FINAL CHAPTER OF RIM TWO LINE STRUGGLE (5 of 5)

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                    MAOISM AND THE TWO LINE STRUGGLE
                        WITHIN THE REVOLUTIONARY 
                    INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT  (RIM)

                                PART 5 OF 5

                              Document from
                       Committee Sol Peru - London
                              October 1994
                                    
                A Red Star Information Bureau Publication

OPPORTUNISM RAISES AGAIN ITS BLACK BANNER 

Two lines, a proletarian and a bourgeois line, with their respective recognised 
leaders at the
international level, the line of the PCP and Chairman Gonzalo, and the one of 
the RCP USA
respectively, have coexisted in unity and struggle within the RIM during the 
whole of its process
of development.  Therefore, these constitute the unity of opposites that is the 
RIM.  There are two
General Headquarters. The proletarian one that keeps an 'open fire at the light 
of day', and the
bourgeois one that commits underhand 'arson' in the darkness.      

Therefore, while the proletarian line has always proceeded with the intention 
that this unity may
serve for the development of a new Communist International - an International 
like the one that the
proletariat needs for its struggle for political power in the world - the 
bourgeois line has impeded,
pigeonholed and caricatured this just policy of Chairman Gonzalo and Marxism.  

For this purpose they adapt like chameleons clinging to their positions inside 
the RIM and continuing
to impede and block the objectives of the proletariat by different and changing 
methods.  

Like the old Italian aristocracy described by Visconti in the film 'Il 
Gatopardo' (The Leopard), they
are also masters at 'changing certain things so that everything may remain the 
same'.  Today, this
opportunist line shows unequivocal signs of making a comeback, this time openly 
configured as a
Right-wing opportunist line:

A CHANGE OF LABEL

It is in this context that the dialectical leap announced by the IC of the RIM 
on 26/12/93 in adopting
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the Movement's ideology should be understood.

It is true that since the very foundation of the RIM, Chairman Gonzalo and the 
PCP have advocated
this move. However, what the PCP regards as a necessary and urgent 
'understanding of the
importance of Maoism for the world revolution', our 'friends' have caricatured 
as a simple change
of label, a mere 'birthday present' for Chairman Mao in his 100 Anniversary.  

We say this because, in practice, what some, not all, within RIM, are 
presenting as 'Maoism', is
nothing but a red flag to oppose the red flag. A toy rattle to divert attention 
from their true anti-
Marxist orientation.

Let us see. Simultaneously with their change of label, our 'caricaturist 
friends' have also changed
their line of business.  They have confined their ultra-Left positions to the 
archives and have
proceeded to unfold an openly Right-wing opportunist line, centring in 
'Defending the Life of Doctor
Guzman' and relegating the question of the revolution that Chairman Gonzalo 
embodies.  

Describing their work as a 'democratic and humanitarian task' they are 
determined to sit on the
fence on the all important issue of the plot of capitulation defended by the 
'individual in Sweden'
and his gang.  In this fashion they have been managing the International 
Campaign to defend the
life of Chairman Gonzalo, burning incense to Maoism while at the same time 
betraying and
emasculating it in practice.  According to them, this is in order 'not to 
frighten the masses'.  In
reality, the masses they are talking about are nothing but 'masses' of big-wigs 
and personalities
whose signatures they collect with special relish, congratulating themselves no 
end when they
obtain the support of some former Prime Minister or other, the signature of 
this or that Pop star,
this or that MP of some bourgeois parliament.  

The workers, peasants and students and truly democratic masses, are not 
frightened by the
revolution and not put off by Maoism.  No, it is the big-wigs and the 
personalities who our
caricaturist 'friends' do not want to frighten.  In synthesis, theirs is a case 
of being afraid of scaring
'the good bourgeois' into keeping wallet and fountain pen tightly closed in 
their pockets. 

We can now see how the same theoretical thread holds together the two sides of 
the liquidationist
coin of the bourgeois line of the RCP USA.  It is nothing but the old Menshevik 
fear that the
bourgeoisie may 'recoil' in the face of the revolution's advance. That, and 
nothing else, is what
these gentlemen are today dressing up as 'Maoism'.  

