January, 1968

. I, No.3

LIBERATION
S
Notes
8
pa.ges from Party History
Oppose Book Worship
57
-Mao Tse-tun(}
67
Indonesia Today
Civil Disobedience or Oounter-
Revolutionary Manoeuvre?
74
-Arindam Mitra
What Should The Peasants DC)?
1:3
-8. R.
Editor-in-Ohief :
Sushital Ray Ohoudhury

..
An Appeal
Liberation appeals to you, comrades and sympathisers,
ho have the cause of the Indian Revolution at heart, for
enerous contributionsto the Liberation Fund.
Liberation needs your donations as well as your suggestions,
riticisms and guidance. With more money we intend to bring
ut booklets and pllomphlets in order to wage a successful fight
gainst 8011 relloctionary ideology, including revisionism and neo-
evisionism. Your suggestions and help in this regard will be
ost welcome.
We also invite you to send us articles IIondreports of struggle
for publication in Liberation.
n your IIorelloS
Liberation is in urgent need of all the help and support that
ou ca.n offer.
Editr rial Board
Liberation
 DECLARATION

I, Nimai Ghosh. declare that I am the printer and pubr

of the newspaper entitled Liberation to be printed at Katha I
NOTES
ress, 59A. Bechu Chatterjee Street Calcutta-9 a d bl'
t 60A " n pu I FRENZIED ATTAOK
'. Keshab Chandra Sen Street, Calcutta-9. and that
ulars III respect of the said newspaper given hereunder are t During the last few weeks West Bengal has witnessed an
o the best of my knowledge and belief. orgy of violence-organized violence let loose by tha bourgois-
landlord state.
itle of the newspaper:
Liberation , With the deepening of the economic and political crisis and
anguage in which ;it is published: English
eriodicity of its publication: the ever-increasing isolation of the Congress, the main political
Monthly party of the ruling classes, their attack on the people is getting
ublisher's name:
Nimai Ghosh more desperate and vicious, at least in West Bengal. It is true
ationality :
Indian.
that recently the Congress snpporters, mostly anti-social
elements, have plastered the Calcutta streets with Congress
60A, Keshab Chandra Sen Stre
posters and are holding occasional public meetings in different>
Calcutta-9.
lace of publication: towns. But, aware of the depth of hatred with which the toiling.
60A. Keshab Chandra Sen Stre
people greet them, they seem to have written off the support.
P.S. Amherst Street, Calcutt of the people and have unleashed the police and the HomB',
rinter's Name: oGuards to drown people's struggles in blood. In the last one'
Nimai Ghosh
ationality : month and a half several thousands have been arrested; during,
Indian
ddress : the six days from 18th to 23rd December alone, the arrests-
60A, Keshab Chandra Sen Stree
~numbered fourteen thousand. About five thousand klsan, trade-
Calcutta.g
union a.nd other political workers have been sent to prison under-
Kathamala Press the notorious Preventive Detention Act. A large number ofr
59A, Bachu Chatterjee Stree men and women have been victims of police firing and savage
Calcutta-9 lathi-charge. Policemen in plain clothes were seen attacking _
ditor's name: people indiscriminately, hitting them with lathis till they;-
Nimai Ghosh
ationality : fell down unconscious and then throwing th€lir limp bodies into-
Indian
ddress : the waiting prison vans. The torture in the police stations-
60A, Keshab Chandra Sen Stree Was even more sadistic. They did not spare even educa.tional
Calcutta-9 institutions. They perpetrated atrocities even within the ca'mpus
Owner's name
Nimai Ghosh of the Universities of J adavpur and Calc.utta. and of the Poly'
technic institution in Krishnagar. But all their past performances-
within educational institutions were surpassed when they entered
Sd. Nimai Ghos the R. P. M. College at Uttarpara in the district of Hooghly.
11. 12. 1967. A large contingent of them broke open the locks on the College
Printer, Publisher and Owner.
 NOTES
4 LIBERATIO:N
their paddy, raid their houses and arrest them. Some pell.sants
gate, freely used lathis and rifle-butts on students, teachers and have even been murdered.
non· teaching employees, inflicted very serious wounds on many.
Now8.days it seems 'unrevolutionMY' to refer to the role of
threw a Oollege employee from the first floor on to the gro1JJ.'d
the "Marxist" leaders and the UF government in this _counter-
below and splashed the w8llls ",nd the floor with the blood of their
revolutionary war against the peasantry. Speaking llota meating
wictims. Recently journll.lists and press photographers of
at Jhargram, the deposed Ohief Minister, Sri Ajoy Mukherjee,
Calcutta h",d some taste of the kind of treatment that these
declared that he would be the first man to face the bullets of
'''agents of 18lwand order" mete out to peasants, workers and Dr. P. O. Ghosh on December 18. It seems that the bullets of
iltudents whenever they refuse to submit to the present regimlf
Dr. Ghosh's government are quite different from those with
.of unbridled exploit.ation and oppression.
which Ajoy Mukherjee's government killed the peas8.nts,
This attack on the urb8.n petty-bourgeoisie is only one 8.spect including peasant women and children in NU8.1bari or from
-of the offensive that the ruling classes, faced with llon insoluble those it showered on food demonstrllotors in Nabadweep •.nd
ofJrisis, h8.ve launched. It atllorted during the days of the United elsewhere. Now Ajoy Mukherjee denounces the police bllorbllorities
Front Government / in West Bengal, the m8.in p8.rtner of which from time to time. but one recalls that when the same police,
was the OPI (M). The pe8.santry WlloSthen their main target were shooting down peasants in Naxalbari, he WlloStelling his
and the students who dared support them did not escape their lloudience at Darjeeling; "Love thou my police I"
wrlloth ; so, the UF government in the state and the Oongress
government at the centre conspired to put out the flame that
PHRASES AND FAOTS
is Naxalbari; so, the UF government set up police camps
wherever the poor pe8.santry threatened to challenge the rule llond Writing in Deshhitaisi of December 22, a Rllonadive man hllo8
exploit8.tion of the joteda,rs ; so, the UF government turned the Mcused us of betraying the revolutiona.ry struggle now going
;' North Bengal University itself into a police camp. They, too, on in ~he country and has described this "betrlloyal" with aU
sent for the military to break up the strike of the State Electri- the hypocritical fervour that he can commllond as one of the
city Board workers llondinvoked the hlloted Preventive Detention grossest in history. As Lenin would have said, he has presented
Act to ll.rrest Oomrade Parimal Dasgupta, Secretary of the us with a 'basketful of the most florid republican, revolutionary
Workers' Union. . and "socialist" phrlloses'. We would have ignored them if the
At least fifty-eight thousand armed policemen and six entire propagandllo of the "Marxist" leaders did not attempt to
!'

I battalions of Oentr8l1 Reserve Forces h8lve been brought from

<outside the state. Most of them c8lme at the invitation
-during the days of the UF government.
of and
No less than forty
represent

phrases.
llocounter-revolutionary
struggle and thus to dupe the masses.
.
manoeuvre as llo revolutionllory
Let us examine the

.' thousand of these policemen, besides the usual State police, are First, their loud claim that the struggle that the United
m8.nning the different police camps set up in the villages where Front is waging is '" revolutionary one. What are the professed
peasant revolts were brewing. Today, many rural lloreas are aims of this "revolutionary" struggle? As we pointed out last
dotted with police camps, and armed policemen together with month, they are: (1) removal of the Ghosh ministry,
the goondas employed by jotedars, are trying to terrorize the (2) removal of the Governor Dhar8lm Vira and (3) restoration
peasantry into submission. But, in some pilloces of the 24 of the U. F. ministry or imposition of the President's rule and
P8Irg8lnll.s, Midnapur and Howrah, pellosants refused to be cowed. mid-term elections. The main demand of the U. F. struggle,
They resisted when the jotedars' men and the police tried to loot
 \ 7
NOTES
LIBERATION
:6
lordS, tbe blood-thirsty profiteers and black-marketeers? No,
.4.herefore is the demand for restoration of ministerial jobs to these mundane things do not appeal to them. They seem to be
"
,the , who ha.ve lost them-in
leaders the interest. It.' IS SM'd , o.I th e interested only in reglloining the pllorllodiseat the Dalhousie Square
ileople who must do the fighting. But the. demands. of the from which they have been banished by the gods of New Delhi.
'Working class for jobs, trade union rights, secunty of ~er~ICe etc., Once a person, very difficult to please, named Lenin, said:
the demands of the peasantry for ls.nd, stoppage of eVICtiOns etc., "To appreciate this, you only have to detach yourself
or the demands of the petty bourgeoisie for employment, upwllord for a moment from the present hubbub of empty phrases,
revision of pay and dearness allowance, ett'., are not among the promises and petty doings which fuddles your thinking,
(].emands raised by the United Front. and take a look at the main thing, at what determines
"Mr. Gangadhl1r Pramanick, West Bengal's Labour everything in public life-the class struggle." (Lenin,
Minister", The Statesman's Staff Reporter wrote on 30.12.67, Constitutional Illusions).
• «told reporters in Oalcutta on Friday that 49 fll.ctories, employ- H will he unjust to think that the gentlemen of the United
ing . about 20,000 people, had reopened since t~e c?ange. of Front have renounced the class struggle. No, far from
Government on November 21. while over 400 factOrIes, mvolvmg renouncing it, they are fighting it-on the side of the
nearly 149,000 workers, had been closed during the few mon~hs reactionary exploiting classes against the toiling people-
prior to the change." "The spokesman [of the Rash,~rI~a as they did during their spell in office. Their Civil
Sangram Samityl", added The Statesrnan's Staff Reporter, SMd Disobedience programme and every other programme
tha.tafter the Ghosh Ministry's installation only four of the 40 are designed to disrupt the class battles of the peasantry
,big factories were reopened. One of the fom retrenched 650 and the working class. S~ L

bands before reopening, wbile in the case of another 350 casual

When, on October 2 last, Ajoy Mukherjee planned his coup J: c' t ,
workers had been left out. In all cases union officis.ls had been
in close collaboration with Oongress leaders, he intended tOr I I
victimized. Violating provisions of the Industrial Dispute~ Act, release a statement to the press after the treacherous act. In- / )
agreements had been signed and.. five-member committee~
that stllotement, which was later published, he accused the 1-. S-
'arbitrarily' set up to reopen the factones on ms.nagement terms.
OPI (M), among others, of three things which, be said, were
May we ask the Marxists why the United Front and the forcing bim to tender the resignation of his ministry. These
"'Marxist" leaders are so supremely indifferent to the plight. of were: (1) The Left Oommunists were responsible for the chaos
the working class and allow the capitalists to shi~t .th.e entIre on the industrial front and the forced idleness af 60,000 to
~burden of the recession on' the workers Ilondto VICtImIze trade 70,000 men. (2) A section of the Left Oommunists were saying
union workers? May we ask why the United Front and the openly that they would seize all the ripe harvest of the jotedars
""Marxist" leaders have not organized 8. single solidarity ~ctio.n by force and distribute it among themselves. (3) The Left
.ouring the lllostten months to help the working class whICh IS Oommunists were preparing witb the help of Ohina for a bloody
under vicious attack? revolution in West Bengal, which would engulf all Assam,
Frenzied attacks are also being made on the poor pellosantry. Manipur, Tripura, some areas of Bihar and Orissa. On December
The police-camps which the U, F. government set up have n?w 9, Ganashakti, the OPI (M)-evening daily, approvingly published
.• been strengthened by the Ghosh ministry and the armed pohce the full text of another statement by Ajoy Mukherjee. In this
-and jotedars are attacking pellosants, looting their paddy, raiding statement the deposed Ohief Minister has confessed that be
tbeir homes and firing on them. Several peasllonts have already had been unjust to the Marxist Oommunists. "For, I declared
been murdered. Why is not the United Front fighting to defend that the Marxist Oommunists are not genuinely opposed to those
the poor pellosants and to curb the ls.wl~ssne~s and stop t~e who are inviting Ohina and Pakisban Such a thing happened
atrocities of the police Ilond the rurllol explOIters In West Bengal s because I overlooked the facts that the Marxist Oommunists
.countryside? were carrying on an open campaign against those men and that
The petty bourgeoisie, too, is under attl>Ck.. There i.s incr~as- the Ohinese Radio was pouring out its venom against Sri Jyoti
• 'ing unemployment among tbem, their real mcom.e. IS fal~mg, Basu and other Marxist leaders." (Translation ours) .
lock-outs threlLten them also. Above all, ever-rlsmg prIC~s, "So, instead of resigning", Sri Mukherjee continues, "I
particularly, tbe abnormal incr?ase in pri.ce.s of rice ~~d wheat In decided to preserve the U. F. Government in order to implement
the rationing areas, are worsenmg the hv~ng condItiOns of all the I8-point programme with fresh energy. I am glad to declare
classes of toiling people. Does the U D1ted F:~nt-3Ponsored [ Oontinued on page 93 1
~truggle aim at resisting the attacks of the bourgeOISIe, the land-
 PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 9

CPO and its great leader, Comrade Mao Tse-tung, ga.ve a

distorted interpretation of 'People's Democracy', sought to
PAG[S ~ROM ~A~TY ~ISTO~Y rehabilitate the Trotskyite thesis of ': one stage revolution" and
sabotaged the agrarian struggle then sweeping through Telengana
We presen t to our readers the full texts of three important and parts of West Bengal. In those historic yea.rs when the
Party documents of 1950 as, we are afraid, a large number of Chinese Revolution led by Comrade Ma.o Tse-tung and the CPC
comrades who hllove joined the Communist Party since that was changing the face of Asia. and the world and shattering the
year and now belong either to the Communist Party (Marxist) fond dreams of the US imperialists of domina.ting the world,
or to the Dllongeite Party lloreunaware of their existence or know when the US imperia.lists and their allies were feverishly trying
very little of the Titoite-Trotskyite policies which wrecked the to isolate and encircle revolutionary China, when national
Party in 1948-49. It seems that even old comrades have not liberation wars-armed struggles of the peasants led by the
either gone through them or assume quite a liberal attitude working class--were raging in the whole of South-east Asia,
towards these 'deviations'. A more import&nt reallon for publish- when the first fla.me of such struggle was kindled on the Indian
ing these documents is that the same policies, though disguised soil by the brave Telengana peasants, the leaders of the CPI,
in apparently innocent phraseology, are now sought to be revived. chief of whom was B. T. Ranadive, proved obiectively (we are
It is the same old wine only poured into a, new bottle. neither aware of nor concerned with their subjective desires) to
be the tools of the imt)erialists and the Indian reactionaries. As.
The General Secretary of the opr during the above period.
willing or unwilling accomplices of U. S. imperialism a.nd Indian
as is known to everybody, was B. T. Rllonadive, now the leading
reaction, they succeeded in doing, among others, two things:
"theoretician" in the CPI (M) and Editor of its cent~al organ,
in destroying the peasant bases by antagonising the middle anrI
People's Democracy. He was then ably ~isted by men like
rich peasantry and in wrecking the Party and working-class
Bhowlloni Sen, So~nath Lahiri, Dange an~et~ "Communist"
organisations by issuing futile .ealls for strikes and engaginq the;
leaders, who, curIOusly enough, are now at the helm of either the
brave Party comrades in equally futile clashes with the police and
CPT (M) or the Dangeite Party. Many of them have been 1eading
the military in the streets and factories and even in prisons. At:
the Indian Communists since the beginning of the thirties or even
the Sllometime they disbanded elected Party Oommittees, set.
earlier dlloYs. For instance, B. T. Ranadive had earned notoriety
up new ones with men of their own choice, expelled Party
even before 1933 as the leader of a group of Communists in
members and spread all kinds of false slander against many of'
Bombay for his factional quarrels and left-sectarian policies. It
them who ventured to differ with them.
will appear from the second document we are reprinting,
Greetings to Oommunist Party of Ohina on its 29th Anniversary, Were all those crimes unintentional? As it will appear from
July 1, 1950, that it was the Open Letter of the Chinese Party the Statement of the Fditorial Board [then reconstituted] of'
to the ranks of the Communists in India that enabled the latter Communist on Anti-Leninist Oriticism of Oomrade Mao Tse-
to correct the Left-sectarian mistakes of those days and helped tung, the crimes were committed intentionally, deliberately.
the scattered Communist
India Communist Party.
groups to unite and form the All- v.:
hen they were on their wrecking spree, Rllonadive and Co.
stlfied all inner-Party criticism. refused to listen to the advice
The Editorial Board of Oommunist, the central organ of the of fraternal Parties and dubbed Mao Tse-tung as a renegade
CPI during 1948-50, which was dominated by B. T. Ranllodive~
carried on a vicious campaign of lies and slander against the
1from Socialism. Lies, distortions
became th' elr s t oc k'om-trade.
and all kinds of subterfuge
. was only natural for, as the-
ThIS
 LIBERATIO l'AGES FROM PARTY BISTORY
11
10
reconstituted Editorial Board of Oommunist pointed out ifrits in order to carry out their wrecking activities; in 1967 also,
Statement, Ranadive and Co. were determined to pursue they find it necessary to denounce the great leaders of the
Trotskyite-Titoite policies which were basically opposed to Obinese Part!! to fulfil their nefarious plan.
Marxism-Leninism. In a period when Titoism, revisionism, had Aware of the fact that open denunciation of the Chinese
just raised its head and allied itself with imperialism, chiefly Party is sure to prove the ruin of their leadership, Ranadive and
U.S. imporialism, the leadership of the CPT headed by Ranadive Do. have waited for their opportunity for quite some time,
( became the main agents of Titoism in India. They syste- though ~ndarayya (in his letter from Mos~w), Basavapunniah
ffill.tically maligned the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (in his open letter to Nanda), Namhoodiripad and others were
"lind the Chinese Revolution, which had showed the peoples of .a.iming their shafts of criticism, open or veiled, at the Chinese
the colonies and semi-colonies like India how to defeat imperia- Party and Government from time to time, But after Naxalbll.ri
lism, feudalism and comprltdor capital and accomplish People's hll.dtorn the mask off them and after the Chinese Party had justly
Democratic revolution. In their shameful campaign, .6f slander condemned them and their Dangeite counterparts as running
1\,gainst Comrade M3.o Tse-tung they threw overboard all dogs of US imperialism and Soviet revisionism and as lackeys of
principles of proletarian internationalism. They repudiated the Indian big landlords and big bourgeoisie, the Rll.nadive hunch
"Lenin, accepted M. N. Roy's thesis tbat the big bourgeoisieln -of traitors realized that their sham support for the Chinese Party
~Fndia was independent and, as faithful followers of Roy and was no longer of any use, So, in the resolution they adopted at
Trotsky, imposed on the Party their dangerous strategy-the Madurai on "Divergent Views Between our Party and the
strategy of "one stage revolution", the Socialist revolution, O. P. O. etc" they have accused the C.P .0. of gross interference
skipping the democratic stage of the Indian revolution. The in our Party's affairs violltting the principles of proletarian
,consequences were disastrous. internationalism, rejecting "every Marxist-Leninist tenet on the
~ueRtion of ltssessing ~ given political situlttion and the tactics
Today, when class struggle is getting intenser and intenser
to be adopted" and of "providing ample grist to the mill of reac-
' both within the country and in the world as a whole, when
tion ltnd counter-revolution in our country." But to these traitors,
Socialist China is in the van of the world-wide struggle fa
in veterate haters of China and the Chinese path, discretion is
freedom, peace and socialism, when nationltl liberation war ill
indeed the better part of valour. So while levelling these very
raging in the three continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America,
-serious chllorgesaglloinstthe Chinese Party and chiding it, in rather
when the spark of Naxalbari peasant uprising threatens to kindle
veiled language for supposed dogmatism ltnd sectarianism, it also
the fire of revolution in the Indian countryside, when US imperia
eulogises the C.P.C. for rendering, among other things, "the
lism, enmeshed in insoluble contradictions but aided by Sovie
yeoman's service" "to the world working class and the Commu-
revisionism and native reactionary classes in different c~untries,
nist movement in fighting against and exposing the menace of
is desperately trying to drown people's struggles in blood, the
revisionism and in defence of Marxism-Leninism:' When the
Ranadive leadership is at its old game again. In 1948-~9, they
oCI
O. P. C. lashes at Kosygin or Dange, it renders praise-worthy
disrupted revolutionay struggles of the Indian peasantry in the
service to the cause of Marxism-Leninism, but its denunciation
name of combating Right-reformism; today, they are trying' to
of the revisionist policies and character of leaders like Ranadive
crush peasant struggles of the Naxalbari type even with the help
amounts to gross interference in the affairs of a fra.ternal Party
of the police and the military of the bourgeois-landlord state' i
~nd cannot be tolerated 1
the name of fighting left-adventurism. In 1948-49, the saooteud
In this notorious Madurai resolution Ranadive, Sundarlloyya,
hllod to malign Comrade Mao Tse-tung and the CPC leadershi
 12 LIBERATIO
t'AGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 13
Basavapunniah and Co. have expressed their disagreement with
"It means, the big bourgeoisie is deoisi"Q'e foroe in regard
,. the Chinese Party mainly on two issues-the class oharacter 0
to its oonfliots and contradictions with the British imperialism.
the present Indian stllote and Government and appraisal of th
'This was enotly the basis for our strategy of 1948 period whioh
Ipresent situation in India.. While the C.P.C. holds that India is t.
was rejeoted by our Programme".
semi-colonial, semi-feudal country and that the Indian big
They argued :
bourgeoisie represents the comprador, bureaucratio capital i "If this is so, then our strategy must be to replaoe the
India, Ranadive, Sundarayya, Basavapunniah and Co. in thei government of bourgeoisie by a government of proletllorillot and
infinit~ wisdom decl!lore, "But the fact to be noted here is that Iloor peasantry, neutralising the middle pellosants and entire
it is the industrial big bourgeoisie which, today, has emerged a middle clllosses in opposition to the bourgeoisie and oapitalist-
a powerful force holding the leading position in the new state an .landlord and rich peasants.
government, and not the oomprador element." "Henoe," they "It means that our strategy cannot be one of People's
oonolude. "we do not find any valid relloSon for the present. Democratic Revolution, against imperialism and feudalism and
India Government, which has a more wider [sic] social base when .collaborating monopolist section, basing on the agricultural
" compared to most of its counterpart£! in .several oountries anel labour and poor peasant, allying with middle peasant and winning
whioh does not face the imminent threat of olass revolution at> <lver national bourgeoisie and rich peasants.
bome, opting to play the role of a 'puppet', 'stooge' an "But it is strange that -after knocking the bottom ·out of
'laOke ' y of imperialism." Tbis reminds one that R!lonadiv& People's Democratic Revolutionary stage, Com. Ajoy lloSserts
j and his comrades
tbe Indian state
mllode basioally
and the Indian
the same appraisal
bourgeoisie in 1949.
or that the strategy still holds good I"
To a person unaccustomed to the ways of Indian "communist"
riting in the July 1949 issue of Communist, they rejeoted th leaders, the change that the views of Sundarayya and
idea that the Con~ress Government and bourgeoisie were puppet Basavapunniah have undergone in the meantime may appear
of imperialism and described them as "aotive partners and leading
in the bourgeois.feudal·imperialist
in 1955, Ajoy Ghosh and 'communists'
oombine. -- When.
of his ilk tried to sel
even stranger.
to the contradiction
contradiction
They have conveniently reconciled themselves
for whioh they ohided Ajoy Ghosh-the
between their charllocterisation of the Indian state
the same idellos-that India is "a sovereign and independen as independent and sovereign and of the Indian big bourgeoisie
i
iXl republic" Ilondthat "the big bourgeoisie is the decisive force" in 80S occupying "the leadiBg position in the new State and
the bourgeois-landlord government "conciliating and com pro Government" and their a.ppraisal of the present stage of the
mising with British imperialism", Sundarayya, Basavapunnia Indillon revolution as a People's Democratic one. Such chameleon-
and Hanumantha Rlloo wrote (cf. "Note on C. C. Resolution an like changes are 'not uncommon among the "communist"
Com. Ajoy's Explanation Document", FOR UM, FOUl-th Part leaders of India.
Congress Document No.2, October, 1955) :
')- This bunch of opportunists, political chameleons, led by
"We do hold that the characterisation cf Indian state in au Ranadive, has the cheek to assert:

