Editorial
The Challenges before the Maoists
The millennia started with the hype of
ushering in an era of undisputed victory of capitalism under the aegis of the
US imperialism’s aggressive march as the self-proclaimed sole leader of the
world. It is interesting to note that the quick sand of economic crisis was
being simultaneously created. Their millennial proclamation was soon followed
by their wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact these wars, which
reflected the megalomaniac great power ambitions of the U.S. manifested through
the Bush Jr. regime, played a vital role in the generation of the crisis. This
aspect has not been duly acknowledged. Rather the focus is narrowed down to the
speculative bubbles of financialisation. The fact of the matter remains that
the crises that periodically affects the capitalist economy given its striving
for over production driven by greed for profits continues in this century. Not
only that, it is accentuated by financialisation, which makes the economy all
the more vulnerable. All of this built towards a spiralling crisis leading to
the worst ever recession modern society has seen. The fall out inevitably led
to sharp decline in the living standards of the vast majority of the
marginalised masses all over the world including that of the first world
advanced nations. The imperialists tried to present a bold face through
attempts to tackle this unitedly, even giving some place to emerging Third
World powers like China and India. But their patch work solutions have only
created an environment for stagnation and further crisis. At the same time they
limit their options for future damage control.
Their desperate attempts to simulate the economy while trying to
maximise profits and impose the burden on the masses has further aggravated the
situation. It has led to widespread displacements and migration, unemployment
and underemployment, sharp increase in poverty levels, hunger and suicides.
The GATT Treaty which paved the wave for
the WTO regime brought in the mantra of Globalisation – Privatisation –
Liberalisation as a sure shot remedy for stagnation and recurring crises. In
its two decades of practice it has reaped exorbitant profits for the monopolist
bourgeoisie and the comprador big bourgeoisie in the Third World. Other than
that it proved beneficial only for a small section of the middle classes who
were elevated to the upper end of their strata. There has been an attempt to
portray this small gain achieved by a section of the middle classes as the
proof of success of globalisation. Meanwhile all sorts of nefarious methods are
being employed to cover-up, deny and disown its ill effects which have affected
the vast majority. In India, suicides committed by destitute peasants over this
period have been over 3 million. Its reasons are attributed to various other
things but globalisation. Globalisation has in fact deepened the gulf between
the haves and the have-nots to unprecedented levels. Most importantly it
sharply brought to the open the principal contradiction of imperialism versus
the oppressed people and nations while aggravating all the other contradictions
too. The results can be seen in the turmoil and resistance struggles spread out
across the globe. The Arab Spring which overthrew decades old dictators,
faithful servitors of imperialism, is the brightest example. The attempts to
subvert these rebellions by replacing them with new ones with democratic masks
are getting exposed and they too face the wrath of the masses. In the
imperialist countries the workers and broad masses consistently take to the
streets to resist and defeat attempts to cut down on their standard of living
or rob them of their livelihood.
The very volatile and violent reactions of
the masses are shaking up the ruling classes. Much against their wishes it is
throwing up big obstacles in the implementation of their aggressive anti-people
plans to revive the economy. The resolution of the 2012 Special Meeting of RIM
parties clearly states, “In this context a potential new wave of the world
proletarian revolution develops and emerges, with the people's wars led by
Maoist parties as its reference points and strategic anchor. The realisation of
this potential ultimately depends on how successful the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist
parties are in fulfilling their revolutionary tasks at national and
international level. The pooling of their understanding and experience and the
development of their capacity to take a united revolutionary message to the
rebellious masses all over the world, have decisive importance.”
This international situation sets the stage
for the tumultuous resurgence of mass rebellion and resistance. The challenge before the Maoist is that of
correctly grasping the new possibilities thrown open by the imperialist crisis,
which, despite all their united efforts, is not showing any sign of resolution
in the near future. The world is in turmoil. The students and youth, workers
and peasants, the salaried classes, all have joined hands to struggle against
the life this imperialist system has imposed on them. The growing unemployment
and underemployment in the imperialist world have shaken illusions and
punctured chauvinist great nation pride. No doubt, this situation of grave
instability has also strengthened reactionary, chauvinist tendencies. But the
predominant trend is positive. The
growing awareness is quiet visible in the slogans, level of debate and focussed
anger against the ruling classes and imperialism. Every event is becoming a
potential bomb. May it be the rape and murder of a young woman in a bus in
Delhi or cutting down some trees in a park in Istanbul – incidents have just
been triggers for an outbreak of pent up rage, one which doesn’t easily get
cowed down.
Today the People’ War growing in the
heartland of India led by Communist Party of India (Maoist) and in the
archipelagos of the Philippines led by the Communist Party of the Philippines,
stand foremost in bringing the power and inspiration of Maoism to this world of
crisis and rebellion. Along with this we must note the attempts being made to
launch or relaunch People’s Wars by Maoists in Turkey, Nepal, Peru (by those
holding up the revolutionary flag in the midst of opportunism and betrayal that
emerged after the arrest of comrade Gonzalo) and in various other countries.
But there are issues that still exist as hurdles in achieving the overall leap
that will catapult the Maoist pole to the centre of the present wave of
rebellions and protests seen in the world.
After a decade of struggle, led principally
by the Communist Party of Peru, Maoism was adopted by the RIM in 1993. It
upheld Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the third, newer and higher stage of
proletarian ideology. The struggle to grasp it in totality was itself a leap.
It also was a weapon against the fractured understanding, opportunist garb and
revisionism that existed even among those waving the Marxism-Leninism-Mao
Tsetung Thought banner. The task did
yield result as the struggle to establish Maoism showed the real face of
various shades of wrong thinking and tendencies which ultimately took a totally
revisionist stand. But within a decade or so, those trends which could still
manage to evade being identified cropped up with their versions of revisionism.
