Maoism by Harsh Thakor

Democracy and Class Struggle publish this personal appreciation of Marxism Leninism Maoism in short Maoism by Harsh Thakor as a contribution to discussion of the appreciation of Maoist thought in developing revolutionary struggle in the 21st Century.We are pleased that Harsh Thakor now upholds Maoism and not Mao Zedong Thought.

Today on the 26^th December we commemorate the birthday of the Immortal Revolutionary,Com.Mao Tse Tung.His contribution to mankind is indescribable in spheres of both theory and practice when leading the Long March, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution or developing his theories on politics and philosophy.

Mao Tse Tung propounded the theory of the continuous revolution sunder the dictatorship of the proletariat by discovering that even Socialist Societies had antagonistic classes.In the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China some of the most innovative developments were made in the history of mankind .

There was a debate in the Communist Movement about the replacement of Maoism with Mao Tse Tung Thought.

Earlier this same author defended Mao Thought against ism but after re-consideration has come to recognize Maoism as correct.

If we study the experience of the International Communist Movement , major peoples wars after the Chinese Revolution were all inspired by Maoism, particularly that of the Peruvian Communist Party Com.Gonzalo in fact stated in his interview how Maoism was the Marxism of the era when it came to aspects of philosophy, theory on peoples war, theory of continuous revolutions under proletarian dictatorship and on Imperialism.

The understanding and implementation of Maoism enabled the PCP lead the greatest of peoples wars since the Chinese Revolution, in light of the mass line. A major rectification campaign took place in 1979.

In the 1970´ s mass work was set up and painstaking work was done in setting up people´s mass organizations. People´s schools were also set up. After a meticulous education campaign in the villages´ peoples War was launched in 1980.The Peruvian Communist Party established bases of revolutionary people´s power through the People´s Guerilla Army. Revolutionary Peoples Committees were formed in villages consisting of 5 members. They represented the broad masses.

And chosen by representatives of the village mass organizations, of poor peasants, labuorers ,women, intellectuals, youth and children. Revolutionary democratic changes had to be carried out in the sphere of new politics, economics and new culture in the Countryside. By 1982 Revolutionary peasant committees had been created in the countryside. In the towns workers and youth organizations were mobilized in support. Peru is predominantly an agricultural country and thus the Countryside was given most importance. Peruvian Comrades heroically resisted their ruling government forces and set up some revolutionary base areas .At the end of 1986 the party had established a plan to develop base areas. In the early 1990´s the way the resisted the state armed forces encirclement was truly remarkable. The arrest of Comrade Gonzalo first and later 2 other leaders led to major setbacks.

The 1988 P.C.P plenum documents are of historical significance in studying mass line. A rectification campaign was launched. Heroic armed actions followed and in 1991 a studied document was brought out explaining points of strategic defensive, strategic equilibrium and Strategic offensive. This upheld at least theoretically the Chinese Experience. The 19th June 1986 political prisoners resistance in El Fronton Prison in Ayacucho was of historical significance to mass revolutionary Struggle. Prisoners of revolutionary war dipped their blood, which flowed like a river.Sadly the strong personality cult created around Comrade Gonzalo, the lack of development in urban areas and the eventual arrest of Com.Guzman gave a complete turnaround to the peoples War.

I also blame the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement for the setback. Quoting Com Scott Harrison in massline.info "One position defended here, that "all the mass work" of the Party should be "done through the People's Guerrilla Army" is rather dubious, in my opinion, and sounds like a reflection of what Mao called "a purely military point of view."

Although the Communist Party of India (peoples war) adopted it only in 2000 or the Maoist Communist Centre in a later stage it played a major role in the formation of the C.P.I(Maoist) in terms of rectifying past errors and development of military and massline as well as the re-organizing of the proletarian party.

Although the Communist Party of Phillipines used Mao Zedong Thought in both it’s formation and rectification period it also ultimately accepted Maoism,and it’s armed struggle is continuing.
 

