The proletariat is the greatest class in the history of mankind. It is the most powerful revolutionary class ideologically, politically and in strength. It can and must unite the overwhelming majority of people around itself so as to isolate the handful of enemies to the maximum and attack them.
Vol. 4, No. 2 Jan. 31, 1973
Newspaper of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) PO 5221, Cleveland, Ohio
10¢
LONG LIVE THE NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE OF THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE
COMMENTARY:
HOW U.S. IMPERIALISM PLEDGES "PEACE WITH HONOR"
THE WORKING CLASS MUST EXERCISE LEADERSHIP IN EVERYTHING!
POLITICALLY ORGANIZE THE WORKING CLASS
Resolution in support of the conference of north american marxist-leninists
CHICAGO
Hospital Workers Fight for the Right to Organize
BUFFALO
Denounce Fascist Attacks on City Workers
Afro-Americans Struggle In Detroit Against Violent Repression
Seattle Worker Begins Publication
Ann Arbor Students Denounce F.B.I.
PHILADELPHIA
Communists Fight for Right to Disseminate Mao Tsetung Thought
NEWS IN BRIEF & COMMENT:
The AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) is an organization of proletarian revolutionary cadres, wholely dedicated to MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT, to Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line and to fighting for the deepest revolutionary aspirations of the great American working class.
In May, 1969, the ACWM(M-L) stood up and declared: THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS HAS DEEPEST ASPIRATIONS TO OVERTHROW MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND FASCISM, ESTABLISH THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT AND BUILD COMMUNISM. LET US TAKE UP THESE ASPIRATIONS AND THIS GLORIOUS STRUGGLE AS OUR OWN. LET US BEGIN THE WIDESCALE DISSEMINATION, STUDY AND APPLICATION OF MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT RIGHT NOW. LET US STRIVE TO BUILD THE GENUINE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY OF THE PROLETARIAT, FIRST STEP IN SEIZING POLITICAL POWER FROM THE MONOPOLY CAPITALISTS.
Right from the beginning we opposed all revisionist and opportunist ideology and politics which is the main prop of the monopoly capitalist class. Practicing class collaboration and promoting fascist and social-fascist (socialist in words, fascist in deeds) ideology, the revisionists led by the CPUSA, in a counter-revolutionary alliance with the trotskyites, new leftists and other phoney "revolutionaries", had been lording it over the masses for years. Under the general poltical line of ALL POLITICAL POWER TO THE REVISIONISTS, POLICE SPIES, ANTI-COMMUNISTS AND FASCISTS, NO POLITICAL POWER TO THE WORKERS the revisionists had kept the truth from the masses and used the struggles of the masses as a means of consolidating the rule of the monopoly capitalist class. During the 1960's, the revisionists never told the masses that the U.S. imperialists and the Soviet social-imperialists were planning and carrying out counter-revolution on a world-wide scale. They never told us that the U.S. monopoly capitalist class was busy consolidating its state machine and frenziedly preparing public opinion for outright fascist dictatorship over the working and oppressed people in the U.S. Instead the revisionists actively tried to disarm the fighting masses with their theories of "era of peaceful transition and peaceful coexistence", U.S. imperialism is "sensible" (i.e., Kennedy is a "good" imperialist, etc.), we only need to reform some "bad policies", etc. It was during the 1960's that tremendous mass struggles re-emerged amongst the American working class and people -- struggles of the Afro-American people and other oppressed nationalities against racial discrimination and violent repression and for full emancipation, struggles of the youth and students against fascist cultural aggression and the decadent bourgeois education system, struggles of the working class against fascist rules and regulations and to politically organize in the communities and places of work, struggles of Americans from all walks of life against imperialist aggression and war and many, many other struggles throughout all spheres of our society. Instead of developing these struggles in a stepwise manner to consolidate antifascist revolution, instead of using the tremendous energy generated by these struggles to build the revolutionary political power of the working class, instead of organizing great debates and mass democratic ideological discussions amongst the masses right from the beginning to clarify the issues and weed out the police spies, bourgeois agents and opportunists, in other words, instead of leading these struggles in a stern, correct and revolutionary manner, the revisionists actively practiced class colloboration on all fronts, subverted our struggles, suppressed the revolutionary initiative of the masses and used the energy generated in these great struggles to consolidate their social-fascist dictatorship within the ranks of the working and oppressed people. Through many, many struggles we have isolated the following aspects of revisionist ideology and politics:
1. always claim "material conditions aren't ripe for revolution" in order to promote bourgeois reformism;
2. propagate the arch-reactionary theory that the "American working class is rascist, anti- ' communist and fascist" in order to blame the people for the crimes of the imperialists;
3. refuse to go directly to the working class with Marxist-Leninist politics of revolution and instead constantly organize programs which won't "turn off" the monopoly capitalists;
4. actively promote reformism and terrorism amongst the working masses in opposition to proletarian revolution;
5. actively split the working class and broad masses against ourselves under the guise of organizing "interest groups";
6. constantly divide the communists from the workers, national minorities from the whole working class and people, old workers from young, working men from working women, etc.;
7. refuse to sum up and propagate the historical experience of the working class in order to promote the politics of class colloboration and capitulation;
8. in collaboration with the police spies, anti-communists and fascists attack the genuine Marx- ist-Leninists through all the fascist methods of character assassination, gossip, slander, physical assault, etc.;
9. constantly organize on the basis of single-issues, all isolated and detached from each other and the over-all tasks of proletarian revolution, and refuse to develop these issues in a stepwise manner for the purpose of proletarian revolution;
10. build "united fronts" around these single-issues under the leadership of the most reactionary elements in order to consolidate social-fascist organization and suppress the revolutionary initiative of the masses;
11. propagate the counter-revolutionary theory that revolutionary ideas come from the heads of great professors and revisionist bureaucrats and not by using MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT to sum up the revolutionary practice of the masses;
12. Oppose the Marxist-Leninist method of concrete analysis of concrete conditions and first convert Marxism-Leninism into a dogma in order to replace it with bare-faced reactionary bourgeois intellectualism and thus disarm the masses ideologically;
13. practice a bureaucratic and fascist method of work based on:
a. the masses are backwards and the revisionists are great heroes,
b. the working class is a slave class and only has aspirations to be more bourgeois, i.e. get a bigger piece of the pie.
For example, examine the revisionist attitude, political line, ideology and method in subverting the mass movement of the American working class and people against U.S. imperialist aggression in Viet Nam. The revisionist starting point is to deny the historical fact that the basic sentiment of this mass movement is to end imperialist exploitation, domination, oppression, aggression, etc. and build a new world in which the American people live in peace and harmony with the world's people, sympathizing with and supporting their revolutionary struggles. Instead of leading this revolutionary current step by step towards proletarian revolution, the revisionists maintained that "the problem is to convince American workers the war hurts their paychecks". From this starting point they promoted their entire counter-revolutionary ideology and politics. Detaching the problem of imperialist aggression in Viet Nam from the historical tasks of overthrowing U.S. imperialism on a world-wide scale and building the dictatorship of the proletariat in the United States, the revisionists appealed to bourgeois philistinism (showing pictures of burnt babies and moaning about atrocities, etc.). Claiming that the war is merely a "bad policy" of certain monopoly capitalists, the revisionists called for a single-issue united front against this policy headed by some "good monopoly capitalists" like Johnson, McCarthy, McGovern, etc. Thus they actively suppressed all ideological discussion amongst the masses, and took all revolutionary content out of the mass struggle under the slogan of "we can't alienate" the bourgeois leadership of the so-called "united front". Whenever their counterrevolutionary strategy and tactics met with defeat the re- visonists blamed the masses for being "apathetic".
By taking up the WIDESCALE DISSEMINATION, STUDY AND APPLICATION OF MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT as the LEADING ASPECT OF ALL OUR WORK, the ACWM(ML) right from its inception drew a clear line of demarcation between ourselves and the counter-revolutionary program of the revisionists, We learned that to POLITICALLY ORGANIZE THE WORKING CLASS FOR THE SEIZURE OF STATE POWER we must overthrow the influence of revisionist ideology and politics amongst the masses, Every victory for Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought and for building the genuine communist organization came through defeat of the counter-revolutionary political and ideological line of the revisionists and their cohorts. We resolutely opposed those "new leftists", the bastard off-spring of the revisionists, who criticized revisionism in the abstract but refused to participate in overthrowing the revisionist influence amongst the masses. We set about developing a MASS DEMOCRATIC METHOD OF WORK which is completely in accordance with the revolutionary aspirations and program of the working and oppressed people and which is the key to defeating the revisionists ideologically, politically and organizationally. This method of work is completely opposite to the fascist and bureaucratic method of work of the revisionists and is based on 1, complete faith in the revolutionary aspirations of the broad masses and complete reliance on them, 2. arming the masses ideologically and 3. integrating theory with practice, i.e. starting from practice and applying MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT to the concrete problems facing the revolutionary masses and revolutionary organization and developing actual guidelines for proletarian revolution in the process of solving these problems. Through the mass democratic method of work we initiated ACTUAL STRUGGLES amongst the masses which established an OBJECTIVE CRITERIA for distinguishing revolution from counterrevolution, real Marxism from sham Marxism, and which released the initiative of the masses tremendously to overthrow the influence of the revisionists on various fronts and participate in building the communist organization. It is this method of work which since 1969 has initiated the trend of bringing the cadres of revolution and all progressive people directly under the supervision of the masses and it is this method of work which is so much hated by the revisionists, trotskyites, new leftists, and their cohorts.
During 3 1/2 years of revolutionary work we have advanced from a small group to a larger one, from one city to many cities, from a meager grasp of Marxism to a firmer one, IT IS AN HISTORICALLY PROVEN FACT THAT SINCE 1969 IT HAS BEEN THE GENUINE MARXIST-LENINISTS, THOSE WHO HAVE PERSEVERED IN UPHOLDING AND RE-ENUNCIATING THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MARXISM-LENINISM AMONGST THE MASSES, WHO HAVE FLOURISHED AND ARE WINNING THE SUPPORT OF THE MASSES. Does this mean that the holy alliance of the so-called "left" has been wiped out? On the contrary. While we have learned one or two things about promoting revolution they have learned new methods, or rather dressed up their old methods, of promoting counter-revolution.
Today the working class movement is developing at a tremendous speed. Workers are demanding revolution and Marxist-Leninist politics. The NEW TREND OF UNITY AMONGST THE MARXIST-LENINIST FORCES is sweeping all of North America with the force of a thunderbolt. The genuine revolutionary groups and individuals who struggled against revisionism, applied Marxism-Leninism in their own concrete conditions and flourished are getting together. Today we still face the counter-revolutionary alliance of revisionists, trotskyites, new leftists and neo-revisionists.
1. Old and new style trotskyites represented by "socialist" workers party and "progressive" labor party. Their counter-revolutionary politics and ideology is to promote reformism amongst the masses while using ultra-left sloganeering to attack the genuine communists, the People's Republic of China and Chairman Mao so as to create doubt in the revolutionary authority of the center of world revolution.
