PCP – REPORT: ON MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM

Communist Party of Peru:

REPORT

February 1988

I. ON MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM.

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– This document is the generalisations of all that Chairman Mao has done throughout a whole process. Take Maoism as a whole and think of the importance that Chairman Mao gave to the world revolution.

– On the CONTENT of Maoism:

1. Theory.

* It is reaffirmed that Marxism has three parts, this is very important. There are three parts: Marxist philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism.

* If there is a development at the highest level in all three parts, then we have a universal qualitative leap:

* Show the developments in these three parts made by Chairman Mao. Note that of the three parts the most developed in the document is economics and the reason is given.

In Marxist philosophy:

* Chairman Mao establishes contradiction as the only fundamental law, because there is no other law, that is why he did not said main law.

* Chairman Mao’s understanding of the laws of knowledge was achieved only by Chairman Mao, developing what Lenin said and basing himself on Engels.

* He univocally applied the universal truth, the law of contradiction, to politics.

* He brought philosophy to the masses. He gives us a masterly definition of philosophy as a weapon to clear the mind of cobwebs.

In political economy:

* Applying dialectics to the base-superstructure relation and smashing the revisionist thesis of the “productive forces” he establishes that the superstructure can modify the base and with political power develop the productive forces.

* He established that politics is the command and political work is the lifeline of economic work which leads to a real management of the political economy.

* The Maoist thesis of bureaucratic capitalism is in On the Coalition Government […] and in unpublished articles he states that the confiscation of bureaucratic capitalism is key because otherwise there is no economic basis for developing socialist revolution. He tells us that bureaucratic capitalism ripens the conditions for the democratic revolution and its triumph. The revolution is an uninterrupted unity with two stages.

* Main: it is the Chairman who has developed the political economy of socialism. The Great Leap, agricultural cooperativisation and the people’s commune should be emphasised.

* Important to understand and handle the laws of socialism. It has taken centuries for capitalism to express its laws that were apprehended by Marx. We do not know in depth the laws of socialism and how to handle them; keep in mind that socialist forms are only created in the socialist revolution, in the democratic revolution as an advance, that is why it is an uninterrupted process. It is the dictatorship of the proletariat, which carries on the fierce class struggle. The socialist relation itself has yet to express itself, the dictatorship of the proletariat has yet to develop, then we can take its laws in order to see our reality and to keep the only course of humanity.

* We, what importance do we give to the political economy of socialism? That is why collective work and mutual aid are not seen because we sow socialism there, that is why they do not understand that we are changing the relations of production, because they do not understand the process of advancement, leaps, final goal. Collective work and mutual aid are elementary forms that we are sowing, in democratic revolution we make small socialist advances, otherwise there is no uninterrupted revolution.

In scientific socialism:

* Chairman Mao developed the theory of classes, it is Chairman Mao who takes, develops and clarifies well the problem of class in the economic, political and ideological and that the economic is its basis, the main ones the political and its basis is the ideological and in all three fields he fights.

The Chairman once again reaffirms and puts forward revolutionary violence as a universal law without any exception, this is extraordinary. Chairman Mao specifies violence as war and army and puts forward its character as a universal law.

* “Power grows out of the barrel of a gun”, 1927, this is where he sets out the path.

* Autumn Harvest Uprising, 9 September 1927, the beginning of the road. He marches to Chinkang and creates power and it is in 1936 that he establishes the laws for the first time, 9 years later. With this he solved a pending problem because it was not known until then how to make the revolution in a country under imperialist domination with feudalism at its base and bureaucratic capitalism.

* To highlight the continuation of the antagonistic struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, between capitalism and socialism, between the capitalist road and the socialist road. The Chairman is going to put forward the fundamental law of socialism, the general political line of socialism, that it is not defined who will win against whom and that it is a hard and fierce struggle.