Critiques have attempted to ridicule Maoism by using examples of the R.C.P.,U.S.A and the decline in the Sendero Luminoso.

In contradiction I state that look at the number of revolutionary groups in India still upholding Mao Zedong Thought who have either capitulated to the revisionist camp or are on the verge of capitulating to revisionism.C.P.I.(M.L.) Class Struggle,P.C.C.(Santosh Rana),C.P.I.(M.L.)Liberation erstwhile section sof C.P.I.(M.L) Janashakti group or C.P.I.(M.L) k.n.Ramchandran. have virtually capitulated while New Democracy,although still in the revolutionary camp is heading towards their path.The characteristic feature of these groups is that they wish to become a part of the parliamentary process.The only genuine revolutionary group in theory and practice still upholding Mao Zedong Thought is the Communist Party Re-Organization Centre of India Marxist-Leninist.

The most important element when accepting Maoism is recognizing that we are still in the era of ‘imperialism and Proletarian Revolution’ and not ’Total collapse of Imperialism”.The latter is what Lin Biao advocated and what the C.P.C erroneously propagated in 1969.Infact Maoism truly recognizes Mao’s thesis that Classes existed even in Socialist Societies and thus continuous revolutions had to be led under the dictatorship of the proletariat. Maoism does not negate the era of Leninism or Imperialism infact it develops it even further. Marx discovered Capitalism, Lenin discovered Imperialism while Mao developed the theory of the continuous revolutions under proletarian dictatorship. The fact that he took  Leninism to a higher stage endorses the acceptance of the terminology of Maoism. Mao also developed the theory of New Democratic Revolution and protracted peoples war for semi-colonial countries.Maoism does not negate the Leninist party concept but builds it even further,by the theory of continuous revolution.Mao’s thesis on protracted peoples war was a development of Lenin’s military theories and has applicability even in developed countries.

There is an erroneous trend that equates Mao’s ideology or Maoism with radical democracy. This negates the proletarian revolutionary line. An exponent of this is New left ideas and the most recent example is an essay by Bernard d’Mellow on Maoism.. Although it is a great essay, making an important contribution in upholding Mao’s positive contribution it derides the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Another trend exists that divorces Maoism from peoples wars worldwide which is advocated by the R.C.P.(U.S.A.) and the RAHUL Foundation in India.

They virtually advocate that the 1963 thesis of the C.P.C is now irrelevant by advocating the New Synthesis (R.C.P-U.S.A.) or ‘New Socialist Revolution .” (Rahul Foundation)

I wish to quote this document from the Peruvian Communist Party highlighting how Maoism contributed to the development of the peoples war.

INTRODUCTION

Upholding, defending and applying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Chairman Gonzalo has established the mass line of the Party. He begins by reaffirming himself in the proletarian conception that we must have in order to judge the problem of the masses. He expounds the political role the masses play in the struggle for power by way of the People's War and that the struggle for revindications must serve this end. He outlines which masses we should go to, principally to the basic masses, the workers and peasants and the many fronts of struggle according to their specific demands and grievances. We must apply the only Marxist tactic of going to the deepest and most profound masses, educating them in revolutionary violence and in the struggle against opportunism. He specifies that the mass work of the Party that leads the People's War is carried out through the people's army, and he indicates the importance of the generated organisms, as one of the forms of organizing the masses. We must do mass work within and for the People's War.

REAFFIRMATION OF THE PRINCIPLE THAT "THE MASSES MAKE HISTORY"

Chairman Gonzalo reaffirms himself on the powerful Marxist principle: "The masses make history" and teaches us to forge our Communist conception in struggle against the bourgeois conception which is centered around the individual as the axis of history. He states: "The masses are the very light of the world . . . they are its fiber, the inexhaustible heartbeat of history . . . when they speak everything trembles, the old order begins to shake, the high summits bow down, the stars change their course because the masses make everything possible and are capable of anything."

