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REPORT ON NAXALBARI STRUGGLE DEVELOP PEASAKTS' CLASS STRUGGLE FOLLOW THE RoAD OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION MARXISM-LENINISM & THOUGHT OF MAO TSE.TUNG ARE 'ONE FIGHT IMPERIALISM, FIGHT REVISIONISM COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONARIES MEET Vol. 2, No.1 November 19ti8

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Notes: 3 -One Eventful Year -Follow the Road of the Octobe1"Revolution -Reaction's Offensive -"Problems Ahead for Vietnam" The People Are Rising In Rebellion 16 Develop Peasants' Class Struggle Through Class Analysis, Investigation and Study-Charu Mazumdar 17 Soviet Revisionists-Enemies of Soviet Workers 21 Communist Revolutionaries Meet 22 Lackeys of Indian Reaction 27 Report On the Peasant Movement In the Region-Kanu Sanyal 28 Resolution Adopted At the Convention of Revolutionary Peasants 54 Advance Courageously Along the Road of Triumph-People's Daily, Red Flag and Liberation Army Daily 56 To Fight Imperialism It Is Necessary To Fight Revisionism-M. L. 63 Marxism-Leninism and Thought of Mao Tse-tung Are One-Asit Sen 74

Editor-in-Chief Susbital Ray Cbaudhury L 1

:MOTES 6 LIBERATION important strategically, due to revisionist cODspiracies' tiona.ry parties is almost complete, the sham communists, but in the world as a whole the revolutionary' tide will~ Marxists and socialists 'of various brands have stepped far from receding, continue to advance. Before it the into' the breach to stabilise the present system, as E. M. S.' worl

system. The world after the October Revolution was But, to quote Chinese comrades, no longer the same as the world before it. The socialist "During World War II, at the same time as it achieved system, the system that was to embrace the whole world tremendous growth the international communist movement -in future, had its birth in one-sixth of the world. And produced its own opposite-an adverse current of counter- the salvoes of the' October Revolution awoke the revolu- revolutionary revisionism. The main characteristic of this tionaries everywhere to Marxism and brought into adverse current was the rejection of violent revolution and existence a world front of revolution against the imperialist the advocacy of the parliamentary road. It brought bourgeoisie. As Comrade Mao Tse-tung said; "The tremendous losses to the international communist move- October Revolution has opened up wide possibilities for ment. Typical were the setbacks in the French and the emancipation of the peoples of the world and opened Italian revolutions." up the realistic paths towards it; it has created a new The modern revisionists, the collaborators of the front of revolutions against world imperialism, extending imperialist. bourgeoisie, disrupted or sought to disrupt from the proletarians of the West, through the Russian revolutionary struggles in. different countries-France, revolution, to the oppressed peoples of the East." The Italy, Greece, Burma, India, even in China. But all the land of the Soviets, the first proletarian state in the world, , .attempts of China's Khrushchov to make the Chinese became the base, the centre, the hope, of the world ·Communist Party lay down its arms and opt for the parlia- revolutionary movement fighting for the overthrow of mentary road after its victory in the Anti-Japanese War imperialism and its stooges. were foiled, and the Chinese revolution led by Comrade It Was a grim struggle that the Soviet Party and Mao Tse-tung achieved its world-shattering victory. But people guided by Lenin and Stalin had to wage against the modern revisionists succeeded in seizing leadership of their enemies, both internal and external, in order to the Party, the state and the army first in Yugoslavia and preserve the gains of the revolution and build socialism then, after Comrade Stalin's death, in the Soviet Union itself. in a. country encircled by hostile capitalist states. The With the capture of power by the revision!st renegades, victories they won with the sympathy and active support darkness descended on the first socialist country of the of.the people of the world, particularly in the war against world. What had been the base, the centre, of world revolu- Hitlerite fascism, are almost legendary: they are as specta- tion ',became a base, a centre, of world counter-revolution. cular as they are inspiring to the toiling people By using the state machine, the Soviet revisionist everywhere. renegade clique, headed by Khrushchov and his .successors, The Chinese revolution led by the Communist Party of Kosygin and Brezhnev, has restored capitalism in the Soviet China and Comrade Mao Tse-tung followed ·the road of Union and itself practises neo-colonialism. The invasion of the October Revolution, the road of.violent revolution, and Czechoslovakia conclusively proves that this clique has, as l\>chieveda victory that· struck terror into the hearts of all Comrade Chou En-Iai declared, degenerated into social- imperialists and reactionaries. And, following China, fascism and social-imperialism. While swearing by almost the, whole of South-east Asia unfurled the banner Marxism- Leninism, the modern revisionists repudiate of the. October Revolution and embarked on the road of ·every Marxist-Leninist doctrine. They oppose violent violent revolution. revolution with 'their theory of peaceful transition to 10 LIBRRATI0~. .O~E!! 11 socialism and laud the parliamentary road to the skies. They repudiate the dictatorship 'of the preletariat and a.nd scabs including .suharto, Tunku, Indira Ga.ndhi, Ne replace it by the dictatorship of the entire people, which Win, Sato is being led by the neo-colonialists of Wa.shington amounts to the dictatorship of the new bourgeois stratum. a.nd Moscow. Today, the world front of revolution led by In the name of the state of the entire people, they have- China and Albania faces the world front of imperialism, changed the proletarian state into a capitalist state. They revisionism and all other reaction, headed hy the U. S. distort 'the Leninist principle of peaceful co-existence and, imperialists and the Soviet revisionist renegades. anxious to restore capitalism in their country, they try to, . The brave peasants of Naxalbari, who have embarked snuff out the flame of revolution everywhere. Their peace- on the road of the October Revolution, have given to the ful co-existence with capitalism amounts to collaboration Indian people their rightful place within the front of world and collusion with U. S. imperialism to redivide the world revolution. But, on which side of the barricade are the into neo-colonial empires for themselves. Their talk of Dange revisionist clique and that bunch of opportunists peaceful competition with imperialism and outstripping it who call themselves "Marxists" r True to themselves, in material production is a clever device to hoodwink the they are, as ever before, on the other side, of the revolutionary peoples and divert them from the road of the barricade. After the twentieth congress of the CPSU they I October Revolution. This revisionist renegade clique is have openly renounced the path of the. October Revolution, the sworn enemy not only of the Soviet working people,. the path of violent revolution, and have been trying their but of all the workers and oppressed nations of the world utmost to divert the people's anger and discontent along the including the Indian people. They attacked Comrade, parliamentary channel. They are raving agamst Socialist Stalin in order to attack Marxism-Leninism itself and to China, against Naxalbari and all their energies are direc.ted disrupt the international communist movement. Their towards sabotaging the agrarian revolution that is now crimes against the people of the world are legion. breaking out in India. Their present is worthy :of 'their The international communist movement under the past. Theirs has been a long career of conscious treachery leadership of Chairman Mao has fought back the vicious. to the Indian revolution and to the ideal of the October offensive and has launched a counter-attack which has Revolution. One recalls how these treacherous leaders of completely disorganised the camp of revIsionism. Today, the Indian Communist Party sabotaged the agrarian a new front of world revolution has emerged with Socialist revolution when, following the road of the October Revolu_ China as its base. The revisionists led by the Soviet tion, the heroic Telangana peasants rose arms in hand to renegade clique have quite naturally concentrated all their overthrow imperialism and feudalism and set u.p P~ople's fire against Socialist China and against Comrade Mao power in thousands of villages. When the rank a.nd' fUe Tse-tung: To oppose and destroy Socialist China, Socialist comrades rose in rev.olt against this policy of J sordid Albania, 'the powerful national liberation struggles and the betrayal, these traitors confessed their crimes in slloCkcloth heroic struggles of the workers and students in the citadels and ashes. To escape frOIr). the wrath of the Party of imperialism and social-imperialism, they have set up a. comrades and people, they wrote in a message of greetings, world front Of counter-revolution despite contradictions to the Communist'Party:of China, dated July 1,1950 : with their 8,llies. This front 'which includes all ttaitors_ "Armed with the lessons of the Chineses Revolutif,m as d.rawn by the Communist Party of China· ana itS' {J'("eat

~OTES .. :, 14 LIBERATION 15

opera.tions.The Government's Chief Secr.etary .All the counter-revolutionaries, particularly, the leaders .and Inspector-General of Police 'were at hand; they had ·of the un (M), can scarcely hide their glee at the fulfilment -of their long cherished desire. The communist revolu- been camping at the near-by town of . tionaries and the revolutionary peasants of Naxalbari dared Since the publication of Comrade Kanu Sanyal's report the enemies to do their worst. Revolutionaries hate to on the peasant struggle in the Terai region (which- appears function only under conditions permitted by the reac- tionaries. As Marx said, they never make a secre~ of in th:s issue of Liberation), the class-enemies had been their views. It is true that the enemies have succeeded screaming for intensified actIOn against - the leaders oftlie in dealing a blow at the revolutionary movement. But struggle. Bourgeois newspapers carried slanted news 'Such attack, whatever the reactionaries may dream of, items and reports, mostly fantastic'stories, to sow confusion cannot and shall not stop the struggle of the heroic peasantry of Naxalbari. It will only increase the anger among the people and urge the police to be still more and hatred of the people towards their enemies and make active. The state apparatus· worked frenziedly to capture' them more resolute and dedicated fighters. No power on the leaders of the struggle in collusion with all the reac- earth can crush the people who are awake. ., tionary parties and groups including the SSP, the CPI (M) and the Bhoodanists, who entered the area on the pretext "Problems Ahead For Vietnam" of providing relief to the flood-stricken people. Parts of our area were badly affected by the flood in the beginl:1i:rlg A friend of ours has received the following letter from of this month and Comrade Kanu Sanyal moved among the the CIiINA POLICY STUDY GROUP, Broadsheet, London: peasantry to see them through this calamity caused by the "Thank you for your letter of the 29th October. fm .afraid that the publication 'Problems Ahead for Vietnam' class policy of the reactionary ruling classes. The enemies is inde.ed a forgery. We had a duplicated letter from Anna quite naturally took full advantag~ of the conditions created Louise Strong denouncing it, dated September 2, 1968. by the flood. She says in her letter that 'it Seems clear that the forgery Like thieves in the night, tht) police stealthily went to has been done not by any individual but by an organisation well supplied with funds and staff and seeking to injure the area and quickly left it 'a,£ter making the capture. both China and Vietnam.' She asks if any copies of the They drove our comreds away to the Police forgery come to hand that they be sent to her with the Station. When, a~ the news spread, hundreds of peasants envelope or wrapping. and other people gathered at day-break before the police "In my view, for what its worth, the document is a station, the police took them to Bagdogra air-port and then deverly disguised attack on both China and the Vietnamese -'waving the red flag to oppose the red flag.' to the Shukna Forest Banga~ow to meet the Inspection "We can appreciate your embarrassment and desire to General of Police. Instead' of producing them at the d.o what's best. Our suggestion can only be to let your Sub-divisional court at Siliguri, the police officers thought readers know that this vicious trap was laid and your it prudent to send them to the far-away jaiL wish to warn them against it. We all make mistakes and it is just something we have to face when it happens !" Commde Kanu Sanyal had gone underground some The above letter confirms that the document ( published , eighteen 'months ago when the 'United Front' government, in our September issue) was a heinous forgery. We tender of which the 'Marxist' leader Jyoti Basu was Deputy Chief our sincerest apologies to Anna Louise Strong and to our Mini:ster, ismed warrants for' his arrest and ordered the readers for allowing ourselves to be duped by this "policeto shOot him at sight. : ;;' monstrous fraud. We feel deeply grieved that we have

18 LIBERATION DEVELOP PEASANTS' CLASS STRUGGLE 19

Party organisation may help organise one or two such has taught us that we should learn warfare through meetings or demonstrations. warfare. The Party committees will learn how to take But meetings and demonstrations can at no time correct decisions from these deviations if they follow become our main instrument of struggle. To master this democratic principles. revolutionary method is indeed "'[ery difficult. But this There are both an advanced section and a backward can be done if the revolutionary intellectuals start working section among the revolutionary classes also. The advanced in the underground from the very beginning. Only then section- can quickly g~asp the revolutionary principles will they be compelled to become dependent on the peasant while the backward section naturally requires more time revolutionaries. It must be realised that the people are to assimilate political propa.ganda. not yet ready so long as the peasant revolutionaries do not That is why economic struggles against the feudal take the initiative themselves. And naturally, we are not dass are necessary, not only in the present, but in the to impose our views on the peasant masses. The second future also. That is why the movement to seize the crops deviation occurs when the peasant cadres want to do Iis necessary. The political consciousness and organisation something, but the intellectual comrade attaches greater in a given area will determine the form that this struggle importa.nce to the view of the most backward comrade will assume. This struggle will n2.turally be directed and would have it accepted as the general. opinion. This against the feudal class, that is, against the non-cultivating gives rise to a Right deviation. landowners, that is, agaillst the zamindar class and never So, the first principle is that we must not impose against the middle peasants. anything at all against the will of the masSes. If We forget If we do not try to develop a broa.d movement of the this, we shall commit many deviations which may be peasants and to draw the broad masSes into the movement, variously termed as sectarianism, Castro-ism etc. To the politics of seizure of power will naturally take 'a longer avoid this we must ceaselessly carryon political propaganda time to get firmly rooted in the consciousness of the peasant among the peasants. As a result of such propaganda, masses. As a result, the struggle will be dominated less we shall be able to raise political cadres able to carryon and less by politics, and the tendency to rely more and political propaganda. The secret organisation of such more on arms alone is likely to grow. Guerrilla warfare is cadres will become the Party of the future. In building a higher form of the peasants' class struggle under political this, organisation we must follow the principles on which '1 leadership. Consequently, only by the s~cce~sful ~ppl~ca- Party committees are run. Every such Party committee tion of the four weapons-class analysIs, lDvestigatlOn, must have a definite area in which it will work, and must study and class struggle can we create areas of peasants' learn how to make a class analysis in that area and how to armed struggle. assess the wishes and thinking of each section of the Rich peasants in our country rely mainly on feudal population by means of investigation and study. This XPlOitation. So, our relation with them will be mainly method of investigation and study can be learnt only , one of struggle. But as they are subjected also to the ex- 'through long practice. So, it is evident that in the ploitation of the imperialist market, it is possible to unite beginning these committees will commit many deviations. ~ ith them at certain stages of the struggle. Apart from But We need not be afraid of this. For, Chairman Mao these rich lleasants, all other peasants can be mobilised not 20 LIBERATION

