imperialism and the world wide victory of Socialism, the era of Mao Tsetung Thought. Third, we have been able to hold this Congress despite severe repression.
Comrades, let us march forward. The seventies will surely be the decade of liberation.
On the one hand, there is U.S. imperialism's naked aggression against Cambodia. The U.S. imperialists have thrown away all pretences and invaded Cambodia. Their logic is Hitler's logic — the logic of all aggressors. They cannot wait anymore, they can no longer talk of peace. Now they will attack one country after another. So this is the beginning of the Third World War.
On the other hand the revolutionary united front of the peoples of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, under the leadership of China, has been built up to fight the U.S. aggressors. The unity of the three Indo-Chinese peoples has been achieved. This is a great thing in the world history, which did not exist when Hitler's hordes marched across Sudetenland. The Second World War was preceded by Munich - by great betrayal. But now the united front of revolutionary peoples under the leadership of China is taking shape. So this is the great beginning of the defeat of imperialism and the great beginning of the victory of the world’s people.
The same kind of phenomena exists in India also. India's reactionary ruling classes are making frenzied preparations to suit the global strategy of U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism. They are hatching criminal war plans against China. But the emergence of the C.P.I. (M-L) has changed the internal situation in India. The armed revolutionary peasant struggle led by the C.P.I. (M-L) has become the motive force of history. We must take into account not only the offensive of the ruling classes but also the counter-offensive of the revolutionary people.
Our cardinal tasks, therefore, are: to build up the Party and to get it entrenched among the landless and poor peasants. The building up of the Party means the development of the armed class struggle. And without armed class struggle the Party cannot be developed and cannot entrench itself among the masses.
The struggle between the two lines is there within the Party and will continue to be there. We must oppose and defeat the incorrect line. But we must be on our guard against centrism. Centrism is a brand of revisionism - its worst form. In the past, revisionism was defeated again and again by revolutionary elements but centrism always seized the victories of the struggle and led the Party along the revisionist path. We must hate centrism. On the question of boycotting elections, Naggi Reddy said: "Yes we accept it but it should be restricted to a certain area at a certain period. We will participate in elections where there is no struggle." This is Naggy Reddy's line. This is centrism. We have fought against it and have thrown the Naggy Reddy's out of our organization. Regarding Soviet social - imperialism some say: “The Soviet leaders are revisionists. But how can they be imperialists? Where is that development of monopoly capital?" These are centrists. We have fought them and thrown them out of our Party. So the centrists raised the questions of trade unions and "working class based party" when armed clash is to be developed by relying on the peasantry. We fought Asist Sen and company on these lines and threw them out of the Party.
We must not only distinguish between the correct and incorrect line but also find out the centrist position and smash it.
Now the centrist attack is coming from inside the Party. On the question of using fire arms, the dependence on the petty-bourgeois intellectuals and the battle of annihilation, the Party is facing centrist attacks.
It must be understood that the battle of annihilation is both a higher form of class struggle and starting point of guerrilla war. There are two deviations on this question:
1. Some Comrades agree that annihilation is the starting point of guerrilla war but they do not agree that it is a higher form of class struggle. It should be borne in mind that only through the development of class struggle can all the problem be solved.
2. There are other Comrades who carried on class struggle — the struggle for the seizure of landlords land and property - but did not wage the battle of annihilation. So the cadres became degenerate, they were lost. The Comrades lost the point that annihilation is the starting point of guerrilla war.
Class struggle will solve all other problems — the problem of building liberated bases and the problem of building the revolutionary army.
We have tried to develop the army in some areas without class struggle and have failed. Without class struggle — the battle of annihilation — the initiative of the poor peasant masses cannot be released, the political consciousness of the fighters cannot be raised, the new man cannot emerge, the people’s army cannot be created. Only by waging class struggle — the battle of annihilation — the new man will be created, the new man who will defy death and will be free from all thoughts of self interest. And with this death defying spirit he will go close to the enemy, snatch his rifle; avenge the martyrs and the peoples army will emerge. To go close to the enemy it is necessary to conquer all thought of self. And this can be achieved only by the blood of martyrs. That inspires and creates new men out of the fighters, fills them with class hatred and makes them go close to the enemy and snatch his rifle with bare hands.
We have poured much of our blood in Srikakulam and we have spilled much blood of the enemy. Yet the class enemy exists there. Unless we throw the class enemy out of the land, a new consciousness, a new confidence cannot arise. We cannot then go close to the enemy and snatch his rifle. It is the class struggle that can solve this problem of building the peoples army.