! Programme [ of 1951 ] as dependent and semi-colonial

still holds good, in spite of the recent shifts
Government's
Referring
of the Indian
foreign policy."
to Ajoy Ghosh's formulation
state, they observed:
country,
in N ehrtt

about the characte

"Weare at a loss to understand how the comrades of the
Chinese Communist Party, in utter violation of every Marxist-
Leninist tenet on the question of assessing a given political
situation and the tactics to be adopted, are advocating armed
struggle, as seen in the case of ~aXllolba.ri peasantry. This stand
 14 LIBERATION:
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY

of theirs is neither theoretically correct nor tallies with our-

leaders, proved agents of alien ideologies and interests, and if it
experience in our movement in our country".
is guidedby the thought of Oomrade Mao Tse-tung along the path
According to them, the present situat.ion may be objectively- followed by the Chinese people. Despite all the lIl!l.chinations of

l 'revolutionary
revolutionary
but the subjective factor, without which the
situation C!l.nnot m!l.ture, is yet absent.
times, in this resolution, they have bewailed the fact that.
"Ours is a very small Party compared to the bigness of the
Severlll
the "Marxist" and Dangeite leaders, an 'excellent revolutionary
ituation now prevails in India. Even backward sections of the-
toiling people are increasingly being drawn into political struggles
and signs of a simmering revolt against the present regime of
country in which it is operating and the tasks it is confronted unbridled exploitation and oppression can be seen everywhere.
•.~ ./ with" that "Our Party is unable to cope with the growing
I The contradictions between imperialism and our people, between
demands 1 of the rising mass movement in the wake of the feudalism and the peasant masses, between comprador capital
deepening crisis and it finds itself too weak to shoulder the and the working class are growing sharper as days pass. Only
stupendous political responsibility that history is thrusting on courageous leadership by revolutionaries inspired by Comrade
its shoulders", and that "the Oommunist Party is very weak and Mao Tse-tung's:thought can bring about a transformation in the
even non-existent in the greater part of the country". In this situation. Naxalbari has blazed a path that Indian revolutionaries
connection, they approvingly quote from the thesis, The Revol1l- elsewhere must tl;Lke.
tionary Movement in the Oolonies and Semi-Oolonies, adopted Even today Ranadive and 00. are putting up a sham fight I

by the Sixth Oongress of the Oommunist International: there- against the ruling classes-to hide their real capitulation to the,
exists an "excessively marked lack of correspondence between reactionary classes as well as to sabotage the revolutionary
the objective revolutionary situation and the weakness of the struggles of the peasantry. Though they have declared in the
1 subjective factors". This was quite "correctly observed" in 1928 Party Programme of 1964 that the axis of the People's
~ but this bunch of s!l.boteurs of the Indian revolution solemnly Democratic' revolution is the agrarian struggle, they have tried
affirm that this weakness "persists even to-day"-after almost by every possible means to crush it in practice, though not in
forty years-in 1967! This very admission is a telling indict- words, and in the name of launching a revolutionary struggle
ment of the leadership of the Communist Party and Commu- in West Bengal, they are urging the militant youth, longing for
nist groups of India, a leadership which the Danges, Muzaffar change, dreaming of revolution, to take part in city-based
Ahmeds, Joshis and R!l.nadives have usurped for thirty, adventurist actions.
thirty-five, forty or more years. The perpetu!l.l weakness, for However glibly these traitors may raise the slogan of People's
which they themselves are responsible, is cited as an argument to- Democratic Revolution ( to hoodwink, nd doubt, the unsuspecting
repudiate revolutionary actions by the mllsses! It is the rank and file comrades), they are pursuing the same old strategy
contradiction between the interests of this treacherous leadersbip and adopting the same old tactics as tho'se of 1948-49-the,
or, to be more precise, of the different factions of these leaders Titoite-Trotskyite strategy and tactics which have been
and the interests of our Party, people and the cause of the Revo- eloquently condemned in the Statement of the Editorial Board
lution; that has stifled, despite the tremendous sacrifice of Party of Oommunist on Anti-Leninist Oriticism of Oomrade Mao Tse-t1lng.
comrades and others, the growth of our Party. The Party Clln But the "pledge" that was given at the end of the Statement to
grow, occupy its rightful place among the genuine Oommunist. the Communist Party of China, to its leader Mao Tse-tung snd
Parties of the world and can lead the Indian revolution to victory to the international Communist movement was soon forgotten
f . ,
only if the Party frees itself from the shackles imposed by theslt or It was not meant to be redeemed. It was the most effective
16 LIBERATION
,.
means of pacifying the angry rll.nk ll.nd file comra.des who rose in
revolt agll.inst the stntegy, tll.ctics and organisational methods
( )
imposed by the Ranllodive gang. STATEMENT OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD
In the name of pursuing !l.n Indi8.n path, Joshis,
Dll.nges, Ran8.dives and Nll.mboodiripllods have always tried
their h8.rdest to isolll.te the struggle of the Indill.n people The Editorial B08.rd of COMMUNIST herewith rejects Ilond
from the broad stream of the world-wide struggle for freedom withdraws the statement on the Editorial a.rticle of the
and Socialism, to detll.ch the contingent of Indian revOlution!l.ries journal For a Lasting Peace, For A People's Democracy dated
from the world fOTces battling against imperialism and reaction 27th January, 1950, which was printed in the last issue of
1l.nn thus to serve the, interests of the enemies of the Indillon COMMUNIST, Vol. III, February-M8.rch, 1950.
people. By 8.dopting the notorious Madur8.i resolutions and The Editorial Board h8.s since been conducting detailed
abusing from time to time the Chinese Communist P8.Tty, by -discussions on the above-mentioned editori8.1 article in the 'light
-claiming to be friendly both to Chin8. 8.nd to the revisionist ()f the M8.nifesto 8.nd the reports made at the Peking Conference
leaders of the Soviet Union and decl8.ring their preference for 8.n of Trade Unions of Asia 8.nd Austr8.1asia (November, 1949), in the
Indian path, which is neither Russian nor Chinese, these light of the articles and works of Comrade Mao Tse-tung, of the
treacherous le8.ders are ll.t their old game 8.gain. Their old left- recent articles and speeches of the leaders of the Chinese
opportunism ll.nd present Right-opportunism are two sides of Communist P8.rty and of the documents of the Soviet academi-
the Sll.me coin-a treacherous political line designed to divert cians on the coloni8.1 revolutions.
the toiling people of India from the path that led the Chinese
1 lleople to victory, a politiCll.lline designed to sabotage the Indian
In the light of these discussions, which have now been
eompleted, the Editorial B08.rd h8.s come to the conclusion th8.t
revolution. its 8.bove-mentioned statemenb did not represent an honest self-
The study of present facts ll.nd past history ca.n alone enable criticism of the utterly Left-Sectari8.n line which it pursued 8.nd
us to solve the problems of the Indill.n revolution. At this hour which was propounded by it in its various authoritative st8.te-
'Ofcrisis, comrades must 8.nSwer for themselves what strategy ments 8.nd articles published in the COMMUNIST since
1londtactics will lead our long-delayed, long-baffled revolution to January, 1949.
victory, 8.nd who actually serve as the tools of the U. S. and On the other hand, the Editorial Board, under the cover of
British imperialists, of the C. 1. A. and the Indian reactionary -a formal acceptance of the editorial article of the journal of the
,clllosses-the Dllonges, Joshis, Ranadives and Namboodiripads or Information Bureau of the Communist IlondWorkers' P8.rties, had
the heroes of Telengana and Naxalbari. We offer these pages actu8.lly taken a self-justificatory position in that statement.
from party history to our comrades in the hope that these will
In its authoritative statement and articles such 8.S "On
help them in finding the correct answers.-Editor, Liberation.
People's Democracy" 8.nd "On the Agr8.rian Question in India"
published in Vol. II, No. I, J8.nuary, 1949: "Struggle for a
People's Democracy and Soci8.lism-Some Questions of Strllotegy
.and Tactics" published in Vol. II, No. 4, June-July, 1949: "On
Revisionism in the light of Lenin's Teachings" published in Vol.
II, No.2, Februllory, 1949, the Editorial Board threw overboard
2
 18 LIBERATION

811the te8chings of Lenin and Stalin on imperialism and colonial

revolutions, produced a full-fledged Trotskyite thesis of one stage ( 2 )
revolution. GREETINGS TO COMMUNIST PARTY OF
The Editorial Board distorted Zhdanov's report 8nd turned
litblind eye to the valuable articles of the brother Pllorti~s and
CHINA ON ITS 29TH ANNIVERSARY,

I finally threw to the winds the principles of ~lloternal relatIons of JULY I, 1950
v
the world Communist brotherhood, to the extent of open sillonder
of Comrllode Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist Party.
The Oentral Commit~ee of the Oommunist Party of India
The Editorial Board thanks its readers and supporters
has sent the following message of greetings to the
for the political initiative and vigilance they have shown, Oommunist Party of Ohina on the 29~h Anniversary of the
for the sharp criticism they have levelled against it.s self- latter on July 1 :
justificatory statement on the Editorial articl~ of the.Journal
The Oentral Oommittee of the Oommunist Party of India
For a Lasting Peace, For a People', Democracy and agalOst the
greets the Oommunist Party of Ohina on the 29th anniversll.ry
Left-Sectarian and Trotskyite line which the Editorial Board
of its foundllotion.
pursued in its statements and articles.
This is the first time th80t the entire people of Ohina are
This criticism has helped the Editorial Board a great deal
joyously celebrating the anniversary of the foundation of the
to mllokea complete turn Ilondto chalk out the broad lines of ~he
Communist Party of Ohina. They know full well that it was
new strategy and tactics of the present stlloge ~f the. Ind~8on
under the wise leadership of their Oommunist Party that the
revolution, which Cllon serve as 110
basis for achievlOg umficatlOD
entire mainl80nd of Ohina bas been clea.red of the rule of the
of the Oommunist movement.
Kuomintang, the America.n puppets. They 8o]so know that it is
The Editorial Board herewith withdraws all the statements under the same leadership that the liberation of Tibet and
Ilond Ilorticles mentioned above and requests the readers of Ta.iwan, the implementation of agrarian reforms, the industria.l-
OOMMUNIST not to consider them as authoritllotive any longer. isa.tion of the country and other measures are going to be
The Editorial BOMd which has been reconstituted in the carried out, thus transforming semi-coloJ;lial Ohina into an
light of the criticism of its readers 80ndin the light of its own adv80nced industrial country a.nd la.ying the b80sisfor Socialism.
self-criticism, will soon publish 110
detailed criticism of the above- The entire democratic world is also 'h8oppy that the 475
mentioned articles and will Boon publish 8 new stllotement and million people of Ohina, under the leadership of their Oommunist
resolution defining the policy of the Editorial Board. Party, have become stable members of the international camp
In the present number, we are publishing 110
resolution adopt(:ld of peace, democracy and Socialism.
by the new Editorial BOllord on the anti·Leninist criticism ~f Particularly happy are the peoples of the colonia.l world at
Oomrade Mao Tse-tung made in the article "Struggle for People s this first and greatest victory of People's Democracy in a colonial
Democracy Ilond Socillolism, etc." published in OOMMUNIST, country. The utter defeat 0f American ltnd other imperialists as
Vol. II, No.4, June-July, 1949. well as their Ohinese stooges, by the Ohinese people under the
leaderShip of the Oommunist Party of China, is a source of
inspiration to all colonial peoples; they all see in the Ohinese
~ution the model for their own revolutions. The peoples of
 LIBERATION
20 PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 21'.
Viet Nam, Malaya. Burma, Philippines, Indonesia, have already
its Indian stooges. The brave fighters of Telengana, Andhra,.
taken to this path and other colonial people are going to take it.
Mymensingh, etc., have already shown that the Chinese path.
The Communist Parties in the colonial world are looking is the path for India also ..., The Central Committee is sure that.
upon the Communist Party of China as their model. The 29 fcllowing this path, the Indian people can defeat the diabolica~
. years long history of the Communist Party of China has shown plans of ,Anglo-American imperialism to make India its base of
;-them how to unite their own people under proletarian hegemony aggression against the Soviet Union and China as well as of
. and how to build a Lenin-Stalin Bolshevik Party in a colonial intervention against the peoples of South-East Asia, liberate>
...country. their country from the imperialist grip and establish People's.
Democracy.
While associating itself with the worldwide celebration
; 01 this anniversary, the Cen,tral Committee recalls with The Great Lenin prophesied that when the Indian people take-
gratitude the direct ideological assistance rendered by t~e their place shoulder to shoulder with the peoples of China, anCf
Communist Party of China to the Communist Party of IndIa, of the Soviet Union in the struggle for emancipation, 'there would;
'The Open Letter which it addressed to the ranks of the not be the slightest shadow of doubt what the final ·outcome of
Communists in India in 1933 was greatly instrumental the world struggle would be-the victory of Socialism is fully.-
" . correcting the Left-sectarian mistakes of those days and and absolutely assured'.
III •. t
in uniting the scattered Communist groups in IndIa III 0 an A great responsibility now rests on the shoulders of the-
All-India Communist Party. The Central Committee grate- Communist Party of India to bring the great Indian people int().
fully acknowledges the invaluable aid rendered by t~e the world front of peace, democracy and Socialism, headed by
leadership of the Communist of China, through theu the Soviet Union, in which the Chinese people led by their-
wl'itings and speeches to our present inner-Party Communist Party have already taken their rightful place.
discussions. There is not the slightest doubt that with the fraternal
The Central Committee realises that the best way for it .to assistance of the Chinese Communist Party and the world'
celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of the .Communlst Communist movement, the working class and the people of
- Party of China is to intensify its own struggle agamBt Anglo- India, will be able to discharge that responsibility and play their-
part in fulfilling Lenin's prophecy.
American imperialism and its Indian agents. For, after tha
.utter defeat inflicted on it by the Chinese People's Liberation Long live the Oommunist Party of Ohina and its leader
.Army led by the Communist Party of China, the internatio~al Oomrade Mao Tse-tung !
mp of reaction is trying to make India its base of aggressIOn Long live the fraternal solidarity of the working class ana.
ca . S . l'
"against the Soviet Union, China and other democratIC OOlaIS peoples of Ohina and India, the struggle for lasting peace, People's-
. countries and also of intervention against the liberation struggl Democracy and Socialism !
. waged by the peoples of Burma and countries of South-Eas
:Asia.
Armed with the lessons of the Chinese Revolution as drawn
b the Communist Party of China and its great leader, Comrada
I .L~ng liv~ the .anti-imperialist Democratic· Front led by the·
'oczalzst Sov~et Unzon and the leader and teacher of the working>
class and pmgressive humanity-OOMRADE STALIN!

'~ao Tse-tung, the Central Committee has pledged to unite th

.
_entire people of India against Anglo- Amencan .
Impena. l'Ism and
 PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 23
Bengali, Marathi and Hindi publications is one of the most
( 3 ) serious of the many mistakes committed by the Editorial Board.
If the Editorial Board had doubts about certain formulations
STATEMENT OF EDITORIAL BOARD OF
in the writings of Com. Ma.o Tse-tung (if it was unable to under-
"COMMUNIST" ON ANTI-LENINIST stand the meaning of the policies pursued by the Ohinese
CRITICISM OF COMRADE Communist Party, it was its elementary duty to have got into
touch with the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party to
MAO TSE- TUNG
get its doubts solved by mutual discussions. This is what the
solidarity of the international Communist front and the loyalty
Made in the article "Struggle for People's Democracy to the principle of the fraternal co-operation among Communists
and Socialism", COMMUNIST, Vol. II, No.4 of all countries, demands of Communists of every country if
they are to remain loyal to the cause of revolution.
The Editorial Board of Oommunist unreservedly withdraws
But the Editorial Board took the harmful COjIrse of
the entire criticism of Comrade Mao Tse-tung'made in the course
making an open, abusive and un comradely attack upon
of an article entitled "Struggle for a People's Democracy and
Comrade Mao Tse-tung. It was not an isolated mistake.· It
Socialism-Some Questions of Strategy and Tactics" published in
Oommunist, Vol. II, No.4, June-July, 1949. was a necessary part of the Trotskyite-Titoite conceptions
which dominated the mind of the Editorial Board,of its effort
The Editorial Board tenders its deeply felt apologies to
to pursue Left-opportunist policies. The Editorial Board
Comrade Mao Tse-tung and to the Central Committee of the
imagined that its Left-opportunist conceptions of the nature
Communist Party of China. The Editorial Board is fully
of the People's Democratic revolution in India, of its class
conscious of the fact that the unworthy attacks against
alliance and strategy, which it had acquired under the influe-
Comrade Mao Tse-tung made in the Oommunist was (sic)
nce of Titoist literature, was the last word in the application of
wrong not only against the Communist Party of China but
Marxist-Leninist theory tc;the problems of the new stage of the
against the solidarity of the international Communist front,
colonial liberation movement.
a criminal violation of the principle of fraternal cooperation
among Communists of all countries. Comrades from Andhra h~d submitted a document to the
Editorial Board soon soon after the Second Party Congress (in
This criticism was not only wrong and anti-Leninist,
June, 1948) in. which they very correctly proposed that the
but also a base slander against the leader of the victorious
concrete formulation of the strategy and tactics to be pursued
Chinese Revolution and the Communist Party of China.
by the Party in its struggle to realise the programme and
Objectively it only brought grist to the mill of the vili-
objective set forth by the Second Congress, should be made on
fication campaign started by the Anglo-American imperia-
the basis of the ideas developed by Comrade Mao Tse-tung in
lists with the sole object of maligning Comrade Mao and his classical work New Democracy.
the Chinese Communist Party in the eyes of the peoples The oomrades from Andhra, who were pioneers in unlell.shing
of the colonial countries and of disrupting the solidarity the agrarian revolution and in leading militant struggles of the
of the anti-imperialist democratic front. peasllonts and people of Telengllona, correctly pointed out that
The making and accepbance of such criticism alid its publi- 11&o's work Wll.ila. brilliant contribution to the Lenin-Stalin
cation in the theoretical journals like Oommunist (English), in tellochingon the nllotionllolliberllotion revolution in the colonies.