merely as supporters but also as participants in the struggle. 21 The landpoor and landless peasants, under the leadership DEVELOP PEASANTS' CLASS STRUGGLE of the working class, can build up the fighting unity of the- the task of making the peasants class-conscious and of broad peasant masses. The more rapid such unity is organising broad class struggles. The day is ~ot far off achieved, the quicker will the struggle assume a revolu- when the crea.tive powers of the millions of IndIan peasants tionary character. We must bear in mind the teaching of will build wide areas of armed struggle in the countrysid.e Chairman Mao: "Revolutionary war is a war of the masses. and the revolutionary masses of India will take their It can be waged o?~ly be mobilising the masses and relying rightful place in the ranks of all the revol~tionary 1ibe~ation on them." fighters of the world. All revolutio~ane.s must. wIthout U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism are intensifying delay plunge into the work of translatlllg lllto realIty Gr~at their oppression and exploitation in India and the burden Lenin's dream-the dream that the unity of the fightlllg of their exploitation ultimately falls upon the shoulders of peoples of Great China and India will dig the grave of the broad peasant masses. Poverty and starvation have world imperialism. made the life of the peasants absolutely unbearable and it is natural that spontaneous outbursts of discontent are Soviet Revisionists:.....Enemiesof the Soviet Workers f taking place.. Similarly, the oppression by U. S. imperia..' lism and Soviet revisionism has given rise to discontent The Soviet revisionist ruling clique, arch enemy of the among other classes also, which, in turn, influences the 'Soviet people, is at present perfecting' a device to car.ry peasant masseS. On the other hand, all the existing political ('JUtretrenchment and increase the work-load of SOVIet parties in India have today turned into parties of the ruling workers in a big way.~The following report appeared in New classes, and each one of them is presently trying to keep York Herald Tribune (International Edition) of October 3, the masses quiet by means of various tricks and devices.. headed' "Soviet Planning Chief Wants Fewer Workers The Dangeite traitorous clique and the neo-revisionist Doing More" and is based on a reJlort in P?·avda. , clique are the most skilled in doing this. They are trying: Moscow, Oct. (NYT). The Soviet economic planmng to confuse the masses by wearing the mask of Marxism_ ehief. Deputy Premier ~ikolai K. Baibakov, yesterday Leninism and indulging in all sorts of pseudo-revolutionary ,endorsed a potentially controversial plan to encourage ta.lks. But the Soviet revisionists' fascist aggression -dismissal of surplus workers by allowing managers to make against Czechoslovakia has torn off their mask and with use of resulting wage savings to increase the pay of ea.ch passing day they will be clearly shown up as mere remaining employees. la.ckeys of the Soviet Union, which is today a pedlar of The plan, now being tested in a chemical plant near neo-colonialism and one of the aggressive powers of the Tula. raises sensitive questions, in a society that shuns world. The more these people are exposed, the more will unemployment, about retraining of workers, reassignment the flood-tide of the resistance struggle of the masses be and transfers to other regions of the country. unleashed and the possibility of a broad mass movement of Measures to eliminate widely prevalent over-staffing the peasants b~ turned into reality. So, the working class and inefficient use of workers are urgently needed, and the revolutionary intelligentsia are today faced with Mr. Baibakov explained, because labor reserves are dimi- nishing as the economy continues to expand. The solution he said, is to encourage fewer employees to do more work. COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONARIES MEET 23

Soviet imperialist design against revolutionary China, against the Vietnamese people and against all ot~er peop~es Communist Revolutionaries Meet fighting for liberation, are going t.o step up their offenSive against the Indian people. ThiS means more hunger, RECENTLY, the All India Co-ordination Committee met more suffering, for the Indian people. It also means and reviewed the developments both within and outside the greater and greater suppression of the Indian people's country, that had taken place since its last meeting in May, revolutionary struggles which have broken out and are' 1968. The Committee noted that the revolutionary. move- breaking out everyday. The reactionary Indian ruling ment is surging forward in various countries including circles at the bidding of their U.S. and Soviet masters have India. Armed peasant struggles have already broken out in had recourse to the counter-revolutionary dual tactics of different parts of the country besides Naxalbari. In the violent suppression of these struggles and blunting people's world outside, imperialism and revisionism have received revolutionary temper and consciousness with the bait of further set.backs. In the very citadels of imperialism-the elections, ministries etc. Intensification of violent suppre- I U.S.A., France etc.-the toiling people have dealt heavy ssion and intense efforts to foster parliamentary illusions are blows to the enemy. The naked aggression against Czecho- going hand-in-hand. In this nefarious ~a.me.of the reac- slovakia by the Soviet social-imperialists has futher inten. tionary ruling classes of India, the revlslOlllsts and th,e sified the contradictions in which revisionism is enmeshed. neo-revisionists and all the so-called non-Congress and antI- The Committee hailed the epoch-making victory of the Congress parties have become willing partners. They are great proletarian cultural revolution in China. straining their every nerve to divert the revolutionary Various reports on the recent meeting of the All India people from the path of revolutionary struggles into the Co-ordination Committee have appeared in bourgeois news- neath-trap of parliamentarism, into the death-trap of papers. Most of these reports contain many fantastic elections. inventions. Their one purpose is to sow confusion among Since our last meeting in May last, the Naxalbari the people. peasant struggle has already entered its second stage, the We reproduce below the resolutions adopted by the stage of guerrilla war, and in various parts of India- ~ Committee. U.P., M.P., Andhra-armed peasant struggles have already oroken out under the inspiration of the Naxalbari struggle The following are the full texts of the Resolutions : and the thought of Mao Tse-tung. This has made panicky ON THE INDIAN SITUATION AND OUR IMMEDIATE TASK the reactionary ruling circles of India and their hirelings, revisionists and neo-revisionists, who are clamouring for India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's tour of South- the counter-revolutionary suppression of these struggles, east Asia.followed by her recent tour of Latin American and are, at the same time trying to strengthen parlia- countries as well as the Finance Minister's visit to the mentary illusions with vengeance. U.S.A. portends a. new danger. It is a clear indication So, the time has come for us, revolutionary Communists, that the Indian ruling circles, who have already become to plunge ourselves more resolutely and more deeply into the principal instrument in carrying out the U.S.' and the peasant masses and to build up revolutionary bases 25 LIBERATION COMliUNIST REVOLUTIONARIES MEET

in the countryside. This is our maJor task, basic task. to imperialists and revisionists all ovet the world, particu- Other tasks, developing class struggles among other larly U. S. imperialists and Soviet revisionists, who are f sections of the people, are undoubtedly important; but jointly hatching a most sinister plan against world they should be contributory and subordinate to this basic revolution and its centre, revolutionary China, and its' task. This is imperative not only in the interests of the leader, Chairman Mao. In our country this great victory Indian people's liberation, but in the interests of the world of the Chinese people has made the reactionary ruling revolution as well, because India has become a bastion of circles and their hirelings, revisionists and neo-revisionists, world reaction, a base of aggression of U.8. and Soviet im- shaky and panicky beyond measure. For this victory perialism,against the peoples of the world. So, by liberating means'a tremendous fillip to the revolutionary struggles of themselves Indian people will perform their sacred the people of India, which are So component part of the internationalist duty as well. We are confident, revolu- world revolutionary struggle now being carried on under tionaries and the revolutionary people of India, guided the ever-growing inspiration of Chairman Mao's thought. by the thought of Mao Tse-tung will perform this world We, Communist revolutionaries of India, solemnly pledge revolutionary task and, together with a great Chinese to carry forward these battles resolutely and fearlessly to people and other revolutionary peoples of the world, . their final consummation under the guidance of the will overthrow the U.S. imperialists and Soviet social- thought of Mao Tse-tung. imperialists and reactionaries of all kinds. Long live the victory of the great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China 1 . Long live the great Communist Party of China ! ON CHINA'S PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION Long live Chairman Ma.o ! The All India Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries hails the great revolutionary people of China and the great Communist Party of China on their world historic victory in the great proletarian cultural ON SOVIET INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA revolution personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao: After, twenty months' intensest revolutionary battles they The All India Co-ordination Committee of Communist ha.ve been able to implement fully and completely Chairman Revolutionaries records its profound hatred and indignation at the dastardly act of imperialist invasion of Czecho- Mao's historic directive to proletaria.n revolutionaries to slovakia by the Soviet revisionist renegade clique and their unite and seize power from a handful of top Party persons four Warsaw Pact partners. It has provided another irrefu- in authority taking the capitalist road With the establish- ment of revolutionary committees all over China excepting table positive proof that the Soviet revisionist renegade clique has long degenerated into social-imperialists and Taiwan province, the seizure of power is now completed { and Marxism-Leninism, the thought of Mao Tse-tung, is social-fascists out to divide the world with their partners- raised to a further new height. This great world historic in-crime, U. S. imperialists. The despicable capitulationist victory of the Chinese people, this great world historic role of the Czechoslovak revisionist ruling clique, which victOl;yof the thought. of Mao Tse-tung, is a.stunning blow has aIr,eady restored capitalism in their country, is also a. LIBERATION COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONARIES MEET 27 grave pointer to those people who are stilI harbouring' iIIusion about revisionist demagogues. On the one hand" of India, under the banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought will they are seIling out Czechoslova4ia's national interests to solidly stand behind the Albanian people in case of aggres- sion against them. Soviet plunderers; on the other hand, they are suppressing with impunity Czechoslovak people's growing resistance against Soviet imperialist occupation and domination. We", Indian Communist revolutionaries, extend our all-out support to the Czechoslovak people in their heroic fight HOMAGE TO COMRADE BABULAL BISWAKARMAKAR against Soviet invaders as weIl as against their own revi- sionist renegade ruling clique. We are confident that the' The AIl India Co-ordination Committee of Communist Czechoslovak people wiII come out victorious in this bat tIe' Revolutionaries pays its revolutionary homage to the sacred and wiII be able to restore .socialism and the dictatorship" memory of Comrade Babulal Biswakarmakar who gave his of the proletariat. life to raise the great Naxalbari peasant struggle to a higher phase, the phase of guerrilla war and showed us how a true revolutionary should live and die.

ON THE SOLIDARITY WITH THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE

The All India Co-ordination Committee of Communist ~keys of Indian Reaction Revolutionaries greets the great and heroic people of' Albania led by the Party of Labour and Comrade Enver A PTI report from Trivandrum dated October 22. Hoxha on their renouncing and withdrawing from the 1968, states: W!trsaw Pact, which, led by the Soviet revisionist renegade "Mr. Namboodiripad said [in the Kerala Assembly] ~generated into an imperi~.!~,~twar-pact li~ that 207 cases had been registered by the police in con_ NATO, their latest act of invasion of Czechoslovakia being nexion with Central Government employees' strike for a blatant case in point. Under the leadership of the offences like 'illegal strike', 'abetment' obstruction, intimi- Albanian Party of Labour the heroic people of Albania, dation and wrongful restraint. He said that 233 people had faced with the threat of Soviet aggression, are determined:' been arrested in connexion with the strike...... The Chief to fight back and defend their freedom and socialism. We- Minister said it was decided to give protection to Central are confident that if the Soviet sociaI-imperialists dare to' Government establishments, to remove obstru~tive picketing invade Albania, they wiII meet their doom at the hands of and give protection to loyal workers The Chief Minister the great Albanian people who are today in the forefront said that the police had used force at Trivandrum and of the struggle against U.S. imperialism and Soviet revi- Trichur on the strike day." (Statesman, October 23, '68) sionism. The Albanian people are not alone in this fight. The international working class movement and all other anti-imperialist forces, including the anti-imperialist forces. PEASANT MOVEMENT IN THE TERAI REOION

prevent their fall even though they had submitted slavishly to Indira Gandhi, the political boss of the comprador- bureaucrat bourgeoisie and the feudal landlords and joteda1's. This is because the Congress Party, the political organisation of the comprador-bureaucrat bourgeoisie and: Report on the Peasant Movement landlords, toppled the 14-party UF government after having made that government do what it (the Congress Party} In the Terai Region needed. It dismissed the U. F. Government in order that -Kanu SanyaI it rp.ight use the UF again whenever necessary to serve its