This and no other was the source of the 'ultra-Left' thesis of Robert Avakian 
on the question of the
imperialist world war that would have occurred in the sixties 'if the socialist 
camp had really
consolidated and strengthened itself'.  Then their intention was to agitate the 
spectre of imperialist
nuclear war so that the 'good bourgeois' would become scared of themselves and 
come to accept
the leadership of our caricature heroes for their 'revolution in the eighties'. 
 

Today, his disciples, given body and soul to open Right-wing opportunism, think 
that if the People's
War continues to grow stronger, if Maoism is upheld and applied more firmly, if 
capitulation and
treason and its advocates are openly condemned and unmasked, the reactionaries 
'very likely'
would have 'the necessity' to kill Chairman Gonzalo, and the question is for 
them 'to move heaven
and earth' to defend his life above all things and principles.  For them, today 
the issue is 'not to
scare the bourgeois' so that they won't kill Dr. Guzman.  As we already said, 
these are but two
faces of the same coin.  

IN SYNTHESIS 

It is necessary to fight against opportunism inside the RIM.  It is necessary 
to aim at the head and
to reveal the roots that underpin it.  It is necessary to advance in the 
reconstitution of the Peru
People's Movements (MPPs) on the basis of repudiating all the anti-Marxist 
theses that the
'individual in Sweden' and the 'officials of the International Committee of the 
RIM' have jointly
sown in its midst. Otherwise, these organisms would be unable to do the task 
that Chairman
Gonzalo and the PCP has enjoined them.  The urgent task of functioning: 
".....as a red fraction
within the International Communist Movement so that Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, 
principally
Maoism be the command and guide of the world revolution...".  If otherwise was 
done, they would
inevitably fall again to charlatans of the same style as the 'individual in 
Sweden'.  

We should bear specially in mind the words of Chairman Gonzalo: "We are for the 
reconstitution
of the Communist International and we consider the Revolutionary 
Internationalist Movement as a
step in that direction, a step that would be useful on that account, provided 
that it sustains itself
on a just and correct ideological line".

It is necessary to raise the banner of the 7th Congress of the Communist 
International very high and
to proclaim its reconstitution basing it upon retaking the road pointed out by 
Georgi Dimitrov, by
comrade Stalin and Chairman Mao Tse-tung, who were and continue to be 
inseparable in the
defence of its General Line.  

We must draw a demarcation line vis a vis the theoretical equivocations 
promoted by Robert
Avakian and the RCP USA leadership.  Here in London at the time of the 
foundation of the RIM we
had already said: 'The RIM is good, is a step forward. However, there are still 
many people who are
not in it and should be, and there are others that are in it, but if they do 
not change their attitude,
it would then be better that they were not'.  

The events we have outlined in this report, have only reaffirmed us in the 
necessity to open intense
fire in defence of the interests of the proletariat and the people.  We are 
always advocates of the
unity of the greatest number.  However, such unity is only possible if it is 
based upon principles. 

We clearly understand the need to draw a distinction between our own 
bureaucracy and the
reactionary bureaucracy, between the 'bureaucracy of Yenan and the bureaucracy 
of Sian'.  This
is a sound Maoist policy. 

However, if theses that the International Communist Movement had already 
repudiated more than
60 years ago are stubbornly regurgitated and applied to damage the revolution 
at every turn it
undergoes a difficult period, if, moreover, there is no will to rectify, nor 
real self-criticism, then,
despite our best intentions we would have to suggest that Chairman Mao's 
teaching: 'Fewer but
better troops and a more efficient administration', be immediately applied to 
the Revolutionary
Internationalist Movement.    

FOR THE RECONSTITUTION OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL

Let us move forward to the reconstitution of the International Communist 
Movement holding aloft
its glorious banners, the old and the new.  The banners of Marx, Engels, Lenin, 
Stalin and Dimitrov,
and principally those of Chairman Mao, all of them banners of the Communist 
Party of Peru and of
Chairman Gonzalo, repudiating revisionism and combating opportunism at every 
turn. This, and no
other, should be the minimum base for unity for the communists of the world.