The annihilation of the class enemy — this weapon in our hands — is the greatest danger of the reactionaries and revisionists all the world over. So the leaders of world revisionism are trying to contact the various groups which pay lip service to Chairman Mao and the C.P.C. and are trying to unite them to oppose the battle of annihilation of the class enemy. We refuse to unite with these groups because they are opposed to annihilation of the class enemy, to class struggle and so, are enemies of the people.
Why am I against taking up fire arms now? Is it not our dream that landless and poor peasants will take up rifles in their shoulders and march forward? Yet the use of fire arms at this stage, instead of releasing the initiative of the peasant masses to annihilate the class enemy, stifles it. If guerrilla fighters start the battle of annihilation with their conventional weapons, the common landless and poor peasants will come forward with bare hands and join the battle of annihilation. A common landless peasant, ground down by age old oppression, will see the light and avenge himself on the class enemy. His initiative will be released. In this way the peasant masses will join the guerrilla fighters, their revolutionary enthusiasm will know no bounds and a mighty wave of peoples upsurge will sweep the country. After the initiative of the peasant masses, to annihilate the class enemy with bare hands or home made weapons has been released and the peasant’s revolutionary power has been established, they should take up the gun and face the world. The peasant with the rifle will be the guarantee of the continuation of the peasant’s revolutionary power.
Comrades the peasants suffering has reached a stage when they can no longer endure it. If we can show them the way, there is not a single point in India where the peasants will not be roused to action. There is the possibility of a tremendous upsurge in India if we consciously work for it. Guerrilla war can be waged through the battle of annihilation in every village in India. So, start as many points of armed struggle as possible. Don’t try to concentrate. Expand anywhere and everywhere. This is one principle to be followed. The other principle is: Carry on the battle of annihilation of the class enemy.
All the revisionists, all the groups taking the name of Chairman Mao, are attacking us on this issue of the battle of annihilation. So Comrades anyone who opposes this battle of annihilation cannot remain with us. We will not allow them to remain in our Party. One can see how the revolutionary armed peasant struggle is rousing the other classes. Look at Calcutta. The revolutionary struggle of the youths of Calcutta surges forward under the impact of the armed peasant struggle. The working class in Calcutta is also rising. And I hope there will be revolutionary upsurge of the working class not only in Calcutta, but in all other cities of India. This is bound to happen. The situation in the cities will then change completely.
Comrades, let a vigorous armed peasant struggle rage all over India after the victorious conclusion of our Congress. Then a spontaneous mass upsurge in the wake of the armed guerrilla struggle will come as an avalanche, as a thunderbolt. It is sure the Red Army can be created not only in Srikakulam but also in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. With these contingents of the Liberation Army, the Indian Peasants will march forward and complete the revolution. Three factors guarantee the victory of the revolution. First, the revolution that has been delayed by more than twenty years brooks no further delay. Second, the revolution is taking place in the era of total collapse of imperialism and the world wide victory of Socialism, the era of Mao Tsetung Thought. Third, we have been able to hold this Congress despite severe repression.
Comrades, let us march forward. The seventies will surely be the decade of liberation.
Develop Peasants' Class Struggle through Class Analysis, Investigation and Study
The revolutionary tactics for developing peasant movements in the rural areas can never be the same as the revisionist tactics. The manner in which we have tried to develop peasant movements for all these years can be called nothing but revisionist tactics. Revisionism works in peasant movements with a view to keeping the Party's activities open and relies for the movements on the Party leaders who belong to the intelligentsia. Consequently, they begin their movements with speeches by top leaders, by organizing peasant squads and through open propaganda campaigns. Naturally, such movements are wholly dependent upon the big leaders and, as a result, they end whenever those leaders belonging to the intelligentsia choose to withdraw them. Moreover, as the entire agitation and movement are carried out openly, the entire organization becomes helpless in the face of repression.
The tactics of the revolutionaries for organizing peasant struggles must be entirely different from the revisionist tactics. The foremost duty of the revolutionaries is to spread and propagate the thought of Chairman Mao and to try to intensify the peasants' class struggle. Consequently, the Party organization must organize propaganda by means of secret meetings. It may be that the peasants, acting under the influence of their old method of working, will ask for meetings and demonstrations. In such cases, the Party organization may help organize one or two such meetings or demonstrations.
But meetings and demonstrations can at no time become our main instrument of struggle. To master this revolutionary method is indeed very difficult. But this can be done if the revolutionary intellectuals start working in the underground from the very beginning. Only then will they be compelled to become dependent on the peasant revolutionaries. It must be realized that the people are not yet ready so long as the peasant revolutionaries do not take the initiative themselves. And naturally, we are not to impose our views on the peasant masses. The second deviation occurs when the peasant cadres want to do something, but the intellectual comrade attaches greater importance to the view of the most backward comrade and would have it accepted as the general opinion. This gives rise to a Right deviation.