2. New leftists, including various dried out professors, co-operative movements, independant social ist "journals", etc. the new "leftists" promote every variety of "Marxism" as long as one "takes a critical attitude". This means in practice to uncritically accept bourgeois liberalism and categorically reject all the revolutionary principles of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought.
3. Revisionists headed by the CPUSA and their front organizations in the workers movement, anti-war movement, etc. These dogs are the outright quislings of the Soviet social-imperialists and the direct colloborators with the U.S. monopoly capitalist class. They adhere rigidly to the 13 commandments of revisionism outlined above.
4. Neo-revisionists. In the immediate future this is the most treacherous breed of bourgeois agent amongst the people because while in practice they also adhere rigidly to the 13 commandments of revisionism they are presently hiding themselves under- the signboard of communism and Mao Tsetung Thought. They can only be exposed through mass democratic struggles amongst the masses. These people spout quotations from Chairman Mao in order to oppose Chairman Mao. They sayi "Sure we need a party - but material conditions aren't quite ripe yet -- let's build the mass movement," To them applying the "mass line" means cajoling the most backward elements. They call for building the party on the basis of the economic struggles, and "workers take the lead" meaning social-democracy and bourgeois reformism takes the lead. These people REFUSE TO TAKE MARXISM-LENINISM AS A LIVING GUIDE TO ACTION in order to derive guidelines for the mass democratic anti-fascist revolution by summing up actual struggles but instead persist in the COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY DUAL TACTIC OF ORGANIZING REFORMIST STRUGGLES ON THE ONE HAND AND USING REACTIONARY BOURGEOIS INTELLECTUALISM TO MYSTIFY MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT and keep it as their personal property.
COMRADES: The unity of the communist movement is moving to a higher and completely new stage. From small groups groping in the dark the many NEW MARXIST-LENINIST CENTERS are marching on the path of unity towards building a genuine Marxist-Leninist Party. The masses of workers are stirring. To develop the trend of unity, to advance along the revolutionary path opened up by our work and the work of all the genuine Marxist-Leninist groups and individuals we must be vigilant against and defeat the counterrevolutionary line of the revisionists and neo-revisionists.
To do this LET US GO AMONGST OUR MENTORS THE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF PROLETARIANS. Let us go there toi SUM UP OUR HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE AND CLARIFY THE GUIDELINES FOR MASS DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-FASCIST REVOLUTION.
LET US CREATE CONDITIONS TO LEAD ACTUAL STRUGGLES BY CARRYING OUT THOROUGH-GOING INVESTIGATION AND STUDY AMONGST THE MASSES.
LET US GO THERE TO BEGIN ALL OVER AGAIN THE DISSEMINATION OF MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT ON A WIDER AND DEEPER SCALE THAN EVER BEFORE
LET US GO THERE IN ORDER TO BRING ABOUT A NEW NATION-WIDE HIGH TIDE IN THE LIVING STUDY AND APPLICATION OP MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT.
LET US GO THERE TO RELY SOLELY ON THE REVOLUTIONARY CURRENTS AMONGST THE MASSES AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE OF THE MASSES TO BUILD THE COMMUNIST PARTY.
LET US GO THERE TO GIVE PULL PLAY TO THE LEADING ROLE OF MARXISM- LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT AND PARTY BUILDING IN DEVELOPING THE REVOLUTIONARY CURRENTS.
STATEMENT OF THE DECEMBER 25TH BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST)
[Photo.]
On January 23 representatives of the United States government and the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam initialed the agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam. On January 27, the two governments as well as the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam and the U.S. imperialist puppet Thieu regime are to formally sign the agreement.
This is a tremendous victory for the Vietnamese people in their struggle against U.S. aggression and for national independence and liberation. The signing of the agreement is truly a joyous occasion for the people of the whole world.
Under the leadership of the Vietnamese Workers Party and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and its Provisional Revolutionary Government, the Vietnamese people, relying on their own efforts and mobilizing the entire people for a protracted PEOPLE'S WAR, have driven first the French colonialists and now are driving the U.S. imperialists out of their homeland and are on the threshold of complete national independence and liberation. Through their earth-shaking valour and self-sacrifice the Vietnamese people have scored victory upon victory on the political, military and diplomatic fronts in their sacred liberation war and have landed the U.S. imperialists in a total impasse. The agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam which U.S. imperialism has been forced to sign embodies the deepest national aspirations of the Vietnamese people for peace in freedom and independence. The treaty guarantees the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Vietnam in accordance with the deep national aspirations of the Vietnamese people and is a dagger into the heart of U.S. imperialism's hopes of dividing Vietnam and subjugating the Vietnamese people and is a tremendous victory for the people of the whole world in their struggle against U.S. imperialism.
Although forced to sign the agreement because of its utter isolation at home and abroad and its disastrous military, political and diplomatic defeats at the hands of the heroic Vietnamese people, U.S. imperialism has in no way given up its dreams of conquest and division in Vietnam and Indo-China, and is continuing its meddling and aggressive war activities. The U.S.imperialists are still brazenly supporting their fascist bootlicking puppet Thieu, notorious criminal and traitor to the Vietnamese people and propping up his military dictatorship in parts of south Vietnam in the hopes of maintaining a neo-colonial puppet regime there. The U.S. imperialists are beefing up their combat forces in the south China seas, increasing their troop deployment in Thailand and sending greater numbers of civilian and military advisers to carry on their "secret wars" in Laos and Cambodia. Ail this constitutes a continued and grave breach of peace in Indo-China and threat to the independence and territorial integrity of the people of Vietnam. At home and internationally the U.S. imperialists are brazenly carrying on their propaganda concerning "peace with honor" and the "need to take measures that insure North Vietnamese compliance with the agreement." The U.S. imperialists are already trying to obscure the real basis of the agreement which guran- tees the unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam and shamelessly claim that the agreement "recognizes two Vietnams." This is nothing but the most low-level hypocrisy and renewed war propaganda in the guise of "protecting the agreement." Lying in public about the nature of the agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam, the U.S. imperialists are still singing the old refrain of "two Vietnams" in order to prepare public opinion and "leave the door open" for renewed aggression in Vietnam. It is the overwhelming sentiment of the people of the whole world, including the American people, that U.S. imperialism quit its interference, meddling and aggression in Vietnam and Indo-China in every form whatsoever.
The American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist), representing the true internationalist spirit of the great American working class, has always held that the victories of the Vietnamese people in their sacred war against U.S, imperialism are victories for the American people in our anti-fascist proletarian revolution and that the developement of anti-fascist proletarian revolution in the U.S. is the greatest support we can lend to our class brothers and sisters in Vietnam. We have always tried to learn from and follow the heroic example and spirit of the Vietnamese people and to propagate the Wessons of the Vietnamese revolution amongst our own class and the entire people. The DECEMBER 25th BRANCH of the ACWM (ML) hails the tremendous victories of the Vietnamese people and calls upon all our comrades and friends to remain vigilante against the continued plots and aggression of U.S. imperialism in Indo-China and throughout the world. The question of revolutionary struggle against modern imperialism led by the U.S. monopoly capitalist class and of revolutionary support for the national liberation struggles of the oppressed nations and peoples is of fundamental importance to the anti-fascist proletarian revolution in the U.S. In celebrating this most momentous and earth-shaking victory of the Vietnamese people we pledge to redouble our vigilance and agitation against U.S. imperialist meddling, exploitation, interference, domination and aggression in Vietnam, Indo-China and throughout the world and to strive ever harder, to build the COMMUNIST PARTY of the American working class and serve the anti-fascist proletarian revolution with all our hearts.
LONG LIVE THE NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE OF THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE!
LONG LIVE THE VIETNAM WORKERS PARTY!
LONG LIVE THE NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT OF SOUTH VIETNAM!
PEOPLE OF THE WORLD UNITE AND DEFEAT THE U.S. AGGRESSORS AND ALL THEIR RUNNING DOGS!!
On January 27 the U.S. imperialists and their lackey Thieu signed the agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam in conjunction with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam.
While Nixon and the entire imperialist propaganda machine began drooling about "peace with honor", U.S. imperialism, not even waiting for the ink on the agreement to"dry, was feverishly engaged in breaking all the treaty's provisions. One can quickly see what "peace with honor" means to U.S. imperialism by comparing the provisions of the treaty with the words and deeds of the imperialists in the last several days.
1) The peace agreement guarantees the unityr sovereignty and territorial integrity of Vietnam. Adhering to the Geneva Accords, the peace treaty recognizes in ironclad terms that Vietnam is one country, that the Temporary Military Demarcation Line (DMZ) dividing north and south Vietnam is just that and not a political or geographic boundary and that Vietnam will be re-unified and its internal affairs settled by the Vietnamese people themselves. But no sooner had the agreeernent been formally initialed on Jan. 23 than Nixon brazenly resumed mouthing the Hitlerite big lie that the agreement "recognizes two Vietnams" "and that the criminal Thieu puppet regime has the "right to determine" the future of the people in south Vietnam.
2) The treaty calls for the complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces and materiel, including civilian "technicians" and "advisors." But before U.S. imperialism has even withdrawn as much as one troop it is sending new civilian "technicians" by the plane-load into Vietnam. The U.S. defense department has publically revealed their plans for "eventually" stationing 10,000 technicians in south Vietnam, the majority of these being attached to the air force of imperialist puppet Thieu.
3) The treaty calls for RESPECT FOR THE NEUTRALITY OF LAOS AND CAMBODIA AND AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE AND AGGRESSION IN THESE COUNTRIES. On January 24, Jerry Friedheim, spokesman for the Department of Defense, "refused to rule out" continued U.S. bombings in Laos and Cambodia. Shamelessly propagating such despicable lies as "opposing north Vietnamese invasion", the U.S. imperialists have been flagrantly violating this point of the agreement and actually stepping up their war activity in Laos and Cambodia. Large numbers of "civilians" have been sent there to "advise" the imperialist puppet armies.
4) The Agreement spells out in black and white that there are presently TWO ADMINISTRATIONS in south Vietnam, and establishes a joint body of the THREE POLITICAL FORCES IN SOUTH VIETNAM to bring about the establishment of a SINGLE ADMINISTRATION BY PEACEFUL AND MUTUALLY AGREED-UPON MEANS. In his January 23 speech Nixon announced "The U.S. will continue to recognize the government of the Republic of Vietnam as the sole legitimate government of South Vietnam" and instructed the Thieu puppet clique to use "the strength you have developed" to perpetrate its fascist neocolonial rule in south Vietnam.
5) The Treaty guarantees the FULL DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS FOR THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH VIETNAM, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND AFFILIATION AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT. The U.S. imperialists have given instructions to their loyal lackey Thieu to issue shoot-to-kill orders against anyone carrying out political work in support of the NLF, anyone known to sympathize with the NLF, anyone attempting to move to PRG-administrated territory. In addition, Thieu has banned all political parties except his own'"Democratic" party and even given orders for immediate execution of anyone refusing to fly the puppet flag.