Translated from the Bengali original, which first appeared in the weekly purpose. The 'encirclement and suppression' campaign that DESHABRATI, October 24, 1968. the reactionary UF leaders had started on May 25, HJ674- against the revolutionary peasant struggle is being followed up by the regime of Dha.ram Vira, the governor, as clearly After about 18 months, we, the Communist revolu- shown by the murder of Comrade Babulal Biswakarmakar 1 tionaries of the Siliguri sub-division, met at a conven- who was shot dead on September 7 this year. ' / tion on September 15, 1968, unde~ quite unfavourable We met at a convention under unfavourable conditions conditions.- ' like these with a view to assessing the experience of the Why am I speaking of unfavourable conditions! This revolutionary, peasant struggle of the last 18 month5 and is because during these 18 months attempts have been carrying this struggle forward firmly along the path made to crush the revolutionary peasant movement of the illumined by the thought of our beloved leader and great Siliguri sub-division and to annihilate the Communist teacher, Chairman Mao. revolutionaries there through'encirclement and suppression' Naturally, we shall place our views before the comrades campaigns. '\Tho started the campaigns of 'encirclement on the b&sis of the lessons that we have drawn from '; and suppression r' On Mal 22, 1967, the leaders of the heroic struggle of the Terai peasants. " the 14-party United Front government led by Ajoy- Jyoti_Harekrishna-Biswanath 2 threw hundreds of peasants We have not yet been able to learn well the- and workers into jail and inflicted physical tortures on thought of Chairman Mao. So there will be shortcomings in our views. We shall learn anew from the discussions them , had their , homes looted by the police and shot, ~ bayoneted and killed 18 peasants including men, women and of the comrades. children with a view to crushing the revolutionary peasant 3. The 9-month old reactionary UF govt. in West Bengal was dismissed: movement. by the Central government in November, 1967. The leaders of the 14-party Unjted Front were unable to 4. On this day the reactionary police of the UF govt. shot down in cold:

blood 9 Ipeasant women and children in the Prasadujote village near 1. In the of West Bengal. Naxalbari lies in this sub· Naxalbari, at the instance of the reactionary and neo-revisionist leaders ot division. the UF, who co.operated closely with one another in suppressing the peasant. 2. Ajoy :Mukherji, a veteran Gandhite, ll.nti.communist reactiona.ry and struggle of N axalbari. chief minister of the former UF govt. ; Jyoti Basu and Harekrishna Konar, nea-revisionist chieftains, deputy chief minister and minister for land and land revenue respectively, and Biswanath Mukherji, a leader of the Dangeite clique and irrigation minister in the UF government, LIBERATION· 30 PEASANT MOVEMENT IN 'rHE TERAI REGION 33 T ld ma.intain its previous position. The struggle THISm cou f d th m PT' Terai peasants tore open their ~ and orce e their repression must be resisted by force of arms and by 4D.e, The struggle of the heroic peasants showed o take sIdes. . , 1 d' the carrying on a protracted struggle. J d f the the 14 'Left' part16s mc u mg , that ail the lea ers 0 . , The call of the sub-divisional peasant conference ins- . t t who had managed to secure mmlS- o called ManIs par y, t t f tantly created a stir among the revolutionary peasant masses. s -, dd' for themselves were serving the s a e 0 tenal gu ~s , dl d l"k How did the revolutionary peasants of Terai translate d r bureaucrat bourgeoisie and Ian or s, 1 e the compra 0 - , 1 th t l"k the this call into action r To put this call of the conference P ty The struggle made it c ear a, 1 e into effect the reyoluti?nary peasants first of all laid stress the Congr;ss tya;he'leaders of the 14 'Left' parties including, Congress ar " & Co are enemies upon the task of creatmg ~med gro~s of peasants in the Dangeite clique and Sundarayya ' , \ villages. In every village we heard the words: "Political th e . h t' gran revolu- 1 of India's democratic revolutIOn, t a IS, a ra 1 power grows out of the barrel of a gun." This is because tion The struggle of the Terai peasants proved that, the· every single struggle, however small, whether for stopping . , evolution can be led to success only by wagmg a agranan r . h . usury or on any other issue has been invariably met with re16ntless and uncompromising struggle agamst t em" 'f lathis and guns. That is why this call worked like ~magic The struggle of the Terai peasants acted as a, mldwl e- in organising the peasants. in the revolutionary situation prevailing in I~dla,. T~at Almost all the villages got organised during the period. . h . gle spark of the Naxalbari struggle IS kmdlmg from the end of March to the end of April 1967. ISw Ya sm d h t ggle I widespread forest-fire everywhere. In a wor , t e s ru . Whereas, previously, the membership strength of the Kisan . ts has brought to the forefront qUIte \\of the herOICpeasan , , ' Sabha could not be increased beyond 5 thousand, the mem- '!forcefully the role of the peasants in ~ndia s de~ocratlC bership now jumped to nearly 40 thousand. About 15 to 20 . 'toe fierce and actlve OpposItIOnput. revolutIOn overcommg " . • thousand peasants be'gan to do whole-time work and built up up by all the reactionaries and revislOlllstS. I peasant committees in-villages. The young men of the Vl'IIitgeswho had never before been seen in the front ranks ESTABLISH THE PEASANT COMMITTEES .• . #- ~.J1 of the Kisan Sabha now occupied the place of veteran AlID GET ORGANISED. ~ \ . peasant cadres. With the speed of a storm the revolutionary 1'l•.•..,.....J-. The Siliguri sub-division peasant conventIOn gave out •. peasants, in the course of about one and a half months,formed ~~1 the call to-(i) establish the authority of t~e peasant c?m- peasant committees through hundreds of 'group meetings , 'l 'tt' all matters of the village, (11)get orgamsed ml ees In . d and turned these committees into armed village defence and be arme d'n1 order to crush the resistance of .Jote ars;" groups. In a word, they organised about 90 percent Oftli"'e and rural reactionaries and (iii) smash the Jotedars ~ village population. This action of the peasants completely ip of the land and redistribute the land monopo1y 0f ownersh changed all our old ideas about organisation. Chairman anew through the peasant committees. , Mao teaches us: "The masses hue boundless creative power. The convention further declared that the peasa~ts They can organise themselves and concentrate on places and struggle against feudalism would have to ~~cethe repressl~n branchesof work where they can give full play to their energy." of all reactionaries, be it Indira GandhI s government 10 We came to realise more profoundly the significance of New Delhi or the UF government in West Bengal. So, all this teaching of our great teacher Chairman Mao from this action of the Terai peasants. L-3 LIBERATION 34 PEASANT MOVEMENT IN THE TERAI REGION 35 The great Lenin said: "Revolution is a festival of the by the peasants and distributed among themselves. Apart " What it means in reality was witnessed by us mnasses. '1 h from this hoarded rice, other things like oil, atta, [coarse during the struggle of the Terai p~asants. Whi e t e flour], bullocks, cows, a huge number of domesticated so-called Marxist pundits, Indira GandhI and ~ll an~ sundry animals owned by the jotedars, agricultural implements, were rending the skies with loud talks of na~I~~al mtegra- even articles meant for their personal use were confiscated tion, we found how the revolutionary actIv~tles of t~e and distributed. ,,1.. peasants united all the peasants irrespectiVe of theIr /,5. All jotedars in the villages who were known for a 4;::'}'>." nationality, religion, language and caste, , ' long time as oppressors and those who tried to oppose ~ _ 1-o"i" 1\ The revolutionary peasants, through theIr actiOns, made the peasant struggle were all subjected to open trial and ",,~f) c' , h '11 . A"'Y'~?-otheirdecrees the law m t e Vi ages. . sentenced to deatb. C ;1~ 1) I, A blow was dealt at the political, economIC and 6. The wicked, ruffian elements and flunkeys who are f (,,'1 : social structure in the villages based on monopoly l~nd- used to preserve the politica.l, economic and social authority J'7 h'p which dra.gged the peasants more and more moo of the jotedars in the villages and those who co-operated n.t..f \ ,- owners 1 , d d ~ the depths of pauperisat~on. , 'No, not the dee s an with the police were all brought to open trial. In some cases, ~1 (documents-what is reqmred IS the order of the p.easant death sentence was given; in otbers, the fellows were :u::)-. committee,' declared the peasants, They marked ~ut a~l paraded through the village streets with shoes strung around 340 the land in Terai with their ploughshares and made It theIr their necks and with fools' caps on their heads, so that they own. They declared tbat ~ land which was no~d would not dare commit crimes in future. 'll d by the pea.sants themselves was to be re-du;tnbu- 7. Realising that their struggle against the jotedars, and t 1 e - . h' t' fed by the peasaIitCOilimlttees. l3J carrymg ~ .ISou 1D the landlords ,and tbe money-lenders would be subjected to ~.prac t'iCe, they struck a blow at the mam politiCal and armed repression by the state apparatus, they armed them- \ ~. b . f the )'otedars The old feudal structure e~onomlC aSIS0 • selves with their traditional weapons like bows and arrows that had existed for centuries was thus smashed through and spears as well as with guns forcibly taken away from this action of the peasa.nts. the jotedars, and organised their own armed roups. 2 All the legal deeds and documents relating to the 8. Lest the general .administration of the villages /' land' had been used to cheat them. They held meetings should suffer, they arranged for night watch and and burned all the receipts, acknowledgements, plans, shouldered the responsibility of running the schools in a deeds and documents. , smooth way. The peasant committees announced that 3 The jotedars and money-lenders, takmg advantage severe punishments would be awarded in cases of theft ' ty of the rural folk got them committed to of th e pover ' ~nd dacoity, and took measures to inflict such punishments unequal agreements relating to the mortgage of land and In some cases. bullocks. The peasants declared ~ll such agreements as 9. In every area they created regional and central re I t· . well as the huge burden of interest Imposed on them null v~.u lOnary commIttees and established the peasants' politICal POWer. and void. . 4. The hoarded rice which is used as capItal for 10. They declared the existing bourgeois law and law- courts null a d 'd' h . carryin. g on usurious and feudal exploitation was confiscated n VOl m t e VIllages. The decisions of the pEASANT MOV~MENT IN THE TERAI REGION 37 LIBERATION 36 ruffia.ns and the police it is the poor peasants who have regional and central revolutionary committees were declared not shrunk from making sacrifices ever since May 24 and to be the law. 25, 1967. The truth of this is being proved even today In addition to these ten great tasks the peasants also did through struggles. many other things which wiped out of the villages the Just after the conference, the middle peasants, who old feudal system that had existed for centuries. How constitute 20 per cent of the peasantry, looked with intense was the class hatred of the peasants can be seen suspicion at the call given by the conference. So, they from the fact that during a raid on the houses of two were not active in the first phase of the struggle. It was jotedars, which lasted for two days, they not only'ate up only when they came to realise that their interests would the cooked food of the jotedars but also helped themselves be served by the struggle and that the main target and to the meals prepared with all other foodstuff left there. enemy of the struggle was the jotedars, landlords and In this struggle we witnessed the festival of the revolu- money-lenders, that they came forward. With the joining tionary peasants overthrowing feudalism. of the middle peasants the sweep of the struggle increased Whenever the peasants became conscious of any manifold and it grew even more intense. shortcomings during these revolutionary actions, they at The rt?l;t~easan.t.s, who constitute only 10 per cent of once came to the peasant committee for their rectifica- . the village population, at no time thought the declaration of tion. This means, the peasant committees were not the conference and this struggle to be beneficial to their own something imposed on them. On the contrary, these interests. Rather, they, particula~ly those rich peasants committees were wholly their own. That is why the who carryon feudlj.l exploitation in considerable portions struggle of the heroic peasants of Terai was able to hit of their land, apprehended that it meant danger for them. the jotedars and the vested interests. So, after the conference they took the role of critics and The leadership of this struggle was, naturally, in the opposed the struggle in the first phase and sometimes even Ihands of the landless peasants, who are the most militant acted as spies for the jotedars. But as soon as the section of the peasan_try. The reason why these revolution- middle peasants joined the poor peasants, .their move- ary actions could become so far-reaching and so va.st ~n Iments underwent a change. After the jotedars and the their swe-epis that the leadership of the struggle was III }Nicked people had been Pllnished and they had fled to the the hands of the poor landless peasants, who constitute ~owns and business centres, the rich peasants gave up the 70 per cent of the peasantry. After the conference, it wa.s path of opposition and criticism and began to demand justice the poor landless peasants who realised before all others from the peasant committees. And the peasant committees that the resolutions of the conference were beneficial considered every case on its merit and did justice to them. to their own interests more than to anyone else. It is As a result, the rich peasants generally became neutra,l and only because of this ·that the work of organising the ~ven took an active part in the struggle in quite a few movement assumed such a broad and militant form. From lllstances. the experience of their own life the poor peasa.nts realised The _small jotedars split into two sections in the that any compromise with feudalism would make their ~urse of the struggle. One section comprising those future even more miserable than before. That is why, in ]Otedars who Were able neither to develop themselves as their fight a.ga.inst the jotedars, the money-lenders, th~ LIBERATION 38 PEASANT MOVEMENT IN THE TRRAI REGION 39 they desired owing to the oppression by the government of better if the enemy attacks us wildly and paints us as utterly the comprador-bureaucrat bourgeoisie and the landlords black and without a single virtue: it demonstrates that we nor to maintain their existing standard of living, took bave not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between the part in the struggle. Another section, comprising those enemy and ourselvesbut achieved a great deal in our work." who realised that it was not possible for them tb resist, The truth of these words of Chairman Mao has been vindi- turned inactive hoping to take revenge in future. cated through practice during the struggle of the heroic The struggle of the heroic peasants of Terai demonstra- peasants of Terai. ted through practice how to build peasant unity though, it l'ht-4IJ must be admitted, the task was often found to be not at ARMED STRUGGLE-.;NOT .•FOR LAND, all easy. Real peasant unity can be built only by not ..-- ,\ "'IlQI. BUT FOR STATE POWER making any compromise with feudalism, only by intensify- ing class struggle against it and by directing the spearhead The struggle of the Terai peasants IS an armed of attack against it. The peasants proved this in practice. struggle-not for land, but for state power. This is a fundamental question, and the revisionist thinking, which A look at the past and the present revisionist Kisan Sabha has been prevailing in the peasant movement for the last convinces one that intense class struggle against--feudalism few decades, can only be combated by solving this can never be developed by convening such conferences as the 'jute cultivators" conference' or by avoiding question. From the bourgeois parties and newspapers to the class struggle for the sake of unity. A vigorous class leaders of the so-called Marxist party, all have been struggle against feudalism not onl hel.Pi.to build ~eas~t unity but also uarantees the establishment of the easa.nts; saying the same thing, that it is quite just fot the peasants - - . political power through such peasant unity. This we have of Terai to struggle for land but that the acts like arming learnt from the peasants of Terai. the peasants and the forcible taking away of guns are All the so-called Left parties joined the Congress Party dragging the struggle into a wrong path. By making this in their mad crusade to vilify the struggle of the heroic one statement all the bourgeois~and petty bourgeois parties, peasants of Terai. But all their vilification can never hide including the Congress and the so-called Marxist Party, the fact that the peasants of Terai have overthrown feuda- have ranged themselves on the same side and made them- lism root and branch, a feat which could not be done selves agents of India's ruling classes. through any legislation or any other thing during all We all know that every class struggle is a political these hundreds of years. struggle and that the aim of political struggles is to seize Our great teacher Chairman Mao teaches us: "I hold sta.te power. Chairman Mao teaches us: "Tbe seizure of that it is bad a~ far as we are concerned if a person, a politi power by armed force, the settlement of the issue by war, is the party, an army or a school is not attacked by the enemy, Co central task and tbe highest form of rel'olution. This Marxist. in that case it would definitely mean tbat we have sunk to the Leninist principle of revolution holds good universally, for China level of the enemy. It is good if we are attacked by t and for all other countries." enemy, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line 0 In our country also, we can succeed in overthrowing demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. It is still the regime of the comprador-bureaucrat bourgeoisie and 40 LIBERATION: J>EASANT MOVEMENT IN THE TERAI REGION 41

