Now let’s take up the question of contradictions among the imperialists. With the deepening of the general crisis of capitalism, the contradictions among the imperialists have become increasingly acute. Marxist-Leninists cannot allow themselves to be indifferent to this. It was Lenin who said:
To carry on a war for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie, a war which is a hundred times more difficult, prolonged and complicated than the most stubborn of ordinary wars between states, and to refuse beforehand to manoeuvre, to utilise the conflict of interests (even though temporary) among one’s enemies, to refuse to temporize and compromise with possible (even though transitory, unstable, vacillating and conditional) allies – is not this ridiculous in the extreme?[1]
He further pointed out the necessity of “thoroughly, carefully, attentively and skilfully taking advantage of every, even the smallest, ’rift’ among the enemies, of every antagonism of interest among the bourgeoisie of the various countries and among the various groups or types of bourgeoisie within the various countries, and also . . . taking advantage of every, even the smallest, opportunity of gaining a mass ally, even though this ally be temporary, vacillating, unstable, unreliable and conditional. Those who do not understand this do not understand even a particle of Marxism, or of scientific, modern Socialism in general. Those who have not proved by deeds over a fairly considerable period of time, and in fairly varied political situations, their ability to apply this truth in practice have not yet learned to assist the revolutionary class in its struggle for the emancipation of toiling humanity from the exploiters. And this applies equally to the period before and to the period after the conquest of political power by the proletariat”.[2]
The aggravation of contradictions among the imperialists has, set before us the problem of indirect allies of the proletarian revolution. In this respect, it is also necessary to start from the concrete analysis of concrete situations and to examine the possibilities offered in relation to the supreme and general interests of the proletarian revolution and especially, at the present time, in relation to the national-liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples and nations.
One of the principal aspects of the contradictions among the imperialists today is the contradiction between different capitalist countries and U.S. imperialism. U.S. imperialism is still pursuing its plan of world domination which includes the political, economic and military control of other capitalist countries. Under such conditions, it is inevitable that contradictions should arise and develop among them.
For this reason the West European countries have a double character. They are imperialists and exploiters to other countries, especially to peoples enslaved by old and new colonialism. On the other hand, they are exploited, mainly by U.S. imperialism.
This phenomenon is reflected with special clarity in the revenues from capital invested by the finance capital of these countries on the one hand, and on the other hand, from capital invested by foreign finance capital in these countries.
It is necessary to make use of the contradictions among the imperialists to further our international strategic aims and, tactically, with the objective of isolating U.S. imperialism, the enemy of the peoples of the whole world.
[1] V. I. Lenin, “’Left-Wing’ Communism, an Infantile Disorder”, International Publishers, New York, 1940, pp. 52-53.
[2] Ibid., p. 53.