6) The Treaty calls for absolutely NO FUTURE U.S. AGGRESSION IN VIETNAM UNDER ANY PRETENSES. Following the announcement of the initialing of the agreement, Kissinger hurried from Paris to Washington to caution the U.S. Congress against passage of a bill outlawing future re-invasion of Vietnam, explaining that this would make things "too easy" for the Vietnamese people. This is a shameless act of self-exposure and nakedly reveals the imperialists' attitude toward the agreement. The agreement which Kissinger had just finished initialing forbids the re-invasion of Vietnam by U.S. forces under any pretenses and Kissinger is telling the Congress that carrying out the agreement would be making things "too easy" for the Vietnamese people. While continuing its interference in the internal affairs of Vietnam by building up the Thieu regime, the U.S. imperialists are brazenly doing the propaganda that they must retain military presence throughout Indo-China in order to "prevent sabotage of the agreement by North Vietnam." This is the first step to renewed invasion of Vietnam.
7) All of this clearly shows what U.S. imperialism means by "peace with honor", "Peace with honor" means that the U.S. imperialists sign a treaty pledging peace and continue to carry out their sordid plots and aggression against, the Vietnamese people. "Peace with honor" is the nazyite big lie being propagated by U.S. imperialism to cover over its low-life hypocrisy. By continually lying about the terms of the agreement, the U.S. imperialists are preparing public opinion and "leaving the door open" for re-invasion of Vietnam. But U.S. imperialism can fool no one with such despicable antics and gangster tricks. IT IS THE OVERWHELMING SENTIMENT OF THE PEOPLE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD THAT U.S. IMPERIALISM QUIT ITS AGGRESSION AND INTERFERENCE IN VIETNAM AND INDOCHINA IN EVERY FORM WHATSOEVER. Led by the NLF and the Vietnam Workers' Party, the Vietnamese people remain resolute as ever to defend their basic national aspirations and see the sacred war against U.S. aggression through to total victory, and will never be cowed or fooled by any treachery or aggression launched by the U.S. imperialists.
On January 13 the communist workers from the Midwest organized the founding conference of the DECEMBER 25th BRANCH of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT ( MARXIST-LENINIST). The BRANCH is formed solely for the purpose of MOBILIZING THE LEADING AND MAIN FORCE OF REVOLUTION, THE GREAT AMERICAN WORKING CLASS and the comrades are already enthusiastically developing its program amongst the masses.
The founding conference was carried out in an extremely nonliberal manner and in an atmosphere of class struggle. The revisionist line of ALL POLITICAL POWER TO THE REVISIONISTS, ANTICOMMUNISTS, POLICE SPIES AND FASCISTS, NO POLITICAL POWER TO THE WORKERS was denounced and the general line of FIGHT TO ACHIEVE THE DEEPEST ASPIRATIONS OF THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS, TO OVERTHROW MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND FASCISM, ESTABLISH THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT AND BUILD COMMUNISM was unanimously adopted.
The necessity of putting PARTY CONCEPT IN COMMAND OF EVERYTHING was discussed in detail as well as the necessity of building Party organization locally and on the national basis as the only method of mobilizing the working class for anti-fascist revolution. The bourgeois individualist lines of localism,- building independent kingdoms, organizing diversions and building co-ordination committees were denounced as the reflection of revisionism inside the ranks of the branch. It was pointed out that this class struggle in the branch is a reflection of the class struggle inside ACWM(ML) nationally.
The inseparable relation between the tasks of mobilizing the workers and building the genuine unity of all Marxist-Leninist forces was discussed and an important resolution passed.
(Excerpts from a speech at the founding of the DEC. 25th BRANCH of the ACWM(M-L), revised for publication. )
COMRADESs We have met here today to form the DECEMBER 25th BRANCH of the ACWM(ML). The DECEMBER 25th BRANCH has been formed with the main motive of MOBILIZING THE LEADING AND MAIN FORCE OF REVOLUTION, THE GREAT AMERICAN WORKING CLASS.
The U.S. monopoly capitalist system is in the grips of comprehensive crisis on the economic, political, social and all other fronts and the U.S. monopoly capitalist class has a profound and incurable disease -- it has earned the undying hatred of the American working class and people and the peoples of the whole world. It is resorting to and can only resort to more superexploitation, more fascism, and more war. The barbarous and frenzied aggressiont by the U.S. imperialists, the suspension of all "democratic" rights and even the outright cold-blooded murders of our people, the worsening economic hardships are the everyday facts in the lives of our people. The monopoly capitalist class, and its political representatives, all the bourgeois political parties as well as the social-fascist ( socialist in words, fascist in deeds) trotskyite and revisionist parties, represent all that is evil, parasitic, moribund and dying away in our society. The future of our country lies in the hands of the American working class. …
Today tens of millions of workers are stirring. The workers have begun political discussions amongst themselves on how to solve the problems facing the entire American people and large numbers of workers are already entering the revolutionary struggle for the overthrow of monopoly capitalism and fascism. Workers are demanding Marxist-Leninist analysis and Marxist-Leninist politics. The political representatives of the working class are coming forward in increasing numbers, steeling themselves through actual struggles and organizing themselves step by step into a genuine MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF THE PROLETARIAT. The political representatives of the working class consist of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) and all the other genuine Marxist-Leninist groups and individuals. These forces reflect the new and rising force in our society and represent everything healthy, productive, revolutionary and coming into being....
The political representatives of the monopoly capitalist class are using the institutions run by them ( including the state machine, the media, cultural and educational institutions, churches and the entire super-structure in general) to prepare public opinion and mobilize people for fascist counterrevolution. The political representatives of the working-class are building genuine working class institutions (working class press, cultural and educational centers, national and local political organs, defense guards, etc.) for the sole purpose of preparing public opinion and mobilizing the maximum majority of the people for anti-fascist, proletarian revolution. This class struggle is centered on the question of political power. The monopoly capitalists are heavily financing and building fascist as well as social-fascist committees in the communities and places of work (such as productivity councils, the fascist labor front, etc.) and unleashing fascist rules and regulations against the workers in the hopes of consolidating their political power and sucking our blood forever. The working class is building basic communist units and revolutionary committees in the communities and at the places of work in opposition to the fascist committees in order to consolidate proletarian political power at a low level and proceed step by step to the seizure of state power away from the monopoly capitalists and fascists...
The DECEMBER 25th BRANCH of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (MARXIST-LENINIST) is a BRIGHT RED BRANCH OF THE WORKING CLASS. Its general line can only be to FIGHT'FOR THE DEEPEST ASPIRATIONS OF THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS, THE OVERTHROW OF MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND FASCISM, ESTABLISH THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT AND BUILD COMMUNISM. Our basic program is to POLITICALLY ORGANIZE THE WORKING CLASS by building the communist units and revolutionary committees from one community to another, from one factory to another by initiating and leading ACTUAL STRUGGLES.
The DECEMBER 25th BRANCH of the AMERICAN COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT ( MARXIST-LENINIST ) hails the publication of the CALL FOR A CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS and the developing solidarity amongst the Marxist-Leninists that is reflected in the COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (ML), COMMUNIST PARTY OF QUEBEC (ML), AMERICAN (COMMUNIST WORKERS MOVEMENT (ML), ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNIST WORKERS, COMMUNIST LEAGUE, RED COLLECTIVE, and RED STAR CADRES coming together to begin organizing such an historic conference. The DECEMBER 25th BRANCH of the ACWM(ML) declares right at its formation that it is whole-heartedly throwing itself into the work of organizing for and participating in the CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS.
Over 90% of the members of our branch are communist workers. Right now tremendous struggles are developing amongst our class brothers and sisters and large numbers of workers are beginning to enter directly into the revolutionary struggle against monopoly capitalism and fascism. The question of utmost importance is: What political line is going to guide and lead the workers' struggles? The social-fascist (socialist in words, fascist in deeds) line of ALL POLITICAL POWER TO THE REVISIONISTS, ANTI-COMMUNISTS, AND FASCISTS, NO POLITICAL POWER TO THE WORKING CLASS or the Marxist-Leninist political line of struggling for the SEIZURE OF STATE POWER AWAY FROM THE MONOPOLY CAPITALISTS AND FASCISTS and ESTABLISHING THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT.
Today, as well as building fascist committees and unleashing fascist rules and regulations against the workers in the communities and at the places of work, the monopoly capitalist class is heavily financing and building up social-fascist committees headed by their revisionist and neorevisionist henchmen. The starting point of the revisionists is to USE EVERY DIFFERENCE AMONGST THE WORKERS IN ORDER TO DIVIDE THE PROLETARIAT AND SERVE MONOPOLY CAPITALISM. The first principle of revisionism is PUT THE NARROW AND SHORT-RANGE IN COMMAND OF THE OVER-ALL, in other words PUT BOURGEOIS SELF-INTEREST AND REFORMISM IN COMMAND OF PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION. Following these principles the revisionists long ago usurped political power in the COMMUNIST PARTY and for years have kept the working-class split up and divided against ourselves, leading our struggles time and time again down the road of bourgeois reformism and social-fasaism. In complete opposition to revisionism many NEW MARXIST-LENINIST CENTERS have emerged during the 1960's and '70's which have DARED TO STAND UP FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY ASPIRATIONS OF THE WORKING CLASS and DARED TO UNITE THE WORKING CLASS ON THE BASIS OF MARXISM-LENINISM. The spirit of these NEW MARXIST-LENINIST CENTERS is correctly summed up in the CALL FOR A CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS' "We can only be united on the basis of the interests of the whole working class, that is on the basis of Marxism-Leninism which is hostile to any struggle for personal interests or opinions." The profound experience of all our comrades has taught us the importance of CHAIRMAN MAO'S statement: "IT IS ONLY THROUGH THE UNITY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY THAT THE UNITY OF THE WHOLE CLASS AND THE WHOLE NATION CAN BE ACHIEVED." Today, by over-throwing the reactionary sectarianism and splittism promoted by the revisionists and by DARING TO UNITE WITH ONE ANOTHER, these NEW MARX- IST-LEMINIST CENTERS are making a tremendous contribution to building the party and to the cause of the entire working class.
Already in various circles revisionists are engaged in the dirty work of spreading gossips and slanders against the upcoming CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS. The DECEMBER 25th BRANCH of the ACWM(ML) resolutely denounces those people who are attempting to undermine the conference through spreading gossips and slanders. We strongely hold to the line of the CALL that all organizations and individuals "HAVE EQUAL RIGHT AS WELL AS EVERY OBLIGATION TO PRESENT THEIR VIEWS OPENLY FOR DISCUSSION." It is only in this way that the genuine unity of MARXIST-LENINISTS can be built and differences aired in an open and above-board manner.