So, the first principle is that we must not impose anything at all against the will of the masses. If we forget this, we shall commit many deviations which may be variously termed as sectarianism, Castroism etc. To avoid this we must ceaselessly carry on political propaganda among the peasants. As a result of such propaganda, we shall be able to raise political cadres able to carry on political propaganda. The secret organization of such cadres will become the Party of the future. In building this organization, we must follow the principles on which Party committees are run. Every such Party committee must have a definite area in which it will work, and must learn how to make a class analysis in that area and how to assess the wishes and thinking of each section of the population by means of investigation and study. This method of investigation and study can be learnt only through long practice. So, it is evident that in the beginning these committees will commit many deviations. But we need not be afraid of this, for Chairman Mao has taught us that we should learn warfare through warfare. The Party committees will learn how to take correct decisions from these deviations if they follow democratic principles.
There are both an advanced section and a backward section among the revolutionary classes also. The advanced section can quickly grasp the revolutionary principles while the backward section naturally requires more time to assimilate political propaganda.
That is why economic struggles against the feudal class are necessary, not only in the present, but in the future also. That is why the movement to seize the crops is necessary. The political consciousness and organization in a given area will determine the form that this struggle will assume. This struggle will naturally be directed against the feudal class, that is, against the non-cultivating landowners, that is, against the zamindar class and never against the middle peasants.
If we do not try to develop a broad movement of the peasants and to draw the broad masses into the movement, the politics of seizure of power will naturally take a longer time to get firmly rooted in the consciousness of the peasant masses. As a result, the struggle will be dominated less and less by politics, and the tendency to rely more and more on arms alone is likely to grow. Guerrilla warfare is a higher form of the peasants' class struggle under political leadership. Consequently, only by the successful application of the four weapons-class analysis, investigation, study and class struggle can we create areas of peasants' armed struggle.
Rich peasants in our country rely mainly on feudal exploitation. So, our relation with them will be mainly one of struggle. But as they are subjected also to the exploitation of the imperialist market, it is possible to unite with them at certain stages of the struggle. Apart from these rich peasants, all other peasants can be mobilized not merely as supporters but also as participants in the struggle. The poor and landless peasants, under the leadership of the working class, can build up the fighting unity of the broad peasant masses. The more rapid such unity is achieved, the quicker will the struggle assume a revolutionary character. We must bear in mind the teaching of Chairman Mao: "Revolutionary war is a war of the masses. It can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them."
U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism are intensifying their oppression and exploitation in India and the burden of their exploitation ultimately falls upon the shoulders of the broad peasant masses. Poverty and starvation have made the life of the peasants absolutely unbearable and it is natural that spontaneous outbursts of discontent are taking place. Similarly, the oppression by U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism has given rise to discontent among other classes also, which, in turn, influences the peasant masses. On the other hand, all the existing political parties in India have today turned into parties of the ruling classes, and each one of them is presently trying to keep the masses quiet by means of various tricks and devices. The Dangeite traitorous clique and the neo-revisionist clique are the most skilled in doing this. They are trying to confuse the masses by wearing the mask of Marxism-Leninism and indulging in all sorts of pseudo-revolutionary talks. But the Soviet revisionists' fascist aggression against Czechoslovakia has torn off their mask and with each passing day they will be clearly shown up as mere lackeys of the Soviet Union, which is today a pedlar of neo-colonialism and one of the aggressive powers of the world. The more these people are exposed, the more will the flood-tide of the resistance struggle of the masses be unleashed and the possibility of a broad mass movement of the peasants be turned into reality. So, the working class and the revolutionary intelligentsia are today faced with the task of making the peasants class-conscious and of organizing broad class struggles. The day is not far off when the creative powers of the millions of Indian peasants will build wide areas of armed struggle in the countryside and the revolutionary masses of India will take their rightful place in the ranks of all the revolutionary liberation fighters of the world. All revolutionaries must without delay plunge into the work of translating into reality Great Lenin's dream-the dream that the unity of the fighting peoples of Great China and India will dig the grave of world imperialism.
[From Liberation, Vol. II, No. 1 (November 1968). The Bengali original appeared in Deshabrati of October 17, 1968.]
The tactics of the revolutionaries for organizing peasant struggles must be entirely different from the revisionist tactics. The foremost duty of the revolutionaries is to spread and propagate the thought of Chairman Mao and to try to intensify the peasants' class struggle. Consequently, the Party organization must organize propaganda by means of secret meetings. It may be that the peasants, acting under the influence of their old method of working, will ask for meetings and demonstrations. In such cases, the Party organization may help organize one or two such meetings or demonstrations.