landlords only by arming the peasants and by building up ~hemselves and then carried out the ten great tasks and guerrilla groups and a regular armed force. thus wiped out at a stroke the old feudal system that has The peasants of Terai have taken up exactly this work, continued for centuries. Furthermore, relying on the and this is the reaaon why all the bourgeois and petty armed revolutionary strength they established a. new bourgeois parties including the Congress and the so-called political power, that is, the rule of the revol.utionary Marxist Party have become so furious. -peasant committees in their area. The so-called communists dressed up as Marxists have By carrying out these ten great tasks the heroic peasants unmasked themselves by hitting away at this. They want have taught us that the struggle of the peasants is ~t to keep the anti-feudal struggle pegged to the question of merely a struggle for land. On the contrary, in order to mere distribution of land. Like all other bourgeois and ~he monopoly of land ownership and feudal exploitation petty bourgeois parties the so-called Marxist Party also of the landlords in the villages, which are being preserved looks at the question of land distribution from the stand- by the Congress Party, the political party of the comprador- point of social injustice towards the peasants. This is bureaucrat bourgeoisie and the landlords, with the help of what they have been doing in reality, whatever may be the political. economic, social and ·cultural structure that their subject~ve motivation. That is why they become serves the landlords, a new political, ·economic, social and I panicky whenever they see armed peasants or hear the cultural structure must be created by establishing a new slogan C~_etnam's path is our path'. And they stage like political power. This political power can be established by a true bourgeois the farce of settmg up committees with arousing and arming the peasants, by organising guerrilla pro-jotedar bureaucrats in order to distribute land. groups, by creating liberated areas, by buildin~ a regular It would be relevant to mention here what our respected armed force, and by protecting and expanding this force. ~ ~ Comrade Charu Mazumdar, had told us. He said, Such a political power, no matter in how small an area 'Whatever little concessions-the UF government may be it is established, is t'he embryo of the future people's able to give to other classes, it is not possible for them to democratic state power in India. give any concession whatsoever to the peasants.' We It is never possible to overthrow the rule of the com- set down this statement in our local election review but were prador-bureaucrat bourgeoisie and the landlords, who have not able to realise its significance at that time. But later come to terms with imperialism, without arming the the peasant movement in Terai has cleared up our thinking. peasants in the anti-feudal struggle, without leading their As in the other ptates of India, the peasants of Terai struggle courageously, without building their guerrilla and are also being oppressed by the regime of the comprador- regular armed forces. This is fa because in our country, bureaucrat bourgeoisie and feudal jotedars. And this the feudal landlord class is the main social base of the o~pression is carried on in the villages by pres€rving the imperialist and comprador.bureaucrat bourgeois exploi- political, economic, social and cultural structure that serves tation, and the peasants are the mll.inforce and the basis of the jotedars and through feudal exploitation. The this struggle. Herein lies the distinctive feature of the heroic peasants are every day realising this in their lives. Naxalbari path, that is, the· Naxalbari struggle. It is That is why they accurately hit at the proper place. precisely because the Naxalbari struggle is not merely a The first thing the peasants of Terai did was to arm a ~truggle for land that it could not be stamped out. 43 42 LIBERATION PEASANT MOVEMRNT IN THE TERAI REGION Without this consciousness, any struggle for land, no> foundations of feudalism in the villages by performing the matter how militant it may be, is militant economism. ten great tasks, the tea garden workers realised from their Such militant struggle for land generates opportunism in innate class consciousness that this class struggle was a the peasant movement ana demoralises the majority of the struggle to overthrow the rule of the Congress Party, " fighting section as happened during the struggle for seizing which represents the comprador-bureaucrat bourgeoisie the benami lanas. Such militant economic movement and the landlords. That is why the tea garden workers leads one into the blind alley of revisionism. This means could not be kept away from the struggle of the peasants in in other words, becoming, consciously or unconsciously 8;. spite of the fact that the unions of teagarden workers were bourgeois reformist. The bourgeoisie tries to gain this mainly controlled by the so-called communists. object of theirs,sometimes through theirlaws and sometimes From their own experience of class struggle the tea, thr-ough a Vinoba Bhave. When they fail in this, they garden workers of Terai realised that the peasants w'ere depend on the present-day social-democrats who disguise· theIr most faithful friend and ally. That is why they not themselves as Marxists. Marxism has nothing in common only participated in the struggle of the peasants but were with this. In short, the question of making the agrarian in the forefront of that struggle. They went on strike and revolution victorious in our country is not the same as 1# arming themselves they have taken part in every struggle ! the question of ensuring social justice to the peasants. \ ilJinceMay 24, 1967. The struggle of the Terai peasants helped the tea-garden workers to come out of the mire of UNITED FRONT AND ITS LEADERSHIP IN trade unionism and economism. This happened in spite of THE ANTI-FEUDAL STRUGGLE the fact that the so-called communist trade union leaders An important aspect of the struggle of the heroic were opposing the struggle. And from this anti-feudal peasants of Terai is its success in gaining the support of struggle ,there 'grew up a genuine worker-peasant alliance • the tea-garden workers and other toiling people and, under the leadership of th; tea-garden workers. thus, intensifying the struggle still further by building a- At the present time every anti-feudal armed struggle is united front in the anti-feudal struggle. This is the most certain to be opposed by imperialism. There are many ' important task. The struggle of the heroic peasants of instances today to bear this out. In the propaganda Terai has solved this problem. being carried on by the bourgeois papers representing The Terai peasants began their struggle against the different imperialist interests, by the Voice of America comprador-bureaucrat bourgeoisie and the landlords, who- a.nd,by the BBC, we are witnessing this opposition in an have come to terms with imperialism, have prettified embryonic form. The object of their propaganda is to feudalism and are carrying on their rule and exploitation crush the struggle without delay, and the reactionary UF through the Congress Party, which is their political orga- leaders are diligently working to this end under the nisation. The fact that the reactionary leaders of the- leadership of the Congress. As soon as the anti-feudal so-called United Front were able to instal themselves on struggle of the workers and peasants of Terai grows more the ministerial guddis did not change the class character intense, it will have to face direct opposition from imperia- of the state. lism. All the anti-imperialist strata and·classes will then While the heroic peasants of Terai were smashing the- naturally join the alliance of workers and peasants. 44 LIBERATION :PEASANT MOVEMEE~' IN THE TERAI REGION 41) The struggle of the heroic peasants of Terai has taught '1 of the comprador-bureaucrat bourgeoisie and landlords, is. ",t us the lesson that a united front of all anti-imperialist anti- feudal elements that can be united can be built only on falling into pieces, when the people are suffering from the the ba.sis of the worker-peasant alliance carrying on armed effects of ltn acute economic crisis and when people's lack of confidence in the Congress has become even more· struggle. This united front of workers and peasants can never be built through any so-called 'turn to the villages' pronounced, as reflected in the ending of the monopoly rule of Congress ministers in eight states. .or by taking a f~w demonstrations towards the villages. 'Ve know that we must adopt an offensive tactic in our Any other front that can be built is the United Front struggle when the enemy is beset with crisis and internal .of Ajoy-Jyoti-Harekrishna-JatinJ, which can function as quarrels, and must adopt the tactic of advancing our struggle- ministers or bureaucrats within the existing bourgeois gradually when the enemy has gained some stability. structure 'but which is unable to give leadership to the Judged from this standpoint, the struggle of the peasants, People's Democratic Revolution. of Terai is just, timely and beyond reproach. The question of leadership of this front has also been Why have we failed, though temporarily, to- solved. No so-called Marxist can lead this' struggle or this advance the struggle of the heroic peasants of Terai ~ The- front. This front will be led by the political party' of the' reasons are: lack of a strong party organisation, failure to proletariat-a party which is armed with the theory of rely whole-heartedly on the masses and t~ lmild a powerful Marxis~-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung's thought, the highest ~ss b~e, ignorance of military affairs, thinking on- development of Marxism-Leninism in the present .§lra-a old lines and a formal attitude towards the establishment party having its own army and able to build a united front of political power and the work of revolutionary land .of ~workers, peasants and petty bourgeoisie and of all reform. We must always bear in mind Chairman Mao's those who can be united. Only such a party can Success- teachings in discussing these matters. He teaches us:.: fully lead the anti-imperialist anti-feudal struggle. "New things always hAveto experience difficulties and set-backs

OUR DEVIATIONS AND THE LESSONS WE LEARNT as they grow. It is sheer fantasy to imagine tbat the cause of Taken as a whole, internationally and nationally, the socialism is all plain sailing and easy success, without difflcul- revolutionary situation in our country is excellent. The ties and set-backs or the exertion of tremendous efforts." armed struggle of the peasants of the Siliguri'sub-division By the lack of a strong party organisation we mean has begun after the fourth general elections at a time when absence of a party which is armed with the theory of Anglo-U.S. .imperialism, specially U.S. imperialism, Marxism-Leninism and its highest development in the ·finds itself in an acute crisis and the quarrel between the present era, Mao Tse-tung's thought,which is closely linked imperialists has become bitter, when the U.S. imperialist with the masses,which does not fear self-criticism and which capital is unable to rely fully on, the influence of the has mastered the Marxist-Leninist style of work. It is true- Congress Party in matters of investment, when all the hoax that the revolutionary comrades of the Siliguri sub-division

of economic planning of the Congress Party, the organisation led~_ by our respected leader, Comrade Charu Mazumdar__t were· the first to rIse in revolt against the revisionists. But this (1) Jatin Chakravarty, a reactionary trade union bureaucrat belonging does not mean that we fully assimilated the teachings of·our to the RSP, a petty bourgeois party of the UFo great teacher Chairman Mao. That is, while we 'accepted 46 LIBERATION FEASANT llOVEMENS IN THE TERAI REGION 47

the teachings of Chairman Mao in words, we persisted in Chairman Mao in a given locality and to develop s,nd revisionist methods in practice. Though it is true that the intensify class struggle in that locality; to act as a guerrilla worker and peasant Party members of Terai were in

