Revolution aand Revisionism

LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION

  Make the People's Democratic Revolution Successful by Fighting Against  Revisionism
  

As revisionist thinking nestled in the Indian party for a long time, we couldnot build up a correct revolutionary party. Our primary task today is tobuild up a correct revolutionary party fighting uncompromisingly againstthis revisionist thinking.
(1) The first among revisionist thought is to regard 'Krishak Sabha'(peasants' organisation) and trade unions as the only Party activity.Party comrades often confuse the work of peasants' organisation and tradeunion with the political work of the Party. They do not realise that thepolitical tasks of the Party cannot be carried out through the peasants'organisation and trade union. But it should be remembered at the same timethat the trade union and the peasants' organisation are one of the many weaponsfor serving our purpose. On the other hand, to regard peasants' organisationand trade union work as the only work of the Party, can only mean plungingthe Party in the mire of economism. The proletarian revolution cannot bemade successful without an uncompromising struggle against this economism.This is the lesson that com. Lenin has given us.
(2) Some comrades think and are still thinking today that our political taskends with the launching of a few movements on demands, and they regard asingle victory through these movements as a political victory of the Party.Not only that, these comrades seek to confine the responsibility of carryingout the political tasks of the Party within the limits of these movementsonly. But we, the true Marxists know that carrying out the Party's politicalresponsibility means that the final aim of all propaganda, all movementsand all organisations of the Party is to establish firmly the political powerof the proletariat. It should be remembered always that if the words "Seizureof Political Power" are left out, the Party no longer remains a revolutionaryParty. Although it will remain a revolutionary Party in name then, it willbe actually reduced to a reformist party of the bourgeoisie.
When speaking of seizure of political power, some mean the Centre. They thinkthat with the gradual expansion of the limits of the movement, our only aimwill be to capture power centrally. This thinking is not only wrong; thisthinking destroys the correct revolutionary thinking within the party andreduces it to a reformist party. At the World Trade Union Congress in 1953,the well-tested and well-established Marxist leader of China, member of theCentral Committee of the Communist Party of China, asserted firmly that inthe coming days the tactics and strategy of the unfinished revolution ofAsia, Africa and Latin America will follow the footsteps of China. In otherwords, the strategy and tactics of these struggles will be area-wise seizureof power. It was not only that comrade and member of the Central Committeeof the Chinese Party, but Com. Lenin also mentioned area-wise seizure ofpower in his writings. Above all, the working class in Russia gave a concreteproof of Lenin's conclusion when they kept the town of Kronstad under seizurefor three days. In the era of socialism, all the elements of area-wise seizureof power are present in our framework.
A burning instance of the fact that this is possible is the Naga rebellion.The main condition of this area-wise seizure of power is weapons in the handsof the revolutionary forces. To think of seizing power without arms, is nothingbut an idle dream. Our Party has a very long history of struggles. We gavethe leadership to the peasants' and workers' movements in the extensivecountryside of North Bengal. Naturally, we shall have to examine and analysethe movements of the past and draw lessons from them and we shall have tomove forward anew in the present revolutionary era.
Analysis of the concrete events and experiences of the Tebhaga Movementin 1946 and 1947
The participant peasants in this movement numbered about six million. Itshould be remembered that in the entire peasant movement this was a goldenera. In the massiveness of the movement, in the intensity of emotions, inthe expression of class hatred, this movement was the highest stage of classstruggle. To help understand that stage, I am citing a few moving instancesof that movement.