LIBERATION
24
They insisted that the path followed by the Chinese Commu-
nist Party in unleashing the national liberation struggle in
the face of Kuomintang reaction and its white terror is the
path which Indian Communists must adopt in the present
phase.
The Editorial Board bent upon pushing forward its
Trotskyist conception of the present stage· of the Indian
revolution, which .denied its national liberationist and
colonial character, and its Lett-opportunist policies, rejected
the proposal of the Andhra comrades and made a malicious
attack upon Comrade Mao Tse-tung.
The :{jjditorial Board hypocritically stated that it "accepted
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin ll.S the authoritative 'sourCM
of Marxism", and that it has "not disconred new sources of
Marxism beyond these."
After having declared itself the only'authoritative interpreter
of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, the Editorial Boa-rd'then
pronounces the following judgement on the leader of the victori.
ous Ohinese Revolution :
"Noijfor that matter ill there ,any Oommunist Party which
/ declares adherence to' the so-called theory of New Democracy
alleged tobe propounded by Mao and declares it to be a new
addition to Marxism. Singularly' enough ' there waS no
reference to this new addition to Marxism in the Oonference
of Nine Parties in Europe, (i.e., Oommunist Inforniation Bureau
-E. B.). Under these circumstances it is very wrong for a
section of the leadership of the Oentral Oommittee to take upon
itself the task of recommending' new discoveries which one of
the most authoritative conferenc<ls of MlHxists has not though!; bourgeoisie, will have to adopt a correct attitude towards this
fit to recommend. The Andhra Secretariat should have thought
ten times before making such a formulation and taking an
original stand on the question of this contribution. It is imper-
missible for Oommunists to talk lightly about new discoveries, entire bourgeoisie had to be fought, made this unworthy a.nd
~ enrichment, because such claims have proved too often to be a slanderous attack on Oomra.de Mao Tse·tung.
thin cloak for revisionism (Tito, Browder, etc.). (Communist.
Vol. II. No.4, p. 77).
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY
Proclaiming itself as the pontiff of Marxism-Leninism,.
the Editorial Board has here' pronounced the classic work on
Ohina's New Democracy as revisionist and has shown the'
amazing brazen-facedness to suggestively J;DentionTito and
Browder in that connection.
The Editorial Board knew very well that it could not brush
aside the important questions raised by the Andhra comrades and
put acrosS its Trotskyite Left·sectarian policies, as long as th~
Party ranks continued to regard Oom. Mao Tse-tung as one of the.
outstanding leaders of the international Oommunist movement-
a creative Marxist and a continuator of the teachings of Lenin.
and Stalin on the nat\onalliberation revolution of the colonies.
That is why the Editorial Board dishonestly pitted the
authority of the Nine Communist Parties' Conference against
Comrade Mao in order to declare his great work as
revisionist. That is why the Editorial Board went to the
length of suggestively mentioning the names of Tito and
Browder in the s~me breath as that of Comrade Mao-and
that at a time when the entire imperialist press was
slandering him as being an "Eastern Tito".
The Andhra comrades in their document of June 1948·
correctly pointed out that only the Indian big bourgeoisie had
struck a deal with imperialism and had passed over to the camp-
of reaction and counter-revolution. Basing themselves on the
teachings of Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, the Andhra comrades
argued that the middle bourgeoisie continued to be oppressed by
foreign imperialists and Indian monopoly capitalists and that the-
Oommunists, in forging the Democratic Front against Anglo-
American imperialists and their Indian s61~vitors,the Indian big
~iddle bourgeoisie. The Editorial Board, in order to bolster up
lts anti-Leninist, Left-sectarian and disruptive thesis that the
entire bourgeoisie had lined up'in the camp of reaction, that the
Th e Ed't1 orial
. Board dishonestly and without any proof.
suggested that Mao's programme of New Democracy was based
 •
26 LIBERATION PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 21

on the reformist oonoeption of oollaboration with seotions of yeforms in the rural areas of Bengal. Andhra. and North Malabar.
, the bourgeoisie, Comrade Mao Tee.tung WlllS falsely acoused of They unfolded the perspective of a. protracted struggle and dogged
propounding tha.t the New Democratic regime to be oreated by resistance.
the victorious revolution would be promoting (capitalism" and But the Editorial Board had alrea.dy adopted an anti-Leninist
that he was oompletely negating "the transitional anti-capitalist analysis of the agra.rian question in Indillo. This analysis denied
eha.racter of the economic order under People's Demooracy" and the dominance of feudal relations in India and negated the task
denying the perspective of advanoe to the oonstruction of of rallying all the peasllontry in the struggle to wipe out feudal
Socialism, .and semi-feudal landlordism. The Editorial Board, therefore,
The Editorial Boa.rd pioked up isolated phrases and para.graphs Dot only rejected the proposal to adopt the path followed by
out of oontext from the writings of Mao "to prove" this lie and the Chinese people, but went - one step further to give a
proclaimed arrogantly tha.t : falsified and slanderous interpretation of the history of
So "Some of Mao's formulations are suoh that no Communist ihe Communist Party of China.
"'Party can accept them ; they are in oon tradiction to the world The Editorial Board quoted a long passage from the Colonial
understanding of the Communist Parties," (Oommunist. Vol. II, Tpesis of the Sixth Congress of the Communist International
No.4. p 78) <July~August, 1928) which drew lessons from some of the
mistakes committed by the former lea.dership of the Communist
Once again the international Communist movement is
"Party of China. From this passage, the Editorial Board drew
pitted against Comrade Mao. It is slyly suggested that Mao's
the utterly false Trotskyist conclusion:
Mar~ism is of a doubtful brand and has little in common
with that of the international Communist movement, thus "Why had the Chinese to go through the protracted civil
once again lending a hand to the slander campaign of the war? Just because the leadership of the Chinese Communist
Part'y llottimes failed to fight for the hegemony of the proletariat,
imperialists.
for bringing the majority of the masses in alliance and under
The Andhra comra.des in their document of June 1948 had the leadership of the proletariat. because it followed tactical
drawn pointed attention to the fact that the Anglo-American J;>olicieswhich led to disaster." (Ibid, p. 84)
imperialists had la.unched since March 1948 a furious and armed
How utterly bankrupt and dishonest is this effort of the
offensive against the rising national liberation movement in the
Editorial Board to undermine the prestige of the Chinese
countries of South-east Asia, and that the brutal repression and
Communist Party and its leadership in the eyes of the Party
white terror launched by the Nehru-Patel Government against
ranks, can be seen from the following facts:
the democratic forces headed by the Communist Party of India
was a part of this imperialist offensive. (a) Already in August 1927, Comrade Stalin had replied
to the Trotskyist opposition which had sought to slander the
The Andhra comrades quite correctly proposed that the
Chinese Communist Pady in a similar way. Stalin said:
Indian proletariat and Communists must in this situation folloVl'
the path taken by the Chinese Communist Party in leading the "The fact that the Communist Party in China. grew in a very
liberation struggle of the Chinese people against imperialisIXl short period fro:n a small group of 2,000 into a mass party of
.and the Kuomintang reactionaries. They proposed that the '60,000 members ....the fact that the Chinese Communist Party
Communists must concenrate on the task of unleashing the has succeeded in arousing millions of peasants from their torpor
militant struggles of the peasants for urgently needed agrarian •... the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has succeeded in
 •
28 LIBERATIOR
l'AGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 29
so brier a period in gaining Illllthese achievements is due inci- It was the outcome of the anti-international trend in the
dentally to the fact that it followed the pll.th outlined by Lenin Editorial Board which manifested itself in the slanderous
., -the path indicated by the Communist International.. ..only criticism of the brother Communist Parties made in the
;
ultra-Left renegades and adventurists can doubt this." (J. V. article on Revisionism <Communist, Vol. II No.2, February
Stalin, Marxism and the National and Colonial Question. 1949) and in the publication of the correspondence of the
Lawrence and Wishart, London. 1947, pp. 251-2) Australian and British Parties. It expressed itself in the failure
The Editorial Board suppressed this fact from its readers. to publish articles of the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party
(b) The present leadership of the Chinese Communist Party .in the Communist. It finally expressed itself in the suppression
headed by Comrades Mao Tse-tung, Chu Teh and others cam~ {)fthe Peking Manifesto and the delay in the publication of the
to the helm of affairs some twenty years ago. It did so by editorial of the organ of the Information Bureau of the
waging a determined struggle against both Right and Left Communist and Workers' Parties.
deviations from Marxism-Leninism, by fighting for the In making and publishing this criticism of Mao Tse-tung,
cOrrect Lenin-Stalin strategy and tactics of leading national the Editorial Board is guilty of indirect support to the vicious
liberation str~gles. U~er the leadership of Comrade MaG slander initiated by the Anglo-American imperialists. It is
Tse-tung, the Chinese Communist Party mastered the tactics of guilty of the attempt to create a barrier between the leader
realising proletarian hegemony in the liberation struggle lionel of the victorious Chinese revolution and the masses and the
became a mighty force, rallying the vast masses of the peasantry people of India, preventing them from learning from the
clllpableof achieving its final historic victory. The Editorial Board invaluable theoretical and practical experience of the great
sa.id nothing Illboutthis. Chinese Party. The Editorial Board is guilty of a serious
(c) Already in 1935, when the Chinese Communist Party breach of the discipline and solidarity of the international
under the leadership of Comrade MillOTse-tung had waged the Communist movement, of violating the principle of fraternal
"protracted civil' war" against Chiang Kai-shek for eight long cooperation between the Communists of all countries.
years, the Communist International at its Seventh Congress In its recent meeting, the Editorillli Board, Illfterthorough
paid a warm and glowing tribute to the Communist Pary of <Iiscussion and on the basis of the criticism of its relllders and
China and characterised it as a model for all colonial the self-criticism of its 'own members, condemned the Trotskyite,
'- countries. Comrade Mao Tse-tung was elected to the Executive Left-sectarian line, initiated and propounded by it in a series of
Committee of the Communist International. The Editoria ~rticles Illnd authoritative statements. The meeting condemned
Boa.rd suppressed this flllct from its readers. the serious anti-international trend manifested in these
articles. The making and publishing of the slanderous
This vilification of the Communist Party of China and
criticism of Comrade Mao and the Chinese Communist Party
the slander of its great leader, Mao Tse-tung, indulged in b
was one of the worst manifestations of this trend. The
the Editorial Board is a serious crime against the Communis
meeting of the Editorial BOlllrd therefore took the decision to
movement, against proletarian internationalism. -reconstitute itself.
It arose not merely out of the political ignorance an
II
petty bourgeois arrogance of the Editorial Board. It was
necessary part of the Editorial Board's Titoist Left-oppor It is necessary to refute in detail the criticism of Comrade
tu~ist policy. Mao Tse-tung made by the Editorial Board in the course
 30 LIBERATIO PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 31
of its statement on Strategy and Tactics and to draw the In his New Democracy Oomrade Mao Tse-tung defined the New
lessons on the significance of the invaluable teaching and Democratic,revolution in the colonies and semi-colonies 80S an
experience of the great Chinese Revolution for the Indian anti-imperialist anti-feudal revolution, under the leadership of the
Communists and for the Indian people, to wage a persistent working olass and the Oommunist Party. The oentral slogan of
struggle against bourgeois nationalism which is the source this revolution was the New Demooratic republio of all anti.
of Left-opportunist deviation and of the "anti-international" imperialist classes, in whioh the leading role belonged to the
trend in the old Editorial Board: to educate the vanguard working olass. This revolution was 80 part of the proletarian
of the working class in the spirit of proletarian inter- Socialist world revolution. The aocomplishment of the first stage
nationalism. of the revolution culminating in the setting up of the People's
Democratio Republic and the People's Demooratic dictatorship of
The statements on People's Democracy aDd on Strategy
the anti· imperialist olasses led by the working olass opens the
and Tactics adopted by the Editorial Board denied, as the
way to the second stage, building of Sooialist society.
Trotskyists did on the Chinese question, the anti-imperialist
• character of the Indian revo!ution and the colonial character In propounding these great ideas whioh have been brilliantly
of India's economy, after the imposition of the Mountbatten confirmed by the historio victory of the revolution in Ohina,
. Award. As a result of this Left opportunist understanding, Oomrade Ma.o Tse-tung uttered a sharp warning against mixing
the Editorial Board negated the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal the two stages. Oondemning the theory of "a single revolution"

1 and national liberationist

the revolution in India.
character of the present stage of which the Ohinese Trotskyists were putting forward, Oomrade
Mao said that it was an "entirely subjective thought" whioh
purports to "accomplish both the politioal revolution and the
In its statement on Strategy and Taotios in the oourse of social revolution in one stroke" in utter disregard of the develop-
Seotion III, the Editorial Board has made an utterly wrong ment of the revolution, i. e., the necessity of a period of transition
oritioism of Oomrade Mao Tse-tung's important work New between one revolution and another. Such talk by oonfusing
Democracy. The Editorial Board has not only ridiouled the idea. the two stages of the revolution tends to injure the cause of
that this book contained a valuable oontribution to the Lenin· revolution by diminishing the importance of the demo~ratic
Stalin theory of national liberation revolutions in the oolonies tasks to be oarried out at the present juncture. (New Democracy,
and semi-colonies. but has gone to the length of oondemning PPH, 1950, p. 20)
this great work as "revisionist" and placing it on a par with
The Editorial Board in its statements on People's Democracy
Browder's reformism and Tito's Trotskyism. This impudent and
and on Strategy and Tactics has oommitted this very
bankrupt criticism of Oomrade Mao's great work is the besl;.
~rotskYist mistake against which Oomrade Mao warned. This
exposure of the 'Left' ·opportunist understanding and line of
IS exactly the reason why the Editorial Board belittled
the Editorial Board.
the importance of Mao's great work on New Demooracy and had
Oomrade Mao's New Democracv was the produot of thlt the conceit to suggest that it was not applicable to the present
integration of Marxist·Leninst theory with the revolutionary stage of our revolution in India and to suggest in so many words
praotice of the Ohinese people's liberation struggle led by the tbat it was no new contribution to the Lenin.Stalin teachings
proletariat. That is why it has the most valuable lessons for on the strategy and tactics of colonial revolution (Ref. Communist,
the proletariat and the Oommunist Parties in India and the Vol. II, No.4, p. 77).
other oolonial countries.
Oomrade Mao Tse-tung's New Democracy, first published in
 LIBERATIO. PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 33

Ohina. ten ~ears ago in J anuar~, 1940, is a brilliant application of and correctl~ expounded them in his New Democracy written
the Lenin-Stalin teachings of the strategy and tactics of a.
natio~l revolution in the colonies, to the tasks and problems of
the Ohinese revolution. Tha.t book inspired hundreds an
thousands of Ohinese Oommunists to give correct leadership to
the progressive forces of the Ohinese people, who at the tim
were passing through difficult times, fighting on the one ha.nd
the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, while at the
same time they were being subjected to a treacherous assaul
by the Kuomintang reactionaries.
The basic ideas about the N~w Democratic revolution i
Ohina developed in this book have not only stood the test 0
time but have been fully confirmed by the subsequent develop.
ment and the victorious outcome of the revolution in Ohina.
The ideas developed by Oomrade Mao in his New Democracy
have been further developed and concretised by him in hi
later articles, especially in the article "Dictatorship of People'
ten years ago. Basing himself on Stalin's article "Internationa.l
Bignifica.nce of the October Revolution" written in 1918, Oomrade
Mao wrote:
"Since the publication of the article, Stalin has a.gain and
aga.in developed the theory rega,rding the colonial and semi.
colonial revolution, its sepa,ration from the old type, and its
transforma,tion into a part of the proletarian Socialist revolution."
{Ohina's New Democracy, PPH, Bomhay, 1950, p. 7).
In this book written in the beginning of the Second World
War, Oomrade Ma.o emphasised the fact that with all imperialist
,countries as her enemies Ohina cannot attain her independence
without the aid of the one Socialist country (USSR) and the
internationa.l proletariat. Ohina. must join the anti-imperialist
iront and take part in the world revolution. He very correctly
.characterised the People's Democratic rev~lution in Ohina as
'180 new type of revolution, wholly or partly led b~ the proletariat,

Democracy," (For a Lasting Peace, For a People's Democracy, thc first stage of which aims at setting up a New Democratic
No. 14 (41), July 15, 1949). He sums-up the iessoDs a,nd .gociety, a new state of the combined dictatorship of all revolu-
experience of the Ohinese revolution in the following words. tionary classes." (Ibid, p. 6)
"We ha.ve a,cqnired invaluable experience and the essen Already ten years ago he foresaw the perspective of the
of this experience consists· of the following three factors: Ohinese revolution-a People's Democratic revolution led by the
disciplined part~ equipped with the theory of Ma,rx, Engel 1>roleta.riat directly passing over into Socialist revolution, without
Lenin and Stalin, using the method of self-criticism and closel having to pass through a capitalist development, in alliance
linked with the masses; an army led by this Party; a unite with and with the fraternal assistance of the Socialist Soviet
front of different revolutionary sections of society and groups 1 Union-a perspective which is today not a dista.nt goal but an
by this Party. Basing ourselves on these factors we won th objective of practicable achievement especially with the signing
main victor~". (For a Lasting Peace, For a People's Democracy of the treaty of friendship and mutual assistance between the
No. 14 (41) July 15,1949). .People's Republic of Ohina and the Soviet Union.
The editorial article of the organ of the Information Burea In his New Democracy, Oomrade Mao wrote:
which outlined the ta.sks of the Indian Oommunists a,nd th
"The first stage of Ohina.'s revolution (which again is divided
threw a sha,rp light on our Left-sectarian mistakes, has em ph
into many sub-stages according to its social character, is a new
.gised exactly these main IllS sons of the rich experience of th
bourgeois democra.tic revolution, not the newest proletarian
Ohinese revolution. Socialist revolution, though it long ago in the past became a
III part of the latter, and is a magnificent part, a magnificent llolly
Oomrade Mao Tse-tung diligently assimilated the teachin .of it at the present. The first step or stage of this revolution
? .of the great Stalin on the perspectives of the Ohinese Revoluti is certa.inly not to, and certainly cannot, establish a capitalist
3
 84 LIBERATION
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 8tL
society dictated by the bourgeoisie, but to esta.b1ish a New Demo-
population, constitutes the basis of the dictatorship ai fliEr'
cracy ruled by the alliance of several revolutiona.ry classes,
People's Democracy, Imperialism and the Kuomintang re-
After the accomplishment of this first stage, it will be developed
actionary clique were overthrown primarily by the force of the
into the second stage-to establish the Socia.list society of
working class and the peasantry. The transition from the New
China." (Ibid, p. 9).
Democracy to Socialism depends, in the main, on the allia.nce of
I n h'IS article on "The Dictatorship of Peop Ie, s D emocracy ," these two classes, The working class must lead the dictator-
written on the eve of the formation of the People's Democr~tlc ship of the People's Democracy, for only the working class ie
Government of China., Oomrade Mao Tse-tung further concre~lsed the most far-sighted, just, unselfish and consistently revolu-
these ideas, He emphasised the fact that the victory ~f the Ohmese
tionary class. The history of all revolutions shows that without
revolution would not have been possible nor would It. have bee.n the leadership of the working class the revolution is doomed to
possible to consolidllote victory llofterit had been ~ch16~ed, had It
failure. But under the leadership of the working class the
~~ t been for the Soviet Union, for its epoch-mllokmg VlCtory over
no PI' revolution will be victorious", (For a Lasting Peace, For a People's
German and Japanese fascism, for the emergence of the eop e s Democracy, No. 14 (41), July 15,1949.).
Democracies in Europe and for the growing struggle of ~he
All this shows how Oomrade Mao has developed and
proletariat in the capitalist countries, and for the growmg
concretised in the true spirit of Lenin-Stalin teachings the ideas
struggle of the opperssed peoples in the East, He summed up :
about the transition of People's Democracy to Socialism in Ohina.
"Internationally we belong to the anti-imperialist front,
which he formulated ten years ago in his New Democracy,
headed by the Soviet Union and for genuine friendly aid we must
I ok to this front and not to the imperialist front." IV
o Internationally, it is the alliance with the Soviet Union and
The Editorial Board completely ignored this brilliant exposi-
the People's Democracies-the fact that China is now an integral
tion given by Oomrade Mao of the perspective of the People's,
part of the anti-imperialist democratic front h~aded by. t~e
Democratic revolution in Ohina., and of the course of its
Socialist Soviet Union-that secures and consolidates Ohma s
transition to Socialism under the leadership of the working class,
na.tional independence and facilitates her transition towards
In the course of the article "Struggle for People's Democracy and,
Socialism. . Socialism", the Editorial Board has made an utterl.y d~est
Internllolly, it is the leadership of the working cbss hea.ded
criticism of the exposition given by Oomrade Mao Tse-tung OF
by the Oommunist Party which follows the course indicated in
the transitional measures which the People's Democratic state
the teachings of Lenin and Stalin, and the alliance with the
will have to ta.ke to consolidate its victory and to prepare the
peasantry, which forms the ba.sic condition for the successf~l
pre-requisites for the' transition to building of Socialism. (Ref.
development of the dictatorship of the People's Democracy Jll Communist, Vol. II, No.4, p. 78).
Ohina and for its transition through People's Democra.cy to
The Editorial Board wrongly attributed to Oomrade Mao the
Socialism and Oommunism.
view that he stood for the promotion of capitalism as the.
Oomrade Mlloo has laid the greatest stress on this in the
dominant economy in the period immediately following the
article mentioned above:
victory of the People's Democratic revolution.
"Alliance of the working class, the peasantry and the urban
A distorted interpretation, was given of the fOllowing
petty bourgeoisie, and chiefly the alliance of the working clasS
quotation from Mao Tse-tung's Political Report to the Seventh
with the peasantry, for it comprises 80 to 90 per cent of Ohina'S
Oongress of the Oommunist Party of Ohina (April 24, 1945)
 PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 37
36 LIBERATION
methods of, etc.) private trade and private capitalism," (Lenin
which the Andhra.' Secretariat had quoted in their document to -Selected Works, Moscow, Two-Vol. Ed., Vol. 2, p. 761).
refute the a.rgument of those who sa.id tba.t at this stage of the The Editorial Board by making this ba.nkrupt criticism only
revolution itself we have to fight against the entire bourgeoisie, proved its complete ignorance and repudiation of Lenin's and
against the entire capital: Stalin's teaching on the NEP, on the transitional economic
"Some people cannot understand why the Communists, far measures which the proletariat in power must take in order to
from being anti-pathetic to capitalism, actually promote its create conditions for the tr8onsition from ca.pitalism to Socialism.
-development, ., What China does not want is foreign capitalism Stalin h80s pointed out that Lenin's teachings on the New
$nd native feudalism, it does not oppose native capitalism." Economic Policy are universally applicable !lond"will be absolutely
{Mao Tse-tung, (The Fight For A New China, New Century indispensa.ble for every capitalist country in the period of
Publishers, New York, 1945, p. 38). dictatorship of the proletariat." This prophecy is today being ful-
The Editorial Board, without bothering to see what this filled in the countries of People's Democracy, where the economic
formulation of Comrade Mao actually meant, and in which policy pursued today conforms to all the ba.sic principles of
context it was made and quoted by the Andhra Secretariat, at NEP. Comrade Mao Tee-tung was making a brilli80nt application
once proceeded to deliver the following tirade: of these teachings of Lenin and Stalin when he was defining how
the People's Democratic state' will have to adopt 80correct policy
"Is it not elementary Marxism that. if you undertake to
towards middle industrial and trading bourgeoisie, in order to
promote capitalism you will be inevitably promoting the dictator-
consolidate its power against the forces of foreign and native'
ship of the capitalist class ... It is obvious that this promoting
rea.ction a.nd create the pre-requisites for the transition towards
capitalism would mellon promoting the rule of a fascist clique
the building of Socialism. Not to see this but to t80lk of "horrify-
like Chiang's clique, for capita.lism can only exist as fascism
ing" and "loose formulations" of Comrace Mao is nothing but the
in China in present-da.y conditions." (Communist, Vol. II, No.4,
,blind arrogance of dogmatists who refuse to learn from creative
p. 79). Marxism of the great leaders of international Oommunism.
This is not honest criticism, but the cheapest demagogy The Editorial Board had before it the whole report in the