* Restoration and counter-restoration. Lenin had said that we must guard against restoration. The Chairman, developing this idea which was germinal in Lenin, establishes a struggle between restoration and counter-restoration and the problem is to see the milestones in the process in which the dictatorship of the proletariat will take root: 1871 Commune, 1905 Soviets, 1917, 1949, 1966 are steps in the development of the power of the proletariat towards the entrenchment of the dictatorship of the proletariat I do not say definitive because as Marx said the establishment of the dictatorship is the beginning of its extinction, it has to take root for a long time until it is extinguished in Communism. So see how the dictatorship of the proletariat advances in its establishment, advances in leading the revolution to communism, this was resolved by Chairman Mao.

2. New Democracy

* The theory of the state has been developed by Chairman Mao.

* The problem of New Democracy is set by Chairman Mao in terms of developing the theory of the state by proposing joint dictatorship as a state system, and this is the basis of New Democracy.

* Chairman Mao gives precise content to New Democracy: New Economy, New Politics and New Culture. He tells us how to do it: with guns we will transform the whole world.

* The democratic revolution fulfils democratic tasks but at the same time fulfils socialist advances, that is one of the questions of the uninterrupted process.

* It is these conditions that allow for uninterrupted revolution and give no room for a breakthrough. Thus Chairman Mao has resolved the democratic revolution and its status as a stage followed uninterruptedly by socialism. It is Chairman Mao who resolves the uninterrupted revolution, giving it a political, economic and ideological basis.

3. The three instruments.

This is not in any of Chairman Mao’s texts, but to understand it, it is necessary to see Maoism as a whole as a unity.

Regarding the Party

* To emphasise that the Chairman has been reiterative in pointing out “to prepare for war” and even says “I fear peace more than war”.

* It is Chairman Mao who says that the Party is built according to the stage, he says, the Party is like any unit: it is born, grows, develops and dies.

* Chairman Mao says that the Party is a contradiction because if it were not a contradiction it would not exist; the Chairman generalises that revisionism is the danger and mainly where? In the Central Committee.

* Emphasise Rectification Campaign, that is Chairman Mao’s theory.

* The Party is not an entity in itself and for itself, it is an instrument, if it is not conceived as such, as a vanguard that leads the revolution in the name of the proletariat, it has no sense, it is useless, it would be a piece of junk.

* From the above it derives that the Party comes to direct everything omnimodally. It is a process, first the party leads, secondly, the party leads everything and then, the party leads everything omnímodamente (omnímodamente= in all possible ways and forms).

As for the Army

* The Chairman is the real creator of the army of the new type because with Chairman Mao the military theory of the proletariat has only just been established.

* Lenin had already warned that the army could be used to usurp power, so he put forward the people’s militia. Chairman Mao organised up to 80 million militia in China, but his aim was to establish the general armament of the people, that was the objective, what we say: mass armed sea: armed force of a new type with general armament, armed sea. With this, Mao aimed to devour the army; the Chairman is the one who has developed the general armament of the people the most, he is the one who has developed the militia the most by developing what Lenin laid as a basis.

As for the Front

* The problem of the front begins to unfold when in the CI Lenin himself raises and acquires more dimension in the struggle against fascism. It is the Chairman who establishes the 6 laws of the united front.

* The Chairman puts forward the theory of the front and the world front.

* Particularly noteworthy is the relationship he establishes between the front and the state because he says in the new democracy that the front is equivalent to the joint dictatorship.

4. People’s War

* People’s war is the military theory of the international proletariat. Every class generates its own way of waging war, the bourgeoisie generated it and without generating it it would not have been able to seize power, in that Napoleon did quite a lot. The military theory of the proletariat is the people’s war, this is even recognised by reactionary strategists.

* People’s war is universal, it is applied in all circumstances in which the proletariat leads, taking into account the character of the democratic or socialist or cultural revolution and taking into account the specific conditions of each country.

* A key important leap in Chairman Mao is in guerrilla warfare as a strategy.

* A leap forward is that in the people’s war in China we have everything from a cadre sent to carry out a guerrilla war at one point to the seizure of cities with street fighting, through war of positions, war of movements, fluidity, assaults on small, medium and big cities, street fighting, insurrections, etc., in other words, no form is lacking, that is why we think that the people’s war is applicable in all circumstances. Chairman Mao even planned the development of the people’s war with atomic bombs, because the atomic bomb is just another weapon, it does not change the character of the war.