IGNORANCE OF MILITARY AFFAIRS AND OLD and the action of the people il'\ coming lorward undauntedly WAT OF THINKING both during and after the shooting down of unarmed peasant women by the police, and the boundless heroism The struggle of the heroic peasants of the Siliguri sub- and self-sacrifice of Comrades Tribeni Ranu, Sobhan Ali division was not a movement to realise certain demands and Barka Majhi-how can we explain all these things if in the old f'ense. This was a struggle to establish a new not by the fact that they are the expressions of that 1political power, the peasants' power in the vi~ages after- reali':ation And we' of the petty bourgeois origin failed a.bolishing feudalism there. So, we shall diSCUSSthe r to recognise this very thing and so, at times, either under- reasons for our failure in this struggle both from the estima.ted or over-estimated the enemy's strength. political and the military viewpoint. Chairman Mao In the first stage o{ the struggle we under-estima.ted teaches us : "All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appear-, anee the reactionaries are terrifying, bot in reality they are ~ en~my'~ s~r~ngt~ and thought Of everything in the old way, and emg in a revisionist party we indulged not 'so powerful. From a long term point of view, it is in idle day-dreaming. Sometimes we imagined that 'the not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerfuI"'. UP cannot go so far or that It will be difficult for it to go If, in any struggle, we happen to over-estimate the enemy's so far.' On the one hand, we viewed the revisionists from strength politically, it will never be possible to gain victory a.purely petty bourgeois standpoint while, on the other, We in that struggle. In other words, if we do not have, from under-estimated the enemy's strength and kept the people the ·strategic viewpoint, the courage and firmness required unprepared in the face of the enemy, that is, we did not L-4 50 LIBERATION PEASANT MOVEMENT IN THE TERAI REGION 51 prepare the people regarding the measures that the enemy guerrilla groups would eventually grow out on the basis of was likely to take. This is nothing but revisionist attitude. the'spontaneous actions of the broad masses. In m"any Again, when the people were ready to launch attacks cases, fooled by the display of revolutionary ardour in on the enemy, we over-estimated the enemy's strength vagabonds, we made them leaders for organising armed and subjectively magnified the likely effects of such groups. "Again, when we found armed rich peasants and a attacks. The people fought with determination and section of small jotedars by the side of armed poor created model heroes whose heroism we belittled. As a peasants and middle peasants we concluded that together ;, result, the people found themselves in disarray in the face they constituted the united armed force of the entire of widespread terror, the intensity of the struggle dimi- peasantry. We' totally forgot that the rich peasants and nished and escapism increased. Comrade Babulal Biswa- that section of the small jotedars could deser,t to the enemy karmakar, by sacrificing his life on September 7 this year, at the first opportqnity. We learnt in the course of has enjoined us to advance along the path pointed out the struggle that a few rich peasants and small landowners by Chairman Mao. might take an active part in a big struggle that was This is a struggle to seize state power and, as such, it raging. But as soon as counter-revolut'ionary terror started, ! demands of us to prepare the party and the people militarily these people would desert to the enemy camp spreading fear to the fullest extent. Chairman Mao teaches us: "With- among the poor and middle peasants. In short, our out a people's army the people have nothing." We have come total ignorance of military affairs is the root cause of the to realise the truth of this teaching of Chairman Mao deeply \ temporary set-back in our struggle. through the struggle in Terai. Though we had known t~at What we have learnt from the struggle of the Terai as soon as this struggle started it would be met wIth pe~~ants is that we must deeply study the political a~d suppression by the Central government and the reactionary mlhtary theories of Chairman Mao, apply them in practice leaders of the West Bengal UF government/yet we failed a.ndthen study them again. Our greatest responsibility is to take the programme of acti on which shoutd have been to make arrangements for our worker and peasant comrades taken eventually. We had a wrong understanding of to study the thought of Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao's teaching in that we turned strategic Furthermore, we have learnt from the experience of our defence into passive defence. struggle. that the armed groups formed after arousing the When all the population ~rmed themselves, the jotedars, ~o~le In the villages and arming them will become the the vested interests and wlCked persons fled from the VIllagedefence group3. villages, and so we concluded that we had already created '!!e must acquire knowledge of guerrilla warfare by the base area. We mistook the armed people for the armmg the peasants with conventional weapons (bows and I arrow~, spears etc.) and by organising assaults on the class a.rmed force and adopted the tactic of resisting and attacking by means of broad mass mobilisation as the main enemIes. • tactic of our struggle. The one or two small armed groupS ~e are to build up liberated zones ,gradually by which were formed to take away forcibly guns from the for~~~g peasant g,!errilla groups and by carrying on their jotedars were not recognised by us as the main instru- actxv~ties. It would not be possible either to form guerrilla ment of struggle. On the contrary, we assumed that groups or to carryon their activities for long, if we do not, PHASAA,T MOVEMENT IN THE TERAI REGION 53 LIBERATION 52 We_ did. not give any importance t 0 thOISwork also A at the same time, persevere in building liberated zones a result,.' m many cases the rich peasants prevented . thisS also. We must keep in mind the fact that only the libe- task bemg earned out under various peas.1 In many oth rated zones or those areas which can be transformed into cases, the, top, section of the middle peasants being' ther liberated zones form the rear of the guerrillas. Fe must lay leadershIp m some cases , managed t0 d"Ivert the Inh' e ~ost stress on building a people's armed force. To build from the confiscation of land to mak'mg raId. emp. aSIS houses, and thus deprived this k ,s ~n Jotedars' a people's armed force we must form centrally organised wor of Its Imp ·t groups of armed guerrillas. These, we think, will be the In some other cases again , ther e deve10 ed or ance. tions between the poor peasants and th: ' acute contradic_ l •....-ri-4- embryo of the people's armed force. matters of the distribution of la d mIddle peasants in .•...t,.,c:..4.~ In some other areas, again, we may try to organise l n . ~ arrried peasant revolts and build the people's armed force In spite of all these mist akes, th e peopl h b "/.J.~•.."f-'"LI>\.-L.of comprising those armed peasants. who have risen in defending heroically the fruits the weave een ..••l #oA" struggle. y on through their r-r· 1"'-'~ revolt. - In forming the guerrilla groups or the central guerrilla Therefore, we have taken th d " great tasks of the peaaants e eCISlOnthat, of the ten group we must lay utmost stress on the class standpoint. , ' We must attach th / W e have come to realise that only the poor and middle Importance to these two task s and turn the . t e greatest peasants must be the basis for forming the guerrilla groups. for our propaganda. m m 0 a weapon 2..ur fail,;~e in establishing the revolutionary political powe J land in carrying out revolutionar and reforms' blunted th edge of the class struggle both Ciuringand after the struggle. The revolutionary peasants accomplished two tasks through ~ mobilisation. They are: formation of central an zonal"- revolutionary peasant committees anCi distributio of land. And we turned exactly these two things into most formal affair. Our petty bourgeois day_dreaming wa at the root of it. We never seriously considered how deepl significant were these two tasks. Had we treated these two tasks seriously and carried 0 political explana.tion campaign among the masses abo their significance, had we been able to develop th initiative of the people to participate in carrying out thes two tasks by educating them, they would have remembere for a long time the gains which they themselves had wo through struggle, and would.have fought unflinchingly i order to retain those gains. As regards distribution of land, our policy was' confiscate the land fully and distribute the same entirely.

' CONVENTION 0 F THE REVOLUTIONARY PEASANTS 55 revolutionary policy becomes at· 1 f revolutionary classes gra 't C ma erIa orce when the f sp 1. omrade Bab 1 1 Resolution Adopted at the Convention mg a revolutionar 1 u a, represen_ Our class enemies y c atss ,proved this truth with his life. of Revolutionary Peasants mus be made to ' h . blood debt they t ,pay WIt mterest the owe 0 Comrade B b 1 Tribeni Kanu Sobha AI' a u aI, to Comrades The following is the resolution adopted at the convention , n 1 and Barka M 'h' bounden duty to make th aJ 1. And it is our of the revolutionary peasants of the area under the Naxal- Comrad th em pay that blood debt. es, e Naxalbari stru 1 h bari, and Phansidewa police stations. The neWSof second phase It. gg e a.s entered the . IS our duty to carr f d this convention was published in Libe'ration, October, 1968. The comrades wh y orwar that struggle . 0 are able to ca th . The Resolution, as translated from the Bengali text WIll have the h rry e strl,lggle forward which appeared in the weekly Deshabrati, October 10, onour of carrying th d b People's Democrati R l' e re anner of the . . c evo utlOn Th 1968, reads: dIscIples of Chairman M th . ey are the true Comrade Babulal [Biswakarmakar], a heroic leader o~ Indian revolution I adO, ey are the great leaders of the the peasant gtruggle of Terai is the first martyr of this . n or er to carry the t 1 we must form Part 't 1 s rugg e forward year. Comrade Babulal was a poor peasant himself, This units and specify a d ~ U~I s, e ect one leader for each of the ni ! fact has made the sacrifice of his life deeply significant. The tasks of these une't e.lalrebafor each o,fthem to work in. 1 s WI e to d The death of Comrade Babulal has raised the peasant the thought of Ch . sprea and propagate aIrman Mao to it· f la movement of Terai to a new stage, Comrade Babulal and to carry out surprise tt k' n enSI y c ss struggle . a ac s on the ene . initiated the guerrilla war in Terai. He hit out at the umts. Blows must be dealt at· my as guerrIlla class enemy and the police force. The question may arise 'the hated class enemies ,oppo~tune. moments against that Comrade Babulal was unable to kill any enemy, nor ' agamst polIce agent d ( t.h e reactionary armed force. We must k .s an . against could he collect any weapon. In that case we must realise Comrade Lin Pia h t eep m mmd what o as aught us' "Y h that anything neW that is born remains weak at the fighting and we ha . ou ave your way of ve ours When moment of its birth. And so, Comrade Babulal's success don't let you and " you want to fight us, we you can t even find B may not have been beyond expectation. We, the Commu- want to fight you we k us. ut when we • rna e sure that y , nist revolutionaries, accept what is new. Not only that, and we hit you 1 ou can t get away we must shoulder the responsibility of carrying it forward. W square y on the chin and wipe t " e must go forward b l' you ou . Why do we call the fight that Comrade Babulal fought power and the revolufY re ymg completely on the creative a guerrilla war,? This is because Chairman Mao teaches is absolutely no doub;on~r~ strength of the masess. There us that·the guerrilla war has two objects: first, to preserve make the second phasw a stoheverthat we shall be able to b e 0 f e struggle a suc T . . one's own strength; second, to destroy the enemy. We ecause the tho ht f' cess. hIS IS shall never be able to perform even one of these two tasks ug 0 ChaIrman Ma h b material force in the T " 0 as ecome a until we prepare ourselves to sacrifice our own lives fo eral regIOn this purpose. Comrade Babulal saved the lives of his othe ~ong l~ve Comrade Babulal Biswakarmakar , ong lIve the Indian P l' D . comrades by sacrificing his own. He also dealt a blow a Long live Chairman M:~1e s emocratic Revolution l the enemy. What he proved with his life is that th ADVANCE COURAGEOUSLY 57 Our «auntry has seven hundred million people, and the working class is the leading claps. the dictatorship of the proleta.riat, to the masses 01 the It is essential to bring mto full play the leading young Red Guard fighters, revolutionary cadres and revolu- ,"ole of the working class in the Great Cultural tiona.ry intellectuals, and to the revolutionary people of all Revolution and in all fields of work. On its :nationa.lities ! part, the working class should always raise Under the guidance of Chairman Mao's proletarian its political consciousness in the· course of revolutionary line, we have weathered the storms of the $truggle. great proletarian cultural revelution during more than the Mao Tse.tong last two years, have overthrown the handful of top capitalist roaders in thfl Party represented by China's Khrushchov :and their agents in various localities, and have taken back that part of the power of leadership which they usurped. Advance Courageously Along the Revolutionary committees have now been established in all the provinces, and autonomous regions of Road of Triumph the country, with the exception of Taiwan Province. The proletariat and the revolutionary masses have taken the NATIONAL DAY EDITORIAL OF THE "PEOPLE'S destiny of the country still more firmly into their own DAILY", THE JOURNAL "RED FLA.G" AND hands. Our state, which is a state of the dictatorship of THE "LIBERATION ARMY DAILY". the proletariat, has been further consolidated; it has become stronger and more vigorous than ever. 4'ADVANCE Courageously Along the Road of Triumph" IS the title of a joint editorial of the "People's Daily", the As Chairman :M:aopoints out, the great proletarian journal "Red Flag" and the "Liberation Army Daily", -cultural revolution is a g1'eat political revolution under the warmly celebrating the 19th anniversary of the founding of conditions of socialism made by the proletariat against the the People's Republic of Ghina. The full text follows: -bourgeoisie and all othe?' exploiting classes. The great Amid the song of triumph in the great proletarian victory in this revolution has brought about profound cultural revolution, our great socialist motherland, whose revolutionary changes in China in the political, ideological, outlook is more magnificent than ever, is entering its 20th economic, cultural and other fields. glorious year. Chairman Mao's latest instructions and the orders With profound proletarian feelings, we wish our great issued by the proletarian headquarters today are rapidly leader Chairman Mao a long, long life on this grand disseminated among the hundreds of millions of people and national festive day. translated into conscious action as never before. We extend our warm greetings and militant salute to With greater firmness than ever, the country's revolu- the working class, the lea.ding class in China, to the dele- tionary people of all nationalities have rallied around the .gates of workers who have come from all over the country great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought and the· pro- to attend the National Day celebrations, to the poor and letarian headquarters headed by Chairman Mao and with lower-middle peasants, the most reliable ally of the working -Vice-Chairman Lin Piao as its deputy leader, and are class, to the People's Liberation Army, the strong pillar 0 f LIBERATION. 58 ADVANCE COURAGEOUSLY waging a heroic strugg 1e to carry out Chairman Mao'g. tantly changing and an ever more flourishing situation in proletarian revolutionary line. . . . our great socialist motherland! It is indeed a happy and Tempered through revolutionary mass cntlclsm .and glorious thing that we can participate in the great prole- repudiation, the revolutionary masses have greatly heIgh- tarian cultural revolution initiated and being led by tened their awareness of the struggle between the two Chairman Mao ! roads and the two lines. They adhere to the socialist road Following the universal establishment of revolutionary and hate the capitalist road, and regard opposing ~nd committees throughout China, the great proletarian cultural preventing revisionism as their most important fightmg- revolution has entered a new period-following Chairman taskWith the participation and support of the Chin~se' Mao's great teaching: Carry out the tasks of struggle- criticism-transformation conscientiously. People's Liberation Army, the working class-the leadmg class in the dictatorship of the proletariat-has sent a Chairman Mao points out: "Struggle-criticism_trans- mighty army of industrial workers to lead the struggle- formation in a factory, on the whole, goes tMough the criticism-transformation in all areas of the superstructure,. following stages: Establishing a three-in-one revolutionary and is bringing about further changes in the outlook of the committee; carrying out mass criticism and repudiation; schools and all other places where intellectua.ls are concen- purifying the class ranks " consolidating the Party organi- zation " and simplifying the administrative structu?'e, trated. . h d The Chinese People's Liberation Army, whlC ma e' changing irrational rules and ?'egulations and sending o.tfic~ great co~tributions in helping the Left, helping ind~s~ry workers to the workshops." rrhis instruction of Chairman and agriculture, exercising military control a~d gl~mg Mao's is the main content and basic road of struggle- criticism-transformation in all units, departments and political and military training, has developed Its glO~I?US, organizations. ' tradition of being simultaneously a fighting force, a ~ohtlCaI Struggle-criticism-transformation means taking Mao work force and 'a production corps, strengthened Its ~esh Tse-tung's thought as the guide and to carrying out, and blood tIes WIth tne masses, and become ~ great .lron. according to the proletarian image, thoroughgoing and wall defending the country, defending the dl~tatorshlp of universal transformation of all aspects of the superstructure the proletariat and defending the great proletarIan cultural that do not conform with the socialist economic base. It revolution. . means blocking all channels to the breeding of revisionism The masses of the workers, peasants and revolutIOnary politically, ideologically, econo~ically and organizationally. intellectuals are in high spirits and high fig~ting morale. It means consolidating and developing China's dictatorship They grasp revolution and promote productwn and other' of the proletariat and socialist economic base. work and prepa?'edness against war and ha:e brou~ht about The working class must exercise leadership in everything. a new leap forward situation on the industr~al, agncultural, Chairman Mao says that the proletariat must exercise all- scientific and technological and revolutlOnary art and round dictatorf!hip over the bourgeoisie in the field of the literature fronts. superstructure, including the va?'ious spheres of culture. It is indeed inspiring and gratifying that the great. Workers' propaganda teams set by the working class, in proleta.rian cultural revolution has brought about a cons- cooperation with the Liberation Army, have directly LIBERA TlON