.'
- and slander, which only proves that the Editorial Board
consists of complete ignoramuses who know nothing of the
teaching of Lenin and Stalin on the transitional measures
course of which Oomrade Mao had explained how the stage of the
New Democr8otic, revolution
Socialist revolution and how
is distinct from the stage of the
the tasks of the former
which the proletariat, having come to power, must take in wnich are in the main anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and
order to create conditions for the transition from capitalism national liberationist cannot be mixed with those of the latter
to Socialism. which are the final liquidation of capitalism and the establish-
Comra.de Mao h80dnowhere spoken of the necessity of absolute ment of Socialism and Oommunism. In the same report Comrade
development of capitalism in China. He spoke of the development Mao had also explained how the successful People'J Democratic
of capita.lis~ in the same restricted sense in which Lenin revolution would prepare the pre· requisites for the establishment
also spel!,ks of in the following pl!,ssage for instance: of Socialism by "restricting c8opital"-by ensuring that "all native
"Without changing its essence, the proletarian state ml!,y or foreign enterprises that are either of tbe nature of monopolies
, permit free trade 80ndthe development of c80pitalism only within
cerbin bounds and only on the condition tha.t the state
....for instance, banking, railways,
managed by the state (i.e., People's Democratic
shipping, etc ... should be
state) so that
regulates (supervises, controls, determines the forms and private capital may not control the livelihood of the people."
38 LIBERATION
Predicting the future course of the Ohinese revolution, J. V.
Stalin had pointed out years ago that
•• h
w en the working class wins hegemony in the Ohinese
Tevolution and consolidates its alliance with the peasantry and
with the working people of the town and country it will be
able to OV9rcome resistance of the national bourgeoisie to achieve
the complete victory of the hourgeois democratic revolution and
later to shift it gradually to the course of Socialist revolution
with all the consequences arising therefrom." (J. V. Stalin,
Collected Works, Russ. Ed, Vol. ix, p. 222.)
The revolutionary regime formed under the leadership of the
proletariat, pointed out J. V. Stalin, will be
"a regime of transition to the non-capitalist or to be more
precise, Socialist development of Ohina." (J. V. Stalin, Collected
Works, Russ. Ed. Vol. viii, p, 366).
Oomrade Mao not only asserted in general terms this Stalinist
teaching about the 'non-capitalist' development of Ohina after
the victory of the People's Democratic revolution, but he also
{)osed and solved the concrete problems of such a development.
(Jomrad'e Mao, of course, knew that
"in a country dominated by small production in agriculture,
you cannot decree Sorialism and large scale agriculture the
next day-for the simple reason that the means of production for
large-scale agriculture are not there and the majority of the
-small producers must be won over and convinced." (Communist,
-Vol. II, No.4, pp. 79-80).
There was no justification whatsoever for the patronising
~riticism made by the Editorial Board:
"Mao confuses the toleration of commodity production, small-
-scale production, private production under conditions of people's
rule and nationalisation of big industries and banks with promo-
ting capitalism and completely eliminates the transitional anti-
capitalist character of the economic order under People's Demo-
.cracy." (Ibid, p. 80.)
But in its unseemly effort to discredit Oomrade Mao the
Editorial Board has failed to take note of the glaring fact that
Comrade Mao has based his policy on just this anti-capitalist
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 39
character of the economic order under People's Democracy-a
policy which is of the utmost importance for the consolidation of
the victory of the People's Democratic revolution, for tbecomplete
gmashing up of the aggressive plans of American imperialism and
its agents, which are by no means ended."
This is what Oomrade Mao s80idin his report to the Oentral
Committee of the Oommunist Party of Ohina on Dec. 25,1947 :
liThe New Democratic revolution is to eliminate only feudalism
snd monopoly capitalism, only the landlord cl80ssand the bureau-
cratic bourgeoisie (big bourgeoisie)-not capitalism inl general and
not the petty and middle bourgeoisie. Owing to the backwardness
of Ohina's economy it will still be necessary to permit the
existence, for a long period, of the capitalist economy represented
by the broad petty bourgeoisie and the middle bourgeoisie even'
after the nationwide victory of the revolution.
"Furthermore in accordance with the division of labour in
the national economy, the development of all sections among
them beneficial to the national economy will still be necessary;
they will still be an indispensable part of the entire national
economy.
"The petty bourgeoisie includes small-scale industrial and
commercial capitalists who hire workers and employees. But
besides these, there !lorethe broad, independent, small industrial
and commercial businessmen who do not hire workers or
employees. With regard to these small industrial and commercial
businessmen, it goes without saying that they should be firmly
protected. After the nationwide victory of the revolution the
New Democratic state will have in its hands enormous state
capital which controls the economic pulse of the entire country,
taken over from the bureauratic bourgeoisie. It will also have
the agricultural economy emancipated from the feudal system.
Although for a quite long time the agricultural economy will
~l be basically scattered and individual, it can be guiden step
-
by step in thc direction of co-operatives in the future.
these conditions the existence and development of small and
Und~
1 capitalist elements are not at all dangerous.

40 LIBERATIOl{
"The same applies to the new rioh peasant eoonomy whiob
will necessarily come into being in the rural areas after the
agrarian revolution.
"Adopting the ultra-Left, erroneous policies toward petty
bourgeois and middle bourgeois economic elements as our Party
did in the period from 1931 to 1934 must absolutely not be
permitted to recur." (Turning Point in Ohina, New Oentury
Publishers, New York, 1948, p. 16-17. )
These profound conclusions of Oomrade Mao Tse-tung have
now been incorporated in the Oommon Programme of the
victorious People's Republic of Ohina. Article 30, Ohapter 4 of the
Oommon Programme lays down:
"The People's Government shall encourage the active opera-
tion of all private economic enterprises beneficial to the national
I welfare and people's livelihood and foster their
development."
long- term
But this is not promotion of capitalism as a dominant.
)
economy. This is guaranteed by the fact that:
"State-owned economy is of 80 socialist nature. All
enterprises vital to the economic life of the country and to the
people's livelihood shall come under the unified operation of
the state. All state-owned resources and enterprises are tha
common property of all the people. They are the main material
basis of the People's Republic for the development of production
and the creation of prosperous economy and are the leading
forces of the entire social economy," (Article 28, Ohapter 4 of
the Oommon Programme ).
It is guaranteed by the fact that the People's Democratic
state led by the working class ensures the workers employed in
.( the private-owned enterprises, proper living conditions and
the protection of their rights of trade union organisation and
collective bargaining as against the employers.
Under these conditions the relative expansion of the small
capitalist sector of economy only enables the People's Democratic
r(' state to consolidate the gains of the revolution, strengthens th&
Power of the working class and creates the conditions for th&
Imarch towards Socia,list development, for the struggle to \
•
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY
eliminate private-owned capitalist economy, for the complet&
I squeezing out of the capitalist elements.
Thus we see that the Editorial Board has utterl:y refused t()
~
understand the rich content of the Lenin-Stalin policy of con-
solidating the regime of People's Democracy in Ohina, pursued
by the Ohinese Oommunist Party and its leader Oomrade
Mao. Its conceited and ignorant criticism of Oomrade Mao
follows' from its 'Left' -opportunist and anti-Leninist und~r-
standing of the stage of the revolution, and the new class align-
;ent in India, after the crossing over of the big bourgeoisie.
't; the side of imperIalism and counter-revolution. The
Editorial Board dogmatically stuck to its 'Left' -opportunist
conception that the entire bourgeoisie had gone over to the.
camp of imperialism and reaction, It refused to understand that
it was the Indian big capital (Birla-Tata-DllIlmia) like the Ohinese
big capital (Four Families) that was interlocked with British
colonial capital, and now with American monopoly, and was
acting as their agent in maintaining India under foreign
imperialist domination and 80S their colonial ba.se. It refused
to see that this imperialist-big bourgeois-llmdlord combine WIloS
not only oppressing workers, peasllonts and the petty bourgeoisie.
but also injuring the interests of sections of the middle.
bourgeoisie as well. The Editorial BOlllrd did not distinguish
between the Indian big bourgeoisie and the other sections of
the bourgeoisie and failed to see that it is the former that is
placed in the seat of power Ilondis collaborating with imperialists
80S their agents.
Thus it is not Mao's formulllltions on the development of
capitalism that run counter-revolutionary, but it is the views
of the Editorillol Board which repudiated the Lenin-Stalin
teachings on NEP and on the restricted development of
capitalism which they imply, which advance the slogans of fight-
ing straightaway against the entire bourgeoisie, without
reckoning with realities, which are oounter-revolutionary. That.
is why the Editorial Board rflfused to see the necessity of
adopting a correct attitude towards the middle bourgeoisie and
towards the rich peasants. That is why it refused to learn any-
42 LIBERATIO PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 43

thing from the great success the Chinese Communist Party "In areas ruled by Chiang Kai-shek there is a section
achieved in forging a single united front of unprecedented of the upper petty bourgeoisie and the middle bourgeoisie
breadth and depth, and which ensured their historic (i.e., the national bourgeoisie-Yo H.) who, though small
victory over the treacherous Chiang Kai-shek and his imperialist in number, have reactionary political tendencies-these are
supporters. The significance of this experience is summed up the Rightist elements among these classes. They disseminate
thus: "The Communist Party of China and the People's illusions about American imperialism and Chiang Kai-shek's
Liberation Army of China earned the respect, recognition and l.'eactionary bloc. They appose the People's Democratic revolu.
love of all the people. A single united front, unprecedented in tion. As long a.s their rea.ctionary tendencies ca.n still influence
breadth and depth and unifying the workers, the peasants, the the ma.sses we should carryon the work of exposing such
urban petty bourgeoisie, the national minorities and certain tendencies among the masses who have been under their
sections of the middle industrial and trading bourgeoisie was influence. Blows should be del~vered at their political influence
created inside the country. The petty and the middle bourgeoisie among the masses, so as to liberate the masses from their
in China suffered oppression and persecution at the hands of influence." (Mao Tse-tung, "Present Situation a.nd Our Tasks",
the reactionary big bourgeoisie, the landlord class and the quoted by Yu Hua.i in People's China, Vol. I, No.1, Jan. 1,
Kuomintang power (which was in the hands of monopoly J 950, pp. 9-10).
capital). The petty and middle bourgeoisie is not or very little The experience of the Chinese Oommunist Party shows that
connected with imperi&lism. That is why this bourgeoisie, the task of bringing this section of the bourgeoisie, the middle
.according to the definition of Mao Tse-tung 'a real national bourgeoisie, into the common front against internal reaction
bourgeoisie' enters into a united front of struggle against internal and foreign imperialism, was very importa.nt for the final victory
reaction and foreign imperialism. The basis of this united <of the People's Democratic revolution in China and for its
national front is the alliance of the working class and the further consolidation against imperialist intervention.
labouring peasantry under the leading role of the working But to carry out this task correctly it is nece3sary to take
class." (V. M. Maslennikov, "On Leading Role of the Working into account the dual nature of this section of the bourgeoisie:
Class in the Nationa.l Liberation Movement of tbe Colonial "Blows at the reactionary political tende~cieB on the part of
Peoples," Colonial People,' Struggle for Liberation, PPH, the Rightist elements of the national bourgeoisie and adequate
Bombay, 1950, p. 28). ilducational and reforming' work among the national bourgeoisie·-
all theee compose the content of the struggle against the national
At the same time it is necessary to remember that the bring-
bourgeoisie at various stages and in various periods of the revolu.
ing of the middle bourgeoisie into such a united front cannot
tion." "It is exactly because of this fact (dual nature of the
be achieved without conducting a correct struggle against this
na.tional bourgeoisie) that struggle must necessarily be conducted
llection of the bourgeoisie, which wavers during the course of
the revolution between the reactionary bloc of the big bour- in an appropriate manner against the national bourgeoisie while
uniting with it." (Yu Huai, "On the Role of the National
geoisie and imllerialism on the one hand and the camp of
Bourgeoisie in the Ohinese Revolution," People's China, Vol. I,
democratic revolution on the other, supporting at one time the
110. 1. pp. 10 and 9).
former and joining at others the latter. This is what Comrade
Mao Tse-tung said about a section' of this bourgeoisie in his report This aspect of the Ohinese experience and of the teaching of
to the Centra.l Oommittee of the Oommunist Party of China in Comrade Mao Tse-tung is a concrete application of the historic
December, 1947 : ana.lysis given by Oomrade Stalin, of the role of the national
44 LIBERATI 0
:PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY
45
bourgeoisie, of its compromlSlng and revolutionary section "Our revolution in many respects differs from the cla.ssical
in the anti .imperialist liberation struggles of the peoples a . revolution • and is to a great extent similar to the
'RusSIan
colonies and semi-colonies, particularly of India and Cbina Chinese revolution. The perspective is likely not that of general
(Speech to the Students of the University of the Toiler '!ltrikes and general rising leading to the liberation of the rural
of the East, 1925). The Editorial Board has dogmatically '!lide. but the dogged resistance and prolonged struggle in the form
ignored and repudiated this teaching of Comra.de Stali .of an agrarian revolution culminating in the coming into power of
on the role of the two sections of the national bourgeoisie and the democratic front." .
on the strategy and tactics of the proletariat in the struggle fa But the Editorial Board instead of giving a straight answer
consolidating its hegemony in the national liberation struggle. to this question rejected the Oninese path outright. They accused
the Andhra comrades of reformism, of counterposing the
v Russian way to the Chinese way and of ignoring the
hegemony of the proletariat. Actually it was the Editorial
It is of the utmost importance for the Indian Communist " Board itself which was guily of reformist sabotage and disru-
to diligently study this experience garnered by the Chinese ption of the struggle for unleashing the agratian revolution.
Communist Party in the course of its historic revolutionary Holding fast to its 'Left' -opportunist analysis of the agrarian
struggle. This is all the more important today when the nationa Question and talking loud of fighting capitalist elements
liberation struggles of the Indian people, which is now being led in the countryside, pursuing Left-adventurist tactics in the
by the Indian working class. has entered into a new phase, when cities, the Editorial Board systematically neglected and
the resolute struggle of ~orking class, peasantry and other disrupted the developing of the anti-feudal struggle of the
progressive forces for a living W!l.ge, land and democracy, are peasantry in certain areas. It completely ignored the central
rising to a higher form of struggle for land and for national lesson of the revolutionary experience of the Chinese
liberation. Communist Party and remained deaf to the clarion call of
It would be impossible for us to raise the countrywide the Peking Conference of Trade Unions of Asian and
people's liberation struggle to a higher level and to lead it to Australasian Countries until the editorial article of the
victory unless we learn to bring the great masses of the peasantry Information Bureau's organ roused it.
under the leadership of the proletariat, unless we learn to draw
The enormous significance of the Chinese revolutionary
them into the revolutionary struggle against feudal landlordism
experience to the working class of all colonial countries was
and for land.
specially emphasised in the Ma.nifesto of the Peking Conference
The vast experience of the Cbinese Communist Party in
of Trade Unions of Asian and Australasian Countries and in the
unleashing the agraria.n revolution, in combining the peasants'
.editorial article in the organ of the Information Bureau. The
struggle for land with the people's liberation struggle againsl;
latter had drawn pointed atten tion of the Indian Communists to
the imperialists and other bourgeois collaborato~sl in consolidalinlt
the important formulation made by Comrade Liu Shao-chi in
workers' -peasants' alliance under proletarian hegemony through
the course of his inaugural address to the Peking Oonference of
the different sta.ges of this struggle. is of immense importance-
the Trade Unions of Asia and Australasia:
to the Indian Oommunists.
"The path taken by the Chinese people .is the path that
The Andhra comrades. who have the experience of leading
should be taken by the people of many colonial and dependent
the great Telengana strnggle, had very 'correctly~raised'a pertinent;
countries in their struggle for national liberation."
point:
46 LIBERATI 0
The path taken by the Chinese people is the correc
application of the Lenin-Stalin teaching of securing the hegemony
of the proletariat in the national liberationist and anti-feudllo
revolution in the colonies and semi.colonies, to the concrete
conditions of the Chinese revolution. The final victory of the
Chinese Revolution, and the experience of the postwar phase
of the national liberation struggles in the countries of South.
East Asia-Viet Nam, Burma, Indonesia, Malaya, Philippines,
etc., has complete_y proved the general applicability of the
path taken by the Chinese people.
Comrade Mao Tse tung has brilliantly summed up the
essence of this Chinese experience. Basing themselves on
the well-known generalisation of Com. Stalin namely,
that "the characteristic and the advantage of the Chinese rev.)lution
is the armed people against the armed counter-revolution", the
Chinese Communist Party and Comrade Mao Tse.tung came to
the correct conclusion that "in China without armed struggle
there will be no place for the proletariat, no place for people,
no place for the Communist Party and no victory of the
revolution". Tn the early months of 1928, in conditions
of nationwide Kuomintang white terror, the Chinese people,
led by the Communist Party of China, established a number
of small revolutionary bases as the starting point of the strs.tegy
to safeguard the revolutionary forces and to combat the counter-
revolutionary forces,
Comrade Mao has summed up the essence of the path taken
by the Chinese people in the following terms:
"It is erratic to ignore the principles of armed struggle~t
the revolutionary wars, guerilla warfares and political work in
tbe army.
"Faced with such enemies, questions arise concerning the
special revolutionary bases. The great imperialist powers and
their reactionary allied armies in China hve alwa.ys indefinitely
occupied the important Chinese cities. If the revolutionary force
refuses to compromise with foreign imperialism and its servile
underlings, but contrarily, to struggle to the very end, and if
the revolutionary force is to accumulate and nurture its own
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 47
strength and avoid fighting decisive battles with the powerful
enemies when its own strength is not yet ascertained, then it
must turn the backward remote rural areas into progressive
strong bases, turning them into great military, political, economic
and cultural revolutionary strongholds. Then from these strong-
holds, the revolutionary force can start to drive out the malicious
enemies based on the large cities encroaching upon the villages;
also from these strongholds, the revolutionary forces may,
through prolonged struggles, gradually achieve total success.
Under such conditions, and because of the unbalanced condition
of the Chinese economic development (the rural economy is not
entirely dependent on urban economy), and of the VlLstness of
China's territories (there is immense space for the revolutionary
forces to fall back to), and of the disunity and conflicts existing
in the Chinese anti-revolutionary camp and of the fact that the
main force of the Chinese revolution, the Chinese peasantry, is
under the leadership of the Communist Party, thus, on the one
hand, there is a great possibility for the Chinese revolution to
succeed, first and foremost, in the countryside Thus we
can understand why these prolonged revolutionary struggles,
starting out from such special strongholds, are composed chiefly
of peasant guerilla warfares under the leadership of the
Communist Party of China. It is erratic to ignore the principles
of rural districts as revolutionary bases, the strenuous work
amongst the peasll.ntry and guerilla warfa.re.
"But in stressing upon the importance of armed struggle,
we must not overlook the other form which revolutionary
struggles must take, for without the other form of revolutionary
struggles, armed struggles alone cannot be victorious. In
stressing upon the importance of the work in the rural bases,
Wedo uot mellonto give up the work in cities and towns or in
other rural districts which have not yet become ba.ses, for
without these, the revolutionary strongholds would become
isolated, and the revolution would be a failure. Beca.use the
ultimate aim of the revolution is to secure the town strongholds
from the enemies, and without sufficient work done in the cities
and towns, this aim can never be achieved". ("The Chinese
48 LIBERATIO PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY 49

revolution and the Communist Party of China", Ohina Digest, Comrade Liu Shao-chi in his report to the Peking Oonference
Vol. V, No. 10, p 16). of Trade Unions of Asia and Australasia:
Summing up the experience of the 22 years of armed struggle "The rule of the imperialists and their lackeys in the colonies
of the Chinese Revolution, Comrade Chu Teh writes: -and semi-colonies deprives the people of all democratic rights
80S it had done in Ohina in the past. Persecuted and hounded
"This armed struggle of the Chinese people is not an isolated
by the imperialists and their lackeys in the cities where white
purely military struggle. It is an armed struggle based on the
terror reigned, our revolutionaries were compelled to seek refuge
firm alliance of the workers and peasants, uniting, at the sa.me
in the countryside and mountains and to defend their lives with
time, with other people among the broad masses.
-armed force. However, had such armed struggle been confined
"This armed struggle is closely linked up with, and i
to defence alone, it would inevitably have been crushed by
inseparable from, the peasa.nts' agrarian revolution. Had there
imperialism and its hirelings. Thus the revolutionaries had to
been no support for the peasants' agrarian revolution, it would
be closely linked with the peasants. as well 80S with all other
have been impossible to organise such an armed struggle. I
people who opposed imperialism, to use all ways and means to
the proletariat had not united with the peasants and with the
smash repeated offensives and break through the encirclement
other forces in the countryside capable of being won for a broad
organised by imperialism and its hirelings; they could not but
united front, had it adopted 'Leftist' adventurism in its policies
organise regular revolutionary armies to smash the armies of the
it would not have been possible to direct the armed struggle t
imperialists and their lackeys. However, it was precisely because
victory.......... (For A Lasting Peace, For A People's Democracy,
of this that it was possible to build up a strong revolutionary
No. 17 (44), Sept. I, 1949).
1!ormyand ultimately drive out the forces of imperialism a:rad its
The Editorial Board's rejection of the path taken by th lackeys and win victory in the national liberation struggle.
Chinese people led to the advocacy of the reformist sabotag It is quite clear that without such armed forces to defend them-
and disruption of the developing anti.feudal struggles 0 selves, the peoples of the co lonies and semi-colonies will not be
the peasantry. It led in practice to refusal to struggle t able to achieve anything for themselves. The existence and
realise proletarian hegemony, to forge alliance with the vas development of working class organisation and the existence
masses of the peasantry Ilond to lead them in the revolutionar and development of a national united front are closely connected
struggle for land, merging the same with the struggle for nation a with the existence and development of such an armed struggle.
liberation against imperialism and its lackeys. This is the inevitable path of many colonial and semi-colonial
Chinese experience teaches important lassons as to how th peoples in the struggle for their independence and national
I liberation,"
proletariat and its Party coordinate the struggle for the agraria
revolution in the rural areas, with the struggle of the workin
class and other democratic forces in the cities, how it secure
VI
proletarian hegemony in the struggle for national liberation, an The Editorial Board not only rejected the path taken by
how it gathers together and strengthens the revolutionary forc the Chinese people but sought to give the same dishonest
with which it delivers crushing blows against the imperialis interpretation' of the course of the Chinese revolution which
oppressor and its agents till final victory is won. the Trotskyites gave and which Stalin sternly refuted ( ref. :
In this connection it is of the utmost importance to ponde Section I.), The Editorial Board quoted a long extract from
. .deeply over the following very important formulations made b the Colonial Thesis of the Sixth World Congress of the
4
~r~gf
50 LIBERATI 0
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY
51
Communist International (1928), distorted its meaning an
drew from it the false conclusion that the Chinese peopl a.ll the world with pride and joy (Warm applause). The comrades
had to go through a protracted civil war because the Chines showed us how the Party has grown into a mighty mass organi-
Communist Party committed reformist mistakes, because i sation, how a Red Army was created and how the new Soviet
was unable to fight correctly for the hegemony of th state was established. They showed us how former workers,
proletariat. peasants, artisans and students have developed into military
But the Editorial Board hid from the Party ranks how th commanders and statesmen and how under the leadership of the
Seventh Oongress of the Oommunist International which me Party, a people of 450,000,000, downtrodden and martyred by
in 1935 evaluated the achievements of the Ohinese Oommunis the imperialists, is waging a. fight for its, emancipation."
(Ibid, p. 96).
Party during the seven long years of civil WIU. Oomrad
Wilhelm Pieck in his report on the activities of the Oommunis The great experience of these early years of the civil war
International said: during which the Ohinese Oommunists, in the face of
"The Ohinese Revolution provides the first model of a Kuomintang's armed might and white terror, created their
colonial revolution in which the ideological and also, in itlit People's Liberation Army and established people's power in
the first liberated areas, has great lessons for the pe'lples of the
initial form, the state hegemony of the proletariat is realised
colonial countries, particularly in the present period, It is
In the Ohinese working class the colonial proletariat has proved
particularly important for us to know and understand the
in practice its ability to settle great historical problems, t
maintain - the ~omplete economic and political independence 0 source of their strength and the secret of these achievements of
the country, to completely abolish feudal survivals, to put an end theirs. Oomrade Wang Ming has explained it thus in his report:
to large landed proprietorship, to excise the cancer of usury, "Our Party is true to the teachings of one who, after the
and to undertake revolutionary changes that clear the wa.y for death of Lenin, continued to develoIl further the theory and
Socialism," (W. Pieck, "The Activities of the EOOI", Report$ tactics of Marxism-Leninism in general, and the theory and
of the World Oongre,s$ of the Oommunist International, Workers' tactics of Marxism-Leninism as applied to colonial revolutions
Library Publishers, New York, 1935 p, 60). ' in particular, who developed the theoretical foundations of the
Thus the protracted civil war was a model exa.mple and a strategy and tac~ics of the Ohinese Revolution-to the teachings
of the great Stalin!
source of inspiration to the proletariat and the peoples 0