A day's event:--


I was then living underground in the interest of the movement. I have personallywitnessed the tide of the revolutionary movement. I have seen how a singlelittle note made a man ten miles away come running like a mad man. On theother hand, I have also seen standing beside the husband, a newly wed youngMuslim woman who was subjected to demoniac barbarous assault by the classenemy. I have heard the pathetic appeal of that unarmed husband--Comrade,can't you take revenge? The very next moment, I have seen the intense hatredof the exploited against the exploiter, have seen that aweful spectacle ofkilling a living man in cold blood by twisting his throat.
Comrades, the above mentioned incidents demand from us some analysis.
Firstly, what was the historical reason as a result of which this massiveform of that movement in those days could create intense hatred against theclass enemy ?
Secondly, what again were the causes which turned that vast movement intoa failure ?
First, it was the slogan of seizure of political power that created the massiveform of that movement of those days, created the intense hatred against theclass enemy. On the opposite side, it was this slogan that made the classenemy adopt his class role. It is the expression of this that we find inthe barbaric rape of the young peasant woman and the beastly violent attackto smash the movement. On the other hand the peasants also did not hesitateto attack the class enemy. This raises the question: Why couldn't power beseized even after this ? It couldn't be seized for one reason only--it wasbecause the fighting people of those days looked to the centre for arms;we then lost faith in the path indicated by Lenin. We hesitated in thosedays to accept that bold declaration of Lenin to carry forward the revolutionby collecting arms locally and seizing power area-wise. As a result, theunarmed peasants could not stand up and resist in the face of arms. Eventhose who fought defying death had also to retreat finally. The lesson thathas to be drawn from the mistakes of those days is that the responsibilityof collecting arms lies with the local organisation, not with the centre.So the question of collecting arms will have to be put up before every ActivistGroup from now on. 'Dao', knives, sticks--all these are weapons, and withtheir help at opportune moments, firearms will have to be snatched. The eventsdescribed above are manifestations of revisionist thinking in its theoreticalaspect. Now, from the organisational point of view, those mistakes will haveto be found out which were hurdles in the way of a correct leadership ofthe vast movements of those days, so that they may not find a nest afreshin the revolutionary Party. To smash all those mistakes in the Party, theParty will today first have to establish its leadership over the massorganisations. For, a review of the history of the party over a long periodwould reveal that as a result of the revisionist thinking of regarding leadersof trade unions and peasant organisations (krishak sabha) as thereal representatives of the people, the party was reduced to a party of afew individuals. Because of this thinking, the party's political activitiesbecame inert, and the proletariat also became deprived of a correct revolutionaryleadership. All movements became confined within the bonds of movements ondemands. As a result Party members became enthusiastic over a single victoryand despondent over a single defeat. Secondly, as a result of overestimatingthe importance of this organisation, another type of localism is born. Comradesthink that the Party will suffer a serious loss if any comrade is shiftedfrom his area and they take this as a loss to personal leadership. From thislocalism another type of opportunism develops. Comrades think that theirarea is the most revolutionary; naturally nothing should be done here sothat there is police persecution. Because of this viewpoint they do not analysethe political situation of the entire country. As a result, commandism developsand organisational and daily propaganda work suffers. As a result, when thereis a call for a struggle, they assert that they will not do any small workand commit adventurism. Naturally the question arises--what are the methodswhich help to get out of these deviations ? What are those Marxist directiveswhich become essential tasks for building up a revolutionary party ?