00 h of the superstructure. ADVA.IWB COURA.GEOUSLY the schools and all sp ere~ " transformation in 61 ;~:;e~'e leading Ihe S":uggle-,,~~~m~e ,"voluliona,y into the Party a number of outstanding proletarian revolu- 'n coordmatiOn d anced by the,e 'sph••.e, " ,":alegie plan was a v, 1 tionary rebel fighters who have been tempered and test'ed t' , ts there. ThIS great d the experIence 0 ac IVIS he had summe up oved in the great cultural revolution, primarily the advanced Chairman Mao after , actice has a1ready pr , elemenls among the induslrial weeke". the,eby infusi"tl th masses. RevolutlOnary pI' h' , a great pioneermg e 'that t IS IS , the Party with new blood and strengthening its fighting and will eonlinue 10 peove Ilhe p,oleladan ,evolulwn, b force. Communists who have stood firmly by Chairman undertaking in t~e hp""~eyo~China is Ibe V&ngu~'d 01 ';1: Mao's proletarian reVOlutionary line in the great proletarian The CommuDlst ar y k' class carrIes ou cultural revolution and revolutionary cadres wno have a I The wor mg 1 ist Chinese working c ass. 1 dership of the Commun staunch proletarian class stand and revolutionary vitality th ugh the ell, " transfor- leading cole '0 f Ibe,lmggle-edl, ••,m- h should be selected to take part in the leadership of the Party. In the course 0 . portant position to t e Party's basic organizations and of the Party committees at t give a very 1m all levels. '- mation, we mus 'ld'n the Party. ., work of consolidating a,nd bUl 1.g"The Party organ'bZat~on M Chairman Mal:) is the great leader of the Chinese Chairman ao pomts out. d elements oJ,.( the prole. I I Communist Party and the great leader of the working class should be cMnposed of the ~dVr:::e vanguM'd organi~ation and the masses of the working people. Mao Tse-tung's . t· it should be a v~go. d the revolutwnary thought is our Party's guiding thought, Mao Tse-tung's tanabl, ,.( leading the proletanat an y" This is our capa e oJ . t the class enem . t thought is the most concentrated expression of the wisdom ' the fight aga~ns b 'lp'ng the Par y. of the working class. It SUmsup the experience in struggle massesr ~n solidating and Ul 1 , and p.at· rogramme for. co~ 'of Chairman Mao s , of the proletariat and the masses of revolutionary people. Wg .,r:ust follow this mstructlOtn, Party consolidation 1D e t. take par m . Exercising working class leaderShip means unifying Our arouse the masses 0 r nt class struggle. ,_, thinking and policy and coordinating our steps and action elo,e eoo, dination with bthe ' curfo'e Ibe work of consohaatmg'Ib in accordance with Mao Tse-tung's thought. We shall b~ W e shall lay the aSlS 'entiously purifymg e invincible by closely fOllOWing Chairman Mao and th~ P t by conSCl " the and building the ar y, a really good Job m , proletarian headquarters headed by Chairman Mao and wit-h class ranks, It i~ essentIalhiss to doranks. 'I n the course of thIS, Vice-Chairman Lin Piao as its deputy leader. f urifying t e ca. " -transformatlOn, In celebrating the 19th anniversary of the founding of work 0 p 'the struggle-CrItICIsm nter-revolu- purification and m a ents and all other, cou roof as the Chinese People's Republic, we are deeply grateful to'.all the renegades, enemy g 'unquestIOnable p genuine Marxist-Leninists in'the world and the revolution_ , . t whom there IS t be firmly liona"e, agam' 'Ialisl coade" mu, P I ary people of all countries for their support to China's 11 as the die-hard cap1 . we purify the ar y we Olin this way can M 's great .great proletarian cultural revolution, The Chinese people cleaned out. n y 11 of Chairman ao will not be unworthy of their expectations. A new era in ks and Guarantee that a t proletarian cultural history, an era of struggle against U. S. imperialism and ~ant ctions "'concerning the gr,ea '11 be put into effect Ins ru I' t structlOn WI d 't SOVietrevisionism has now begun. The heroic Albanian olution and socia IS con t' Iy'and 'carefully a ml revstep. by step. It is essen t'Ill,1 to ac 1ve, people, who stand in the forefront of the fight against imperialism arid revisionism, have contributed greatly to the international communist movement. The Vietnamese 62 LIBBRATION people's great war against U. S. aggression and for national f salvation, the national liberation movements now surging ahead vigorously in Asia, Africa and Latin America and To Fight Im~erialism It Is Necessary the widespread revolutionary mass movements in Western Europe and North America are all developing to a neW To Fight Revisionism depth. Imperialism headed by the United States is full of -M.L. contradictions and faces ever graver political and economic crises. The modern revisionist bloc headed by the Soviet 'Stru'g'Tghlee.bascic reason. why aU previous revolutiona revisionist renegades are fighting among themselve~ and . .s In rnah achieved so little ry disintegrating. The reactionaries whom the U. S. iinpe- umte wIth real friends in order to was their failure to revolutionary party is th 'd attack real enemies. A rialists and Soviet revisionists fostered in all countries . e gm e of the revolutIOn ever succ d h masses, and no are beset with more and more difficulties. The stupendous ee s w en the I' leads them astray" -M T revo utIOnary party struggles of the revolutionary people the world over have . ao se-tung ( greatly inspired the Chinese people in their victorious . Chairman Mao teaches us th~t to frrends from real en . distinguish real march forward. We are determined to better fulfil our . emles IS a quest' f proletarian internationalist duty, learn from experience in Importance of the revolution. US' 1O~.0 t.he first the revolutionary struggles of the people of all countries the IQost ferocious enemy of th . i Imperrahsm IS today the Indian people Th S . e pe~p. e of the world and of and firmly support these struggles. . . e oVlet revIsIOnist d' ~sthe ally and No 1accomplic of US' re~e~a e clIque .Because of the excellent victorious situation it is even e " ImperralIsm. more imperative to guard against arrogance and rashness. We should never forget class struggle and lower 'our Soviet Revisionism-Enemy Of Th I d' T . e n Ian People vigilance. It is imperative to remain coolheaded and he SovIet revisionist renegade l' . maintain a high revolutionary vigilance. We must be the Indian people and the I f c Ique IS an enemy of ready at any moment to wipe out resolutely, thoroughly, r~negades and the neo r p~O? e.o the world. The Dange - eVISIOnIstsare tr' d t9 cover up the hideous f t YIng esperately wholly and completely all enemies who dare invade our ea ures of the S . t . renegade clique who' 11' . OVIe revIsionist country! We must liberate Taiwan-our motherland's , In co usIOnwIth US' " sacred territory! plundering and enslaving th I d' .. Imperrahsm is Let the U. S. imperialists, Soviet revisionists and their revisionists are now trying t : ~ Ian people. The neo- their party ranks by l' o. ecelve the Indian people and lackeys tremble before the 700 million Chinese people who c almrng that lth h have tempered themselves in the great proletarian cultural 'leadership' is revisionist th S .' a ~ug the Soviet . I' ' e OVIet UnIon re . revolution ! SOCIa1St country" and " maIns "a Renee they k h a member of the socialist camp ,", Hold the great red banner of Marxism-Leninism, , a8, ow can the Sov' t '" . India 0 b Ie reVISIOnIsts "exploI't" Mao Tse-tung's thought still higher, complete the great it.. . r e an "enemy" 0f th e Ind'Ian people ? Th historic task of struggle-criticism-transformation, and 118.wrong to assume that th S. . . . ey say advance courageously along the road to all-round VICtory "become an ally of US' e. 1.oVIet revIsIOnists have h . . . Impena Ism or is k' in the great proletarian cultural revolution! s .arIng world hegemony with US' . .wor Ing for . . ImpenalIsm and for .:J'IGHT IMPERIALISM AND REVISIONISM' 65 LmERATION encircle China militarily and for making preparations' for a. war aga.inst it." division of spheres of influence in the ",;orld, as this is tantamount to nothing short of placing the Soviet Union, . It ~~s the Khrushchov revisionists, in collusion with U.S. outside the Socialist camp." (Madurai Draft Resolution). ImperIal~sm, who have from the very beginning encouraged The neo-revisionists shamelessly praise the Soviet the. Indla~ reactionaries to launch military aggression revisionists' "aid" to the Indian reactionaries as "helping aga.mst Chma.. It was because of the instigation and support to preserve India's independence" (Programme, para.5).E.M. by Khrushchov and Kennedy that Nehru and the Indian S. Namboodiripad, a neo-revisionist chieftain and the reactionaries dared to launch aggression against China. Chief Minister of Kerala, is even undertaking a trip shortly :od~y a.lso,the successors of Khrushchov and Kennedy are to Moscow with Thomas, his Minister for Industries (and lDstIgatmg and supporting Indira Gandhi and the Indian one of the Dange renegade gang), in order to solicit .soviet reactionaries in their policy of "containing China" and "aid" for projects in Ke:r.ala. "brandishing weapons" against China. As recently as Chairman Mao has said: "One of our current important September last year,the U.S. imperialists and Soviet revi- tasks on the ideological front is to unfold criticism of sionists instigated the Indian reactionaries to launch fresh revisionism." To fight imperialism it is necessary to fight aggression against China on the Sino-Indian border. As revISIonism. Our task is thoroughly to expose and to" usual, the Soviet revisionists tried to cover up the criminal repudiate this pack of hypocritical double-dealers, the· ~ggre~si~n of the Indian reactionaries by echoing U. S. Soviet revisionist renegade clique and their henchmen, the- Impenahsm, and, at the same time supplied the Indian Dange renegades and the neo-revisionists. We must expose 'reactionaries with more economic and military "aid." thoroughly their counter-revolutionary plan, hatched iru Since the Indian reactionaries' aggression against collusion with U.S. imperialism, to sabotage the Indian China in 1962, the ,Soviet revisionists have given actually revolution and to turn India into the base of counter- more military 'aid' to the reactionary Indian Congress revolution in Asia. Ganging up with the Indian reac- Government than did U.S. imperialism. This 'aid' amounts tionaries, the Soviet revisionist clique is forming an a.nti- to 900 million dollars, which is almost three times that of China cordon and a joint U.S.-Soviet military base in the 340 million dollar military 'aid' which U.S. imperialism co-or,dination with the U.S. imperialists' policy of aggression gave India over the same period. Further, the Soviet against China, the base of the world revolution today. revisionists have assured the Indian reactionaries more 'aid' valued at 2000 million dollars, which is to be used mainly to help the Indian reactIOnaries build up an arms The Aim Of Soviet Revisionist Military 'Aid' industry. This is intended to Serve U. S. imperialism's Is To Sabotage Revolution And To Oppose China. • policy of ag!9ression against China. Especially now As the organ of the Albanian Communist Party, 'Zeri-i-, that the British imperialists are forced to withdraw •• . Popullit', clearly states: "All Soviet activities and those: from their military bases in that region (as in Singapore), which are comparatively concealed or in other words, not. "the Soviet Union is moving quickly to fill the power in the open, are a component part of the vicious and big vacuum left in the Indian Ocean by the British with-drawal pl,ot for forming an a.lliance between revisionism a.nd.the from East of Suez." (Indian Exp'l'ess, July. 251968). reactionaries of the United States and other countries to L-5 LIBERATION 66 ':lI'IGE'T IMPERIALISM AND REVISIONISM 67 It must be pointed out that the massive Soviet military reactionaries politO II "aid" to the Indian reactionaries comes at a time when rea y, econom' II .. . together with the US' " Ica y, and mIlitarIly U.S. imperialism is being badly battered in its war of a.im to turn Ind' ... ImperIalists, the Soviet revisionists aggression against Vietnam, and weakened by the [ • • 130 mto an anti-Ch' d Jomt Soviet-U S 'l't ma a vance-guard and sharpening of the contradictions within the U.S. itself, and B It. .. mI I ary base agamst' China " , ya ernatmg threats w'th b :b ..... is unable to turn its attention elsewhere. This is greato ·clIque, together 'th I. n es, the SovIet revisionist service to U.S. imperialism when it is facing its biggest . WI U.S. 1m . I' . the PakIstani rur. pena Ism, tnes to force political and economic crisis. mg cIrcles also t " · cordon. On the h 0 Jom the anti-China. Today Soviet arIDS are being used by the Indian reac- one and th S' . Indian reactionar' t ' e oVlet reVIsionists arm the tionaries against China on the Himalayan borders. Soviet Ies the t th .offer the Pakistan' I ° ee. ' and on the other, they weapons are also being used against the Naga, Mizo, and . . 1 ru ers economIC" 'd" mIlitary "aid" b . . . 301 and recently even Kuki national minorities who are waging an armed , as alt to JOIDth t" Ch' . carrot-and_stick p l' ,. e an 1- ma camp. (This '. 0 rey IS the s . liberation struggle to resist the brutal oppression by the Imperralism in th b ,ame as practIsed by U.S. Indian reactionaries. These Soviet arms will be used also .aecades.) In thO e su -contment during the past two IS manner, the S' ". to suppress the Naxalbari peasants and the entire Indian together with US' " oVlet reVISIOnIstclique people, who are struggling to overthrow U.S. imperialism. . . . ImperIalIsm . t . ' ~ulmg classes of both th ' IS . rymg to control the Soviet revisionism and their domestic lackeys, the Indian mcreasingly depende t e countrIes by making them . . n on them ec' . . reactionaries. .and polttlcally with th It' ' onomreally, mIlrtarily In an article entitled "Enslaving India," the People's · . ' e u Imate aim of t bl' ' Jomt rule on the I d P . es a Ishing their Daily comments: "The Soviet revisionist clique is making .th n 0- ak:stan s b t' . e essence of the "T hk " u -con ment. ThIS is an all-out effort to strengthen the Indian military apparatus as ent SPIrIt" d' <'Ofthe U.S.-Soviet d . t' all IS part and parcel to suppress the people's revolution. As a matter of fact, omma IOn and. plunder of the world. Soviet military "aid" has encouraged the Indian reactiona- Soviet Revisionist "Aid" IN' ries to speed up their armament drive in total disregard F s 0 Different to the plight of the broad masses of the Indian people. . • rom U.S. Imperialist."Aid" .T he. Pekmg PeopZe's D ·z In the past five years, military expenditures have increased .theIr 'aId' give~ to India b/\Ke com~ents : ',?udging from nearly five times. The reactionary Indian government, in clear that SOVIet 'aid' is .SOVIetrevIslODlsts, it is ~oll?win? the example of U So. dlffe~e~t from U.S. 'aid'. t its current budget set aside some 30% of its total expenditure SlODIstcIrque uses its 'aid' to' ;mp,enalrsm, the Soviet revi- for military spending. It has greatly increased the taxes ~opushing ahead with it ~re~g~~ountries as.a means on many daily necessities for the labouring people. This Its .'~id' it penetrates in~on:o-?o.oDlallst policy. By means of will cause another spiralling of prices. It is estimated that pol~treally and militaril eClplent countries economically Tulmg cliques and plu:de contrdols and manipulates thei; the cost of living for an average family will increase by I Th S' . , rs an enslaves their I" e intlyrob the Indian people and control the Vital sectors tation of the Indian people. of India's economy. The so-called "industrial expansion in the state sector"" It is clear then that the so-called 'public sector', run by which the neo-revisionists hail as the product of "disin- 'India's bureau.crat-capital, is "the tool by which the U.R. terested aid from the Soviet Union" (Programme, Para 6), imperialists and Soviet revisionist clique control and is mainly dependent on U. S. imperialist and So','iet t-plunder India". But the neo-rev:isioni~ts. and the Dan,ge r;renegades, faithful lackeys of Impenahsm and SOVIet 'i0 LmERATION; fiGHT IMPERIALISM AND REVISIONISM 71