the colonies : "The Oommunist Party of Ohina has grown and become
"The Oommunist Party of Ohina sets a.n exa.mple for aU strong on the basis of an irreconcilable struggle against counter-
Communists of the colonies and reVOlutionary Trotskyism and liquidationist Ohen Tu-hsiuism,
dependent countries."
(Ibid, p. 96). against the semi-Trotskyist Li Li-hsianist line and counter-
Oomrade Pieck summed up the achievements of the eight revolutionary Lo Ohang-Iunism. It has grown and become strong
years of civil war which the Ohinese Communist Pa.rty fought on the basis of an active particip at ion in the leadership of
between the years of the Sixth and Seventh World Congresse various forms of mass struggle in the anti-imperialist and
of the Oommunist International: agrarian revolution. It is precisely this growth of the forces of
the Oomm unist Party of Ohina that permits it boldly and
" the great road which the Communist Pa.rty of Chin
deCiSively to raise in a new manner the question of the anti.
has traversed in the interval between the Sixth Congress an
imperialist united front." (Wang Ming, "The Revolutionary
the Seventh, a roa.d that fills the hearts of the Communists a
Movement in the Colonial dountries", Reports of the World
 52 LIBERATION PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY
53
Congress of the Communist International, Workers' Library betrayal, remained basically national liberationist in character
Publishers, New York, 1935, p. 33). and directed towards the overthrow of imperialist domination.
The relentless struggle a.gainst Right-reformist opportunism, 7 He ~rmlY kept in, view Stalin's warning uttered in 1927 :
as well as against "Left"-sectaria.n opportunism, which Comrade . The bourgeOIS democratic revolution in Chinll. is directed
Mao Tse-tung carried on; while guiding the course of the Chinese not only aga.inst feudal remnants, It ill at the same time
revolution through its various stages and zig-zags during two directed against imperialism."
decades and more, has extremely valuable lessons for Indian This basic fact created favourable conditions for the Chinese
Communists.
proletariat and its Party to create a broad united people's front
During the first sta.ge of the Chinese revolution (1925-27) embracing workers, peasan~s, the petty bourgeoisie, revolutionar;
Comrade Mao fought th~ Right-reformist opportunism of those intelligentsia and sections of the bourgeoisie which were prepared
who adopting a conciliatory attitude towards Kuominta.ng reac- to support the struggle against imperialism and its Kuomintang
tionaries like Chiang Kai-shek or Wang Ching-wei, advoca.ted lackeys. Comrade Mao correctly and persistently guided the
liquidation of the peasants' revolutionary struggle for la.nd. Party in building such a front under the leadership of the work.
Comrade Mao firmly upheld the Stalinist line that the proletariat ing class and its Communist Party,
must lead pea.sants' revolutionary struggle against feudll.lism It was this fight against Right-reformist opportunism as well
and for land, in order to support the nationa.l liberation struggle as against "Left"-sectarian opportunism conducted by Comrade
aga.inst imperialism, in order to defeat the treachery of the ~ao, which enabled the Chinese Communist Party to correctly
Kuomintang reactionaries, { wIeld the weapon of Stalinist revolutionary strategy and tlloetics
During the period of anti-Japanese war (1937-45) Comrade and lead the revolution to victory. It enabled the Chineso
Mao again severely condemned the opportunism of those who, Communist Party to go on developing the armed struggle on the
adopting a conciliatory attitude towards Kuomintang reactionaries one hand, while at the Sll.me time carrying out the mobilisation
headed by Chiang Kai-shek, wanted to liquidate the peasants' of the broad masses in the cities and areas which were under
struggle for land by saying that it would break the anti-Japanese the domination of imperialism and Kuomintang reaction on the
united front with Kuomintang. Comrade Mao firmly upheld other, by skilfully combining revolutionary activities and
organisation with open legal struggle of the masses in these
1
, the Shalinist teaching on the Chinese revolution that the
latter areas and thus muster powerful revolutionary forces to
proletariat must lead the peasant war, must develop the armed
struggle of the peasantry for land. Comrade Mao kept Stalin's ~aunch a.n offensive on the rea.ctionary rule of imperia.lism and
warning given in 1927 firmly in view: ItS stooges at the ripe moment.
"The anti-imperialist united front in China will be all the
stronger and more powerful, the sooner and more thoroughly the VII
Chinese peasant is drawn into revolution,"
Such are the lessons which arise out of Comrade Mao's
During the ten-year period of the civil wad1927-37), when struggle against Right and Left deviations from M .
the Chinese proletariat was leading the agrarian revolutionary L " arxlsm_
e~IDlsm. These are of particular importance to the ranks of
movement, Comrade Mao sternly opposed the Left-sectarian Indian Communists at the present time, when they have to
opportunism of those who tended to forget the extrem,ely
important
fact that
politica.l factors of anti-imperialism,
China's revolution,
who ignored the
even after Chiang Kai.shek's
s:Conduct a ruthless struggle against
n t'
all trends
lon.al ,reformism and for the complete liquidation
of bourg .
ems
of Left-
ctariamsm, when they have to wield the weapon of criticism
 54
LIBERATION
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY
55
and self-criticism in order to reunify the movement on the basis
1 of the correct Lenin-Stalin strategy and tactics, so that it can
place itself at th-e~head of the risini'iiiJIieaval of ii"iL£ional libera.
common root of our Right-reformist
deviations.
as well as Left-opportunist

tion struggle. It is necessary for the Editorial Board to initiate a systematic

campaign to educate the vanguard of the working class in the
The criminal attack on Com. Mao Tse-tung was published
spirit of proletarian internationalism.
just at the time when the great People's Liberation Army
The Editorial Board, therefore, resolves as follows:
of China, led by the Communist Party and its leaders Mao
(a) Oorrect Marxist-Leninist exposure of bourgeois
Tee-tung and Chu Teh, had begun its final victorious march
nationalist ideologies such as ·liberalism. petty bourgeois
for the liberation of the entire Chinese soil from the grip
anarchism and Gandhism, especially the latter, must form part
of the Kuomintang clique and its American protectors. It
of the education syllabus for Oommunist cadres. The Editorial
did incalculable harm to our movement. It prevented
Board must concentrate on systematic ideological exposure of
Communist cadres from leading a pOwerful mass movement
Gandhism as practised by the Oongress leaders through propa-
of solidarity with the victorious Chinese revolution, from ganda articles. .
explaining to the masses of our people the significance of
the triumph of the popular revolution in China which was (b) The Editorial Board must devote special attention to
one of the most devastating blows delivered against the the exposure of the ideological propaganda and policies of the
imperialist system since the Great October Revolution. It leaders of the Socialist Party. Exposure of the Gandhian propa-
prevented them from assimilating and applying to our ganda which these le!loders carryon among the masses to
conditions the teachings of Comrade Mao Tse-tung, the rich emascul/l,te them and sa,botage their struggle is an important
revolutionary experience of the great Chinese Communist part of the struggle against bourgeois nationalism. It is equa.lly
Party. important to expose the cosmopolitanism a.nd "neutrality" of
these leaders showing them up as the agents of reactionary
All this shows very clearly how strong is the influence
British Labour leaders, as the anti-Soviet propa.gandists of the
of bourgeois nationalism in the leadership of our movement, American warmongers,
and in the leading Communist cadres and how weakly
(c) The Editorial Board must ta.ke steps to acquaint the
developed is our loyalty to the prinCiple of proletarian
Oommunist ranks with the most important authoritative
internationalism.
documents of the struggle against bourgeois nationalism and for
The warning voice of the editorial of the organ of the
proletarian internationalism started by the Information Bureau
Information Bureau, and the clarion call of the Peking Oonfer-
of the Oommunist and Workers' Pa.rties with its historic resolu-
ence of Tra.de Unions of Asia and Australasia have awakened tion on the "Situation in Yugoslavia",
us. The leadership and the ranks of our movement are now
(d) To organise and facilitate the systematic study of the
engaged in a wighty collective effort to correct the past Left-
authoritative documents !londreports of the Ohinese Oommunist
opportunist mistakes, to sharpen and finalise our understanding
Farty, its history and the writings of its leaders, the Editorial
of the new political line in the light of self-criticism, of the past
Board must publish all these and make them !loVlloilableto
experience of mass struggle, to regroup our forces and to unify
Communist ranks and enable them to assimilate the experience
them solidly for the practical execution of the new tactical line. 1\nd lessons of the Chinese revolution.
It is the duty of the Editorial Board to wage a consistent
In conclusion, the Editorial Board gives its solemn pledge to
ideological struggle against bourgeois nationalism, which is the
the Oommunist Pady of Ohina, to its leader Mao Tse-tung and
 54
LIBERATIO:N
PAGES FROM PARTY HISTORY
55
and self-criticism in order to reunify the movement on the basis
1 of the correct Lenin-Sta.lin stra.tegy and tactics, so that it can
place itself at th"6-head of the risiniUiii1'eival of ~ional libera.
common root of our Right-reformist
deviations.
as well as Left-opportunist

tion struggle. It is necessary for the Editoria.l Board to initiate a systematic

campaign to educate the vangua.rd of the working class in the
The criminal attack on Com. Mao Tse-tung was published
spirit of proletarian internationalism.
just at the time when the great People's Liberation Army
The Editorial Board, therefore, resolves as follows:
of China, led by the Communist Party and its leaders Mao
(a) Oorrect Ma.rxist-Leninist exposure of bourgeois
Tse-tung and Chu Teh, had begun its final victorious march
Dationa.list ideologies such as 'liberalism, petty bourgeois
for the liberation of the entire Chinese soil from the grip
anarchism and Ga.ndhism, Elspecially the latter, must form pa.rt
of the Kuomintang clique and its American protectors. It
of the education syllabus for Oommunist cadres. The Editorial
did incalculable harm to our movement. It prevented
Board must concentrate on systematic ideological exposure of
Communist cadres from leading a pOwerful mass movement
Gandhism a.s practised by the Oongress leaders through propa-
of solidarity with the victorious Chinese revolution, from ga.nda articles. .
explaining to the masses of our people the significance of
the triumph of the popular revolution in China which was (b) The Editorial Board must devote special attention to
one of the most devastating blows delivered against the the exposure of the ideological propaganda and policies of the
leaders of the Socialist Party. Exposure of the Ga.ndhian propa-
imperialist system since the Great October Revolution. It
prevented them from assimilating and applying to our ganda which these lelloders ca.rry on a.mong the masses to
conditions the teachings of Comrade Mao Tse-tung, the rich emasculll.te them and sa,bota.ge their struggle is an important
part of the struggle against bourgeois nationalism. It is equa.lly
revolutionary experience of the great Chinese Communist
Party. important to expose the cosmopolitanism a.nd "neutrality" of
these leaders showing them up as the agents of reactionary
All this shows very clearly how strong is the influence British Labour leaders, as the anti-Soviet propagandists of the
of bourgeois nationalism in the leadership of our movement, American warmongers.
and in the leading Communist cadres and how weakly
(0) The Editorial Board must. tll.ke steps to acquaint the
developed is our loyalty to the prinCiple of proletarian
Communist ra.nks with the most important authoritative
internationalism.
documents of the struggle a.ga.inst bourgeois nationa.lism and for
The wa.rning voice of the editoria.l of the organ of the proletaria.n internationalism started by the Information Bureau
Information Burea.u, and the clarion call of the Peking Oonfer-
of the Oommunist Mid Workers' Parties with its historic resolu-
ence of Trllode Unions of Asia. and Australasia have awakened tion on the "Situation in Yugoslavia.".
us. The leadership and the ranks of our movement are now
(d) To organise and fa.cilitate the systema.tic study of the
engaged in a wighty collective effort to correct the pa.st Left- authoritative documents a.nd reports of the Ohinese Oommunist
opportunist mista.kes, to sharpen a.nd finalise our understanding
Party, its history and the writings of its leaders, the Editorial
of the new political line in the light of self-cl'iticism, of the past
Board must publish all these and make them ll.vailable to
experience of ma.ss struggle, to regroup our forces and to unify
Oommunist ranks and enable them to assimilate the experience
them solidly for the practical execution of the new tactical line. 1londlessons of the Ohinese revolution.
It is the duty of the Editoria.l Board to wage a consistent
In conclusion, the Editorial Board gives its solemn pledge to
ideological struggle against bourgeois nationalism, which is the
the Oommunist Party of Ohina, to its leader Ma.o Tse-tung Ilond
56 LIBERATI 0

to the international Communist movement, that it will wag

a tireless ideological struggle against bourgeois nationalism an
to steel the vanguard of the Indian working class in the spiri Oppose Book Worship
of Stalinist proletarian internationalism, so that it may b
-Mao Tse-tung
capable of unleashing and heading the mighty nationalliberatio
struggle of our people and enable them to take their rightfu I. No Investigation, No Right To Speak
place in the great anti-imperialist and democratic camp led b
Unless you have investigated a problem, you will be deprivedl
the Soviet Union, in the fight for lasting peace, People'
of the right to speak on it. Isn't that too harsh? Not in the
Democracy and Socialism.
least. When you have not probed into a. problem, into the
present facts and its past history, and know nothing of its
essentials, whatever you say about it will undoubtedly be non-
sense. Talking nonsense solves no problems, as everyone
knows, so why is it unjust to deprive you of the right to speak?
Quite a few comrades always keep their eyes shut and talk
nonsense, and for a Communist that is disgraceful. How can a
Communist keep his eyes shut and talk nonsense?
It won't do !
QUOTATIONS FROM COMRADE It won't do I
You must investigate!
Mao Tse-tung You must not talk nonsense I

• II. To Investigate A Problem Is To Solve It

You can't solve a problem? Well, get down and investigate,
Communists must always go into the whys and where
fores of anything, use their own heads and carefully think ove the present facts and its past history I When you have investi.
whether or not it corresponds to reality and is reu.lly weI gated the problem thoroughly, you will know how to solve it.
founded; on no account should they follow blindly an Conclusions invariably come after investigation, and not before.
encourage slavishness. Only a hlockhead cudgels his brains on his own, or together-
with a group, to "find a solution" or "evolve a:1 idea" without
• • • making any investigation. It must be stressed that this cannot
possibly lead to aI1Y effective solution or any good idea. In
An erroneous leadership that endangers the revolution other words, he is bound to arrive "at a wrong solution and a.
should not be accepted unconditiona.lly but should be resisted Wrong idea.
resolutely.
There are not a few comrades doing inspection work, as well
as guerrilla leaders and cadres newly in office, who like to make
political pronouncements the moment they a.rrive at a. place and
who. strut about, criticizing this and condemning that when
they have only seen the surfa.ce of things or minor deta.ils.
 .58
LIBERATI 0 OPPOSE BOOK WORSHIP 59
Such purely subjective nonsensicsl talk is indeed detestable
.of actual conditions simply because they come from a
These people are bound to make a mess of things, lose the con.
higher organ. It is the mischief done by this formalism
fidence of the masses and prove incapable of solving any probleD:1
at all. . which explains why the line and tactics of the Party
do not take deeper root among the masses. To carry
When they come scross ditncult problems, quite a numbe
-out a directive of a higher organ blindly, and seemingly
of people in leading positions simply hea.ve a sigh without being
without any disagreement, is not really to carry it out
able to solve them. They lose patience and ask to be transferred
ut is the most artful way of opposing or sabotaging it.
on the ground that they "have not the ability and cannot do the [Emphasis added].
job". These are cowa.rds' words. Just get moving on your
The method of studying the socia.l sciences exclusively from
two legs, go the rounds of every section placed under your
the book is likewise extremely dangerous and msy even lead orie
{lha.rge and "inquire into everything":!. as Confucius did, and then
<onto the road of counter-revolution. Clear proof of this is
you wiII be able to solve the problems, however, little your
provided by the fact that whole bstches of Chinese Communists
ability; for although your head may be empty before you go
who confined themselves to books 'in their study of the social
out of doors, it wiII be empty no longer when you return but
sciences have turned into counter-revolutionaries. When we
wiII contain all sorts of material necessary for the solution
slloy Marxism is correct, it is certainly not because Marx was a
of the problems. and that is how problems are solved. Must you
·'prophet" but because his. theory has been proved correct in our
go out of doors? Not necessarily. You can ca.ll a fact-finding
practice and in our struggle. We need Marxism in our struggle.
meeting of people familiar with the situation in order to get at
Tn our acceptance of his theory no such formalistic or mystical
the Source of what you call a difficult problem and come to know
notion as that of "prophecy" ever enters our minds. Many who
how it stands now, and then it will be easy to solve your difficult have: read Marxist books have' become renegades from
problem.
the revolution, whereas illiterate workers often grasp
Investiga.tion may be likened to the long months of preg- Marxism v ery well. Of course we should study Marxist
nancy, and solving a problem to the day of birth. To investigate books, but this study must be integrated with our
a problem is, indeed, to solve it.

I
country's actual conditions. We need books, but we
'must overcome book worship, which is divorced from the
III. Oppose Book Worship
~ctual situation. [Emphasis added]
Whatever is written in a book is right·-such is still the How can we overcome book worship? The only way is to
mentality of culturally backward Chinese pessants. Strangely dnvestigate the actual situation.
enough, within the Communist Party there sre also people IV. Without Investigating The Actual Situation, There
who always say in s discussion, "Show me where it's written 'Is Bound To Be An Idealist Appraisal Of Class
in the book," When we ssy ~hat s directive of a higher organ Forces And An Idealist Guidance In Work,
of leadership is correct, that is not just because it comes from Resulting Either In Opportunism Or Putschism.
"a higher organ of leadership" but becaase its contents conform
Do you doubt this conclusion? Facts will force you to
with both the objective and subjective circumstances of the
Mcept it.. Just try and appraise the political situation or guide
'iltruggle and meet its requirements. It is quite wrong to
1 take a formalistic attitude and blindly carry out direc-
the struggle without making any investigation, and yoq will see
whether or not such appraisal or guidsnce is groundless and
tives without discussing and examining them in the light
idealist and whether or not it will lead to opportunist or puts-
 60 LIBERATIQ
()PPOSE BOOK WORSHIP 61
chist errors. Certainly it will. This is not because of failure
e!losants and poor pessants, who are differentiated according to
mll.ke Oll.reful plans before taking Il.ction but becll.use of failure
~l!losSor stratum. Wben we investigate the composition of the
study tbe specific socill.l situation carefully before making th
merchants, not only must we know the number in each trade,
plans, as often bappens in our Red Army guerrilla units. ~ffice
1luch as grain, clothing, medicinal herbs. eto., but more especi8.11y
of the Li Kuei9 type do not discriminate when they pUnIsh th
we must know tbe number of small merchants, middle merchants
men for offences. As 80result, the offenders feel they hllove bee
find big merchants. We should investigate not only the state
unfairly treated, many disputes ensue, and the leaders lose a
of each trade, but more especially the class relations within it.
prestige. Does this not happen frequently in the Red Army?
We should investigste the relationships not only between the
We must wipe out ide8.lism and guard against a.ll opportunis
different trsdes but more especially between the different classes.
and putschist errors before we can succeed in winning over th
Our chief method of investigation must be to dissect the different
masses 8.nd defeating the enemy. The only wayl to wipe ou
sociaL classes, the ultim8.te purpose being to understand their
idealism is to mll.ke the effort and investigate the actua
interrel8.tions, to arrive st a correct apprsis8.1 of class forces and
situation.
then to formulate the correct t8.ctics for the struggle, defining
V. The Aim Of Social And Economic Investigation I
which classes constitute the main force in the revolutionary
To Arrive At A Correct Appraisal Of Class Force
struggle, which classes are to be won· over as allies snd which
And Then To Formulate Correct Tactics Fpr Th
dasses sre to be overthrown. This is our sale purpose.
Struggle.
What are the social clll.Sses requiring investig8.tion? They
This is our answer to the question: Why do we have t :are:
investigate social and economic conditions? Accordingly, th The industrial proletariat
object of our investigation is all the social classes a.nd no The handicraft workers
fragmentary socia.l phenomena. Of late, the comrades in th The farm lsbourers
Fourth Army of tbe Red Army h8.ve gener8.lly given attentio The poor peasants
to the work of investig8.tion 8, but the method many of the The urb8.n poor
employ is wrong: The results of their investigation are there- The lumpen-proletariat
fore as trivial as a grocer's accounts, or resemble the man
The master handicraftsmen
strange tales a country bumpkin hears when he comes to town,
The small merchants
or 8.re like 8. distant view of a populous city from a mount8.in
The middle peasants
top. Tbis kiild of investig8.tion is of little use and C8.nnot The rich peasants
achieve our main purpose. Our main purpose is to learn th& The lsndlords
f political and economic situation of the various social classes.
The com mercial bourgeoisie
The outcome of our investigation should be a picture of th& The industrial bourgeoisie.
present situation of e8.ch class 8.nd the ups and downs of its
In our investigation we should give attention to the state
development. For example, when we investigate the composi-
d all these classes or strats. Only'the industrial proletariat
tion of the peasantry, not only must we know the number 0
1l.nd industrial bourgeoisie are absent in the sreas where we are
owner-peasants, semi-owner peasants and tenant-peasants, wh --- -
"::ow working, and we constantly come across a.ll the others.
are differentiated according to tenancy relat~onships, but r.n0r
\ especially we must kn~w the number of nch pe8.sants. mlddl Our tactics of struggle are tactics in rela.tion to all these classes
1l.ndstrata..
 62
LIBERATION OPPOSE BOOK WORSHIP
63
Another serious shortcoming in our past investigations.