This reaffirmation is of great importance because it is part of the proletarian conception. It upholds the mass line and is applicable to everything, it allows judgment on everything from international questions to specific policies, because it is an ideological problem. No historic event, no movement of change, no revolution can be made without the participation of the masses. This applies to the Party because it has a mass character and it cannot be unlinked from them, otherwise it would be extinguished or diluted. The masses, in order to guarantee the course of their struggle, must be led by the Party. The Party has masses: The militants, who as Communists must necessarily embody this principle and overthrow that rotten individualism which is not a proletarian conception through a constant struggle. It can be observed how our process of the People's War powerfully aids this transformation. Furthermore, one principle of leadership is "from the masses to the masses." This also applies to the People's War because it is a war of the masses; they are the very source of it. It is with this Marxist conception that we make the People's War.

He particularly highlights the rebellion of the masses as the makers of history, telling us: "Since ancient times the masses live subject to oppression and exploitation, but they have always rebelled. This is a long and inexhaustible history . . . From the beginning, since the masses have fought their oppressors they have always clamored for organizing their rebellion, their arming, their uprising, that it be led, that it be conducted. It has always been this way and it shall continue to be so. Even after there is another world it shall continue to be this way only in another form." "The masses clamor to organize the rebellion, and therefore the Party, its leaders, cadre and militants today have a peremptory obligation, a destiny: To organize the disorganized power of the masses, and this can only be done with arms in hand. We must arm the masses bit by bit, part by part, until the general arming of the people. When this goal is reached, there shall be no exploitation on Earth."

Here he expresses his absolute conviction in the masses, in their historical and political necessity to rebel, to arm themselves, their demand that they be led and organized. He summons the Communist Parties to fulfil the demand that comes from Marx and Engels who taught us that there are two powers on the Earth: The armed force of the reactionaries and the disorganized masses. Chairman Gonzalo propounds that if we organize this power, what is only potential shall become deeds, and what is a possibility shall become a reality. Everything is a house of cards if it is not based on the masses. Concretely, the problem is to go from the state of disorganized masses to masses that are militarily organized.

We should organize the masses with arms in hand because they clamor to organize the rebellion. As such, we must apply People's War which is the principal form of struggle, and organize the masses for the seizure of power led by the Party. This is clearly in keeping with the principal contradiction in the world today, with the strategic offensive of the world revolution, and with the principal tendency in today's world: revolution. Furthermore, the mass line aims at materializing what Marx indicated, the general arming of the people with the goal of guaranteeing the triumph of the revolution and preventing capitalist restoration. This is a thought of great perspectives that shall carry us up to Communism: Only by organizing this sea of armed masses shall it be possible to defend what is conquered and develop the democratic, socialist and cultural revolutions.

He refutes those who propound that the masses don't want to make revolution or that the masses will not support the People's War. He teaches us that the problem is not with the masses because they are ready to rebel, but rather it is with the Communist Parties who must assume their obligation to lead them and rise up in arms. He differentiates from those positions that today are based on "the accumulation of forces," which propose parsimoniously accumulating the masses by way of the so-called "democratic spaces" or the use of legality. Such an accumulation of forces doesn't correspond to the current moment of the international and national class struggle, it doesn't fit in the type of democratic revolution we are unfolding and which shall have other characteristics within the socialist revolution, since we are living in a revolutionary situation of unequal development in the world. He is opposed to and condemns the opportunist positions of making the masses tail after the big bourgeoisie, either on an electoral path or by armed actions under the command of a super power or power.

Thus, he upholds the great slogan of Chairman Mao: "It is right to rebel," and conceives that the problem of the masses today is that the Communist Parties must mobilize, politicize, organize and arm the masses to seize power, specifying people's war.

He specifies the necessity of the scientific organization of poverty. Chairman Gonzalo stresses that those most disposed to rebel, who clamor most to organize the rebellion are the poorest masses, and we must pay particular attention to the revolutionary and scientific organization of the masses. This is not against class criteria because as he shows, poverty has its origin in exploitation, in the class struggle: "Misery exists next to fabulous wealth; even the Utopians knew that both are linked: A colossal and challenging wealth next to a revealing and clamorous poverty. This is because exploitation exists."