* People’s war being the military theory of the proletariat and the proletariat the last class, can it be surpassed? No. People’s war is the military theory of the proletariat, that is why it is universal, as the people’s war in China proves, and it can be developed with atom bombs and is unsurpassable; the bourgeoisie will never be able to create a superior theory.

5. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

* Very important to see this because the RCP has made a campaign, we ask, is the Cultural Revolution on the agenda? No, the GPCR is not on the agenda, but defining ideology, Maoism, democratic revolution, socialist revolution and mainly democratic revolution is. The cultural revolution is a pending problem already solved, if it was not solved we would have been unarmed in the face of peaceful restoration.

* The cultural revolution represents a new and higher stage, we have considered transcribing the Resolution of the CPC.

* Two questions: 1) The cultural revolution, the GPCR, is a milestone, 2) The restoration of capitalism in China is not a negation of the GPCR. The GPCR remains a granite that all communists will have to hoist when appropriate. The Chairman spoke of successive cultural revolutions.

6. World revolution

* To conceive the world revolution as a unity, Marx already laid down the principle, Lenin also thought like this and was presented with the situation of making revolution in one country and established long-term strategic lines, Fr. Mao was presented with another circumstance and again proposed world revolution as a unity, that is why he proposed that China is the basis for world revolution.

* World revolution is the historical and political trend, it is already the order of the day, that is why he says 50 to 100 years because in that period it must sweep imperialism and reaction off the face of the earth.

* Another key question: period. Everything is combined: world revolution, 50 to 100 years, trend, period.

How to define this period: imperialism is decomposing more and more every day, the destruction of the exploiters is approaching and they are decomposing. There is decomposition of imperialism and its increasing artillery is a sign of weakness not strength.

* The weight of the masses in the oppressed nations of imperialism and the decomposition of imperialism leads to “Three worlds are delineated” and this is not a question of tactics but of strategy, it is the problem of the weight of the masses in the history, of the relation between imperialism and oppressed nations, of the problem that can only be analysed starting from the economic relations of imperialism. With this, the chairman lays the basis for the development of strategy and tactics.

7. Superstructure, ideology, culture, education

This point has been introduced in order to take into account that there are other questions, for example the development of proletarian art.

– WHAT IS FUNDAMENTAL TO MAOISM? POWER. This is also what is fundamental in Marx: to conquer power and retain it, Lenin: power, the central problem of the revolution. Power is in all 3 and that is fundamental.

The fundamental of Maoism is power. Power for the proletariat, power for the dictatorship of the proletariat, power based on an armed force led by the Communist Party. More explicitly: 1) Power under the leadership of the proletariat, in the democratic revolution; 2) Power for the dictatorship of the proletariat, in the socialist and cultural revolutions; 3) Power based on an armed force led by the Communist Party, won and defended through people’s war.

– WHAT IS MAOISM?

What is Maoism is best expressed in the document.

Maoism is the elevation of Marxism-Leninism to a third, new and higher stage in the struggle for the proletarian leadership of the democratic revolution, the development of the construction of socialism and the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, as a proletarian cultural revolution; when imperialism deepens its decomposition and revolution has become the main trend of history, in the midst of the most complex and great wars seen so far and the relentless struggle against contemporary revisionism.

– At what moment? When imperialism deepens its decomposition and revolution has become the main tendency of history, in the midst of the most complex wars ever seen and the relentless struggle against contemporary revisionism.

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SYNTHESIS:

– What is central is in the Content, particularly in Chairman Mao’s development of the three parts of Marxism.

– It is necessary to emphasise the fundamentals and to locate Maoism historically, that the main thing in Maoism is to be the great summit of Marxism in its glorious epic.

– This document has been debated and it will be attacked, always in every work some support, others attack and others doubt. The document is going to be attacked 1° that it is globalisation, 2° that it lacks bibliographical sources, 3° that it is an interpretation of resentful and backward Serranos. We must be prepared, for our Congress, for our solid foundations to be laid, it was necessary for it to be put forward in this way.