The comrades in our branch have had much experience with revisionists and neo-revisionists who talk about UNITY IN THE ABSTRACT, about the WORKING CLASS IN THE ABSTRACT and about MARXISM IN THE ABSTRACT in order to divide and confuse the broad masses of the working and oppressed people. On the question of-unity, while publicly breast-beating about the "need to unite the working class" and the Marxist-Leninist ranks, these revisionists spread gossips and slanders about the genuine Marxist-Leninists. Such people who refuse to be OPEN AND ABOVE-BOARD are in fact seeking to split and not unite. The political line of this stripe of revisionist calls for "reaching the ordinary worker", "workers take the lead", "building the Party on the basis of the economic struggles", etc. They attack the militant Marxist-Leninists with such epithets as "sectarian", "dogmatic", "irrelevant to the mass movement" while they themselves refuse to apply Marxism-Leninism to the concrete problems facing the working class and instead try to convert Marxism-Leninism into a plaything of the bourgeois intellectuals. Their over-all aim is to liquidate party building and keep the working masses enslaved forever. Our branch fully supports the thoroughgoing revolutionary slogan. THE WORKING CLASS MUST EXERCISE LEADERSHIP IN EVERYTHING. For a revolutionary this can only mean that the COMMUNIST PARTY and MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT MUST EXERCISE LEADERSHIP IN EVERYTHING. Only by first seizing political power inside our own revolutionary party can the working class take the first steps on the road to seizing state power from the monopoly capitalists. We firmly believe that the upcoming CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICAN MARXIST-LENINISTS is an historic step toward the formation of JUST SUCH A PARTY which is so much longed for and sought after by the masses of our class brothers and sisters.
Since June 1972 the workers at Woodlawn hospital in Chicago have been fighting against capitalist exploitation and fascist suppression of their fundamental right to organize against capitalist exploitation. The workers have persisted in their struggle in the face of vicious attacks by the police. and courts, special strikebreaking agencies, and in spite of the use of firings, scabs, bribes, special mediation boards and a proposed hospital-run "Employee -Management Committee" to suppress their struggle.
At the heart of the struggle is the workers' deep desire to ORGANIZE AGAINST FASCIST ATTACKS OF THE STATE MACHINE AND AGAINST SUPER-EXPLOITATION BY THE CAPITALIST CLASS.
In December 1971, the Woodlawn workers organized themselves into a union to resist the miserable conditions and starvation wages and in particular to fight for their demands of job security and higher wages. The hospital administration immediately countered by organizing a so-called "Employee-Management Committee" (to be staffed by management) which is no different from the nazi labor front of Hilterite Germany. The stated purpose of the "Committee" was to 1) "provide a medium of communication between employees and administrators" 2) "achieve cooperative integration of the total employee group" and 3) "develop a common spirit of loyalty and pride," That is to say the purpose of the "Committee" was to 1) communicate fascist rules and regulations to the workers 2) enforce "cooperation" with these fascist rules and regulation amongst the workers and 3) call on the workers and do propaganda for workers to have "pride and loyalty" in this suppression of their democratic rights.
This move by the capitalist hospital administration to carry out fascist Nixon's guidelines of "harmonizing" class struggle and bringing about "industrial peace" was a new step in the suppression of the hospital workers' RIGHT TO ORGANIZE AGAINST CAPITALIST EXPLOITATION.
The workers were being payed $2.25 an hour -- starvation wages pure and simple. Before the workers started to organize themselves the hospital had claimed it could never afford to pay more because of competition with other hospitals. Suddenly the hospital offered 330 per hour raise to all who would join their newly formed Nazi labor front, the "Employee-Management Committee."
But all atempts to smash the union and enlist the workers' cooperation in the nazi labor front have failed. When the Woodlawn hospital administration refused to recognize the union, the workers struck in defense of their basic right to organize against capitalist exploitation. 115 workers participated from the beginning of the strike 8 months ago, keeping up a continuous picket line despite harrassment and attack from paid hospital goons and police, 18 striking workers were fired immediately. Several others have been injured when run down by paid nazi thugs from amongst the hospital administrators. (The workers have dared to resist these fascist attacks with revolutionary violence and been arrested and brought to court on charges of "assault" while the real criminals are free to carry out further assaults on the workers). The C.B.I. -- a private detective agency staffed by off-duty police -- in collaboration with regular on-duty police have forced the picket line with guns drawn in order to bring in truckloads of scabs.
In the face of jailings, beatings, threats of job losses, the workers have united ever more closely and persevered in their struggle. Workers from all over the city are supporting the struggle of the Woodlawn workers. Teamsters and construction workers have refused to work for the capitalist hospital administration.
Throughout the struggle various social-fascists(socialist in words, fascist in deeds) including certain labor union hacks and so-called revolutionaries of the "progressive" labor party have been exposed as the real lieutenants of the hospital adminstrators.. These so-called "friends of the workers" have obediently followed the line of the administration by saying that the only issue is "higher wages" and "job security." While the adminstration tried to bribe the workers in order to keep them from building any defense organization, the social-fascists encouraged the workers to accept the bribe. The social-fascists took exactly the same position as the so-called "impartial mediation board": which called for settling the strike on the basis oft workers accept a few pennies more and completely give up their right to organize.
Members of AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH who went to support this struggle of their class brothers and sisters and propagate the politics of PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION were enthusiastically received by the Woodlawn workers. The workers pointed out that their struggle is an excellent example of how the capitalists build fascist committees to suppress the developement of any working class organization. The workers resolutely supported the line of ACTIVE RESISTANCE TO FASCIST ATTACKS ON THEIR RIGHT TO ORGANIZE. Many workers agreed that the only way out of capitalist exploitation and fascist suppression is for the working class to organize a genuine COMMUNIST PARTY which can lead PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION.
THE WORKERS AT WOODLAWN ARE BOUND TO WIN VICTORY BY PERSEVERING IN THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST CAPITALIST EXPLOITATION AND FASCIST SUPPRESSION OF THEIR RIGHT TO ORGANIZE!
DEFEND THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE!
VICTORY TO THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS!
The following article appeared in BUFFALO RED STAR, vol. 2, no. 2 January 9, 1973. BUFFALO RED STAR is the organ of the Buffalo Workers Revolutionary Committee of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist).
Loud noises are being heard these days about inefficiency, waste and corruption in Buffalo City government. What sets these noises off from the usual election year fare of the past is that they come straight from the Mayor's Office. How is it that the present administration, after 8 years of wallowing in the tradition of city government favoritism, nepotism and fund mis-management, has suddenly discovered the evil of corruption?
In 1968 Sedita & Co. (the mayor and city administration in Buffalo -- ed.) announced that Buffalo was in a state of financial crisis. The blame for this was placed on the city workers, who were fighting hard to organize in their own class interests. Sedita brought in a management consulting firm, Cresap, McCormick and Paget, to "solve" this crisis. Three years and 130,000 tax dollars later these "experts" came up with a threefold solution for the capitalists and their agents 1) deny workers the right to organize themselves 2) deny workers their basic livelihood by laying off o- ver 1000 workers and by leaving open hundreds of positions through attrition and 3) promote super-exploitation by forcing "harder work and longer hours" on the remaining workers while hacking away at the present wages through job reclassification.
In 1971 the city bureaucrats began waging their attack on the workers by laying off 207 employees and leaving vacant positions through attrition. But the resistance of workers in AFSCME local 264 and the outrage of public opinion was so great that the city lay low for awhile, plotting to turn public opinion against the city workers to prepare for an even more vicious attack against them.
By summer of 1972, Sedita had created his "baby", the Absentee Control Unit, a vigilante squad to terrorize the workers with constant spying, harassment and threats of punishment and dismissal.
Two months later a large-scale propaganda campaign was begun by the local monopoly capitalist press, viciously attacking city workers and charging them with parasitism.
Today the agents of the monopoly capitalist class are waging a vicious campaign attacking the fundamental right of the city workers to organize themselves. This campaign is being waged on three fronts: 1) contracting out certain city services such as the Buffalo Zoo in an attempt to cut workers out of the union and divide the ranks of the working class. For Zoo workers this will mean layoffs, possible rehiring in other city departments at lower wages or applying to the Zoological Society for their jobs with less pay and no seniority. 2) creating a permanent vigilante squad given free reign to terrorize the workers and offer up suggestions for punishment, in complete violation of the contract work rules and grievance procedures to which the city itself agreed. 3) using the hoax of "work abuse" to outright threaten workers with the fascist state machine, using Grand Jury "investigation" and threats of criminal charges.
Under the hoax of "solving" the financial crisis which they themselves created in the service of monopoly capitalism, the city bureaucrats are attacking the unity, livelihood and fundamental rights of the city workers. This is part and parcel of the program of the monopoly capitalist class for super-exploitation and fascism which is being prepared today throughout the country. As the monopoly capitalist system comes closer to collapse more and more attacks are being made upon workers' standard of living and upon our fundamental right to organize against exploitation and oppresion. Only by defending the right to politically organize and build a Communist Party can the working class overthrow the fascist rule of the monopoly capitalists and put an end for all time to their system of exploitation and oppression.
DENOUNCE THE FASCIST ATTACK ON CITY WORKERS!
DEFEND THE RIGHT OF WORKERS TO ORGANIZE IN THEIR OWN CLASS INTERESTS!
_____
BUFFALO RED STAR, vol. 2, no. 2 January 9, 1973 printed the following announcement:
PROGRAM OF THE DISCUSSION GROUP OF BUFFALO WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE
1) Modern American Fascism
2) U.S. imperialism since World War II
3) Present-day War Plots of the U.S. imperialists
4) The Struggle to Defend the Right to Organize Politically
5) Fascist Ideology
6) Trade Unionism
7) The Struggle for the Seizure of State Power
8) The American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) and Building the Party of the Proletariat
9) Political Economy of Monopoly Capitalism
On the night of Dec. 4, 1972, four policemen of the STRESS squad, the fascist murder squad of the Detroit police department, responding to a call for help from their henchmen in the drug trade, harassed and then attacked several black youths who had armed themselves to drive the drug trade out of their community. Refusing to be intimidated, the young blacks resisted the attack, shot all four of the policemen and then escaped.
Immediately the monopoly capitalist press, which has been applauding the STRESS squad for murdering the black people under the hoax of "stopping crime," stirred up a big storm of slander to conceal the just nature of this act of resistance to the violent repression of the black people. Turning truth completely on its head, the monopoly capitalist media claimed that these heroic black youth were addicts themselves and a "murder squad" for protecting the drug dealers. In the guise of a manhunt for the "suspects," the monopoly capitalists sent their lackey police to carry out a Nazi campaign of wide-scale violent repression. In the course of the campaign, which is continuing today, police broke down doors, entered houses without warrants, held families at gunpoint, beat people, fired on cars whose drivers refused to submit to searches at roadblocks, forced black women to strip and then molested them, and killed at least one person.