This thesis is connected to Marx who discovered the revolutionary potential of poverty and the need to scientifically organize it for the revolution. Marx taught us that the proletariat does not have property and is the creative class, the only class that shall destroy property and thus destroy itself as a class. This thesis is tied to Lenin, who taught us that social revolution does not arise from programs but from the fact that millions of people say we prefer to die fighting for revolution rather than live as victims of hunger. And it is also tied to Chairman Mao, who conceived that poverty shall propel the yearning for change, for action, for revolution, that it is a blank piece of paper on which the newest and most beautiful words can be written.

He takes into account the specific conditions of our society, and teaches us that in Peru, to speak about the masses is to speak of the peasant masses, the poor peasants; that the 1920s, 1940s and 1960s demonstrate that the peasant struggles shake the very foundation of the State, but that they lack a guide: The ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought. They lack a motor: The People's War and the just and correct leadership of the Communist Party. The peasants' struggles were not able to take the correct path to power, and the blood they shed was used to fetter them and mold them to the old order. These were unforgettable bloodbaths which left extraordinary lessons. The 1980s show that the true mobilization of the armed peasant masses organized in the Communist Party and People's Guerrilla Army has begun, and that they are giving their precious blood for the new power that is blossoming and developing through the People's War.

This is particularity strategic because it permits the understanding that revolution in the world is defined on the side of the poorest, who constitute the majority and who are the most disposed to rebel. In each revolution we must go to the poorest applying the three requirements that the scientific organization of poverty demands: Ideology, people's war and a Communist Party.

In this regard, Chairman Gonzalo says: "Poverty is a driving force of the revolution. The poorest are the most revolutionary; poverty is the most beautiful song; . . . poverty is not a disgrace, it is an honor, our mountains with their masses are the source of our revolution, who with their hands led by the Communist Party shall build a new world. Our guide: Ideology. Our motor: The armed struggle. Our leadership: The Communist Party."

Excerpts from 1988 Interview in El Diario.

EL DIARIO: Chairman, let's talk about one of the ideological foundations of the PCP, Maoism. Why do you consider Maoism the third stage of Marxism?

CHAIRMAN GONZALO: This point is crucial, and of enormous consequence. For us, Marxism is a process of development, and this great process has given us a new, third, and higher stage. Why do we say that we are in a new, third, and higher stage, Maoism? We say this because in examining the three component parts of Marxism, it is clearly evident that Chairman Mao Tsetung has developed each one of these three parts. Let's enumerate them: in Marxist philosophy no one can deny his great contribution to the development of dialectics, focusing on the law of contradiction, establishing that it is the only fundamental law. On political economy, it will suffice to highlight two things. The first, of immediate and concrete importance for us, is bureaucrat capitalism, and second, the development of the political economy of socialism, since in synthesis we can say that it is Mao who really established and developed the political economy of socialism.

With regard to scientific socialism, it is enough to point to people's war, since it is with Chairman Mao Tsetung that the international proletariat has attained a fully developed military theory, giving us then the military theory of our class, the proletariat, applicable everywhere. We believe that these three questions demonstrate a development of universal character. Looked at in this way what we have is a new stage--and we call it the third one, because Marxism has two preceding stages, that of Marx and that of Lenin, which is why we speak of Marxism-Leninism. A higher stage, because with Maoism the ideology of the worldwide proletariat attains its highest development up to now, its loftiest peak, but with the understanding that Marxism is--if you'll excuse the reiteration--a dialectical unity that develops through great leaps, and that these great leaps are what give rise to stages. So for us, what exists in the world today is Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and principally Maoism. We think that to be Marxists today, to be Communists, necessarily demands that we be Marxist-Leninist-Maoists and principally Maoists. Otherwise, we couldn't be genuine communists.