I has been the undue stress on the countryside to the neglect Therefore, we must at all times study social conditions and make
of the towns, so that many comrades have always been VllogU6 practical investigations. Those comrades who are inflexible,
conservative, formalistic and groundlessly optimistic think that
about our tactics towards the urban poor and the commercial
the present tactics of struggle are perfect, that the "book of
. bourgeoisie. The development of the struggle has enabled
documents"li of the Party's Sixth National Oongress guarantees
us to leave the mountains for the plains.<l We have descended
lasting victory, and that one can always be victorious merely

I I
physically, but we are still up in the mountains mentally. W6
by adhering to the established methods. These ideas are absolute-
. must understand the towns as well as the countryside, or we
ly wrong and have nothing in common with the idea that
shall be unable to meet the needs of the revolutionary struggle.
OOmmu~il!lts should create favourable new situations through"
VI. Victory In China's Revolutionary Struggle Wilt
struggle, they represent a purely conservative line. Unless it
Depend On ,The Chinese Comrades' Unders_
is completely discarded, this line will cause great losses to the
tanding Of Chinese Conditions.
revolution and ..... do harm to these comrades themselves. There
The aim of our struggle is to attain socialism via the stage are obviously Some comrades in Our Red Army who are content
of democracy. In this task, the first step is to complete the to leave things as they are, who do not seek to understand
democratic revolution by winning the majority of the working . anything thoroughly and are groundlessly optimistic, and they
class and arousing the peasant masses and the urban poor for \ spread the fallacy that "this is proletarian". They eat their
the overthrow of the landlord class, imperialism and the fill and sit dozing in their offices all day long without even
Ruomintang regime. The next step is to carry out the socialist. moving a step and going out among the masses to investigate.
revolution, which will follow on the development of this struggle. Whenever they open their mouths, their platitudes make people-
The fulfilment of this great revolutionliLry task is no simple
\. sick. To awaken these comrades we must raise our voices and
or easy job and will depend entirely on correct and firm tactics cry out to them:
on the part of the proletarian party. If its tactics of struggle Ohange your conservative ideas without delay I
are wrong, or irresolute and wavering, the revolution will ReplliLcethem by progressive and militant Oommunist ideas I
certainly suffer temporary defeat. It must be borne in mind Get into the struggle I
that the bourgeois parties, too, constantly discuss their tactics Go among the masses and investigate the facts 1
of struggle. They are considering how to spread reformist VII. The Technique Of Investigation
influences among the working class so as to mislead it and turn
it away from Oommunist Party leadership, how to get the rich
1. Hold fact-finding meetings a.nd undertake investigation
through discussions.
peasants to put down the uprisings of the poor peasants and
This is the only way to get near the truth, the only way
how to organize gangsters to Suppress the revolutionary struggles.
to draw conclusions. It is easy to commit mistakes if you do
In a situation when the class struggle grows increasingly acute
not hold fact-finding meetings for investigation through
and is waged at close quarters, the proletariat has to depend
t
discussions b!1 simply rely on one individual relating his own
for its victory entirely on the correct and firm tactics of struggle
experience. You cannot possibly draw more or less correct
of its own party, the Oommunist Party. A Oommunist Party's
conclusions at such meetings if you put questions casually
correct and unswerving tactics of struggl? can in no circumstance
instea.d of raising key questions for discussion.
( be created by a few people sitting in an office; they omerge in
the course of mass struggle, that is, through actual eXIlerience. 2. What kind of people should attend the fact-finding
l11eetings ?
 LIBERATIO~ ()PPOSE BOOK WORSHIP 65
They should be people well acquainted with social and 5. Personal participation
( economic conditions. As far as age is concerned, older people
Everyone with responsibility for gIVIng leadership-from
are best, because they are rich in experience and not only know
the chairman of the township government to ~the chairman of
.41 what is going on but understand the causes and effects. Young
the central government, from the detachment leader to the
people witb experience of struggle should also be included,
{Jommander-in-chief, from the secretary of a Party branch to the
because they have progressive ideas and sharp eyes. As far as
general secretary-must personally undertake investigation into
occupation is concerned, there should be workers, peasants,
the specific social and economic conditions, and not merely
merchants, intellectuals. and or.casionally soldiers, and some-
rely on reading reports. For investigation and reading reports
times even vagrants. Naturally, when a. particular subject is are two entirely different things.
being looked into, those who have nothing to do with it need not 6. Probe deeply
"be present. For enmple, workers, peasants and s~udents need
Anyone new to investigation work should make one or two
not attend when commerce is the subject of investigation.
thorough investigations in order to gain full knowledge of a
3. Which is better, ~ la.rge fact-finding meeting or a particular place (say, a village or a town) or a particular problem
small one?
(Bay, the problem of grain or currency). Deep probing into a
That depends on the inves~igator's ability to conduct a particular place or problem will make future investigation of
meeting. If he is good at it, a meeting of as many as a dozen ·other places or problems easier.
or even twenty or more people can be called. A large meeting 7. Make your own notes
has its adva;ntages; from the answers you get fairly accurate The investigator should not only preside at fact-finding
statistics (e.g., in finding out the percentage of poor peasants meetings and give proper guidance to those present but should
in the total peasant population) and fairly correct conclusions 31so make his own notes and record the results himself. To
(e.g .• in finding out whether equal or differentiated land redistri- .have others do it for him is no good.
bution is better). Of course, i~ has its disadvl\ntages too; unless
you are skilful in conducting meetings, you will find it difficult Notes
to keep order. 80 the number of people attending llo meeting 1. See Oonfucian Analects, Book III, "Pa Yi": "When
depends on the competence of the investigator. However, the -Confucius entered the Ancestral Temple, he inquired into every
minimum is three, or otherwise the information obtained will thing."
be too limited to correspond to the real situation.
2. Li Kuei was a hero in the well-known Ohinese novel
4. Prepare a detailed outline for the investigation.
Shui Hu Ohuan (Heroes of the marshes) which describes the
A detailed outline should be prepared beforehand, and the peasant war that occurred toward the end of the Northern Sung
investigator should ask questions according to the outline, with "Dynasty (960.1127). He was simple. outspoken and very loy&l
those present at the meeting giving their answers. Any points to the revolutionary cause of the peasants, but crude and
which are unclear or doubtful should be put up for discussion. tactless.
The dehiled outline should include main subjects and sub- 3. Oomrade Mao Tse-tung has always laid great stress on
headings and also detailed items. For instance, taking commerce
investigation, regarding social investigation as the most impor-
as a main subject, it can have such sub-headings as cloth. grain, tant task and the basis for defining policy in the work of leader-
other necessities and medicinal herbs; again, under cloth, there ship. The work of investig&tion was gradually developed in
can be such detailed items as calico, homespun and silk and satin. the Fourth Army of the Red Army on Oomrade Mao Tse-tung's
5
 66 LJBERATIO
INDONESIA TODAY
61.
initiative. He stipulated that socia.l investigation should be
regular pa.rt of the work, and the Political Departme~ t of th
Indonesia Today
• 'Red Army prepared d~tailed forms covering such I~ems. Indonesian People Take Up Arms
the state of the mass struggle, the condition of the reactIOnarie Even the seanty news which ha.s appell.red in the mltctfonary
t h e economIC
'l'f 1 e 0 f the Ileople and the amount of la.nd own Indonesian Press shows that, despite the white terror of the
. by each class in the rural area.s. Wherever the R~d A:my. wen 13uharto-N asution fascist regime, the Indonesian Oommunist Party
it first made itself fa.miliar with the cla.ss SItuatIOn In th and the Indonesian revolutionary people are now overcoming
locality a.nd then formulated sloga.ns suited to the needs of th their difficulties, and are regrouping and putting up a n6W fighl;,
masses. '. in the rural areas where the reactionary rule is weak.
4. Here "the mounta.ins" are the Ohingkang .mountal News about the activities of the people's armed forces first>
area. a 10 nd" the borders of Kiangsi and Hunan ProvInces; k' th came from the Oentral Java countrYRide which has a long revo-
"plains" are those in southern Kiangsi and western Fu Ie lutionary tradition. When the Suharto-Nasution fascist military
In January, 1929, Oomrade Mao Tse-tung led the main force clique staged its counter-revolutionary coup d'etat in October,
the Fourth Army of the Red Army down from the Ohingkan 1965 and massacred revolutionary people, the latter put up.
mountains to southern Kia.ngsi and western Fukien in order t armed resistance in Some parts of Oentral Java. Since then the
set up two large revolutionary ba.se areas. . gathering revolutionary storm there has made the fascist regime
5. The "book of documents" consisted of the resolutIOn panicky. The Right-wing Jogjakarta paper, Pelopor Jogja.
adopted at the Sixth National Oongress of the Oomm~nist Part said with alarm on September 15 last year that in Oentra.l J a.va,
of Ohina in July 1928, including the political resolutIOn. a.nd "a. force lurked benea.th the calm surface." Sinar Harapan.
resolutions on the peasant question, the land questIOn, th revealed at the end of September last year that in July" a. neW"
organization of political power, etc. Early in 1929 the Fron a.rmed force [the people's armed 'force] came into being in-
Oommittee of the Fourth Army of the Red Army published t~es Kendeng village between Madjena.ng and Wangka.ng" in Oentral
re solutions in book form for distribution to the Pa.rty . orgamz Java's Purwokerto area..
tions in the Red Army and to the local Party organizatIOns,
The mouthpieces of the reactionary Indonesian army also.
reveal that a. unit of the psople's armed forces fought a fierce
battle against the reactionary army in Ninggil village, near the.
city of BIora, Oentral Java, on March 5 this year, Prior to the-
engagement, this unit held "a heavily-guarded review" at
Ninggil, executed a number of the local reactionary officials and.
removed material to the nearby mountains and forests. The.
Right-wing papers revealed that the unit ha.s some first-rate-
"sharpshooters". The Indonesian fascist regime sent about five-
battalions of its crack army commandos to "encircle and an-
nihilate" it. They were trounced and suffered heavy casualties,
Berita Indha disclosed on June 3 that the local reactionary
Police had never dared to approach a forest area between
M:untilan and Bojolali, Oentral Java. where the revolutionary
People engaged in armed resistance more than a year ago.
68 LIBERATIO!(
INDONESIA T9DAY 69·
According to a report in the Indonesian Daily News of
that they will hold high the great bsnner of Marxism-Leninism,
September 19 l80st yee.r, Dharsono, Commander of the West
Mso Tse-tung's thought, rely on 80nd mobilize the pessant
Java milit80ry district, had disclosed that revolutionaries in
masses, develop revolution8ory armed struggle, establish revolu-
West J80va "are trying to est80blish guerrilla ba.ses" 80nd "are
tionary base 8ore8osin the countryside and step by step carry
collecting arms and eng80ging in other activities."
the revolution forward to final victory.
It was recently reported that groups of armed people were
active in Kalimant8on, The paper, The Armed Forces, said A Shattered Economy
-that on July 15 this ye80r an armed unit raided the air base of The Indonesian nation h80s been plunged into unparalleled
the fascist regime at Singka.wang, West Kalimantan, and killed misery by the Suharto-Nasution fascist regime. Living under
four officers and men of the reactionary troops guarding it. a white terror of wholesale sl80ughter and arrests in all parts of
Alarmed, the Suharto- N asution gang the next day rushed
the country, the people have been subjected to merciless
reinforcements by helicopter from Pontian8ok, the seat of the economic plunder by the regime.
West Ka.limanta.n government, Later, it sent a company and two Today, this richly endowed country of a thousand islands
platoons of army' commandos from Djakarta on a "search and
presents s picture of unrelieved misery with factories closed,
destroy" mission in the neighbourhood of Singkswang. Antara fields untilled, skyrocketing prices and Isrge numbers of people
quoted the West Kalim80ntan army commander as saying that a.
forced to leave their homes !l.nd land to rOam the country, only
unit of the Indonesian people's revolutionary armed forces is at to find starvation awaiting them everywhere.
present active in the border areas of Indonesia and "M8olaysia".
According to Pelopor Baru, all the plants of Indonesi8o's
The people's forces have been active also in Sulawesi, basic industries apart from a.n electric bulb factory, have sus-
8onother key island. Antara reve80led on may 16 that a people's pended productIon. Light industry is oper~ting at 30 to 50 per
guerrilla unit fought the reactionary troops in an encounter in cent of the capacity, and 80 per cent of the textile mills have
the jungle near Menado, North Sul8owesi. Another Antara closed down with half a million textile workers thrown out of
report disclosed· that sn armed unit of the people attacked an their jobs.
outpost of the 723rd b8ottalion in North Masamba, Boniboni The output of rubber, petroleum, tin, copra and sugar, the
region in South Sulawesi, before dawn on June 9. They country's staple products, has slumped. The paper Gotong
wounded three of the reactionary troops and c80ptured 10 rifles Roiong recently reported that Indonesia, once the world's
from the local reactionary police. second lsrgest producer of sugar,· has now become a sugar
In his brilliant work On Ooalition Government, the great importer.
leader Chairman Mao, after recalling how Chiang Kai-shek The production of food crops, and rice in particula.r, has
betrayed the revolution in 1927 and launched a. surprise attack also dropped sharply. According to Duta Masiaraicat, the
on the Ohinese Oommunist Party and the Ohinese people, output of paddy in West J8ova, Indonesia's granary, was 4'5
wrote: "But the Ohinese Oommunist Party and the Chinese million tons la.st yea.r, 400,000 tons lower th80n in 1965. The
people were neither cowed nor conquered nor exterminated. They Paper added that the output of tapioca, sweet potatoes and
picked themselves up, wiped off the blood, buried their fallen sOYabeans, as well as cucumbers and other vegetables has also
comrades 80ndwent into battle again." So have the Indonesian dropped.
Oommunists 80ndrevolution8ory people. They 80reopposing armed The Indonesian Minister of Agriculture, Sutjipto, admitted
counter-revolution with armed revolution. There is no doubt late last April that the country's acreage under paddy had agll.in
10 LIBERATION INDONESIA TODAY
71
ilhrunk. Tea and other technical crop growers are reported to
Right-wing Indonesian press also reported that an army corporal
be in dire straits. Five privately owned tea plantations have who had four children could only buy three bottles of sauce
<llosed down Ilondthe others are "bcing the same fate." with his monthly salary of 34 rupiah. A Western news agency
While the country's nationa.l income has declined consi- reported that the monthly salary of a university professor is
derably, the Suharto-Nasution fa.scist military gang ha.s boosted 260 rupiah and that of a taxi driver is 150 rupiah, while a small
:government spending drastically and increased the people's bottle of whisky in a hotel bar costs 110 rupiah.
1l.1rea.dy heavy burdens. Apart from swelling their personal As a result of the economic crisis, great numbers of workers
fortunes by graft and stealing, the fascist military gang have in the cities are out of jobs. Furthermore, large nnmbers of
expanded' their burea.ucratic military organs in order to peasants who have lost their land and livelihood are also flooding
maintain their counter-revolutionary rule. As a result, non- into the towns. Crowds of destitute people roam and beg in
productive expenditures have increased sharply. The Indonesian ine cities throughout the country. Djaka.rta papers have reported
armed forces have grown from 400,000 to more than 600,000 'tha.t in ten months beginning from November 1965, 50,000 people
men, and the number of public functionaries ha.s risen from out of a million-odd population starved to death in Lombok Island
809,000 in 1961 to the present 2 million. -east of Bali. In one village of 2,000 people, 600 died of hunger.
In the 1967 budget, military and administrative spending The great leader Chairman Mao has said, 'Lifting a rock
accounts for 80 .per cent of the total. The paper Suluh Marhaen only to drop it on one's own feet' is a Chine!le folk saying to
reported that bank borrowing by the fa.scist military regime describe the behaviour of certain fools. The reactionaries in
bas increased sha.rply. Such bank loans totalled 233,552,500,000 all countries are fools of this kind. In the final analysis, their
-rupiah during the first qua.rter of this yea.r, a 70.fold increase persecution of the revolutionary people only serves to accelerate
compared with the corresponding period la.st year. the people's revolutions on a broader and more intense scale".
The Suharto-N asution fascist military regime has had to The Suharto ·Nasution fascist military group are such fools, too.
resort to issuing bank notes to cover the deficit, thus bringing 'The vicious course they are following, and their cruel persecution
~boat runaway inflation. of the Indonesian people, will certainly speed up the movement
Suharto admitted in mid-May that Indonesia's currency of the Indonesian masses to make revolution on a broader and
inflation last· year set the "world's worst record" for the past more intense scale.
15 years. The paper Suluh Marhaen quoting official figures
The Suharto-Nasution Rift
T6ported that currency in circulation in the first quarter of
this year was 203,314 million rupiah. 50 times higher than in A dog-fight between the U.S. imperialist running dogs
the corresponding period last year. 'Suharto and Nasution and the two Right-wing forces they
represent has broken out into the open. This is when Indonesia's
The Suharto-Nasution fascist military regime has wantonly
economy is on the brink of total collapse, when both U.S.
1'8oised prices. After the official decision to increase petroleum
imperialism and Soviet revisionism are stepping up their pene-
prices and transportation, electricity, and postage rates was
tration and when the interna.l class contradictions are sharpening
announced on February 10, petroleum prices' shot up eightfold as never before.
overnight, electricity rates four fold, bus fares threefold, and"
domestic postage nearly 17 -fold. t· In March when Suharto became "Acting President" , Nasu-
lon, a dyed-in-the-wool wsriord who has himself wanted the
According to Japanese bourgeois press reports. the consumer's
Post for more than ten years, had the effrontery to pick up 'the
llrice index: rose from 100 in 1957 to 150,000 in July 1966. The banne l' 0f" an t'I-mil'l't answ
'.. and " democracy" and launch
72 LIBERATIO INDONESIA. TODAY 73:

repeated attacks on the Suharto faction. He called for th on to Nllosution. He made out a list of corrupt officers in the.
"-separation of military and state power", declaring that lOth :Nasution flloction. and then sub-poena.ed and discharged some of
two cannot be wielded by one man." In April, Suharto wa these officers from the army and government. He openly accused
compelled to give up his post as commander of the army whil the Nasution clique of "attempting to create confusion in the
Panggabean, one of Nasution's men, was appointed acting army country" and warned that "any effort by any group to wreck
commander. Seeking the post of president for himself, Nasutio tbe cabinet will not be tolerated". In July Suharto sent out a
made out that he wanted to "uphold the 1945 Constitution" and "special directive" to his own Army Strategic Reserve Command
he censured Suharto for postponing the "general elections.' for the eliminllotion of hostile elements.
He also instigated "the Provisional People's Consultativ Both Suharto and Nasution are U. S. imperialism's faithful
Congress" and "the Co- operation Parliament," which are hi lackeys. They are jackals from the same lair as regards their
willing tools, and Right-wing student organizations and political opposition to communism, China and the Indonesian people, yet
parties to issue statements and hold demonstrations to attack in their scramble for counter-revolutionary power and position,
Suharto for opposing "parliamentary democracy." On June 12, their contradictions have become irreconcillloble. Just as the
Nasution, through the mouth of Supolo, a spokesman for th grellotleader Chairman Mao has pointed out in his article On
"Provisional People's Consultative Congress", threatened Suhart(} Tacties Against Japanese Imperialism, when referring to dog-
with the statement that "without the authorization of the' fights within the· Chiang Kai-shek clique: ''It is ... merely a
Provisional People's Consultative Congress, the [Suharto J ps.rticularly interesting example of a fight between large and
government cannot postpone the 1968 genera.l elections." small dogs, between well·fed and ill-fed dogs. It is not a big
rift, but neither is it small; it is llotonce an irritating and pain-
In the name of "fighting corruption and smuggling," Nasution
ful contradiction. But such fights, such rifts, such contradic-
egged on the Right-wing student organizations to put pressur&
tions are of use to the revolutionary people." The dog-fight
on Suharto, asking him to arrest 22 corrupt officers with whom
within the Suharto-N llosution fascist clique will grow still.
he had close relations. Nasution also attacked the SuhllortO'
fiercer. This internal strife will isolate it still more and hasten
military regime for the prevalence of corruption, smuggling.
its downfall.
armed holdups, house-breaking and other crimes. On May 20 more
than three thousand members of the "Indonesian Students'
Action ]'ront", nurtqred by Nasution and financed by the U. S.
Central Intelligence Agency, forced their way into a place in
Bandung, where Suharto was watc.hing a military pllorade, to'
stage a demonstration "against corruption." Their demonstra-
tion put 'Suharto in a tight spot.
Suharto, however, did not yield an inch. In order to'
maintain his power. he in his turn refused to hold the "geners.l
elections" in 1963 under the pretext of "technicllol difficulties"
and of the country "being unable to afford the expenst'." He
stressed the necessity for the armed forces which are under his
control to have 25% of the total seats in pllorlilloment. Suharto
also took over the "anti-corruption" slogan to shift the attack
 «JIV'JL DISOBEDIENCE 75