Firstly, all works of organisation of the future will have to be done ascomplementary to the Party. In other words, the mass organisations will haveto be used as a part of serving one main purpose of the Party. For this reason,naturally, Party leadership will have to be established over the organisations.
Secondly, immediately from now the entire effort of the Party will have tobe spent on recruiting newer and newer cadres and on forming countless ActivistGroups consisting of them. It should be remembered that in the coming eraof struggles, the masses will have to be educated through the illegal machinery.So every Party member from now on will have to be made habituated to illegalwork. To get used to illegal work, it is an essential task for every ActivistGroup to paste illegal posters. It is only through this process that theywill be able to act as the bold core in leading struggles in the era ofstruggles. Otherwise, the revolution will be reduced to a petty bourgeoisidle dream.
Thirdly, it is through these active organisations that the Party will beable to establish its leadership over the mass organisations. So from nowon we shall have to help the members of the Activist Groups so that theycan fearlessly criticize the leaders of the mass organisations, and theirwork.
Fourthly, the work of the mass organisations will have to be discussed anddecided upon in the Party before it is implemented in the mass organisations.It should be remembered here that the policies of the mass organisationshave been wrongly practiced so long in the Party. To hold discussions onParty decisions is not called democratic centralism. This thinking is notin accordance with Marxism. And from all this thinking the conclusion hasto be drawn that the Party's programme will be adopted from below. But ifit is adopted from the lower level, then the correct Marxist way is notimplemented; in all these activities there inevitably is bourgeois deviations.The Marxist truth of democratic centralism is that the Party directive comingfrom higher leadership must be carried out. Because the Party's highest leaderis he who has firmly established himself as a Marxist through a long periodof movements and theoretical debates. We have the right to criticise Partydecisions; but once a decision has been taken, if any one criticizes it withoutimplementing it, or obstructs work, or hesitates to implement it, he willbe guilty of the serious offence of violating Party discipline.
As a result of having this idea of Party democracy as that of a debatingsociety, the road for espionage inside the Party is thrown open. Naturally,the revolutionary leadership of the Party then becomes bankrupt and the workingclass is deprived of a correct revolutionary leadership. This petty-bourgeoissort of thinking inside the Party leads the Party on to the verge of destruction.And this is the manifestation of petty-bourgeois thinking inside the Party.Their comfortable living and attitude of indisciplined criticism reducesthe Party to a mere debating society. This thinking becomes a hurdle in thepath of building up a Party of the proletariat--strong as iron.
Fifthly, the indisciplined life of the petty-bourgeoisie draws them towardsindisciplined criticism; that is, they do not want to criticize within thelimits of the organisation. To get rid of this deviation, we should remainconscious of the Marxist viewpoint regarding criticism. The characteristicsof Marxist criticism are: (1) Criticisms must be made within the Partyorganisation, that is, at the Party meeting. (2) The aim of criticism shouldbe constructive. That is, the aim of criticism is to advance the party fromthe point of view of principles and organisation, and we must always be vigilantthat there is no unprincipled criticism within the Party.
Come, comrades, in the present revolutionary era, let us complete the People'sDemocratic Revolution by fighting uncompromisingly against revisionism.