In mid-December, the three young anti-fascist fighters again fought with the police, killing one and wounding one and again escaped. The bourgeois press and police launched a new wave of slander against them. Police commissioner Nichols went on television to call them "mad-dog killers" and "bastards". This campaign of slander on top of terror aroused the furious anger of the black people and other sections of the working and oppressed people of the Detroit area. On Jan. 11, Detroit Common Council called a public hearing in hopes of covering over the crimes of the fascists with honeyed words about "better police-community relations." But their hopes were dashed when 2000 people, mostly black youths, turned out to denounce the violent repression. 'Throwing Nichols' words back in his face, they told him point-blank: "You are the real mad-dog killers! You should be killed, not us!" One by one, relatives and friends of the "suspects", as well as other people who had been repressed, testified to the crimes of the fascist police. Not only was the terrorism of the police exposed, but the speakers proved conclusively for the first time in public that the three original "suspects" were not involved in the drug trade but were fighting against it and that the police attacked them in order to protect the drug trade. This thoroughly exposed the Hitlerian big lie used by the monopoly capitalists to justify.iolent repression. The masses then called upon Nichols to answer the charges of terrorism and slander. He arrogantly refused. This aroused the extreme hatred of the masses, who stood up as one to denounce him, many of them calling for the destruction of the whole repressive state machinery.
Fortunately for the monopoly capitalists, another loyal lackey of their legal system stepped forward then to protect them and divert the struggle onto a reformist path. Social-fascist (socialist-in-words, fascist-in-deeds) lawyer Kenneth Cockrel produced a petition with 30,000 names on it calling on the fascists to stop being fascists by abolishing STRESS. He called for begging the fascist courts, through a civil suit, to stop violent repression. Throwing a sop to revolutionary sentiment, he called on the masses to walk out of the hearing, go home and "arm" themselves in their communities under his reformist political leadership (he is running for mayor).
In recent weeks, the fascists have stepped up their repression, using helicopters and blocking off and searching areas as large as 70-square blocks at a time. They have captured one of the antifascist fighters, Hayward Brown, who valiantly resisted them, and he has been charged in both earlier fights with the police,^ At the same time, the bourgeoisie )ias stepped up its efforts to disrupt the struggle of the black people through its agents in their midst, the holy alliance of the so-called "left". From the NAAGP through Cockrel to the "progressive" labor party (SDS), they are calling on the people to give up their struggle and rely on the "sensibility" of the monopoly capitalists. Each opportunist bunch calls for strengthening a different agency of the fascist state machine supposedly "against" the police department but really for the purpose of administering monopoly capitalism more efficiently. PLP- SDS kneels before the Detroit Common Council, Cockrel calls for "impeachment" of Nichols and Mayor Gribbs while madly scrambling for the mayor's job himself, the NAACP calls for an FBI "investigation". The main purpose of all of them is to conceal the real cause of the barbaric racial discrimination and violent repression against the black people -- the monopoly capitalist class and its evil system of exploitation of man by man. Chairman Mao pointed out in 1968, on the occasion of the death of Martin Luther King: "RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES IS A PRODUCT OF THE COLONIALIST AND IMPERIALIST SYSTEM. THE CONTRADICTION BETWEEN THE BLACK MASSES IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE U.S. RULING CIRCLES IS A CLASS CONTRADICTION. ONLY BY OVERTHROWING THE REACTIONARY RULE OF THE U.S. MONOPOLY CAPITALIST CLASS AND DESTROYING THE COLONIALIST AND IMPERIALIST SYSTEM CAN THE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES WIN COMPLETE EMANCIPATION." In recent weeks political discussions and meetings of all sorts have taken place widely and debate on this question is raging.
This new upsurge in the struggle of the black people in Detroit against racial discrimination and violent repression is a great e- vent. The broad masses of Afro- Americans are taking the defense of their communities and their fundamental rights into their own hands and returning blow for blow the attacks of the fascist police. They have waged mass democratic ideological struggles to expose the terrorism and lies of the monopoly capitalist butchers and mobilize the broad masses to fight uncompromisingly against fascism. It is only the monopoly capitalists and their social-fascist agents in the ranks of the people (PLP, Cockrel and Co., NAACP, etc.) who oppose this just struggle.
The struggle of the Afro-Americans in Detroit against violent repression and in defense of their basic rights is bound to develop as long as the broad masses of the black people rely on their own efforts and resolutely take the question of organizing into their own hands by building genuine defense organizations and participating in building the revolutionary Communist Party, the force at the core which alone can lead forward the working class and people of all nationalities in one revolutionary torrent to the overthrow of the monopoly capitalist class.
The following article appeared in Vol. 1, No.1, of SEATTLE WORKER, January 17, 1973. SEATTLE WORKER is the organ of the Seattle Revolutionary Youth, unit of the American Revolutionary Youth under the leadership of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist).
Seattle Revolutionary Youth is now establishing the SEATTLE WORKER an ideological instrument of agitation and investigation to advance the mass democratic antifascist revolution of the people of Seattle forward. This publication is a result of the actual practice of local Seattle youth to ORGANIZE TO CHANGE THE WORLD, and is a direct reflection of the needs of the oppressed working class to solve the main problem facing them, the fascist system of monopoly capitalism. SEATTLE WORKER is the only local genuine Communist paper for the working people. It will sum up the advanced ideas of our class, popularise these ideas throughout the broadest section of the proletariat and help guide their actions toward the seizure of state power -- the long cherished goal of the American working class.
Seattle Revolutionary Youth is a conscious and disciplined organization of working class youth and has grown out of the guts of the spontaneous mass upsurge of youth and students in the past few years. In our resistance to the oppression of the monopoly capitalist class, a great deal of experience was summed up and we saw the need to integrate with the working class and to come under its leadership. Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought was seen as the only political philosophy which could fulfill the militant demands of the growing revolutionary mass movement. The concrete application of Mao Tsetung Thought in the United States is to build the revolutionary Communist Party amidst the basic fighting masses. We recognized the necessity to come under the leadership of a Marxist-Leninist center, American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist), and following this path SRY is bound to develop vigorously.
In line with the directive of ACWM(M-L) to DENOUNCE, CRITICIZE AND REPUDIATE MONOPOLY CAPITALISM RIGHT AMONG THE BASIC FIGHTING MASSES--GO ALL OUT--PUT OUT NEWSPAPERS, ORGANIZE STUDY GROUPS, MASS DEMOCRACIES, DENUNCIATIONS, DEMONSTRATIONS, DISCUSSION GROUPS, ETC., TO EXPOSE THE MONOPOLY CAPITALIST BUTCHERS AND ARM THE BROAD MASSES OF THE PEOPLE WITH PROLETARIAN IDEOLOGY, SRY initiated four mass democratic agitational campaigns and Workers Political Affairs Discussion Group was established in the community. Thus the successful implementation of the mass line has begun and the material conditions for the introduction of SEATTLE WORKER have been created. Actual summations of the discussions as well as reports of various anti-fascist struggles must now be brought to the broad masses and popularized among them so that discussion at the point of production may be concentrated and class struggle enhanced. ONLY THEN WILL THE GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE RISE UP TO TAKE THEIR DESTINY INTO THEIR OWN HANDS!
LONG LIVE THE SEATTLE WORKER!
LONG LIVE SEATTLE REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH!
PARTICIPATE IN WORKERS POLITICAL AFFAIRS DISCUSSION GROUP!
BUILD THE COMMUNIST PARTY RIGHT AMIDST THE REVOLUTIONARY MASS MOVEMENT!
The Ann Arbor Student Movement, unit of American Student Movement under the leadership of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) recently issued a statement entitled* "THE ANN ARBOR STUDENT MOVEMENT WILL CERTAINLY NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY THE FASCIST ATTACKS OF THE FBI!" Excerpts from the statement follow:
"On January 10, comrade Tim Hall of the Detroit unit of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist) received the following post card (post marked Jan. 9):
Mr. Tim Hall c/o American Communist Workers Movement
P.O. Box 604-A
Detroit, Michigan 48232
Tim: I enjoy your publication "Ann Arbor Student" -- keep up the good work.
Tell Mohan hello for me.
Love, your friends at the FBI,
This is yet another of a series of fascist attacks and threats being carried out by the FBI against the ACWM (ML) and against the revolutionary national minority students who have taken.up as their own the just cause of the American working class and people to build a revolutionary Communist Party to lead the struggle to overthrow monopoly capitalism and fascism. By "revealing" their knowledge of the name of comrade Mohankumar, who has been doing political work for a long time, the nazi FBI hoped to intimidate him and other national minority students from participating in the anti-fascist struggles of the American people.
By couching the post card in "chummy" terms, the FBI hoped that the Ann Arbor Student Movement and the ACWM (ML) would not expose the attack, fearing that it would appear that they have "friends" at the FBI. How stupid do they think people are? We have never feared to declare openly before the masses that we are communists and come under their supervision. The ACWM (ML) comrades and the comrades of the American Student Movement have always staunchly stood up to the attacks of the fascist agents of the monopoly capitalist class. Over 70 have been arrested since May 1969 and some have served jail terms as long as 2 1/2 years. The masses in various areas will never be fooled by these vicious attempts to spread confusion, lies and slanders as well as threats and intimidation.
In Ann Arbor, ever since May of last year, national minority students who took up the cause of the American people have continuously been harrassed and threatened by the FBI. Their friends and supporters were also harrassed by these fascist agents, in a vain attempt to intimidate and create fear amongst them. The FBI repeatedly called them by telephone, intruded into their homes at all hours of the day and subjected them to hours-long interrogations about their studies, their status as students, their political principles and beliefs, Exploiting their situation as foreign students, the fascists tried to force them to give up all their dignity and "cooperate" by furnishing information about their friends. True to their fascist nature, the FBI sunk to such a low level as to shamelessly request one of them whether he would like to become a spy! But this backfired! The progressive foreign students refused to be intimidated. Their hatred of fascism and firm opposition to it rose higher and higher.
The FBI concentrated their attacks against comrade Mariano Bianca, asking people what are his connections with ACWM (ML), does he support armed revolution, declaring that his father is a communist, etc., etc. Getting no response, they threatened him with deportation if he did not "turn himself in". But when this tactic failed to intimidate comrade Mariano, the FBI backed down on the deportation threat. Now, with the formation of the Ann Arbor Student Movement just following the October Conference, "Problems of Proletarian Revolution in the US", and with the publication of the ANN ARBOR STUDENT, the monopoly capitalist class has launched a new threat against another member of the Ann Arbor Student Movement, comrade Mohankumar.
Revolutionary students! This is a victory for us! We see that the FBI is desperately trying to intimidate and threaten us: this means that we do not have anything in common with the fascists! As Chairman Mao points out: "IT IS GOOD IF WE ARE ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY SINCE IT PROVES THAT WE HAVE DRAWN A CLEAR LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN THE ENEMY AND OURSELVES." We students are proud to be attacked by the FBI, it is our'honor. Comrades Mariano and Mohan are national minority fori- egn students who came here to the U.S. from their countries like millions and millions of other immigrants. This country was built by the blood and sweat of the immigrants, slaves and Native Indians. All people who came from any country in the world have the inalienable right to participate in the struggle against U.S. monopoly capitalism and build the REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY ON THE BASIS OF MARXISM-LENINISM MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT. Furthermore U.S. imperialism is holding the people of their home countries in bondage through imperialist plunder and wars of aggression. As Lenin has taught us, only the unity between the proletariat of the oppressor countries and those of the oppressed countries can give rise to the final defeat of imperialism and to the world-wide victory of socialism and communism.