Let us remember that in this long and complex process of constructing the unity 
of the communists
of the world, to date, we have had three Internationals.  That the First was 
founded by Marx and
Engels and was liquidated by the followers of Bakunin.  That at that time, Marx 
and Engels wrote
the following about these liquidators: "Here we have a society which under the 
mask of the most
extreme anarchism, directs its blows not against the existing governments but 
against the
revolutionaries who accept neither its dogma nor its leadership......It 
infiltrates the ranks of the
international organisations of the working class, at first attempts to dominate 
it and, when this plan
fails, sets to work to disorganise it.  It brazenly substitutes its sectarian 
programme and narrow
ideas for the broad programme and great aspirations of our Association." (Marx 
and Engels are here
referring to the First International). 

Let us recall that in order to preserve the principles of Marxism and to defend 
the long term
interests of the class, it became necessary to dissolve this International, 
because otherwise, as
Marx and Engels then said: "....it would have in any case died assassinated by 
unity placed above
principle". 

That a few years later, Engels founded an International that eventually became 
infinitely more
powerful. That, however, after his death, this International also developed 
revisionism and deserted
class principles adhering to social-patriotism and harnessing the class to the 
war chariot of the
imperialist bourgeoisie despite all the resolutions of its Congresses.  That in 
order to preserve
Marxism and to defend the interests of the class, once again the 
revolutionaries had to proceed
against the 'official leadership'.  

That they went over the heads of the 'old leadership', and destroying the 'old 
Party', and turning
the imperialist war into civil war, they seized power in Russia despite the 
curses, scheming and
treason of the gentlemen of the II International.  Let us recall that once in 
power, the Soviet
proletariat under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin contributed infinitely to 
the formation of the III
International, that was in time to be more powerful and combat-ready than the 
one we lost to the
disciples of Kautsky. 

Therefore, this is the Great International that today we want to reconstruct, 
defeating revisionism
and opportunism once again and adhering the class to Marxism, today 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism.

In synthesis, let us recall that in every struggle against revisionism, placing 
principle above the need
for unity has always resulted in effectively preserving the interests of the 
revolution.  That the
revolution and the class always emerge more powerful than before from every 
great battle against
revisionism.  That this is true even when the class is compelled to smash first 
the 'old Party', 'the
old apparatus' whenever it is no longer possible to reform it.  

Let us bear this in mind, never for a moment forget it, and all will be well in 
the end: That the
formation of the RIM was a step forward in the direction of a concrete 
objective.  That, even
though this Movement has had many problems of development and line 
difficulties, thanks to the
efforts of the revolutionaries it has even managed to take more than one step 
in that direction. 

Take into account that the RIM is merely a Revolutionary Movement, and not yet 
an International
for communists.  In some occasions, as Lenin once indicated, it is necessary 
'to take a step back
to be able to take two forward'. 

Of course, if it is possible still to rectify, this should be done, and thus 
unity would surely emerge
strengthened.  Today, however, only a struggle can bring this rectification 
about. But, if this road
is no longer transitable and our adversaries obstinately persist in their 
unprincipled and divisive
policies, in any case, from our efforts and from the efforts of all good 
comrades, the whole class
and the people, a new more powerful and solid unity will always emerge at the 
end of the day. 
And this unity will surely be, a step and more than one step, in the 
reconstitution of "the International
that we need".

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
   
It is imperative to appeal immediately to all member parties of the RIM, if 
necessary, going over the
heads of their leadership. It is imperative that all should adopt a clear 
position vis a vis these facts. 
It is necessary to bring all these issues out into the open, popularise them 
among the revolutionary
masses so that the masses may themselves judge the role of their leaders.  Any 
other kind of
attitude, is closed-doors, is 'gentleman's club', is Rightism!. 

Only in this way can this negative phenomena - the lack of unity and political 
coordination of the
Maoists at the international level - be overcome and turned into a positive 
factor allowing for a true
advance beyond a simple change of label.
 