revisionism, try to paint the 'pub1.ic sector' as progressive-- offered other countries, forcing India. to buy kerosene it in order to cloak U.S.-Soviet neo-colonialism. In their - could produce indigenously, giving an anti-biotic plant fit Programme, the neo-revisionists claim that "The most only to produce animal feed, pressurising India to bri)T outstanding feature of these plans is to be seen in the uneconomic planes, and using India's offshore oil explora- industrial expansion, particularly in the setting up of- tion work to gain experience for own advantage", Indira certain heavy and machine-building industries in the sta.te - Gandhi in reply defended the Soviet revisionist clique's sector. This noteworthy gain would not have been- "aid" t~ the Indian reactionaries; and added significantly possible but for the disinterested aid from the socialist that, "the point to be considered was the long term economic countries and mainly from the Soviet Union." and political consequences rather than the terms of any parti- Exposing the real essence of the Soviet revisionists' cular deal". (Indian Express) "disinterested aid" to the Indian 'state sector', the People's - The Indian Express, a mouth-piece of the imperialists Daily, in an article entitled "These Big Mountains Must and reactionaries, revealed that the Soviet revisionists ' Be Overthrown", comments: "Our great leader Chairman - were using pressure tactics to dump uneconomic TU-134 Mao Tse-tung has point ed out: 'To serve the needs of its aircraft in India in exchange for Indian wagons. The I aggression, imperialism created the comprador system and- Soviet revisionists have given a massive order for the bureaucrat-capital in China'. Is not imperialism doing- purchase of Indian wagons in order to tighten their control the .same in India r Today, bureaucrat capital in India. over India's economy, and also to "help out" their lackeys is in fact the tool by which imperialism and the Soviet and to prop up the rule of the Indian reactionaries, who revisionist clique control and plunder Ind~a. In recent are enmeshe~ in an ever-deepening econo~ic and .fi~a~cial years, U. S. imperialism and the Soviet revIsionist clique- ~ crisis. Quotmg a spokesman of the Sovlet revislOlllsts, ha.ve energetically fostered India's bureaucrat-capital and' the Indian Express reports: "An official spokesman of the secured control over its economic arteries by providing-" Soviet Embassy is on record as saying that IndIa would be its so-called 'public sector' enterprises with loans and' 'well advised' to buy the TU-134 'as a quid pro quo' for equipment. Thus, India has become more and more" the Russian purchase of Indian wagons. The Russian dependent on them economically. With such bureaucrat argument is that the wagon deal was not merely a capitalism as its economic base, the Indian Congress commercial lone. It 'was also a political gesture to help Government has turned into a lackey of U. S. imperialism India's wagon industry out of its recession. India should a.nd Soviet revisionism." Recently, the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, a in return buy Soviet planes to help the Soviet aircraft , - faithful lackey of U. S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism industry." (Indian Express, May 30, '68). openly admitted and defended India's growing dependence- The Soviet revisionists have recently expanded the on 'aid' from the Soviet revisionist clique_ and declared that "the relatiomhip between India and the Soviet Union volume of their trade with India alongside their economic is many-sided. They embrace many fields of our nationaL el:pansion. They have n~ached third place in foreign endeavour." trade with India after U.S. and Britain. There has been a, 1 And when a member of 'parliament' (who complained phenomenal increase in trade between India and the Soviet about Soviet military 'aid' to Pakistan) charged the Soviet union over the last 15 years. The trade turnover has revisionists with "dumping in India tractors ",hich were-- increased three hundred times from a value of 80 lakh ~ED- much junk, selling India nickel at twice the price it- lrupees to 240 crore rupees between Ul53 and 1968. '12 LIBERATION .1PIGHT IMPERIALISM AND REVISIONIlilM 'is By means of unequal trade the Soviet revisionists further imperialism, modern revisionism and the reactiona.ries of exploit the Indian people a.nd increase their control over :all countries, headed by U.S. imperialism and Soviet ( India's economy. revisionism, whose aim is to enslave the world's peoples, In these various ways, through its economic and to sabotage revolution and the national liberation move- military 'aid', the Sovi61trevisionist clique plunders and .roent, and to oppose China. enslaves the Indian people, just as U.S. imperialism is The Soviet revisionist renegade clique is following the doing today. As the People's Daily has summed up in an .line of "co-operation" and joint world domination with article entitled "What Kosygin was up to in India," "In U.S. imperialism. It is the line of dividing up spheres of collusion with U.S. imperialism, the Soviet revisionist influence between the two powers, of plundering and clique is intensifying step by step its neo-colonialtst .enslaving the world's peoples and of suppressing the enslavement and control over India." revolution of peoples of all countries and the nationa.I- The Dange renegades and the neo-revisionists are tools yberation movement. It is the line of bringing about of U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism. In order to apitalist restoration in socialist countries and of strength- serve their masters and to deceive the Indian people, they ening bourgeois rule in others. ~re trying desperately to cover up the real essence of the The Indian people are coming to realise from their own Soviet revisionist clique's 'aid,' the instrument of neo- "experience that Soviet revisionism is no less dangerous a.n colonialism, just as they try to cover up U. S. imperialism's ,.enemy than is U.S. imperialism. The Soviet revisionist neo-colonialist en lavement of the Indian people. renegades and their hangers-on in India can no longer hold The Soviet revisionists are scabs who have betrayed 'back the Indian revolution. The Indian people, who have the revolution. They have brought about the all-round 1>een awakened and aroused by the revolutionary armed restoration of capitalism 10 the Soviet Union a.nd struggle of the Naxalbari ,peasants, are guided toda.y by have transformed the dictatorship of the proletariat into Mao Tse-tung's thought, the invaluable weapon of a.ll the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in the country of the :revolutionary peoples. They will surely see through and first proletarian revolution led by the great Lenin. Flaunting :smash the counter-revolutionary deceptions and plots of the the tattered banner of "state of the whole people", the Dange renegades and the neo-revisionists. They will Soviet revisionist clique has turned the Soviet Union into a ·~urely smash U.S. imperialism, Soviet revisionism and capitalist state and has enforced a fascist dictat

1940. Throughout .this period from 1926-40, there existed" Marxism-Leninism and Thought of in China two polical deviations, Right and Left opportu- nism. One concentrated only upon Kuomintang-Communist.. Mao Tse-tung Are One alliance and the other only upon the labour movement, but none of them paid any attention to the peasant question. -Asit SCI£'. Both the deviations persisted for a pretty long time and caused much harm to the Chinese Revolution. Thes~' ( Continued) could only be overcome throu'gh a relentless ideological battle waged and carried on by Mao Tse-tung in the To be more precise, it must not escape one's attentioR courSe of practical struggle. By combining revolutionary' tha.t Mao Tse-tung could elevate Marxist philosophy to theory with revolutionary practice his great genius not this n~w and epoch-making height only because of the fact only proved the correctness of Marxism-Leninism but also tha.t he himself followed the process of starting from' added some new chapters to it. But for this creative revolutionary practice and ending in revolutionary practice. development the fate of the Chinese revolution would have' With the universal truth already acquired by Marx, Engels, been otherwise. Though. it emanated from the realities' Lenin and Stalin, Mao Tse-tung went on for resolving of Chinese society, the theory of New Democracy, as contradictions in Chi~ese mciety as a consistent revolu- propounded by Mao Tse-tung, acquired a universal character tionary. In this prusuit he had to take up the peasant which made it applicable to the whole colonial and semi- question as most vital. True, Marx himself was the first to,· colonial world. give this pointer tha.t the national liberation struggle and In his On New Democracy Chairn..an Mao wrote, "The' the struggle for democracy of a subjugated nation were politics of such a society are predominantly colonial, semi-. essentially peasant struggles. We can have it from Marx's. colonial and semi-feudal politics; its economy is predomi- trea.tises on Irish and Italian problems. Not only that;. nantlya colonial, semi-colonial and semi-feudal economy, the sa.me source furnishes us with this truth also that the and its culture which reflects such politics and such an working class of the dominant nation must take the agenda. economy and occupies the dominant position, is colonial" of co-ordinating these peasant struggles with its own semi-colonial and semi· feudal culture." struggle for emancipation. And from Marx down to Stalin •., This factual analysis led him to this conclusion, "Our this truth has been consistently reiterated. But no one' revolution is precisely directed against these dominant before Chairman Mao had the occasion to turn this truth political, economic and cultural forms. What We want to into a ccmplete and solid theoretical edifice. eliminate is precisely such old colonial, semi-colonial and semi-feudal politics and economy, and the old culture that While proceeding to verify this truth by taking part in is in their service. What we want to build up is their, actual class struggles, Mao Tse-tung made a concrete direct opposite, i.e. the new politics, new economy and new a.nalysis of the classes in Chinese society. In this Analysis, culture of the Chinese nation." which first appeared in 19'26 in the form of an article, lay- From this, Chairman Mao proceeded to formulate his- classic theoretical abstraction which ran thus: "In the the germ of a new theory which gradually developed and historical course of the Chinese revolution two steps must found its fullest expression in his On New Democracy ilk be taken: first, the democratic revol mion, and secondly,., '76 ,LIBERATION, ''DrOUGHT OF MAO TSE,TUNG 7T