I would like to emphasize a situation that is rarely taken into account and definitely deserves to be studied closely today. I am referring to Mao Tsetung's development of Lenin's great thesis on imperialism. This is of great importance today, and in the historical stage that is presently unfolding. Again simply listing his contributions, we could point out the following: he discovered a law of imperialism when he said that imperialism makes trouble and fails, makes trouble again and fails again, until its final doom.

He also specified a period in the process of development of imperialism, which he called "the next 50 to 100 years," years, as he said, unparalleled on earth, during which, as we understand it, we will sweep imperialism and reaction from the face of the earth. He also pointed to something that today more than ever can't be ignored. He said that "a period of struggle between U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism has begun." In addition, we all know of his great strategic thesis that "imperialism and all reactionaries are paper tigers."

This is a thesis of enormous importance and we must keep in mind that Chairman Mao applied this thesis to U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism, both of which we have no reason to be afraid of. But also, we must keep in mind how he saw the development of war, following exactly what Lenin had stated about the era of wars that had opened up in the world. The Chairman has taught us that a country, a nation, a people, no matter how small, can defeat the most powerful exploiter and dominator on Earth if they dare to take up arms.

Moreover, he has taught us how to understand the process of war and how never to fall for nuclear blackmail. I believe that these are some questions that we must keep in mind in order to understand how Chairman Mao Tsetung developed Lenin's great thesis on imperialism. And why do I insist on this?

Because we understand that just as Lenin's contributions are based on the great work of Marx, Chairman Mao Tsetung's developments are based on the great work of Marx and Lenin on Marxism-Leninism. We would never be able to understand Maoism, without understanding Marxism-Leninism.

We believe that these things are of great importance today, and for us it has been decisive to understand Maoism in theory and practice as a third, new, and higher stage.

EL DIARIO: Chairman Gonzalo, do you believe that if José Carlos Mariátegui were alive he would uphold the theories and contributions of Chairman Mao?

CHAIRMAN GONZALO: In synthesis, Mariátegui was a Marxist-Leninist. Beyond that, in Mariátegui, the founder of the Party, we find theses similar to those that Chairman Mao has made universal. Thus, as I see it, today Mariátegui would be a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. This is not speculation, it is simply the product of understanding the life and work of José Carlos Mariátegui.

EL DIARIO: Moving on to another question, what is the ideology of the proletariat and what role does it play in the social processes of the world today? What do the classics, Marx, Lenin andMao, mean to the PCP?

CHAIRMAN GONZALO: Today, tomorrow, and in these stormy decades in which we live, we can see the enormous and overriding importance that proletarian ideology has. First, although I'm emphasizing something that is well known, it is the theory and practice of the final class in history. The ideology of the proletariat is the product of the struggle of the international proletariat. It also comprehends the study and understanding of the whole historical process of class struggle that went on before the proletariat, of the struggle of the peasantry in particular, the great heroic struggles they have waged--it represents the highest level of study and understanding that science has produced.

In sum, the ideology of the proletariat, the great creation of Marx, is the highest world outlook that has ever been or ever will be seen on Earth. It is the world outlook, the scientific ideology that for the first time provided mankind, our class principally, and the people, with a theoretical and practical instrument for transforming the world. And we have seen how everything that he predicted has come about. Marxism has been developing, it has become Marxism-Leninism, and today Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. And we see how this ideology is the only one capable of transforming the world, making revolution, and leading us to the inevitable goal of communism. It is of enormous importance.

I would like to emphasize something: it is ideology, but it is scientific. Nevertheless, we must understand very well that we cannot make any concessions to the stand of the bourgeoisie which wants to reduce the ideology of the proletariat to a simple method. To do so is to debase it and deny it. Please excuse my insistence, but as Chairman Mao said, "it isn't enough to say it once, but a hundred times, it isn't enough to say it to a few, but to many." Basing myself on this I say that the ideology of the proletariat, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and today principally Maoism, is the only all-powerful ideology because it is true, and historical facts are showing that.