A PROCESS THAT SHOULD START AT HOME

To achieve these aims, today it is more urgent than ever to rectify the MPPs 
and that these
organisms should boldly integrate themselves in a united front to defend the 
revolution in Peru and
the proletarian line at the world level.  It is really necessary to constitute 
a red fraction in order to
raise these banners and undertake these tasks, not with the aim of scaling 
bureaucratic positions,
but to advance the interests of the proletariat and the people.  

Finally, and in this connection, and to show once again that the clean-up of 
the 'colossal mountain
of garbage' must always begin at home, we reproduce here a few lines written a 
few moths ago
by our Committee:

"Currently, after overcoming the immediate crisis generated by the desertion of 
certain elements,
a handful of rotten leaders that included the principal responsible persons in 
Sweden, Mexico,
Germany and France, the Peru People's Movement is entering into a new period of 
development. 

These individuals, in the event of the imprisonment of Chairman Gonzalo, turned 
coat and went to
work as the handmaids of Fujimori's "Peace Agreement", dragging along a few 
others and achieving
a certain degree of success in creating confusion, fomenting splits and driving 
away good elements
>from the masses who stay away from unprincipled internal disputes.
  
This new and powerful development can be observed in the appearance of new 
organisms of the
MPP type (for example, in the USA) and the reconstitution of others (Sweden in 
Malm?), as well
as in the wide support that the International Communist Movement and the 
revolutionaries of the
world are lending to those publications, organisations and individuals that 
have taken the field
against the "Peace Agreement" plot and the bogus 'Directive of Chairman 
Gonzalo' fabricated by
Fujimori and Montesinos. 

However, it is also an undeniable fact that this unpleasant experience compels 
the necessity of
rectification for the MPPs.  This experience demonstrates that within the 
organisms generated by
the PCP for its work at the international level, an unprincipled gang of 
counter-revolutionaries with
their own ideology and organisation had secretly nestled during many years.  

That these elements hid their true nature under the cover of the most 
revolutionary phraseology. 
That they agitated the reddest of red banners to oppose the red banner.  That 
these were
individuals like Khrushchev and Lin Piao, incense burners and praise singers.  
People who, to
disguise their Right-wing opportunism, swear undying loyalty and vow absolute 
submission at every
possible turn: quotation mongers and champions of the stereotype style of Party 
writing.  Moreover,
they have also left us an inheritance of bad methods of work.  Methods that 
have a hold even
among those that did not follow them in this occasion along the road of 
capitulation and have not
enlisted themselves in Fujimori's counter-revolutionary ranks.  

Therefore, this issue should not be addressed with a mere change of leading 
personnel.  It should
be addressed by repudiating the political line, the ideology that underpins 
betrayal.  This should be
done scientifically, systematically and in an organised fashion.  It is no good 
to be content with
trimming the leaves, one must go to the roots of the problem.   

This is why it is necessary to make a bit of history and seek out the roots of 
these events within
the MPPs.  Only an unrepentant idealist could assume that all this bourgeois 
carrion, all this
desertion, could have appeared all of a sudden upon the stage, complete with 
"Directives from the
Leadership" and plans for a revisionist "Second Congress", like Minerva, who in 
Greek mythology
was born full grown and armed from the Godhead of Zeus!".

Today we have attempted, with our limited means, to make part of this history 
and contribute to
forward this process applying it to the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement 
itself.  The
revolutionary masses in Peru and the world have placed great hopes upon this 
Movement.  The
masses are optimistic and have unflinching faith.  Provided the revolutionaries 
are above board with
them and trust them, the masses will understand this struggle and actively back 
it making it their
own, and thus developing the Movement itself.  The important thing is that this 
struggle is
undertaken boldly and in a totally principled manner.  Comrades, we should 
indeed begin this very
day!.


Committee Sol-Peru - London      
10 B HOMESTEAD ROAD
LONDON SW6 7DB
Tel: 071 386-7607


DOCUMENT ENDS