The betrayal of Marxist-Leninist principles by the leaderships of the Communist Parties of many countries has necessitated the reconstruction of Marxist-Leninist Parties of the working class in those countries.
During the period from 1960 to the spring of 1966, Marxist-Leninists were in the ascendancy in the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It was during this period that the C.P.C. played its leading role in the exposure of modern revisionism and in the movement to rebuild the international Communist movement on the basis of Marxism-Leninism.
In those countries where objective conditions were such as to enable united Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations to be set up in the first years of this period (as in Australia, Austria, Belgium or France) correct relations based on proletarian internationalism were in general established between these Parties and Organisations and the Communist Party of China, these relations being conducted, on the Chinese side by the Marxist-Leninist-led International Department of the Chinese Party.
In those countries where objective conditions were such as not to enable united Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations to be set up in the first years of this period (as in Britain and the United States), the question of relations towards such Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations was left to the diplomatic representatives of the People’s Republic of China in those countries. And the Foreign Ministry and diplomatic service of the People’s Republic of China were already dominated by counter-revolutionary agents of the Chinese capitalist class long before the “cultural revolution” began.
Despite the fact that the first section of “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” is demagogically devoted to precepts on the need for Marxist-Leninist Parties, it could hardly be expected that counterrevolutionaries who are striving to destroy the Communist Party of China would adopt a more positive attitude towards the developing Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations in other countries.
The diplomatic representatives of the People’s Republic of China in Britain have long put forward the view verbally that Marxist-Leninist Parties in countries such as Britain are unnecessary. No mention was made in the bulletins of the Hsinhua News Agency of the Action Centre for Marxist-Leninist Unity – the aim of which was to form a united Marxist-Leninist Organisation in Britain – nor of the Conference of Marxist-Leninist Unity held in September 1967, nor of the Marxist-Leninist Organisation of Britain set up by that Conference. While invitations to receptions and film-shows at the Office of the Chinese Charge d’Affaires were extended to all kinds of capitalist, liberal and trotskyite elements, no such invitations were extended to, leading members of the A.C.M.L.U. or M.L.O.B. – except on one occasion immediately following a mild protest – although at the time these Organisations were sincerely, although mistakenly in support of the faction led by Mao Tse-tung. And people who had long been on the official invitation list of the Chinese Charge d’Affaires office were dropped from it as soon as their membership in the M.L.O.B. became known.
In general, the office of the Charge d’Affaires and the Hsinhua News Agency gave support and publicity respectively to “broad organisations” of friendship with China, such as the “Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, Ltd.” and the “Friends of China”. The latter organisation, led by opportunists like D. Volpe and A. Manchanda, is, in fact, not so much an organisation of friendship with China as one to foster support for the faction headed by Mao Tse-tung; it functions, therefore, as a propaganda arm of the Chinese capitalist class in Britain, and also, through its “leftist”, “revolutionary” pronouncements, as a net to catch anti-revisionists and divert them from the developing Marxist-Leninist Organisation of Britain.
Similarly, in the United States of America, full and favourable publicity is given to the opportunist-led spurious “Marxist-Leninist” Progressive Labor Party, while no mention is made of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. (Marxist-Leninist).
Certain diplomatic representatives of the People’s Republic of China in London went so far as to disseminate verbally slanderous attacks against certain of the leading members of the A.C.M.L.U. and later of the M.L.O.B.
The purpose of these intrigues was to try to bring the great international prestige of the Communist Party of China to bear against the developing Marxist-Leninist Organisation of Britain and in favour of all the elements seeking to disrupt the developing Marxist-Leninist Organisation – elements such as W. Ash, A. Manchanda and the capitalist J. Perry. Perry and Ash were among those who played a leading role in the attempt to disrupt the London Conference in 1963 which set up the first open Marxist-Leninist Group in Britain – the Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity.
Today, the leadership of the Communist Party of China has been usurped by a counter-revolutionary faction headed by Mao Tse-tung and serving the interests of the Chinese capitalist class.
This faction has raised to “Party level” the disruptive manoeuvres previously carried on by the diplomatic service of the state.
A significant role in these manoeuvres is being played by certain members of the “colonies” of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois “experts” in Peking. Most of these were seconded to China some years ago on the recommendation of revisionist-led Communist Parties to undertake translation, editorial and radio work.
Two of the most numerous of these foreign “colonies” in Peking are the English-speaking “experts” from Britain and the United States. The long-standing involvement of the C.P.G.B. in the affairs of the Communist Parties and national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where English is widely spoken, and the special interest of both the Chinese Marxist-Leninists and the Chinese revisionists. – with different motives – in these areas, led to large numbers of English-speaking “experts” going to Peking.
When the Communist Party of China took its stand on the basis of Marxism-Leninism in the early 1960s, most of these “experts” found no difficulty in changing their political views to suit the new environment. But the British and United States “colonies”, in particular, co-operated from the outset with the counter-revolutionary officials of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in assisting them in their attempts to disrupt the developing Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations and to foster support for diversionary organisations in their respective countries. The doyen of these careerist mercenaries in Peking is Anna Louise Strong, who was arrested in the Soviet Union in 1949 as an agent of imperialism.
Among the most prominent of these English-speaking mercenaries in Peking are the Americans Sidney Rittenberg and Robert Williams and the British Michael Shapiro and Rose Smith. Shapiro is the brother of Jack Shapiro, who distributes in Britain Anna Louise Strong’s “Letter From China”. Jack Shapiro is a leading member, with Manchanda, Birch and Ash, of the spurious “British Marxist-Leninist Organisation” recently set up as a counter-organisation to the Marxist-Leninist Organisation of Britain. And Ash is the London representative of the American “Progressive Labor Party”.
It is clearly no accident that J. Zamler, who was expelled, from the Preparatory Committee of the Conference of Marxist-Leninist Unity for factional and disruptive activity, was closely associated with both Ash and the representatives of the People’s Republic of China in London.
With their usurpation of power in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a more important role in the aim of disrupting the emerging International Marxist-Leninist movement has been given by the counter-revolutionary faction headed by Mao Tse-tung to these agents, and especially to S. Rittenberg, who has been allotted the task of acting as the chief mouthpiece of the Chinese counter-revolutionaries in relation to the developing Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations.
With the establishment of fraternal relations between the Chinese Party and the newly formed Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations in certain countries, some responsible members of these latter Parties were sent to Peking to carry out specialised work. Since the seizure of the leadership of the Chinese Party by the counter-revolutionaries, the strongest pressure has been brought to bear on these people to assist in the disruption of the Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations in their respective’ countries, and a number have succumbed to this pressure.
These old and new mercenaries are now being deployed by their Chinese counter-revolutionary masters in an attempt to disrupt not merely the developing Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations, but also those Marxist-Leninist Parties which have been established for some time, and have enjoyed fraternal relations with the Communist Party of China. For example, the leading role in moves to disrupt the Communist Party of Belgium (Marxist-Leninist) is being taken by the Graindorge-Vanderlinden group, while a precisely similar role in relation to the Marxist-Leninist Party of Austria is being played by the Hronek and Jocha groups. Both these groups of expelled renegades are being given the fullest support by the mercenaries in Peking and their masters.