Revolution and revisionism

Revolution aand Revisionism

LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION

  Make the People's Democratic Revolution Successful by Fighting Against  Revisionism
  

As revisionist thinking nestled in the Indian party for a long time, we couldnot build up a correct revolutionary party. Our primary task today is tobuild up a correct revolutionary party fighting uncompromisingly againstthis revisionist thinking.
(1) The first among revisionist thought is to regard 'Krishak Sabha'(peasants' organisation) and trade unions as the only Party activity.Party comrades often confuse the work of peasants' organisation and tradeunion with the political work of the Party. They do not realise that thepolitical tasks of the Party cannot be carried out through the peasants'organisation and trade union. But it should be remembered at the same timethat the trade union and the peasants' organisation are one of the many weaponsfor serving our purpose. On the other hand, to regard peasants' organisationand trade union work as the only work of the Party, can only mean plungingthe Party in the mire of economism. The proletarian revolution cannot bemade successful without an uncompromising struggle against this economism.This is the lesson that com. Lenin has given us.
(2) Some comrades think and are still thinking today that our political taskends with the launching of a few movements on demands, and they regard asingle victory through these movements as a political victory of the Party.Not only that, these comrades seek to confine the responsibility of carryingout the political tasks of the Party within the limits of these movementsonly. But we, the true Marxists know that carrying out the Party's politicalresponsibility means that the final aim of all propaganda, all movementsand all organisations of the Party is to establish firmly the political powerof the proletariat. It should be remembered always that if the words "Seizureof Political Power" are left out, the Party no longer remains a revolutionaryParty. Although it will remain a revolutionary Party in name then, it willbe actually reduced to a reformist party of the bourgeoisie.
When speaking of seizure of political power, some mean the Centre. They thinkthat with the gradual expansion of the limits of the movement, our only aimwill be to capture power centrally. This thinking is not only wrong; thisthinking destroys the correct revolutionary thinking within the party andreduces it to a reformist party. At the World Trade Union Congress in 1953,the well-tested and well-established Marxist leader of China, member of theCentral Committee of the Communist Party of China, asserted firmly that inthe coming days the tactics and strategy of the unfinished revolution ofAsia, Africa and Latin America will follow the footsteps of China. In otherwords, the strategy and tactics of these struggles will be area-wise seizureof power. It was not only that comrade and member of the Central Committeeof the Chinese Party, but Com. Lenin also mentioned area-wise seizure ofpower in his writings. Above all, the working class in Russia gave a concreteproof of Lenin's conclusion when they kept the town of Kronstad under seizurefor three days. In the era of socialism, all the elements of area-wise seizureof power are present in our framework.
A burning instance of the fact that this is possible is the Naga rebellion.The main condition of this area-wise seizure of power is weapons in the handsof the revolutionary forces. To think of seizing power without arms, is nothingbut an idle dream. Our Party has a very long history of struggles. We gavethe leadership to the peasants' and workers' movements in the extensivecountryside of North Bengal. Naturally, we shall have to examine and analysethe movements of the past and draw lessons from them and we shall have tomove forward anew in the present revolutionary era.
Analysis of the concrete events and experiences of the Tebhaga Movementin 1946 and 1947
The participant peasants in this movement numbered about six million. Itshould be remembered that in the entire peasant movement this was a goldenera. In the massiveness of the movement, in the intensity of emotions, inthe expression of class hatred, this movement was the highest stage of classstruggle. To help understand that stage, I am citing a few moving instancesof that movement.