The Ann Arbor Student Movement resolutely defends the right of the workers and oppressed people to unite against their common enemy U.S. imperialism.
There is a bright red future in the destiny of the American working class and people, that is the dictatorship of the proletariat, which no reactionary force on earth can take away from them.
We resolutely denounce the FBI and its masters, the monopoly capitalist class.
DEATH TO FASCISM!
DEATH TO U.S. IMPERIALISM!
LONG LIVE THE ANTI-FASCIST REVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS AND PEOPLE!
LONG LIVE PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM!
The following article was recieved from Philadelphia.
On January 9, Philadelphia police, agents of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class, fascistically attempted to stop the discussion of communist ideas among the working class population of Philadelphia. This happened while some local members and supporters of the American Communist Workers Movement (Marxist-Leninist), including members of Temple Student Movement were on a Learn from the People campaign. They were distributing, and talking about WORKERS' ADVOCATE, political affairs newspaper of ACWM(ML) with the broad masses on the corner of Kensington and Allegheny. The revolutionaries staunchly resisted all attempts to prevent them from exercising their democratic rights to discuss revolutionary ideas and organize for revolution. Ordinary people applauded the revolutionaries for this stand.
What happened is that one local police agent masquerading as an ordinary person threatened to shoot one of the distributors of WORKERS' ADVOCATE if he was not gone in 20 minutes. When this threat failed and the people kept engaging in lively discussion and small mass democracies with the distributors, the fascist tried unsuccessfully to find some supporters and organize an anticommunist gang. This failing, he recruited the police to remove the revolutionaries.
A squad of policemen emerged from several police cars, surrounded the comrades, observed what they were saying for a few minutes, and then began to carry one militant comrade into the paddy wagon. This comrade shouted loudly to the people about this injustice and fascism all the way and even leaned out of the back of the paddy wagon to address the people a few minutes more about this violation of people's democratic right to discuss ideas. When the other comrades' denunciations of this injustice and fascism began to fill the air among the crowd of 30-35 that gathered in anger at this police action, the police picked up two other comrades wrestled them to the paddy wagon, threw them in, and drove off. A fourth comrade ignored the threats of the police and their agent that she too would be locked up if she didn't stop talking with people. She denounced the police agent to the crowd and talked with many angry and disgusted people on the corner for some time afterwards.
At the police station all 94 copies of WORKERS' ADVOCATE and some handouts calling for a conference of North American Marxist-Leninists were confiscated and not returned. One comrade was released and the other two were each given four charges for defending themselves against fascist attack: assault and battery on a police officer disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and interfering with a police officer. Each was released after a night in jail on $1,000 bail-ransom with a trial set for March 6 at 8:30 a.m. in Room 296 City Hall.
On January 10, ACWM(ML) and TSM members and supporters, insisting on people's democratic rights to discuss revolutionary ideas and to organize for revolution, and refusing to be scared by terror tactics, prepared a militant leaflet explaining what happened. Two comrades, including one who had just gotten out of jail on bail, returned to the corner of Kensington and Allegheny and held many mass democratic discussions about the fascistic attack and arrests the day before. The comrades talked with over 300 people, including several who had been there the day before and were glad to see them again. People were intensely angered by the news of the attack and some vowed to defend the comrades if they were attacked again that afternoon. The policemen who had led the arrests -- and one man who joined the police agent who had threatened to shoot the comrades were pointed out to some of the broad masses and are sure to be remembered.
This event had four main characteristics. First, the comrades took communist ideas openly and vigorously to the people with the attitude of wanting to learn from the people at the same time.
Second, the comrades resisted firmly when attacked and showed a most arrogant attitude toward the police in the spirit of RESOLUTE RESISTANCE TO FASCISM. Third, they were conscious about arming the people by explaining to them exactly what had happened and persisted even while being arrested, in jail with the other prisoners, and the next day at the scene of the arrest. Fourth, the people responded to all this very warmly, especially on the next day when the comrades returned to the corner on which they had been arrested. In all discussions with the people the comrades encouraged the lively development of ideas and developed unity with people about the need for proletarian revolution in the country.
LEARN FROM THE PEOPLE!
FIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO ORGANIZE FOR REVOLUTION!
COMBAT THIS GROWING FASCISM!
JOIN TOGETHER TO BUILD A MARXIST LENINIST PARTY - THE KEY FACTOR FOR HAVING A SUCCESSFUL PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION!
1973 NEW YEAR'S DAY EDITORIAL BY "PEOPLE'S DAILY", "RED FLAG" AND "LIBERATION ARMY DAILY"
[Photo: CHAIRMAN MAO TSETUNG, THE GREAT LEADER OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE.]
WITH Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line guiding us, we enter 1973 full of revolutionary confidence and determination.
At the beginning of this new year, we extend a revolutionary salute to the workers, peasants, commanders and fighters of the People's Liberation Army, revolutionary cadres and revolutionary intellectuals, who have made contributions to the socialist revolution and socialist construction! Cordial regards to the people of all nationalities in the country! And warm greetings to the revolutionary people of the whole world and to our friends in various countries!
The past year was one in which the people of our country scored great victories on the political-ideological, economic and diplomatic fronts.
The movement to criticize revisionism and rectify the style of work continued throughout the country in a more deep-going and solid way, defending and developing the rich achievements of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The cadres and masses assiduously studied works by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and Chairman Mao's works, and developed mass revolutionary criticism of Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers, further exposing and criticizing their counter-revolutionary crimes and exploding their lies and sophistry. By this, the cadres and masses raised their ability to distinguish genuine Marxism from sham. Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line went ever deeper into the hearts of the people. The Party's proletarian policies were better implemented. New advances were made in struggle-criticism-transformation in the superstructure. The style of work which Chairman Mao advocates -- seeking truth from facts, adhering to the mass line, being modest and prudent and working hard -- was more fully applied. The People's Liberation Army made new progress politically and militarily. Tempered through sharp and complicated class struggle and the struggle between the two lines, the great, glorious and correct Chinese Communist Party grew in strength. Under the leadership of the proletariat and based on the worker-peasant alliance, the great revolutionary unity of the people of various nationalities is stronger than ever. The dictatorship of the proletariat in our country is more consolidated.
Education in ideology and political line was an impetus to all fields of socialist construction in making new achievements. Relying on their collective strength and supported by the working class and the people of the whole country, hundreds of millions of poor and lower-middle peasants and other commune members fought tenaciously iri overcoming serious natural disasters and won a good harvest. Industrial output continued to rise with improved quality and increased varieties. State plans for steel, coal, crude oil, chemical fertilizer, electric power, transport and communications, etc. were fulfilled or overfulfilled. The financial and commercial situation is good, prices are stable and the life of the people has improved. The revolution in education is developing. There are new achievements in science, technology and medical and health work. Creative work by the masses in art and literature is increasing and mass sports activities are spreading on a wide scale. New proletarian things are springing up with vigour in different fields and are growing sturdily.
The Chinese Government and people continued to carry out Chairman Mao's revolutionary line in foreign affairs and made important achievements on the diplomatic front. China's revolutionary friendship with the fraternal socialist countries continued to grow; her relations of co-operation with friendly countries continued to be strengthened; she established diplomatic relations with more countries. The Chinese people had friendly exchanges with other peoples on a wider scale; we support and assist each other, helping the world situation continue to develop in a direction favourable to the people of the world.
The developments in the domestic and international situation helped us understand more deeply that "the current Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is absolutely necessary and most timely for consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, preventing capitalist restoration and building socialism." The monsters and freaks who made every attempt to undermine this great revolution and the heroes who even in their dreams want to turn China into their colony have been mercilessly ridiculed by history.
Our great leader Chairman Mao recently taught us that victory should not make us swell-headed. In the days of war, when our army won a battle it would sum up its experience, set forth new tasks and continue to press ahead. Chairman Mao also instructs us to "dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, and never seek hegemony." The tasks before us are: Do a good job of criticizing revisionism and rectifying the style of work, continue carrying out Chairman Mao's great strategic policy Be prepared against war, be prepared against natural disasters, and do everything for the people, rally the whole Party and the entire people, be modest and prudent, work hard, and continue advancing along the line laid down by the Ninth Party Congress.
In the new year, we must continue to grasp firmly and well the task of prime importance -- criticism of revisionism and rectification of the style of work. In doing this, criticism of revisionism comes first and only then rectification of the style of work. Party committees at all levels should make a strict distinction between the two different types of contradictions, those between ourselves and the enemy and those among the people themselves, always direct the spearhead of criticism against Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers and firmly keep to this general orientation in the struggle. The line of Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers is a counter-revolutionary revisionist line. They practised revisionism, not Marxism; they wanted a split, not unity; they intrigued and conspired and refused to be open and aboveboard. They betrayed the Party and the country and became renegades and traitors. Their criminal aim was to change fundamentally the Party's basic line and policies for the historical period of socialism, subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism. They vainly attempted to help the come-back of the landlord and bourgeois classes overthrown by our Party, army and people under the leadership of Chairman Mao. At home, they wanted to ally with the landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements and Rightists to institute a fascist dictatorship of the landlords and compradcr-bourgeoisie. Internationally, they wanted to capitulate to Soviet revisionist social-imperialism to oppose China, communism and the revolution. This is the essence of the revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers. It is this we must grasp for deep-going criticism. Every Party member should read and study seriously and persistently. Cadres at the higher and intermediate levels, in particular, should study hard and well the works by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin assigned by the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao's works. Only when one makes efforts and grasps the Marxist stand, viewpoint and method and becomes good at linking theory with practice can one see through the camouflage of Liu Shao-chi and other political swindlers, make a penetrating and thorough criticism of the revisionist absurdities politically, ideologically and theoretically, and accurately draw a line of demarcation between the correct and erroneous lines. In the movement to criticize revisionism and rectify the style of work, we must seriously draw experience and lessons from the struggles between the two lines and correct unhealthy tendencies. We must maintain vigilance against sabotage by a handful of class enemies and deal blows at them. When criticism of revisionism and rectification of the style of work are done well and the consciousness of the cadres and masses in the struggle between the two lines is heightened, the unity of the whole Party and the entire people on the basis of Mao Tsetung Thought will certainly be stronger and our revolutionary cause will continue to forge ahead with vigour.