Guided by Marxism-Leminism and inspired by tbe thought

CIVIL DISOB~DI~NC~OR <{)fMao Tse-tung, the greatest Marxist practitioner, we should
nOW proceed to enmine the line of actio n of the Madurai revolu-
COUNT~~-~~VOLUTlONA~YMANO~UVR~? tionaries, supposed to be greater than the greatest. To under-
-Arindam Mitra stand the full implication and import of the civil disobedience
movement from the class angle, one should first of all recall
At last the cannon has been fired. The cannon of revolution, some immutable truths of Marxism. What are these basic truths?
tlteered by the world's greatest revolutionaries of the Madurai The class society is based on irreconcilable class antagonism.
brand, has released the fiery ball of civil disobedience. The That is, the interests of the exploiter and the exploited cannot
Cl~nnon is made of Marxist jargons while the ball is made of be equal or the same; on the contrary, it is just the reverse, the
Gandbian practice. And that is creative Marxism! So once -two classes having' conflicting. interests. In other words, one
convinced of their power of creation, they could not help exten- class stands as an antithesis of the other and this breeds constant
ding their fertility to grow venomous seeds of dissension with antagonism. This antagonism cannot be reconciled by any
the Ohinese Oommunist Party, which da.red to point out that means'. So in order to maintain its position one class must
their creation was nothing but a miscarriage. . After having suppress this antagonism by way of suppressing the class hostile
published their catalogue of abuse and accusation of the O.P.O., -to it. But the act of suppression presuppol!les coercion an
the Madurai "Marxists" have of late indulged in recruiting coercion presupposes the setting up of a mighty machinery.
volunteers to execute a revolutionary war-against which class This machinery is the State. In other words, the organisation
is best known to them only-in the way of civil disobedience of the state is nothing but a dictatorial power in the hands-
movement, the sole object of which is to court arrest by violating of a pa.rticular class, a power unrestricted by any law. A bourgeois
the prohibitory laws. landlord state, therefore, means unlimited and unrestricted
But a true Marxist can in no way give up the class question -power in the hands of the bourgeois-landlord classes to gag
under cover of indiscreet or indiscriminate attack on the estab- the working class, peasantry and other classes of toiling people.
lished leadership of the world working class. Rather he has Obviously, the olass or classes for whose suppession the state
to learn something from its rich revolutionary experiences machinery is set up, ca.n have no share in it for any pra.ctical
which crowned this leadership with international revolutionary pUrpose. But consistent with the concealed a.nd indirect mode
authority. So let the O.P.O., guided by Marxism-Leninism of economic exploitation in capitalist society, the bourgeoisie
and the thought of Mao Tse-tung, come forward' and imbue us tries its best to conceal the dictatorial nature of its state
with its rich revolutionary experiences; the genuine Oommunist machinery by deluding the people with offers of minor democratio
shallllolways hail such 'interference'. And what has the O.P.O. rights limited to that extent only, within whose bou'nds the
guided by its gre •.t leader and teacher contributed to the treasury bourgeoisie may face no serious challenge. That is, as long 80S
of Marxism? The class question, which was sharply put tbe bourgeois property relation is left intact. one can enjoy
forward for the first time in the historic Oommtmist Manifesto, 80 many democrl!.tic rights. But 80S soon as one ventures to
is being solved on the Ohinese soil through fierce class struggle. ~trike I!.t the very root of this property relation, democracy turns
The concept of dictatorship of the proletariat as envisaged by nto a. dictl!.toril!.l demon. Such is the Marxian truth about
Marx has been put to practice by Mao, the Karl Marx of the he stl!.te and bourgeois demorracy,
llresent era of final decay of capitalism and imperialism. The second truth logically follows from the first one. Th~t is,
 76 LIBERATIO <JIVIL OBEDIENCE
77
without destroying the bourgeois property relation the workin -period in a particular country, the question of agrarian revolu-.
clsss csnnot emsncipate itself from the yoke of exploitation, an tion stands as the main item on the agenda, s Oommunist
without smashing bourgeois stste mschinery the existin roust organise the peasltntry into a rock-like force against the
relation in bourgeois society cannot be destroyed. Moreover lltodlord clsss, and the peasantry can be best organised thus
after smashing the old atate machinery the working class ha with only one slogan, the slogan of 'land to the tillers'. But
to set up a new one based on the new property relation. Thi uoiler the existing social c~nditions nobody is going to mske a
new stste machinery cannot be anything 'short of unrestricte free gift of land to the lltndless. The land must be seized by the
dictatorial power in the hands of the working c1ass. Thus th -peltsan try itself. This act of seizure is not permissible under
establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat is th the prevailing bourgeois laws, the seizure of land is tantamount
culminating point in the struggle for political power, whe to breltking the laws preserving a particular clltss rellttion. So
looked at from the working class stand-point. But the politica tbe entire organisation of coercion in the hsnds of the bourgeois-
struggle for supremacy is not an end in itself; on the contrary, landlord clltss shall come down on the revolutionary peasantry
ss Marx put it, economic emancipation is the great end to. to c'rush any attempt by this class to encroach upon the legal.
which all political struggles must subordinate themselves. prOVISIOnsin vogue. The act of seizure of land therefore calls
And wbat is economic ema.ncipation? To free oneself from for such preparation on the part of the peasantry as to combat
the bondage of outmoded property or production relation. I the coercive machinery and eventually to crush it. To be
csn only be effected by smashing the old production relation and precise, to execute an agrarian revolution, the indispensability of
setting up a new one, or in other words, by revolution ising th armed peasant uprising cannot be subject to any dispute. It
existing social order. And this is precisely what is called Socia is also evident from the a.bove that only such mass line of action
Revolution. Ma,o Tse-tung in his classic Hunan Report pu can ena.ble a. cln.ss to overthrow its adversaries. Without s class
this essence squarely. He defined Revolution as the overthro war class rela.tion cannot be chsnged a.nd without the a.ctive
of one class by another. pllrticipation of an entire class no cha.nge can be effected in its
favour. The reaRon is amply clea.r from the a.bove. Only a. petty
But how can a class execute this act of overthrow in actual
bourgeois who renounces revolution can deny these simple truths.
life? Oan it proceed a.long a line of struggle for preserving the-
But renouncing revolution does not necessarily make one discard
restricted, truncated and shsm rights it is permitted to enjoy
revolutionary pretensions. In that case the pseudo-revolutiona.ry,
under bourgeois democracy, or should it proceed along a line 0
in spite of endless revolutionary phrsse-mongering, a.dopts such
struggle. that strikes at the root of class relation, i.e., property
a line of action thst conceals the a.lready co~cesled class
relation? The Oommunist Manifesto teaches us that the-
'!lssenae of the bourgeois state and democracy. Pa.rticipstion in
Oommunists everywhere should bring to the fore the question ot
~be civil disobedience movement chalked. out by the United
property relation no matter what the degree of develop~ent is.
Front in West Benga.l is such lion act of subservience to the
at a particular place or time. So, at least to a OommuDlst, ~h&
bourgeois democrstic state, i.e., to the cause of the bourgeois-
working class and the allied classes should proceed along a hne- landlord class.
of fierce clsss struggle the sole object of which is to strike by
degrees at the root of all existing relations of production. In The sponsors of the movement ha.ve given the call for
order to do this he should org1l.nise the working class into a clas8~ 'Violating law. But what kind of law they are going to viola.te?
i.e., he should make the working clsss stand as an antagoni~tio Is it thst sort of la.w which directly protects the class interests
- class force agsinst the bourgeoisie. When in a specific historICS of the bourgeois-landlord class? Is it a law the violation of
 18 LIBERATI
CIVIL OBEDIENCE
79>
which can strike at the very basis of existing class relation
thus helping the exploited classes to consolidate themselves then why shoulEl Dharam Vira remove t.hem from office, and
a class force against the bourgeois-landlord CIlloSS? In sbo still enjoy the confidence of the centre? So, raise your voice,
is it 80 law the violation of which can become a part and pare of protest against this preposterous game. Bow? By viola ting
of the fierce class struggle which results in the overthrow laws. What laws? Laws concerning rent and taxes, laws,
one class by another? Let us examine. concerning the land problem and laud reactions, or laws
concerning labour-capital relation? Northing of the sort.
It is proposed that Sec. 144 of the Or. P.O. prohibiting th These are only laws governing economic relations and have
assembly of five or more persons be violated by select voluntee nothing to do with politics or political power I The business
of the 14 constituent Parties of the U. F. That is. more tha should be purely political. So laws to be violated should be
four persons will assemble at a place, proceed along a stre concerning political rights. As we should have the right to
and enter into 80 waiting prison van. What will be the sloga raise our voice together with like-minded people in the street
of these 'revolutionary' lllow-breakers? "Remove Dharam Yira' or on the maidan and 80S we are being debarred from doing so
"Restore the U. F. Ministry in place of the Ghosh Ministry by the promulglttion of Some prohibitory order, so we should
restoring thereby the purity of democracy. The whol break this order. But even then, we should not act in such
show staged by the "Marxists" among otbers implies tha a manner that we may prove to be radical law-breakers and.
democracy in a class society can he a pure democrac -makers. because in thltt case, all shouts about sacred allegiance
sta.nding over and above class interests and class antagonism to the Oonstitution will sound empty. So, the selection of the
~nd so the Oonstitution. the legal prOVlSIOns. the entir target law for violation must be linked with the selection of
bureaucratic military machine protecting this pure democrac discreet volunteers who understand well that politics andl
are also pure and supra-class institutions. That is, th political movements have nothing to do with laws governing
entire political set-up is an entity independent of and standin the economic life of society, That is why, no class demand, such
over and above the socio-economic class structure, which ca as, no rent, no tax or 'land to the tiller', should be brought in
be used by anybody as a ready-made machinery to alleviat ~o m~r the purely political civil disobedience movement by the
the misery of the class to which he belongs. So. in case thi mfusIOn of narrow economic interest I That is why, no definite
llolemn and independent entity controlling and regulating th cla~ses have been asked to rise in revolt against any such 'law-
class society falls into the hands of any person or persons, WhlOh can be the protector of existing elass relations Th
. , e
the case should at once be taken up and the people should b meanmg of all these is more than clear, Anyattempt to strike
iJirected to save anc defend it by trying to remove the person at the class relations must be carefully avoided, or in other
or persons from office. But who can be the person or person words, the path of social revolution must he aban~oned,
in such 80 case? Not a representative of any particular clas
but only reactionaries. Reactionaries not for defending tb But the history of social development has its own course
interest of the reactionary bourgeois-feudal class but for vioilloting depending on no body's sweet will: The wheel of history d
onl b h oes
some Oonstitutional provisions which have nothing to do wit ~ move y t e impact of class struggle which is inevitable in
property relations. The whole argument boils down to this SOCIety so long as classes are there. As this inevitable class
who can best defend the Oonstitution and its provisions-Aio struggle intensifies and the Volcltno of social revolution
Mukherji-Jyoti Basu or Dr. Ghose and Oo.? If Ajoy-Jyot approaches more and more the erupting point, it becomes neces-
sary f !'t' .
<lombine can serve as the best defenders of the Oonstitution or po 1 lClans, representing the cla.!!s interests of th
b ' e
OurgeOls-landlord class to divert the working class, the peasants,
:so LIBERATIO~ CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
81
1l.nd the revolutionary petty bourgeoisie from the path of social nate use of the word 'people' leads most effectively to the
Tevolution. They pretend to fight for the cause of revolution muddling of the class question, without which Marxism loses its
-and try, with a tactful manoeuvre, to fetter the revolutionary partisan character and becomes acceptable to the bourgeoisie 80S
wrath of the exploited classes witbin the bounds of tbe existin well. A Marxist should recall the warning pronounced by Lenin
class relations. An effective, class collaborationist manoeuvr in his noted work Lett-Wing Communi$m, An Infantile
in this direction is this civil disobedience movement sponsored Disorder. There he said, "Masses are divided into classes and
by the fourteen-party United Front in West Bengal. cla.sses are led by politica.l pa.rties..... It must be noted
A Communist does not bother when parties like Bangl therefore, tbat tbe word 'people' cannot be a substitute 0;
Congress, P.S.P. or S.S.P. organise such 80movement. It is in ful synonym of the word 'class·... This truth led Mao Tse-tung to
accord with the cla.ss cha.ra.cter of these parties. But one cannot analyse the class content of 'the people' still further in
but think seriously when a party of the working cla.ss is made to his famous treatise The Correct Handling of Contradictions
plunge into the depth of this movement by a leadership which Am~n(J The People. Analysing the role of various classes at a
-swears all the time by Marxism. A thoughtful study at once ptlortlCularstage of revolution he showed how to find out the
reveals the sa.d fact that this leadership is only a bunch 0 princ.ipal contradiction in effecting the revolution and how in
Tenegades. But these renegades are not confining themselve the lIght of this contradiction some classes fall l'n t 0 th e ca t egory
I •

within the limits of mere renunciation of revolution. Havin of people and Some into the category of anti-people.
-done this sha.meless act, they are still trying to pose as genuine
So it will be a sheer mockery of Marxism to make categories
revolutionaries using all sorts of Marxist jargons, and herein
of people in the light of contradiction between Congress and
lies the danger before the working cltloss,beca.use the only intentio
l'lOn-Congres elements ending the paramount question of class
behind this act can be nothing else than to delude the revolu
o()o~tradiction. And this is exactly what the C.P.I.(M) leader-
'tionary class forces with the help of revolutionary phrase-mon
-ShIP has been doing systematically at a time when class
.gering. This, therefore, is not only a line of simple citloSScollabora-
oContradictions are becoming more and more acute da.ily. Evidentl
tion but a.lso a line of deliberately planned subservience to th ~h' . y.
u IS pOSIng of Congress-non-Congress contradiction is intended
bourgeois-landlord class. This knavery, this heinous betrayal,
to divert the revolutionary cla.ss force from the genuine revolu-
can be hidden under the mask of Marxism until bitter class tionary pa.th.
struggles tear it off. So, as soon as a sha.rp class struggle broke
out in the Terai region in the Darjeeling district, they began It would, therefore, be a pity for a genuine Marxist sincere
to shower all sorts of abuse on the beroic fighters there. Not only to the cause of revolution to be duped by the illusive slogans
that, when tbe C. P. C. came forward to fulfil its Communis meant for organising counter-revolution by a ga.ng of renegades.
duty and responsibility by extending moral support to the Comrades should hmnch an open attack on these disguised counter-
fighting peasantry, it immediatly became the target of veiled bu revolutiona.ries with true revolutionary ardour and the best way
of d'
vile attack by this neo-revisionist. gang of a.gents of counter- Olng th at IS. to organise revolutionary cla.ss struggles a.t
revolution. al~ levels and in every sphere. Let the genuine fight for the
One may not accept the above analysis. One may argue tha SeIZUreof political power be fought to the end through fierce
DncomprOm1SIng " c Iass struggle. Let the fight for politica.l power
'the CPl(M) leadership should express the people's will an
thereby try hard to maintain the unity of the Front. But i c~lmina.te in the smashing of the existing state power. 80
dlctat . I .
he is a Marxist, he should be aware of the fact that indiscrimi arIa power In the hands of the bourgeois-Ia.ndlord class.
6
82 LIBERATIQ

and let a new power b e se t u,p a democratic dictatorial powe

of the exploited people led by the working class.

. d in the Communist Milonifesto that th

WHAT SHOULD THE PEASANTS DO ?
The truth laId own .. . t r of class strugg s. R.
history of hitherto existing 80Clety IS the h~: ~ Yt th not only t
sha.ll prevail. Revolutiona.ries a.d~ere to t' lSI r : changing i [This is an English version of an article which appeared in the
interpret society but to pa.rtlclpllote ac Ive y i Bengali weekly DESHABRATI of December 7, 1967.]
qualita.ti vely.
The Congress Party wa.s defeated in our State of West Bengllol
in the last general elections. Fourteen anti-Congress parties
together secured a majority in the State Legislative Assembly.
After the elections they formed a united front a.nd a government
led by Sri Ajoy Mukberjee, the BangIa Congress leader. For
about nine montbs since tbe elections, tbis united front cabinet
was in control of tbe administration in West Bengal.
The peasants must bave known by tbis time tbat the Gover-
nor of this State dismissed the united front (U.F.) ministry on
the 21st of November last. A new ministry led by Dr. Prafulla-
Ch. Ghosh was appointed and sworn in by the Governor.
LIBERATION Dr. Prafulla Ghosh Was a member of the united front and
food minister in the U.F. cabinet till November 2, when he
resigned from both the front and its cabinet. With seventeen
Single Copy ( Ordinary number) : otbers, who, like him, had also. resigned from tbe front, be
formed anotber new party nllomed the People's Democratic Front
Annual Subscription
(P.D.F.). Tbe P.D.F. has Come to a.n understanding with tbe
Half· rearly Subscription
,
Congress Party whicb bas promised to support the new ministry
of Dr. Gbosh. It is only because of this support from the Con-
gross Party tbat Dr. Ghosh could venture to form his ministry.
The Ghosh ministry depends entirely on the Congress Party's
SUIlport for its existence.
25 per cent discount is Ilollowed on orders for 5 The united front has, on the other hand, called upon the
people of the State for carrying on a movement to protest
more. V P P Orders should
Copies Ilore not sent by the . . . against this unjust action of the Governor Ilondfor the dismissal
accompanied wibh money orders. of the Ghosh ministry and restoration of the U.F. ministry.
What Should The Peasants Do ?
It is naturllol that the peasant masses must decide whom they
should Support and what they should do in this squabbling Over
ministry-making.
 84 LIBERATIO~
Before they can do this, the peasants must thoroughly grasp
the realities of the present situation, and must a.sk themselves-
what is the meaning of all this 1
The U .F. ministry ruled for about nine months. Leaders of
the West Bengal C.P.I. (M) as well as of 13 other Left pa.rties of
West Benga.l participated in the ministry. These parties are
? called '~' pa.rties because all of them cla.im that their a.im is
to establish socialism in this country; they further claim that
they conduct and direct mass movements towards this objective
and especially in the interests of workers, peasants, employees and
all other toiling people. The peasants on their part are aware
that these Left parties have set up organisations of peasants like
Kisan Samitis. The biggest among such pea.sant o!'ga~isations
is the West Bengal Krishak Sabha wbich is led by the C.P.I. (M)
and the Dangeites. Its General Secretary is Sri Harekrishna
Kona.r, a leader of the C.P.I. (M), who was also the minister for
Land and Land Revenue in the dismissed U.F. ministry.
Sri Biswanath Mukherjee, a leader of the Dangeites, is the
President of this Sabha. He was the Irrigation minister in the
dismissed U .F. ministry.
'Achievements' of the UF ministry in 'protecting' the
interests of the peasantry
The basic interest of the peasantry is in land. Their occupa-
tion is to grow crops etc., which provides sustenance
for them. As a result of many'" struggle the zamindari system
wa.s formally abolished by the Congress regime. This, however,
did not restore the ownership of land to the peasants. The erst-
while zllmindars and big jotedars, taking advantage of various
lacunae in the Congress land reform legislation, retained their
control over huge stretches of land through benamdari transfers.
By using their power, money and socia.l connections they secured
tbe help of government officials in these illegal transactions.
So the peasants who cultivated such benamdari lands remained
shara-croppers as before. They are required to make a gift of
the major portion of the crops, which they pr?duce every year
by hard labour, to the jotedars after every harvest.
?
WHAT SHOULD THE PEASANTS DO 85
The jotedars on their part hoard the ill-gotten crops in order to
crea.te artificial scarcity and push the prices up, and then sell
the hoa.rded food-crops at the black. market price. Like most of
our countrymen, the peasants also have to purchase rice-the
same rice that they themselves produced and were forced to part
with-at the exorbitant black-market price. But the overwhel-
ming majority of the peasants simply does not have, for most of
the year, enough money to purchase food at such high price.
Thus, they--who produce food for the country-have to starve
themselves.
.
For this reason, the Left parties, in course of their agitations
\
for food durmg the Congress regime, repeatedly demanded:
-all benamdari transfers of land be at once declared null
and void;
-the share-croppers be made the owners of the land they
cultiVllote.
This is one aspect of the la.nd problem. The other aspect is
that, whatever la.nd was left in the ha.nd of' the government after
the. za.minda.rs a.nd jotedars had been allowed to spirit away·
thousands of acres of la.nd, thanks to the 18.Cun~e in the land
legisla.tions, (for instance, owners of big fisheries in the district
of 2~ Parga.na.s gobbled up thousands of acres of land by falsely
gettIDg these la.nds registered a.s fishery-tanks)-wa.s not
distributed among the landless peasa.nts on ~ permanent ba.sis.
In Some cases the peasants are allowed to cultivate such lands
&gainst licenses issued on a.n annual basis. These licenses are
distributed by government officials styled as Junior Land Reforms
Officers (JLRO). Instances are there when the JLRO's have
been found to have used their power to sow discord among the
peasants. When a peasant, who has toiled for one year on the
land allotted to him against licenle, approaches the JLRO for
renewal of his licen,e for another year, often finds that the
office¥ has, in exchange of some graft-money, alrell.dy issued Q...
licen,e fer that year to another peasant. In many other cases
it ha.s been found that the government has not even taken
possession of the vested land with the result that the land <#
Continues to be in the hands of the jotedars as before. Thus, it
 LIBERATION WHAT SHOULD THE PEASANTS DO ? 87
86