But meetings and demonstrations can at no time become our main instrument of struggle. To master this revolutionary method is indeed very difficult. But this can be done if the revolutionary intellectuals start working in the underground from the very beginning. Only then will they be compelled to become dependent on the peasant revolutionaries. It must be realized that the people are not yet ready so long as the peasant revolutionaries do not take the initiative themselves. And naturally, we are not to impose our views on the peasant masses. The second deviation occurs when the peasant cadres want to do something, but the intellectual comrade attaches greater importance to the view of the most backward comrade and would have it accepted as the general opinion. This gives rise to a Right deviation.
So, the first principle is that we must not impose anything at all against the will of the masses. If we forget this, we shall commit many deviations which may be variously termed as sectarianism, Castroism etc. To avoid this we must ceaselessly carry on political propaganda among the peasants. As a result of such propaganda, we shall be able to raise political cadres able to carry on political propaganda. The secret organization of such cadres will become the Party of the future. In building this organization, we must follow the principles on which Party committees are run. Every such Party committee must have a definite area in which it will work, and must learn how to make a class analysis in that area and how to assess the wishes and thinking of each section of the population by means of investigation and study. This method of investigation and study can be learnt only through long practice. So, it is evident that in the beginning these committees will commit many deviations. But we need not be afraid of this, for Chairman Mao has taught us that we should learn warfare through warfare. The Party committees will learn how to take correct decisions from these deviations if they follow democratic principles.
There are both an advanced section and a backward section among the revolutionary classes also. The advanced section can quickly grasp the revolutionary principles while the backward section naturally requires more time to assimilate political propaganda.
That is why economic struggles against the feudal class are necessary, not only in the present, but in the future also. That is why the movement to seize the crops is necessary. The political consciousness and organization in a given area will determine the form that this struggle will assume. This struggle will naturally be directed against the feudal class, that is, against the non-cultivating landowners, that is, against the zamindar class and never against the middle peasants.
If we do not try to develop a broad movement of the peasants and to draw the broad masses into the movement, the politics of seizure of power will naturally take a longer time to get firmly rooted in the consciousness of the peasant masses. As a result, the struggle will be dominated less and less by politics, and the tendency to rely more and more on arms alone is likely to grow. Guerrilla warfare is a higher form of the peasants' class struggle under political leadership. Consequently, only by the successful application of the four weapons-class analysis, investigation, study and class struggle can we create areas of peasants' armed struggle.
Rich peasants in our country rely mainly on feudal exploitation. So, our relation with them will be mainly one of struggle. But as they are subjected also to the exploitation of the imperialist market, it is possible to unite with them at certain stages of the struggle. Apart from these rich peasants, all other peasants can be mobilized not merely as supporters but also as participants in the struggle. The poor and landless peasants, under the leadership of the working class, can build up the fighting unity of the broad peasant masses. The more rapid such unity is achieved, the quicker will the struggle assume a revolutionary character. We must bear in mind the teaching of Chairman Mao: "Revolutionary war is a war of the masses. It can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them."
U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism are intensifying their oppression and exploitation in India and the burden of their exploitation ultimately falls upon the shoulders of the broad peasant masses. Poverty and starvation have made the life of the peasants absolutely unbearable and it is natural that spontaneous outbursts of discontent are taking place. Similarly, the oppression by U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism has given rise to discontent among other classes also, which, in turn, influences the peasant masses. On the other hand, all the existing political parties in India have today turned into parties of the ruling classes, and each one of them is presently trying to keep the masses quiet by means of various tricks and devices. The Dangeite traitorous clique and the neo-revisionist clique are the most skilled in doing this. They are trying to confuse the masses by wearing the mask of Marxism-Leninism and indulging in all sorts of pseudo-revolutionary talks. But the Soviet revisionists' fascist aggression against Czechoslovakia has torn off their mask and with each passing day they will be clearly shown up as mere lackeys of the Soviet Union, which is today a pedlar of neo-colonialism and one of the aggressive powers of the world. The more these people are exposed, the more will the flood-tide of the resistance struggle of the masses be unleashed and the possibility of a broad mass movement of the peasants be turned into reality. So, the working class and the revolutionary intelligentsia are today faced with the task of making the peasants class-conscious and of organizing broad class struggles. The day is not far off when the creative powers of the millions of Indian peasants will build wide areas of armed struggle in the countryside and the revolutionary masses of India will take their rightful place in the ranks of all the revolutionary liberation fighters of the world. All revolutionaries must without delay plunge into the work of translating into reality Great Lenin's dream-the dream that the unity of the fighting peoples of Great China and India will dig the grave of world imperialism.
[From Liberation, Vol. II, No. 1 (November 1968). The Bengali original appeared in Deshabrati of October 17, 1968.]
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