We must fully perceive the enthusiasm of the masses for socialism aroused by the criticism of revisionism and the rectification of the style of work and carry out in a bettor way the general line laid down by Chairman Mao of going all out, aiming high and achieving greater, faster, better and more economical results in building socialism. To go all out and aim high, it is necessary to mobilize the masses to the full. The masses are the real heroes. We must always have faith in the majority of the people, first of all, in the majority of the basic masses, the workers and peasants. This is our fundamental starting point. Provided we truly rely on the masses, maintain independence and the initiative, persist in self-reliance and hard struggle and are diligent and frugal in running everything, we can certainly push our socialist construction forward at a fairly fast pace. In order to give full scope to the wisdom of the masses in building our socialist motherland, it is essential to implement in an all-round way Chairman Mao's proletarian policies, do deep-going and car eful ideological-political work, bring into play all positive factors, unite all those who can be united and turn negative factors into positive factors as far as possible.
In socialist construction, we must make further efforts to carry out the principle of taking agriculture as the foundation and industry as the leading factor, handle the relations among agriculture, light industry and heavy industry well, and do good work in agriculture and strengthen it. On the agricultural front, the mass movement In agriculture, learn from Tachai should be deepened and efforts made to ensure an all-round development in crop production, forestry, animal husbandry, side-line occupations and fisheries, with grain as the key link. On the industrial front, it is necessary to grasp the basic industries firmly, step up the expansion of those industries producing raw and other materials and the fuel and power industries, so as to promote the growth of the iron and steel industry and industry as a whole. It is necessary to carry forward the mass movement In industry, learn from Taching, to do ideological-political work well and rely on the masses of workers in strengthening the management of enterprises, improving the quality of products, lowering production costs and raising labour productivity. Struggle-criticism-transformation in the superstructure should be unswervingly continued so that socialist culture, education, science and health work flourish and help consolidate the socialist economic base still better. The People's Liberation Army should undertake rigorous training, make strict demands on itself, and strive to raise its political level and improve its military skills. The army and the people of the whole country should heighten vigilance and increase preparedness against war. Comrades in all fields of work should act in line with Chairman Mao's teaching "The line is the key link: once it is grasped, everything falls into place" and, while carrying out the specific lines and policies for different fields of work, keep firmly in mind the Party's basic line for the entire historical period of socialism as well as Chairman Mao's scientific analysis of classes and class struggle in socialist society. Only by so doing can we grasp the principal contradiction, prevent ourselves from going astray and do our work well.
The strengthening of centralized Party leadership is an important guarantee for new victories on all fronts. It is our Party's tradition that the Party committee at the highest level in a given area, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, exercises centralized leadership over all sectors, including Party, government, army and mass organizations. Party committees at all levels should adhere to democratic centralism. The Party committee itself should practise "rule by the voice of the many" and oppose "rule by the voice of one man alone" and ensure the unity of the committee on the basis of Mao Tsetung Thought. Party organizations at the basic level should make inner- Party democracy fuller and have criticism and self-criticism frequently. It is necessary to strive to create a political situation in which there are both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind and liveliness so as to help consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat by relying on the strength of the masses. The Trade Unions, the Communist Youth League, and the Red Guard, Little Red Soldier, poor and lower-middle peasant and women's organizations should.be consolidated step by step. In accordance with the principle of the three-in-one combination of old, middle-aged and young cadres, leading organs at all levels should pay attention to bringing into play the role of veteran cadres, training new cadres, and in particular cultivating cadres from among the workers, women and minority nationalities. Efforts should be made to help cadres on the job quickly raise their theoretical level and working ability. All cadres, old and new, in the army or in other fields, must modestly learn from the masses, do more investigation and study, persist in the mass line, and wholeheartedly serve the people.
The present international situation is excellent. The whole world is undergoing changes through a process of great turbulence, great division and great realignment. The revolutionary struggles of the people of various countries are developing in depth. The small and medium-sized countries are uniting on a broader scale in opposition to the hegemonism and power politics of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Soviet revisionism has further exposed itself as social-imperialism before the people of the world. No matter how Soviet revisionism and U.S. imperialism scheme and plot, they cannot hold back the dynamic trend of history -- that cbuntries want independence, nations want liberation and the people want revolution. In this new year we shall continue to implement Chairman Mao's revolutionary line in foreign affairs, further strengthen our solidarity with the, other socialist countries, resolutely support the revolutionary struggles of the people of various countries, strive for peaceful coexistence with countries of different social systems on the basis of the Five Principles, and work to promote the cause of human progress.
Recently, U.S. imperialism launched massive bombing against the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. The Chinese people voice their extreme indignation and strong condemnation of this act of aggression by U.S. imperialism. If the U.S. Government does not stop the bombing immediately and sign the "agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Viet Nam" but persists in its war of aggression, the Chinese people, as always, will resolutely fulfil their internationalist duty and give all-out support and assistance to the Vietnamese people in their war of resistance against U.S. aggression and for national salvation. The Chinese people will continue their firm support and assistance to the Lao and Cambodian people intneir struggle against U.S. aggression and for national salvation. We are convinced that victory belongs to the heroic people of the three Indochinese countries.
As we celebrate the new year, we express deep concern for our compatriots in Taiwan Province who are our own flesh and blood. We are determined to liberate Taiwan. Our thoughts turn to our compatriots in Hongkong and Macao. We send our best regards to our compatriots overseas, hoping that they make still greater contributions to the friendship between the people of China and other countries.
Let us, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee headed by Chairman Mao, unite to win still greater victories!
Peking Review, No. 1 January 5, 1973
Earlier this month, Nelson Rockefeller's hand-picked grand jury began to bring in indictments against more than 60 inmates who had participated in the heroic Attica uprising of September 9, 1971. Indicting the revolutionary fighters from Attica on criminal charges of "murder", "kipnapping", etc. the monopoly capitalist class and their agents are claiming that these revolutionaries are "individual terrorists." The grand jury indictments are for the purpose of 1) suppressing the just struggle of the Attica prisoners and 2; whitewashing the murderous and terrorist crimes committed by Rockefeller and the fascist state machine in barbaric- ally suppressing the just struggle of the Attica prisoners.
What is the real history of the Attica rebellion?
For months prior to the rebellion there was a situation of political upsurge in Attica. Widescale discussion took place and many inmates took up the study of Marxism- Leninism Mao Tsetung Thought as the sure compass for making revolution, In order to carry through this movement many struggles were waged in defense of the right to organize politically. While the fascists made increasing attacks, transferring and incarcerating many political activists in solitary confinement and attacking the right to leaflet and hold meetings, the inmates persisted in their activities and vigorously denounced and opposed these attacks.
In July 1971 a group of inmates submitted a list of just demands to the reactionary authorities. These included: an end to racial discrimination, an end to attacks on the right to organize politically, an end to violent attacks and brutality, an end to the fascist system of slave labor. On August 19 the inmates of A-block at Attica held a 1-day sick-call strike. On August 27 the entire prison engaged in a hunger strike and wore black armbands in honor of George Jackson, revolutionary martyr murdered by the fascist prison authorities in California one week earlier. Following this there was fur- there intensification of fascist harassment.
On September 8, 3 prisoners were criminally attacked by fascist prison guards under direct orders of the warden, severely beaten and incarcerated in solitary confinement. Enraged at this fascist atrocity the inmates on the following morning rose up and overthrew fascist authority. For four days they occupied a section of the prison and carried out resolute struggle against the fascist state machine. Repeated attacks were beaten back, political organs of the uprising established and various treacherous attempts at promoting capitulation were defeated. Refusing to rely for a minute on the sensibleness of the fascists, the prisoners armed themselves and pursued a course of self-reliance and thorough-going struggle. To suppress this struggle, Nixon and Rockefeller, true agents of the monopoly capitalist class, unleashed white terror against the prisoners. Scores of Attica revolutionaries were martyred in heroic resistance to fascism.
Who are the real criminals? Who engages in wanton murder, kidnapping, coercion and imprisonment? It is the U.S. monopoly capitalist class which maintains its rule through the terrorism perpetrated by its fascist state machine. When the working and oppressed people stand up to resist this fascism,the "legal system" (courts, grand juries, etc.) blames the people for the crimes of the monopoly capitalists, The prisons are instruments of class oppression and the heroic struggles waged within them are of great importance for the American working class and people. The uncompromising stand of the Attica inmates shines as a beacon to the whole American people to unite to overthrow fascism.
Today the reactionaries are working feverishly to intensify their fascist suppression of the Attica inmates. While the courts are attacking over 60 activists, millions of dollars have been spent to further militarize the "correctional facilities" at Attica and fascist rules and regulations have been greatly intensified. The number of guard towers has been doubled, the towers armed with new automatic weapons, armed guards stationed permanently right in the corridors, inmates forbidden to congregate in groups of more than three, discussion outlawed, and more than 100 revolutionaries remain incarcerated in isolation from the inmate population. All this has failed to crush resistance.
Despite the fascist suppression of the September 9 uprising and the armed occupation of the prison by the combined forces of the national guard, state police and prison guards, inmates are persisting in regular and wide-scale political discussion and are determined to carry forward the antifascist struggle. In July 1972 a three-day work strike was held throughout the prison in opposition to fascist measures of the reactionary prison authorities. On November 8, 140 prisoners held a demonstration in the exercise yard in support of Latin prisoners who were protesting against racial discrimination.
In the courts the men currently under indictment have taken a just stand, denouncing the indictments, pointing out who are the real criminals and refusing to renounce this just struggle. Conditions of solitary confinement and deprivation have served only to increase their militance and strengthen their unity. Repeatedly they have denounced many aspects of the fascist tribunal and indicated that they expect no justice in the court of the monopoly capitalist class and they are determined to carry their anti-fascist and revolutionary struggle through to the end.
The heroic stand and valiant struggles of the Attica inmates will not be forgotten. While the monopoly capitalists are feverishly preparing for all-round fascistization of American society, the American working class and people are embarking on anti-fascist revolution. The uncompromising stand of the Attica inmates is an inspiration to the revolutionary struggles of all the people and clearly shows that the fascist crimes of the monopoly capitalists cannot forestall their doom.
[Graphic.]
Comrades and friends:
Since the time of the FIRST CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST-LENINIST) held in Toronto and Montreal from January 1-8, 1972, the Party has won several victories on the organisational and political fronts. These victories can be summed up as 1. The victory of overcoming the division caused by the "Left"- sloganeering front of Khruschevite revisionism led by a revisionist professor from McGill University during 1971-72; and 2. The successful campaign to take the Marxist-Leninist political line to the masses during the last October federal election.
During the past year the basic method of winning victories was 1. Building the centralised organs of the Party; 2. Waging one campaign after another to increase the political and ideological level of the members and supporters; 3. Building close links with the masses by uniting with genuinely progressive and democratic forces which have emerged through their own struggles; 4. Supporting and sympathising with the ACTUAL STRUGGLES of the masses and 5. Systematically and persistently clarifying political and ideological issues through mass democracy meetings among the masses.
This method has, time and again, smashed the counter-revolutionary designs of various internal and external enemies to disrupt and liquidate the Party. The Party has strengthened with every struggle. The basis of building the Party amongst the masses is vigorous external class struggle and inner-Party class struggle. The "Left" sloganeering front of Khrushevite revisionism wished to liquidate the two struggles and thus liquidate the Party.