A day's event:--


I was then living underground in the interest of the movement. I have personallywitnessed the tide of the revolutionary movement. I have seen how a singlelittle note made a man ten miles away come running like a mad man. On theother hand, I have also seen standing beside the husband, a newly wed youngMuslim woman who was subjected to demoniac barbarous assault by the classenemy. I have heard the pathetic appeal of that unarmed husband--Comrade,can't you take revenge? The very next moment, I have seen the intense hatredof the exploited against the exploiter, have seen that aweful spectacle ofkilling a living man in cold blood by twisting his throat.
Comrades, the above mentioned incidents demand from us some analysis.
Firstly, what was the historical reason as a result of which this massiveform of that movement in those days could create intense hatred against theclass enemy ?
Secondly, what again were the causes which turned that vast movement intoa failure ?
First, it was the slogan of seizure of political power that created the massiveform of that movement of those days, created the intense hatred against theclass enemy. On the opposite side, it was this slogan that made the classenemy adopt his class role. It is the expression of this that we find inthe barbaric rape of the young peasant woman and the beastly violent attackto smash the movement. On the other hand the peasants also did not hesitateto attack the class enemy. This raises the question: Why couldn't power beseized even after this ? It couldn't be seized for one reason only--it wasbecause the fighting people of those days looked to the centre for arms;we then lost faith in the path indicated by Lenin. We hesitated in thosedays to accept that bold declaration of Lenin to carry forward the revolutionby collecting arms locally and seizing power area-wise. As a result, theunarmed peasants could not stand up and resist in the face of arms. Eventhose who fought defying death had also to retreat finally. The lesson thathas to be drawn from the mistakes of those days is that the responsibilityof collecting arms lies with the local organisation, not with the centre.So the question of collecting arms will have to be put up before every ActivistGroup from now on. 'Dao', knives, sticks--all these are weapons, and withtheir help at opportune moments, firearms will have to be snatched. The eventsdescribed above are manifestations of revisionist thinking in its theoreticalaspect. Now, from the organisational point of view, those mistakes will haveto be found out which were hurdles in the way of a correct leadership ofthe vast movements of those days, so that they may not find a nest afreshin the revolutionary Party. To smash all those mistakes in the Party, theParty will today first have to establish its leadership over the massorganisations. For, a review of the history of the party over a long periodwould reveal that as a result of the revisionist thinking of regarding leadersof trade unions and peasant organisations (krishak sabha) as thereal representatives of the people, the party was reduced to a party of afew individuals. Because of this thinking, the party's political activitiesbecame inert, and the proletariat also became deprived of a correct revolutionaryleadership. All movements became confined within the bonds of movements ondemands. As a result Party members became enthusiastic over a single victoryand despondent over a single defeat. Secondly, as a result of overestimatingthe importance of this organisation, another type of localism is born. Comradesthink that the Party will suffer a serious loss if any comrade is shiftedfrom his area and they take this as a loss to personal leadership. From thislocalism another type of opportunism develops. Comrades think that theirarea is the most revolutionary; naturally nothing should be done here sothat there is police persecution. Because of this viewpoint they do not analysethe political situation of the entire country. As a result, commandism developsand organisational and daily propaganda work suffers. As a result, when thereis a call for a struggle, they assert that they will not do any small workand commit adventurism. Naturally the question arises--what are the methodswhich help to get out of these deviations ? What are those Marxist directiveswhich become essential tasks for building up a revolutionary party ?
Firstly, all works of organisation of the future will have to be done ascomplementary to the Party. In other words, the mass organisations will haveto be used as a part of serving one main purpose of the Party. For this reason,naturally, Party leadership will have to be established over the organisations.
Secondly, immediately from now the entire effort of the Party will have tobe spent on recruiting newer and newer cadres and on forming countless ActivistGroups consisting of them. It should be remembered that in the coming eraof struggles, the masses will have to be educated through the illegal machinery.So every Party member from now on will have to be made habituated to illegalwork. To get used to illegal work, it is an essential task for every ActivistGroup to paste illegal posters. It is only through this process that theywill be able to act as the bold core in leading struggles in the era ofstruggles. Otherwise, the revolution will be reduced to a petty bourgeoisidle dream.
Thirdly, it is through these active organisations that the Party will beable to establish its leadership over the mass organisations. So from nowon we shall have to help the members of the Activist Groups so that theycan fearlessly criticize the leaders of the mass organisations, and theirwork.
Fourthly, the work of the mass organisations will have to be discussed anddecided upon in the Party before it is implemented in the mass organisations.It should be remembered here that the policies of the mass organisationshave been wrongly practiced so long in the Party. To hold discussions onParty decisions is not called democratic centralism. This thinking is notin accordance with Marxism. And from all this thinking the conclusion hasto be drawn that the Party's programme will be adopted from below. But ifit is adopted from the lower level, then the correct Marxist way is notimplemented; in all these activities there inevitably is bourgeois deviations.The Marxist truth of democratic centralism is that the Party directive comingfrom higher leadership must be carried out. Because the Party's highest leaderis he who has firmly established himself as a Marxist through a long periodof movements and theoretical debates. We have the right to criticise Partydecisions; but once a decision has been taken, if any one criticizes it withoutimplementing it, or obstructs work, or hesitates to implement it, he willbe guilty of the serious offence of violating Party discipline.
As a result of having this idea of Party democracy as that of a debatingsociety, the road for espionage inside the Party is thrown open. Naturally,the revolutionary leadership of the Party then becomes bankrupt and the workingclass is deprived of a correct revolutionary leadership. This petty-bourgeoissort of thinking inside the Party leads the Party on to the verge of destruction.And this is the manifestation of petty-bourgeois thinking inside the Party.Their comfortable living and attitude of indisciplined criticism reducesthe Party to a mere debating society. This thinking becomes a hurdle in thepath of building up a Party of the proletariat--strong as iron.
Fifthly, the indisciplined life of the petty-bourgeoisie draws them towardsindisciplined criticism; that is, they do not want to criticize within thelimits of the organisation. To get rid of this deviation, we should remainconscious of the Marxist viewpoint regarding criticism. The characteristicsof Marxist criticism are: (1) Criticisms must be made within the Partyorganisation, that is, at the Party meeting. (2) The aim of criticism shouldbe constructive. That is, the aim of criticism is to advance the party fromthe point of view of principles and organisation, and we must always be vigilantthat there is no unprincipled criticism within the Party.
Come, comrades, in the present revolutionary era, let us complete the People'sDemocratic Revolution by fighting uncompromisingly against revisionism.