Also various other trends still persist. The task of establishing Maoism is
still a task that needs to be accomplished forcefully.
In its 2000 Enlarged Meeting, the RIM
analysed and drew attention to the ‘emerging new wave of revolution’ and
recognised that revolution is the main trend.
Soon after this we saw the RCP, USA pulling away from these positions in
the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center. Under the guise of presenting
a dialectical view that there are ‘immense possibilities as well as grave
dangers’, they were in fact being one-sided and seeing only the grave dangers.
This was also the period during which the main content of Avakianism, now
presented as New Synthesis of Bob Avakian, was taking shape. In 2004 the
Prachanda-Bhattarai revisionists began to formalise their deviation from Maoism
in the name of 21st Century Democracy.
One prominent erroneous trend seen today
among the Maoists is that of evading struggle with revisionism on the
ideological front. This is all the more serious, when two dangerous new forms
of revisionism, namely the revisionisms of the Prachanda-Bhattarai variety
Avakianism, are causing havoc. It is surprising that those coming from the RIM
tradition where utmost importance was given to ideological tasks are showing
slackness in taking up the rigorous task of ideological combat with revisionism
effectively. Some argue that there is a need to thoroughly study or engage in
debate with ‘something as important’ as what Avakian said before it can be
termed as revisionist.
True, a thorough refutation is needed. In
fact, while the last issue of Naxalbari refuted Prachanda-Bhattarai
revisionism, this issue is devoted to the task of repudiating Avakianism. Prachanda-Bhattarai revisionism exposes
itself through its blatant service to reaction, Indian expansionism and
imperialism. Avakianism is more devious. But, when it is declared that MLM must
be replaced with Avakianism, isn’t this enough reason to reject it outright as
liquidationist and revisionist? Isn’t this an urgent, necessary step that must
be taken immediately even while one reserves the responsibility of thorough
examination and refutation at one’s convenience? When it is clearly seen that
the manipulatory methods of the RCP, USA and the opportunism of UCPN (M) were
the immediate reasons for the collapse of RIM shouldn’t this be said so openly?
Giving the revisionists and liquidators the benefit of doubt only creates
further confusions. This is shying away from the immediate internationalist
responsibilities. It is a manifestation of centrism. If left uncorrected it
will pave the way to revisionism. It is time to call spade a spade without any
delay and take up the task of principled Maoist unity at the earliest.
Another erroneous trend is the failure to
concretely understand ‘potential new wave of the world proletarian revolution’
and what opportunity the present world situation has set up for the Maoists.
Herein lies the importance of having a correct grasp of the international line
and its relation to revolutionary work in a country. The tendency to see
international work as incidental or having an understanding that international
work is only needed to give or take solidarity will eventually lead to failure
in adopting a correct international line. This thereby affects the national
line too. The prominent trend is to accept the changes occurring at the
international level, talk about it in our literature, but make no necessary
changes in our work. Thus a gradualist approach of ‘business as usual’ is
taken. This trend fails to seize the opportunity and push the People’s War or
the necessary plans for its preparation, to take the initiative in our hands.
Strangely enough, the given international
situation and the spontaneous struggles of the people around the world has
inspired some to come out openly with their revisionist self and advocate for
electoral politics. They swear by Maoism, its creative application and need for
developing theory, but carry out its exact opposite by adopting policies which
have been proved wrong over and over again and end up preparing to take the
plunge into the cess pool of parliamentarism. Their creativity has nothing new
in essence. It is the same old revisionist line, now combined with the NGO
style of work. There is a strong tendency amongst the opportunists and
revisionists to hide under the garb of Marxist - Leninist rhetoric like
‘concrete analysis of concrete conditions’, ‘applying dialectics’ etc. while
practicing just its opposite.
In this case the deviation arises from their
variety of ‘concrete analysis of concrete conditions’ whereby they see that the
fundamental character of the Indian society has changed and caste-feudalism is
no longer a main, decisive enemy of the masses.
The Maoist understanding of bureaucratic capitalism as a specific form
of capitalism created and nurtured by the imperialists to serve its interests
in the countries is not taken into account. The character of this form of
capitalism as one that serves the interests of imperialism and feudalism is not
seen. The classical form of feudalism, as seen in China in the
pre-revolutionary era, nowhere exists in the world today. But it is equally
true that imperialist wants to retain feudalism in one way or the other as its
social base in order to carry forward their unbridled exploitation of the 3rd
world of its resources, wealth and great reservoir of labour, to keep their
returns on capital rolling. Yet at the same time they also are in the dire need
of constantly deepening and widening the market to push their products in ever
larger amounts. Simultaneously, the class struggle within the oppressed
countries, in particular the revolutionary struggle, exerts a pressure from
below. This interaction, from above and below, necessitates the imperialists to
keep transforming feudalism according to their political and economic needs.
Hence the changes seen in the countryside do not indicate that feudalism is
getting eliminated. A thorough examination reveals that though, in appearance,
traditional forms of feudalism are side-lined or even eliminated, in essence it
gets replaced by new forms with feudal content. This is one major field where
deeper struggles within the Maoist fold are necessary in order to achieve a
higher leap towards Maoist unity on correct lines.
The present turmoil seen in the world is
still predominantly guided by various non-Marxist ideologies. But, the
advancement of Maoist led People’s War as a solid alternative and the formation
of an internationalist Maoist organisation will only help speedy polarisation
and win over the revolutionary masses in waves. The turbulent world shows ever
more glaringly that the masses needs revolution and revolutionary parties to
lead and guide them to final victory. This is the time to sharpen the line
struggles with the aim of uniting the majority. This period calls for stronger
and principled unity among the Maoists at the national and international level.
The challenges have been set.
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