the socialist revolution; these two revolutionary processes mass character, fully consolidated ideologically, politicaUy ',are different in character. The democracy in question no and organisationally. It is therefore the auty of every longer belongs to the old category-it is not old democracy; communist to take an active part in building up such a' it belongs to the new category-it is new democracy." Communist Party," This was written in 1939, Ten years It is not difficult to qnderstand how indispensable this later, having defeated the enemy in the first stage of the' : two stage theory is for effecting successful revolution revolution, he draws our attention to the same lesson by in colonies and semi-colonies. With the development of saying, "A well-disciplined party armed with the theory this profound theory Trotskyism lost its last battle-ground. of Marxism-Leninism, using the method of self-criticism It is an effective weapon in the fight against all sorts of and linked with the masses of the people; an army "Left' 'oppportunism. But how to eliminate the danger of under the leadership of such a party; a united front of' d Right opportunism that will surely try to raise its head, all revolutionary classes and all revolutionary groups under particularly, in the first stage of revolution! The question the leadership of such a party~these are the three main {louldnot escape the eagle eyes of Mao, the greatest revolu- weapons with which we have defeated the enemy," tionary practitioner. So, when he writes, "The democracy But we all know that it was Lenin who first emphasised in question no longer belongs to the old category ... " he the role of the Communist Party in making a successful ,provides us with effective weapons to make it belong to the revolution. Then, wherein lies the importance of Chairman' new category. The two chief weapons are the united front Mao's teaching in this respect r It lies in the fact that ',and the armed struggle. The united front is a revolutionary while the subject was covered by Lenin more from the alliance of various classes for carrying on the armed struggle standpoint of establishment of the dictatorship of the to storm and shatter the positions of the enemy. Mao proletariat, Mao had to study the problem from the stand- Tse-tung teaches us that led by the proletariat such a revo- point of two stage dictatorship, the first one being the lution aims at establishing a new democratic society and joint dictatorship of several revolutionary classes led by a state under the joint dictatorship of all the revolutionary the proletariat. So it is all the more important to {llasses, and that in the end, when the world capitalist fronli learn from Mao Tse-tung if We have to make successful is rapidly collapsing, no revolution in a colony or semi- revolution in the contemporary world. It is indispen_ colony against imperialism can take place under ths eader- sable not only to the revolutionaries of colonies and ship of the bourgeoisie. The proletariat alone can lead semi-colonies but equally indispensable to the revolutionary such a revolution, and so it no longer bel)ngs to the old pe?ple of the whole world; a~ Chain;nan Mao long ago category of bourgeois democratic revolution, but to a new pomted out that any revolutIOn In colonres or semi-colonies category which is a part of the proletarian world socialist against imperialism is an inseparable part of the world revolution. proletarian socialist revolution It is not difficult to under- It is evident from the above teaching of Chairman stand why the Khrushchovs of all countries are trying hard Mao that the proletarian leadership is a necessary precon- to be~ittle th~, role ?f the <;Jommunit Party and why -dition to make the revolution belong to this new category. Marxism-Lenrnrsm WIthout bemg enriched by the thought 'But the revolutionary leaderehip of a class can be exer- of Mao Tse-tung cannot provide effective weapons to cised only through a revolu~ionary party. As Mao Tse-tung counter these counter-revolutionary renegades. 'puts it, "It cannot be accomplished without a bolshevised So Chairman Mao has taught us that the new democra- Chinese COmmunist Party of nation-wide scope and broad tic revolution exactly serves to clear th6 path for the '78 LIBERATION "THOUGHT OF MAO TSE-TUNG '19 development of socialism and that in this stage the revolu- -~ratic revolution is basically an agrarian revolution directed tion is essentially an agrarian revolution which deals un- -against imperialism, feudalism and comprador capital, relenting blows to imperialism and aims at establishing a .and that, though national democratic in character, the New Democratic Republic. "In the course of its progI:ess". New Democratic revolution is a part of the international -Chairman Mao teaches us, "such a revolution further falls proletarian-socialist revolution. Mao Tse-tung has also into several stages because of changes in the enemy's .taught us how to translate this theory into practice. For -conditions and in the ranks of its allies; but its funda- .all practical purposes we must have a united front of all mental character will remain unchanged." This fundamental "revolutionary classes and groups. But the real basis of character is that _"A new democratic revolution is a. .this united front must be armed struggle against the main revolution of the broad masses of the people led by the -enemy and the united front must be led by a bolshevised proletariat and directed against imperialism and feudalism." party having an army at its command. 'Such.a revolution is therefore national as well as democra- What is more important is that while all his predece- ·tic in character and aims at overthrowing two main enemies, ,ssors took up the question of national and colonial imperialism and feudalism. "Politically, it means the joint -revolution more from the standpoint of socialist revolution dictatorship of several revolutionary classes over the im- in advanced capitalist countries, Mao Tse-tung had to look I perialists, collaborators and reactionaries, ... Economically, -into the matter from the angle of opposition to imperialism. it means nationalisation of all big capital and big enterprises .-i.e., the international2bourgeoisie. As a result, the Same of the imperialists, collaborators and reactionaries, distribu- inference that revolutions in colonies and semi-colonies tion of the land of the landlords among the peasants, and 'nave become part of the world proletarian socialist revolu- ·at the same time the general preservation of private capi- tion bears different implication in Mao's teaching. Before talist enterprises without the elimination of rich peasant :Mao Tse-tung, the implication was that the proletariat of ·economy." In such a revolution the peasanty is evidently -advanced countries should, in the course of their struggle the main force for the simple reason that the peasantry for socialism, extend their co-operation and support to constitutes by far the largest percentage of colonial and the revolutionary struggles of colonies and semi-colonies semi-colonial population and is the mainstay of colonial But Mao's teaching has brought the whole question th~ · other way round. What we learn from him is that in the economy. So, whether imperialist domination is direct or ·era of the total collapse of imperialism revolutions in indirect, whether the tactics of the revolution are to colonies and semi-colonies are the main axes of the world -conduct the revolution through revolutionary national war .proletarian-socialist revolution. So it is the first and or through revolutionary civil war, it is imperative to draw foremost duty of the world proletariat to adopt such the peasant masses into armed revolutionary struggle. ·measure3 as to accelerate the pace of these revolutions in Thus it is Mao Tse-tung who formulated a fully_ coloniel>and semi-colonies. ·developed scientific theory on the peasant question in But revolution is basically a war by which one class colonies and semi-colonies embracing all aspects-political, -overthrows another. So, when Mao Tse-tung expounds a economic and cultural. It is from Chairman Mao that we theory ?f revolution, he cannot .but expound a theory of have learnt about the course and significance of revolution revolutlOnary war as well. ThIS theory is the theory of in colonies and semi-colonies; we have learnt that the Peopl~'s ,War, which adds a ~ew aspect, a military one, to New Democratic stage of revolution is a necessary step to MarXIsm.s three aspects mentlOned by Lenin, and creatively .clear the way for the socialist stage, that the New Dema- .develops It. THOUGHT OF MAO TSE-TUNG • LIBERATION:: 81 80 method of combining these two through this lesson, "The The foremost teaching in his military theory is that masses in any given place are generally composed of three .'The richest s,ource of power to wage war lies in the masses parts,the relatively active,the intermediate and the relatively of the peoplEl." This is so vital that time and again he' backward. The leaders must therefore be skilled in unifying reminds us of the same, though in different words. Thus, the small number of active elements around the leadership when he says, "The revolutionary war is a war of the- and must rely on them to raise the level of the intermediate masses; it can be waged only by mobilising the masse& elements and to win over the backward elements." and relying on them" or, "weapons are an important factor- But to grasp this truth means to be integrated with the masses and that in the most practicable manner. As in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people and not Mao teaches us, "We should pay close attention to the well- things that are decisive," he tries to draw our attention to·- being of the masses, from the problems of land and the richest source of power-the people. labour to those of fuel, rice, cooking oil and salt ... All Therefore, the primary task of a revolutionary is to·' such problems concerning the well-being of the masses mobilise and organise the people to wage a revolutionary should be placed on our agenda ... We should help war. To rely solely on a handful of people working in" the masses to realise that we represent their interests, solitude cannot make a revolution successful. What we· that our lives are intimately bound up with theirs. learn from Mao is that revolution must rely on the masses We should h '31pthem to proceed from these things to an ! of the people as revolution is the highest stage of a class understanding of the higher tasks which we have put forward, the tasks of the revolutionary war, so that they war when one class overthrows another. But this reliance" will support the revolution and spread it throughout tbe on the masses of the people, getting them mobilised and' country, respond to our politi0al appeals and fight to the organised does not in it~elf make the issue clear. So, end for victory in the revolution." This he wrote in ] 934. Chairman Mao further teaches us that the masses, the The same was expressed in different language when he richest source of power, should be mobilised and organised wrote in 1945 : "Twenty-four years of experience tell us not by commandism, not by a few persons issuing orders . that the right task, policy and style of work invariably but by disseminating the politics of revolution among the conform with the demands of the masses at a given time masses so that everybody can take a hand in revolutionary and place and invariably strengthen our ties with the war But to shun the rath of corrmandism should not lead masses, and the wrong task, policy a.nd style of work to the path of tailism either, " ... because," as Mao points invariably disagree with the demands of the masses at a out, "in falling below the level of political c~nsciousness of' given time and place and invariably alienate us from the the masses and violating the principle of leadlDg tbe ma'ses masses." And so, "It [our congress] should teach every forward it [tailismJ rEflects the disease of dilatoriness." So' comrade to love the people and listen attentively to the the matter of inter-relation of the masses and leaders voice of the masses; to identify himself with the masses cannot but be an element in Mao's teaching. Thus we get wherever he goes and instead of standing above them to this brilliant piece from him: "However active the leading group may be its activity will amount to fruitless immerse himself among them; and according to their effort by a handful of people unless combined with the present level, to awaken them or raise their political activity of the masses. On the other hand, if the masses consciousness and help them gradually to organise them- alone are active without a strong leading group to organise ,selves voluntarily and to set going all essential struggles their activity pro]:erly, such activity cannot be sustained permitted by the internal and external circumstances of the for long, or carried forward in the right direction, or raised given time and place." to a high leveL" And as a corollary he teaches us the- 6 . • 82 LIBERATION TlIOUGBT OF MAO TSE TUNG 83 These long excerpts from Mao 'rse-tung, may seem redundant in discussing strategy and tactics o,fwar; but allowed to command the party." As it is not merely a 'f are not to confuse a revolutionary war wIth amerce- tactical manoeuvre in a particular war but a guiding 1 we 'f we are to grasp hIS, teach'lDg- "The principle for all revolutionary people's war, he had to nary war, 1 "th such revolutionary war is a war of the masses - en emphasise this on various occasions and in various ways to instructive lines are not only not redundant but must be correct any mistaken ideas in this respect. referred to again and again. So, what ~hairman Mao teaches But while asserting the primacy of politics, he does us is that the masses, the inexhaustIble source of ~ower, not forget to assert the other aspect also. It is he who can be trans formed I'nto a real force to wage a revolutIOnary. teaches us most emphatically that "without a people's war onIy 1'f' 1mbued with the politics of revolutIOn,. , that army the people have nothing." He clearly points out, olitics is the soul of every thing that P?I~tICs must be "The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of puPt' lD command . But when he teaches all thlS, he doesI notf the issue by war, is the central task and highest form of . tend to undermine the role of weapons, the ro e 0 revolution," and advances this Powerful maxim, "Political mlhtaryactIOns.lD. . . What he wants is to make .us, understand power grows out of the barrel of a gun." He wants us th 'nterrelation between the political and mlhtary aspects to realise that the people's army is required for carrying e 1 .. t of a war and their relatIve Imporance,., .. out the political tasks of the revolution and that "milita.ry Ex anding the idea. "War is the contlDuatIOn of pohtICS affairs are only one means of acomplishing political tasks." by oth~r means", he built up a complete theory th~t can Thus the thought of Mao Tse-tung has freed the very ff r ely guide the people to carryon the r~volutIOnary concept of revolution and revolutionary war from the ~a~Ct~Vitsculmination. Thus he writes, "In th~s sense ,war mire of all narrow mechanical notions. It is Mao's teaching , l"r s and war itself is a political actIOn: SlDce that warns us against any adventurist or conpiratorial anClenIS ~o ItICtI'mesthere has never been a war that did not mOve to wage a revolutionary war. It eliminates such h a political character... .. d' erroneous ideas that unless we can penetrate into the aV~B t ar has its own particular characterIstlcs an m ranks of mercenary armies, unless we can procure a consi- . u w' t be equated with politics in general.., derable quantity of arms and ammunition, we can in no thls sense 1t canno b d h' h when politics develops to a certain stage eyon w IC way wage a revolutionary war. To rely on the people to . ed b the usual means, war breaks out to overthrow the eLemy of the people should be the starting- swyepIt cannohtteo prboctes acIes Yfrom the way... when the obstacle. is point. And to rely on the people in colonies and semi- d and our political aim attained, the war WIllstop. colonies means to rely on the peasant masses in the main. ~~oT;the obstacle is not completely swept away" the war To draw the peasantry into class struggle, to imbue them with the politics of revolution, to kindle \the flames of armed . t' e till the aim is fully accomplished. It w1l1can therehaveftoorecobne lD':dsal that politics is war without bloodshed struggle among them, to organise guerrilla activities-all hile war is politics with bloodshed." . these are elementary for a revolutionary war. But what w What one can learn from this piece of th~oretIcal ,g,em is most important and essential as pointed out by Chairman Mao is to establish red base areas, to build up political IS'h that t e purpose 0f ml'litary action is to achleveb politICald' t d VIctory,. and so aII military affairs must, , be su or ma e power according to plan, tq deepen agrarian revolution, to l"r I tasks This theoretical prlDclple finds remark- form and develop the Red Army. To consoli'date red ableto po expreSSlOn1 ICa, w. hen he says, "Our principle is that the political power even in a small area is a necessary condi- tion to accelerate nation-wide revolutionary upsurge. party cornmands the gun , and the gun must never be The "theory that we should, on a nation-wide seale and in THOUGHT OF MAO TSE-TUNG 85 LIBERATION' 84 thought of Mao Tse-tung as their friend, philosopher and all regions, win over the masses first and establiEh politica.l guide. Conversely, it has become the sacred duty of the power afterwards" is not tenable in the actual situation of counter_revolutionaries of all shades to oppose or attack the colonial and semi-colonial revolution-that is, what we thought of Mao Tse-tung. Acceptance or non-acceptance of learn from Mao's teachings. It logically follows from this Mao Tse-tung' thought has today become the criterion for that revolutionary'war in colonies and semi-colonies will distinguishing revolutionaries from counter-revolutionaries. be protracted in nature and so he has given us a complete It is not difficult to understand why revisionists and neo- theory of protracted war also. revisionists so allergically react to Mao Tse-tung's thought. And in a protracted war, the war of annihilation is the -They can somehow dupe or deceive the people and serve fundamental guidlng principle of a, revolutionary army's' their masters, the imperialists and domestic reactionaries , military operations. To disrupt, to harass; to rout the' even in the name of Marxism-Leninism, because they try to enemy-all these are necessary, but it is stillmore necessary separate Marxism-Leninism from its vital component and to advocate and fight battles of annihilation. As Chairman highest development- the tbought of Mao Tse-tung. To Mao has taught UR, "A battle in which the enemy is routed .oppose Marxism-Leninism while swearing by it, they feel is not ba.sically decisive in a contest with a foe of' great it nece

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