happens that year after year these jotedars have continued to documents which. in the eyes of law, turn share-croppers into
hired labourers.
allot lands among the I!lhare-croppers and to receive crop shares
, therefrom, la.llds against which they ha.ve already received *The U. F. ministry's crime does not, however. consist
compensation. All our peasants must ha.ve heard about Naxal. merely in their reluctllonce to improve the land reform legisla-
bari by this time, Sucu instances are not uncommon there. . tions in the interest of the peasants. No, it is much more serious.
Along with their demands for abolition of a.ll benllomdafl The U. F. Ministry's Crime Against Naxalbari
transfers and for rllodica.lla.nd reforms, the Left parties also ra.ised In spite ef the fact thllot the leaders of the Left parties were
demands for the redress of various unjust practices like the in the ministry and Sri Harekrishna Konar. a lea.der of the
one mentioned above. West Benga.l O.P.I.(M) and general secretary of the Stllote
But nothing wa.s done about all this during the Oongress Kishan Sabha. was the La.nd Revenue minister and Sri Biswanath
regime. As a result, thc peasa.nts IIolsohelped the anti-Oongress Mukherjee, president of the State Kishan SllobhlloWIloSalso 110
pa.rtiea dislodge the Oongress ministry by casting their votes in minister in the U. F. cabinet, it remained tota.ll~(:pdifferent
fa.vour of those parties in the last elections. to the peasants' demands for land etc. Seeing tha.t nothing was
to be expected from this ministry, e,ighty thousllond pellosants, men
But What Did The U. F. Ministry
and women. under the three police stations-Na.xalba.ri,
Do For The Peasants? Fansidewa a.nd Kharibari in the Darjeeling district, led by the
The united front, composed of the leaders of the Left parties Darjeeling district Oommunist PlIorty and the Kishan Samity,
which carried on agitllotions during the Oongress rule, WIloSin resolved in the district pea.sant conference to establish on their
power for !l.bout 9 months. And what did this U. F. ministry own initiative a.nd through organised action, the peasa,nts'
do for the pea.sa.nts? Precisely nothing. rights over the benamdari la.nds stolen by the jotedllors and by the
tea.-garden owners. This is, in brief, the background of what is
*LlIost yea.r almost a.ll the rice crop hllodbeen grabbed by the
known as the pellosant strugglc of Na.xa.lbari which begllonin April ~
joteda.rs, the rice-mill owners and the dishonest traders before
last. But the U. F. government did not come out in Support of
the U. F. ministry took over cha.rge. But the U. F. ministry
the just struggle of the Naxalbari peasants. On the contrllory,
took no initillotive to recover the hidden stocks of rice with
they requisitioned parllo-miIita.ry forces from the Oongress govern-
the help of the people IIondthrough a.nti-hollording movement and
ment IIotthe centre a.nd with their coopera.tion la.uncb.ed 110 bruta.l
to ensure supply of chellopfood to the people. As a result, the
lluppression cllompaign a.gainst the peasant folks of N axalbllori.
price of rice began to soar higher and higher until it touched the
-The repressive policy pursued by the U. F. government •••
a.ll-time high ma.rk IIotRs. 4/- per kg. during the U.F. rule.
took the lives of 17 pellosa.nts including eight pellosant women
*T he U .F. ministry showed no desire also to take mea.sures and two babies.
to nullify the benllomdari transfers of la.nd or to redress other -Arrest wa.rrants were issued IIogainst nearly a thousand
injustices a.nd malpractices regarding land. people.
*The U. F. ministry did not even care to do so little as to -MlIony pea.sa.nts were a.rrested and harassed.
issue an ordina.nce prohibiting all kinds of eviction ef pellosllonts. But the U. F. government did not stop only at this. In
As a result, the U. F. rule proved no obsta.cle to jotedars. who a.ddition to their repressive policy against the peasllonts, the U. F.
continued as before to evict pellosants at will or else to condemn ministers and leaders launched a. powerful camllaign of lies and
them to the position of hond-slaves by having them to sig slanders, backed by the bourgeois press and by various reac-
88 LIBERATIOM
tionary parties including the Congress P!l.rty, ag!l.inst the pe!l.s!l.nt
struggle in N!l.ulb!l.ri !l.nd IIoglloinst
the v!l.li!l.ntle!l.ders who lead th!l.t
struggle, with a view to confusing IIonddemoralising the pe!l.sants
and other sections of the people in other pI!l.ces of the State. The
most shameful thing !l.bout this is that the le!l.ders of the Left
p!l.rties the very people who so loudly procl8.im that they fight for
the int'erests of the workers and the peasllonts, took the initiative
d pilloyed 110 major role in carrying on this hateful campaign of
an
slander and calumny. Whllot is still more shame fl'u IS th a t 1't
W!l.S the top leaders of the CPI (M) and of the State Kishan
Sabhllo, and, especially, the two general secretaries of their State-
branches Sri Promode Dasgupta and Sri Harekrishna Konar,
who too~ the m'ost prominent part in !l.nd carried out most;
enthusillostically this slander campaign.
What then should the peasants do? Are they to IIoccept the
new ministry of Sri Prafulla Ghosh without a murmur and leave
the path of struggle? Certainly, the peasants can never do
anything like this.
As h!l.S already been stated, the ministry led by Prafulla
Ghosh depends entirely upon the support of the Congr~s.s for
its existence. So, it is clellor that the Prafulla Ghosh mInlstry
will merely serve as a signboard, a facade, while the Congr~ss
Party will wield the real power from behind that facade. LIke
all other democratIC. forces of t h'IS Sta t e, the peasants also ,
who constitute the maJor • f orce among th em, can never allow
the Congress Party to regain control of the gonrnment
and to come back to power in this State.
What then should the peasants do? Should they
pond to the call of the United Front and join them in their
ement for the removal of the Ghosh ministry and for restor-
mov 11 . d
.mg th e U . F. bllockto power? The peasants ., must cllorefu Y]U ge
'.
. the light of the experience they have gamed about the actlvl
~:s of the U. F. government whllot benefits can possibly accrue
to tbe landless peasants IIondehllore-croppers, who together form
the bulk of the peas!l.ntry, if the U. F.is restored back to power.
Clearly, they will not be benefitted in the least.
wHAT SHOULD THE PEASANTS DO ? 89>
In order to find an answer to the question-wh!l.t should
thc pellosllontsdo ?-the peasants themselves must be able:
to grasp fully the politics behind this toppling of the
U. F. ministry and forming of the Ghosh ministry.
It is a f!l.ct that the U.F. ministry and the leaders of the Left
pllorties failed, in spite of the brutal and fierce campaign of
suppression unleashed by them aglloinst the peasants in Naxalbari,
which was supplemented by a violent campagin of slander and
lies, to crush' the pe!l.sant strugglo of N axalbari. They failed
to get hold of the top lelloders of N axalbllori (except Com. J a.ng!l.l
San.thaI) like Comrades KlIonu S!l.nY!l.I, Khokan Majumdar !l.nd
Kall-am Mallik. On the one hand, the peasants in NlIoXalbllori!l.re.
preparing, under the leadership of these le!l.ders. to carry their.
struggle into the next phase IIondon the other hand, the glorious.
example and the revolutionary politics of the fighting peasllonts.
of Naxlltlbari have begun to spread beyond the boundaries of
West Bengal and over all parts of India-among the vast.
millions of our peasllonts. In West Bengal itself the peasants,
inspired by the struggle in N axalbari, are preparing them-
selves for the struggle for IImd in the Sonarpur police station
lIrea and other pilloces of the 24-P,trganas district, and in other-
districts like Midnapore, JalplLiguri, Maldah, West Dinajpore.
They fully realise thllot it is no use waiting for this or th!l.t.
ministry to give them land through legisillotions-and that they
must rely on their own strength and organisation if they IIore.
to carry the crops they will harvest this ye!l.r to their own
homes and to take full possession of the benllomdari lands anG
deny any share of crops thereof to the jotedars. Only when
res- the pe!l.Sants are able to do this successfully, the land will belong
to them and moreover the country will be saved from the,
rampage of the racketeers and hoarders of food.
Further, the peasants are grllodually coming to realise that.
the existing bureaucracy, police a.~d army, which work against
and oppress the people, will ceaselessly try to suppress the just.
struggle of the pe!l.sants for land and against feudal exploitation
brutally and violently. So the peasants must organise their-
oWn -volunteer foroe to resist these bloody attacks by the police.
 '90 "WIIAT SHOULD THE PEASANTS DO ? 91
llond the military. Only by doing this they ca.n liberate the villages bllovebeen mobilised in West Bengal, most of whom have been
from the yoke of the oppression of jotedars a.nd sma.sh the feudal requisitioned from the Central Government, in order to suppress
-system of share-cropping and bargllodari. the popular struggles. Of these, forty thousand have been
On the one ha.nd, we find that the revolutionary politics of 1lent to various districts and have alrea.dy been posted in
the Na.xa.lbari struggle is rousing the pee.sa.nts to a new consci. police ca.mps set up in villages. While carrying out a bloody
.~ ousness and, on the other, the realisation that the agrarian revolu. repression in Cllolcutta. and its suburbs, the Prafulla G!::osh
tion is an indispensable necessity for the complete victory of rninietry is now sbouting a.bout "maintaining peace in the rice·
our anti-imperialist, anti-feude,l a.nd anti-big bourgeois revolution, fields", wbich, in other werds. means that they are determined
ior developing our present independence into a genuine freedom to forcibly take away the rice crops from the peasants a.nd hand
for the people, is growing among various other democratic forces it over to the jotedars for hoarding.
like the working class and the toiling petty bourgeoisie, the This is the real politics underlying the recent making
vigorous youth and the students, the socially-conscious progre. and unmaking of ministries in our State. It is evident,
'ssi,ve intelligentsia. This is clea.rly evident from the fact that therefore, that the peasants will . gain absolutely nothing by
about one hundred thousa.nd people came to the meeting joining the movement started by the united front for restoring
-organised by the Naxa.lba.ri llond Krishak SangramSahaya.k the U ,F ,'ministry. This is so beca.use, as has been shown a.bove,
'Ba.mity on November 11 at the monument maida.n in the U.F. ministry and the U.F. leaders tried by every
Ca.lcuttllo a.nd listened eagerly to the politics of a.grlloria means to suppress the peasants' struggle for land and
Tevolution in spite of the fact tha.t the Leftist leaders a.nd, rice in Naxalbari by brutal and bloody repression. To
specially, the lelloders of the CPI(M) tried by va.rious means t this it must be a~ded tbat a large portion of the police force
.oppose the holding of the meeting. People are increasiIlgl ~which the Ghosh ministry is now sending to the villages was lI"

realising that the benamdari transfers of land have enabled th \ requisitioned llondposted in this State by the LJ.F. ministry
feuda.l jotedars to continue their unrestricted domination in th l\fwhile it was in power.
-countryside and constitute the rea.l basis of the power of th Frustrated, the united front leaders are now calling upon the
big jotedars, who are the enemy of all sections of the people. Thi "people to join their movement. Frustrlloted, because the ruling
is also the root Cllouseof the untold miseries of our peasants an (Jlass has dispensed with their service in spite of the fact that
of tbe food sca.rcity in our country. This has made peopl they served its interests so well by murdering peasant men,
-increa.singly sympathetic and co-operative towards the pea.san Women and children in Nualbllori. But the peasa.nts ca.nnot
-struggle in Na.nlbari. forget even for llomoment that they must fight not for this or #"

that ministry but for lllond. Relying on their own fighting

As the events in the cities a.nd the villages of West Beng
bega.n to develop like this, the comprador big bourgeoisie an ~trength t~ey must elimin~te tbe feud.al jo.tedar-landlord vested
the big joteda,rs and landlords, the cillosses which actually rul
-our country, could not depend upon the U. F. minist
.any more. They have got tbe U. F. ministry dismissed wit
Interests III the countrysIde and ullIte WIth the workers in the
cities to smash the power of the big capitalists. Only thus can
the genuine freedom for the people be established and the pea •
l
pIe's power llondthe peasants' possession of land can be securely
·the help of the Congress government at the centre and install
guaranteed.
-the puppet ministry of Pra.fullllo Ghosh in power wit4 a view
imposing a naked military rule in West Bengal. One fact mak What should the peasants do ?
~ it quite elear. Recently fifty-eight thousand armed ,policem The pes.sants must now organise themselves and seize in an

92
organised manner the crops they will harvest. They m
organise themselves under the slogan-in order to save t
country from famine. to sa.ve the peasants from starva.tion-'
even a grain of the crops harvested from the benamdari Ian
should go to the jotedars' ; they must boldly advance to seize t
land and establish their own right over it and thereafter try
produce as much as possible on their own lands so as to feed t
country. Any attempt to obstruct the peasants from doing th
patriotic duty of theirs must be resisted firmly. And when t
Leftist gentlemen approach them to join the U .F. movement f
restoring the U.F. to power, they must be asked to declare u
equivocally if they are with the peasants in their struggle f
land and crops-and it would not do to assure the peasants
words only. these gentlemen must join the struggle which t
peasants have already begun on their own. These gentlem
must be told-the path you ha.ve taken is one of higgling a.
ha.ggling. as they do in a market-place. over getting back yo
lost gudClis. What has revolution to do with it? Clea.rly t
path you ha.ve taken is not the path of revolution. On t
other hand, the path we have taken is the genuine path-the pa
of revolution.
93
(Oontinued from page 7)
that within a very short time the results were encouraging. Let
me cite instances: (1) The situation on the industrial front ,#
b c~me quiet. The ministers discussed matters separately with
{)~ners and tra.de union leaders. The prospects of bettlement
becll.lDe bright. (2) Cases of disorder, especially. disappeared.
All the parties a.greed to prevent unrest on the agricultural front
80S far as possible. Elaborate arrangements were made to settle
quickly all disputes. Very encouraging results could be observed.
The pro-Ohinese neoule were brought under control and the
B~ in Naxa.lbari became peaceful and normal. All the
pll.rties and ministers of the United Front were Qo-operating
wboleheartedlYI to solve the problems". (Translation ours).
This statement appearing in Ganashakti, endorsed by the
"Marxist" leaders. is Ii revea.ling document. It clearly reveals
ho, despite their revolutionary phrase-mongering, are the
mitors. It reveals that the "Marxists" have stabbed the
~orkers and peasants in the back when they are faced I
with fierce attacks from the capitalists and landlords by
paralysing all their revolutionary activities. It reveals that
Sri Ajoy Mukherjee is satisfied that the opposition of the
"Marltist" leaders to China and to those who have faith
in the thought of Mao Tse·tung is genuine. The bofley
f the Chinese threat or invitation to the Chines~ as
every Marxist should know, is a weapon in the hands of
all counter-revolutionaries for disrupting the struggles
of the masses. Today, opposition to China is opposition
o Communism, opposition to the world-wide struggle
or national liberation, peace and socialism, opposL
ion to the cause of the Indian revolution. This bunch l' _
of counter-revolutionaries, called "Marxists", themselves •
dmit by endorsing Ajoy Mukherjee's statement that
heir opposition to China is genuine!
Another imDortant cla.im of the "Marxist" leaders is that
hey a.re defending democracy by waging this struggle for a
~ange of ministry. Let us contra.st those opportunists' prlloctice
lth their professions. In a. bourgeois-landlord state, democracy
eans the dictatorship of the bourgeois-landlord classes. By
!fering certa.in minor democratic rights, so long a.s they do not
hreaten this dictatorial rule. it seeks to conceal its real character.
h India., these rights are more formal than real on Mcount of
e P. D. Act, the D. 1. R. etc. During the last one month
nd 1Iohalf about 5000 persons have been arrested under the P. D.
ct and hundreds of warrants of arrest under the same Act
av~ been issued. Is the United Front building up a.ny campa.ign
galnst the P. D. Act, whi$h means complete negation of
ell:l.nocracy? No, it is not doing that. for it itself invoked the
. . Act during its brief spell in office.
 94 95

Recently, the Unlll.wful Activities (Prevention) Bill has been. ./erge from those of the m' . y
rule Is bound to become de~~op~~~; oarn form
s o! majority
f} passed by Parliament. When this black Act was being considered. ajority. E . uppresslon of the.
in Parliament, "Mr. A. Nambiar (CPI-M) wanted to kno ro d f very bourgeOiS republic provides hundreds and
categorically whether the Bill would be used against his pa.rty. housan
d Marxis 0t exa.mples 0 f th' IS k'10....
d H ence, from a materialist
"He was somewhat unnerved by Mr. Ohavan's responS
This was in the form of a counter-question. Does the plloft
Dustexpo:e'
people.
~~f not f~?m a formally juridica.l point of view, we
s con lct and combat bourgeois deception of the
intend inviting Ohina into India? No, no, said a flustered Mr
Nambiar. In that ca.se, the BIll would not be used against th t"Our hSocialist-
f Revolutionaries and M ens h eVl'k s, on the-
OPI (M), replied Mr. Oha.van with a brollodsmile" (The Statesma ~ ~:rt~ baeve.nu!.lYtdemonstrated and proved that their true
•• ms rument of th b .. f ..
December 20,- 1967). ople (the 'majority') t b th e .ourgeolsle or dec61vmg the
Next dlloY,in the Lok Sabha, "Mr. P. Rama.murti (OPI- ontribute to it." (C;ns~it~tion~l ~!l~:l:ns)~ that deception and
said the Bill was aimed a.t his party because it presented t
Our "Marxist" leaders and Da . I'
main challenge to the Oongress. ociali.s~-Revolutionariesand Men~~:~~~s~
~~~~~fn~u~sian
"He pointed out that Naxalbari had frequently been referre
to during the debate, and he quoted from a resolution passed b
his pa.rty's politburo dissociating itself from the extremist group'
lr:i:hal:~~:
eception
,~r~~:~~f~~: ~~~hf~re:~;ng such politica~ i:!:~
or deception of th g petty-bour~eols self-
• • e masses (the 'majority') b
activities .....The member pleaded that his pa.rty's views on neg h e b ourgeol~le, which is the same thing." y
tiations with Ohina were being misrepresented. If then, h
argued, some groups held meetings, and acted under the nam The tactics of t~e "Marxists" only match t .
trategy. These remmd one of the ci b d heir
of the OPI (M), 'how are we responsible?'" Paraphrased,th urist actions into which the Ranad' ty- ase d adven-
would rel\d: "Spare us, 0 Lord, we are innocent; but stri
he Part~ in 1948-49 and almos~ve d~~~;oy::gg~td'
them down who, inspired by Mao Tse-tung's thought, are crelloti
trouble in Naxllolba.riand elsewhere." This is the kind of struggl e do beheve that sporadic clashes with the s ttl.
owever valiant, in cities and towns will instead af e hPf,:"er. e
tha.t these crusaders for the cause of democracy are putting u
•. Do they intend to start a powerful camplloign against' this bill. ~r.m the cause of revolution. While in' the 'f 0 d t p1Og,
Ihtant s f the k"- Cl les an owns,
Act? No, tha.t would be extremely foolish, for these black act ust be fought, and the m:~: ers 0 ai~b;:de wi~t~evboolurt'emsia
would prove very handy to them when their paradise, now lost, I lCS at th ey, espeCla. 11y, III
• d ustnal
. u IOnar
regained. These mighty champions of democracy do not rai workers p ysically I d
the demand for withdrawllol of police camps from the villages, f asant struggles, the main strategy will be t~ de 1 ell.
that would be indicting themselves.
fighting for?
Whose democracy are th ~uggles and revol.utionary pe.asant bases in thevec~~::ras~~;
ere the enemy IS comparatIvely weak The fight i
rotracted and difficult one and demands' hard s st . s ad ong,
r
The U F-sponsored struggle for a change of ministr oman 1 ' U alne un-
c a o~r, grea sacn ce, an rm al ere'
dJ fresh elections etc. is, therefore, no better than a counte heroad to revolutwn is long and tortuous. vo u IOn.
revolutionary manouevre to divert the toiling peop
from the truly revolutionary path towards which they a ESPONSE TO THE CALL
moving slowly but surely. Any talk of providing rell ek~ur re~ders will. surely be interested in knowing that tbe-
to the basic classes without changing the property rei . g RadIO has halled the formation of the All I d' 0
tions, at a time, when the semi-colonial, semi-feud Inatio
dhist 0 'tt f' n Ill. 0-
.n. omml ee 0 revolutIOnary comrades as an event
economy of the country is cracking, is simply deceptiV B lonc Importance. The Declaration iasued by the 0 'tt
fraudu Ient. The "Marxist" leaders who are raising such bop a so been broadcast over the Peking Radio. omml ea-
are acting as conscious agents of reaction. A greater legislati 1
eEnco
call ;/~fm8. d eV~t~pments have taken place in India since
majority will be of little use to the toiling people in West Ben re u' e omml ee went out to all revolutionary comrades
as in Kerala today. Lenin pointed out: d c; d~~te open~y tb.e. t.reacherous leadersbip of the OPI (M)
"If political power in the state is in the ha.nds of a class wh •.....or. mate theIr actiVItIes so as to lay the basis f .
interests coincide with those of the majority, that state can '<LlllUOlstPt' I d' 0 a genU2ne
ba.r met arOIh 10 n Ill.. The revolutionary comrades of
governed truly in line with the will of the majority. But on" and 10th December, pledged their support.
political power is in the hands of a class whose intere
 ntion
'0,o••,tb.•.aD.,L",.ti•• , .na i"uoo an apPo,I to ••U "vol
•• 01 Bib'" to ,i" up ••na a••".t tb. noo·"v'.'on
poli.i•• 01 tb. ,,,a.,,b'p of tb. p.M ana lulfil th••• ".a to
unt,u. • b, bi.t"'. (Th.fuU",t 01 tb. App••Lwill.ppea>
on
~b. n"t t ai"u' of Li'''o''''')' ASt••t. Oo·"din••ti 00••••'1
•• b" •.100 b"n "t up in Bib". Tb. S.".t ••" •.t of tb. ahm
~t.t. O,g•• i,'ng oo••••i".. of tho oPI (M) b•• a op
••olution"puai,ting th. noo·"vi.ioni•t I"a."b'pt of tb. p
••na b" ••nt it. g,••ting. to tb. M"xi.t.L •• ini. • wbo,"Iu
o ,ub•• to th••• Movi,ioni.t I••.a".bip, ." ••naucting
nnt
.t",ggl"it in N.xalb••" •• a otb.,pla ••' 'n tb. co ,.,.. Ro
nd
ution•."" cc••,ad•• 1,0" Andb,a,Tdva "'''' Oocbinana 0
pI"" baVOw.I•••••a tb. D",lMotiC' of tb. AU Inai•
• ,aina oo••••i"... Mo" .nd ••". co••"a ••, w. I
tion
~" •• tbu.i"tiC'Uy , ••ponaingto tb. c.U of tb. oo••••i" ••·

TEER AND UTPAL DUTT

We greet the comrades and friends of the
"Who s.re presenting a drama, -perh\\Ps the first I-'~
Inai••, on th' " ••g. 01 tb. Min"V" Tb•••t". It i, T,,« (I) n
rt
Arrow'), written and directed by Utpa.l Dutt. The
Tb"'" ••oa. bi,t'" wbonit .t.g.a KoUcl,but T"', tb. t }-'. ,J
N ~J
of wb,.b i. oo.ial"volution, i••• oven bold", ., ••t" "hi '--J (",
••ont. lnopi"a b, tb. cou"goou, figbt of tb. N"" >-<:: ,Q
p••••nt., it p"t"" tb. \if••• na .t",gol. of Inai••n p'" ~
.t,'ving to b" ••k tb•• b&okl" of ••bou,gooi,.I ••nal"a .t ••t•. 1-) U
rtrt
p,•••• ting tbi' a" ••a, tb. ontot••nainga" •••.ti't ••na tb. a ,..,
0'tb. Lit". Tb•••t" baVO folfiU.a••"volutiona,.,.t •••k ana
,bould" to .boula" witb tb. "volution",,' p•••••n" ofI
;:)1-'
}-'->-<::
\Q
Their art serves the CllaUSe
of life. the cause of revolution. :::t ~ ~
,)\
It is no wonder tha.t the bourgeois-bndlord governm6 ,.J rt
pupp.t cont<QU.a b, D. S. i••p."ali.t ••• a Sov,.t "vi.io. I-' (1) ':
h•• a" ••t.a nna" th. P. D. Act Dtpal Dutt, wbo" f•••• rt H
1-" (1'\
d, ••••'ti.t, ai,••t" ••na "t" b••, t"voUad b.yona th. bo
of lndia. wbo hll.Sfought tirelesslY with bis sba.rp-edged
.f ",t ••g.inot th. Inai•.n ",ling ol••,'"' D. S. i••p", ••li,t
'Vf
rt
,:::
'.-'
.
(J "

C
"vi.ion'a • 01 ••Ubu'" W. app,,1 to aU lov'" of ••,t, I
tbo" whot p,ol." tbe id•••l of a•••••"c', tb,ougbontIn
join witb u, in a••••• a'ng tb. "I ••••• of TItpal Dutt an
otber politicllalprisoners.

We regret tbat tbougb llannounced. Oomrade Asit Sen'S

The RevoLutionary Sit7£ation: Bas It Mat7£red ~ coU }-'-
I-'
rt
j-J. ~
be publisbed in tbis issue of Liberation for llliCk of spa rt r; (11

-wiUappo'"in tb. F,b,ua,.,.i"no. (Janna,y 1, ::J