Fierce inner-Party class struggle erupted during the FIRST ORGANISATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST-LENINIST) held from November 17-19, 1972, against bourgeois individualism, liberalism, informality and decay resulting in the defeat of various bourgeois individualists of the revisionist professor's type who were engaged in corroding the Party from within. This defeat of the de- scendents of the revisionist professor has created tremendous enthusiasm amongst the members and supporters to SUPPORT ACTUAL STRUGGLES OF THE MASSES and to USE THE PARTY AS THE DECISIVE FACTOR IN LEADING THE ACTUAL STRUGGLES OF THE MASSES. This development and the victories on several fronts have created ample material conditions to call THE SECOND CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST-LENINIST). The conference is being held under two basic slogans:
SUPPORT THE ACTUAL STRUGGLES OF THE MASSES!
USE THE PARTY AS THE DECISIVE FACTOR IN LEADING THE ACTUAL STRUGGLES OF THE MASSES!
The SECOND CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA (MARXIST-LENINIST) is open to all genuinely progressive and anti-imperialist individuals and groups inside the Party and outside. All the sessions of the conference will be based on the fundamental concepts of 1. Mutual exchange of views for the sole purpose of arriving at the correct policies and plans and 2. Clarifying the Party's views in full view of the masses.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) calls upon all our members, close supporters and friends as well as other genuinely anti-imperialist individuals and groups to actively prepare for the conference and participate in developing the basic theory and tactics of the Canadian revolution.
SUPPORT THE ACTUAL STRUGGLES OF THE MASSES!
USE THE PARTY AS THE DECISIVE FACTOR IN LEADING THE ACTUAL STRUGGLES OF THE MASSES!
The following news items are based on reports which appeared in BUFFALO RED STAR, vol. 2, no.
Thousands of people in Buffalo have STOOD UP TO DENOUNCE THE FASCIST ARMY!
On January 5 during halftime at a basketball game in War Memorial Auditorium the U.S. imperialist army had the audacity to attempt to promote its nazi scheme for a "volunteer army", i.e. a mercenary force for aggression and war against the peoples of the whole world. In a pompous spectacle complete with a military band and the military exhortations of a fascist lackey, 75 "volunteers" were marched out onto the court to be inducted as the "Buffalo Braves Platoon." The wild ravings of the lackey official that the fascist army is a "people's army" brought close to 10,000 spectators to their feet, filled with rage at this vile lie. The lackey's rantings over the P.A. system was completely drowned out as the Auditorium resounded with anti-fascist slogans:
"Lies!"
"Down with the fascist army!"
This upsurge reveals the deep revolutionary sentiment of the American people. The working and oppressed people have deep and undying hatred for imperialism and fascism and are sure to put an end to them.
Over 150 persons in Buffalo have been arrested on charges of refusing induction into the imperialist armed forces. Most of these cases stem from occurences several years ago; a number are 8 years old. Why, at a time when the war in Indochina is supposedly close to ending, is the Federal Attorney so eager to prosecute these cases?
The Federal Attorney talks about "tightening up some loose ends." This is an interesting description of the matter. Are all the anti-imperialist masses "loose ends," Mr. Elvin, waiting to be. "tightened up?" The crime of the indicted men is refusal to serve as cannon-fodder for the monopoly capitalist class. In the late 1960's a powerful mass movement against imperialist war and aggression emerged among the American people. This gave rise to many events, including the open refusal of tens of thousands of American youth to become slaves for the fascist military. It is from this that the charges in these cases are based.
Today, while the monopoly capitalist class is making further preparations for imperialist wars, the mass movement in opposition to the monopoly capitalist class and for proletarian revolution is again emerging with tremendous intensity. The current indictments of draft resisters in Buffalo are part of a campaign to suppress all opposition to the fascist deeds of the monopoly capitalists. But such plots are doomed to failure. This week 10,000 "loose ends^ have stood up in War Memorial Auditorium. The day is not far off, Mr. Elvin, when the "loose ends" will be doing the "tightening up" on your monopoly capitalist masters and their lackeys.
IN the situation of a "no war, no peace" deadlock imposed on the Middle East by the two superpowers, the Arab people in 1972 carried out a heroic struggle to recover the occupied territories and regain the national rights of the Palestinian people. During the year, the Palestinian people and guerrillas overcame many difficulties and persevered in armed struggle to deal repeated blows at the Israeli aggressors; the people and armed forces of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and other countries, fighting for national defence, more than once repulsed Israeli military provocations and armed intrusions; and the anti-imperialist unity of the Arab countries and people is being further strengthened. The "Hussein plan" and other schemes aimed at strangling the Palestine revolution and attacking the Arab countries one by one which were contrived by one superpower with the tacit consent of the other have failed so far as a result of the opposition of the Arab people. The heroic and just struggle of the Arab people has won praise and support from the people of the whole world.
Cast Off Yoke of "No War, No Peace"
Bitter experience has taught the Arab people that the state of "no war, no peace" is the result of the two superpowers' contention for hegemony in the Middle East. To grab spheres of influence and strategic areas in the region and seize petroleum resources there, both the United States and the Soviet Union want to maintain a tense Middle East situation, but not so tense as to cause a direct U.S.-Soviet military confrontation. Manoeuvring in their desperate contention on the one hand, they came to a secret tacit agreement on the other to avoid direct military conflict through the Moscow summit talks and other channels, using Arab national interests as chips in counter-revolutionary political deals. As the Lebanese paper Hayat said in an article "Things have become clear in the past two years, particularly the last few months. Doubtlessly they testify to the co-operation, understanding, and entente established for years between the Russians and the Americans as far as the Middle East is concerned, and their plotting and co-ordination over questions concerning our destiny."
In this struggle, U.S. imperialism tried hard to impose the consequences of the "June 5" war of aggression on the Arab people in one way or another by taking advantage of the "no war, no peace" deadlock. It continued to arm Israel and instigated it to make armed attacks and provocations against Arab countries. At the same time, it set various "partial solution" political traps to this end. Soviet revisionist social-impe- rialism paid lip-service to opposing U.S.-Israeli aggression, but, just as one Arab paper pointed out, "the Soviet Union is in fact seeking the establishment of the present fait accompli and further complicating it so as to enable itself to keep a firm hold over the region and keep it always weak and in need of the Soviet Union."
The "no war, no peace" stalemate imposed by the superpowers has been widely criticized by Arab public opinion. It has become a strong call of the Arab world to get rid of the two overlords' control, break the deadlock, liberate the occupied Arab territories and restore the Palestinian people's national rights.
Tear Off the Veil of "Friendship"
It is comparatively easy to deal with an overt enemy but very difficult to guard against an enemy in the guise of a "friend." The Kuwait paper Al-Rai said that such a "friend" has put on "the veil of friendship coupled with enmity." The veil of "friendship" of Soviet revisionist social-imperialism was torn off by the Arab people in 1972.
Didn't social-imperialism advertise its "friendship" and "assistance" by selling weapons to the Arab countries? But it attached several "no's" to the arms sales: no selling of offensive weapons; no permission to use the weapons sold to recover the lost territories; no adequate supply of ammunition and spare parts; and no handing over to the buyer of some of the weapons sold but keeping them in the hands of its own military personnel. The Egyptian paper Al-Ahram commented aptly on such "assistance," saying "the Soviet military presence in Egypt became something of an ornament -- mere form and no function."
Soviet weapons are nothing more than an ornament when it comes to resisting U.S. and Israeli aggression, but they become weapons in the full sense of the word for the control, intervention and plunder of the countries receiving "aid." Coming on the heels of Soviet-made weapons are certain "demands": demands for privileges, for military bases, for natural resources and for money. The Egyptian weekly pointed out: "The Soviet Union benefited as an ornament dealer without fulfilling Egypt's demands."
As the Soviet revisionists time and again refused to provide Egypt with offensive weapons, President Sadat announced on July 18, 1972, the decision to "terminate the mission of the Soviet military advisers in Egypt." He declared that the Soviet military installations and equipment built inside Egyptian territory would become the property of Egypt. This bold decision of the Egyptian Government won warm support from the Egyptian people and extensive praise from Arab public opinion. It evoked strong reaction all over the world.
With the tacit agreement of the United States, the Soviet Union has sent large numbers of Jews in the U.S.S.R. to Israel, thus tearing into shreds its veil of "friendship." According to Israeli official sources, 30,000 Jews arrived in Israel from the Soviet Union in 1972. This figure surpassed the total number of Jews going to Israel in the previous 11 years.
The Arab people have come' to know how this "friend" has "assisted" them to eliminate the consequences of U.S.-Israeli aggression. The Egyptian weekly Akhbar el-Yom hit the nail on the head when it said: "If the United States is supplying Israel with arms, then the Soviet Union is supplying Israel with immigrants who carry these arms."
Arab People Determine Their Own Destiny
Papers and magazines in some big powers have been arguing whether the key to the solution of the Middle East question lies in Washington or Moscow. But farsighted public opinion in the Arab world says: "Mo, it lies in neither of them, but in the hands of the Arab people!" The key to victory is to rely on their own efforts, strengthen their unity and persist in the protracted struggle.
Houari Boumedienne, President of the Algerian Council of Revolution, noted that the Arabs should rely neither on the Soviet Union nor on the United States to settle their conflict with Israel. "Neither of them [the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.], nor any of the so-called big powers have the right to determine the destiny of the world, or the destiny of any of the world's peoples." "Late in the 20th century, the people, after being inspired by the spirit of revolution and liberation, are more able to solve their questions by relying on themselves and their own resources," stressed the weekly Al Masirah, published by the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Al Fateh).
The Arab world took many steps in 1972 to strengthen its unity and co-ordinate its stand. The emergency session of the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian People's Congress held in Cairo in April were important steps for strengthening unity among the Palestinian people, persisting in armed struggle and winning victory in the revolution. The leaders of Arab countries exchanged visits last year and some Arab states merged in one form or another. The meeting of the Arab League Council in Cairo in September and the November Conference of the Arab Foreign and Defence Ministers in Kuwait demonstrated that the Arab countries hope to mobilize Arab potentiality in the common struggle against the enemy through unremitting efforts.
The Arab people's struggle against aggression and control is now merging with the struggle of the Mediterranean countries to drive out the U.S. and Soviet fleets and make the Mediterranean a sea of security, with the struggle of the Gulf countries to free the area from the superpowers' contention, and with the struggle of oil-producing countries in the Middle East to defend national rights and interests. It demonstrates the common resolve of the people in the Middle East never to be parcelled out wilfully by the superpowers and never to be pushed around by power politics, but to decide their own destiny themselves.
The Arab people's just struggle is closely linked with the struggle of the third world countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America against the two overlords and is in concert with the trend among European countries to shake off the control of the two overlords and maintain their independence. Enjoying the sympathy and support of the peoples of the world, the 100 million Arab people, relying on their own strength, strengthening unity and persisting in protracted struggle, will certainly win! Peking Review, No. 2 January 12, 1973