It is the product aside from what has already been said, of the extraordinary work of extraordinary historical figures like Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Chairman Mao Tsetung, to point out the most outstanding. But among them we give special emphasis to three: Marx, Lenin, and Chairman Mao Tsetung as the three banners that are embodied, once again, in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and principally Maoism. And what, precisely, is our task today? It is to raise up the banner of our ideology, defend, and apply it, and to struggle energetically so that it will lead and guide the world revolution. Without proletarian ideology, there is no revolution. Without proletarian ideology, there is no hope for our class and the people. Without proletarian ideology, there is no communism.

EL DIARIO: Speaking of ideology, why Gonzalo Thought?

CHAIRMAN GONZALO: Marxism has always taught us that the problem lies in the application of universal truth. Chairman Mao Tsetung was extremely insistent on this point, that if Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is not applied to concrete reality, it is not possible to lead a revolution, not possible to transform the old order, destroy it, or create a new one.

It is the application of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the Peruvian revolution that has produced Gonzalo Thought. Gonzalo Thought has been forged in the class struggle of our people, mainly the proletariat, in the incessant struggles of the peasantry, and in the larger framework of the world revolution, in the midst of these earthshaking battles, applying as faithfully as possible the universal truths to the concrete conditions of our country. Previously we called it the Guiding Thought.

And if today the Party, through its Congress, has sanctioned the term Gonzalo Thought, it's because a leap has been made in the Guiding Thought through the development of the people's war. In sum, Gonzalo Thought is none other than the application of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to our concrete reality. This means that it is principal specifically for our Party, for the people's war and for the revolution in our country, and I want to emphasize that. But for us, looking at our ideology in universal terms, I emphasize once again, it is Maoism that is principal.

EL DIARIO: Chairman, how does the PCP sustain the huge Party apparatus, including the People's Guerrilla Army?

CHAIRMAN GONZALO: I think this deserves a detailed explanation. Concerning the Party, Chairman Mao teaches us, as did Marx, Lenin and all the great Marxists, that the Party is not a mass party, though the Party has a mass character. It has a mass character in the sense that while being a select organization--a selection of the best, of the proven, of those, as Stalin said, who have what it takes--being numerically small in proportion to the broad masses, the Party defends the interests of the proletariat, and takes responsibility for the class interests of the proletariat in taking responsibility for its emancipation, which can only come with communism. But since other classes that make up the people also participate in the revolution, the Party defends their interests as well, in accordance with the fact that the proletariat can only emancipate itself by emancipating all the oppressed. There is no other way it can emancipate itself.

Because of this, the Party has a mass character, but it isn't a mass party. The mass party, of which so much is said today, is nothing but an expression, once again, of rotten revisionist positions. Such parties are parties of followers, of officials, organizational machines. Our Party is a Party of fighters, of leaders, an instrument of war like the one Lenin himself would demand. I believe we can understand this more deeply if we remember how many Bolsheviks there were when the October Revolution triumphed: 80 thousand in a country of 150 million inhabitants.

The Party is a system of organizations and obviously has its necessities. The formation of an army that is numerically much larger, more vast, also has its necessities. Marxism, and especially Chairman Mao, has taught us how to resolve this problem, too. The CPC, based on Chairman Mao Tsetung's teachings, concluded that giving economic aid to parties was corrosive, and that it was a revisionist policy, because a Party must be self-reliant. This is what we have followed: self-reliance. Self-reliance has to do with economic necessities, but mainly, as we understand it, it has to do with ideological and political orientation. With that as our starting point we can see how to deal with the economic necessities which are always present--it would be an error to say they don't exist.

Basing ourselves on these criteria we have resolved the problem and we will continue to resolve it by relying on the masses. It is the masses of our people, the proletariat, our class--because this is our class--to which we owe our existence and which we serve; our peasantry, mainly the poor peasants; the intellectuals; the petty bourgeoisie; the advanced; the revolutionaries, those who want a radical transformation, in a word, revolution--that's who sustains the Party. It is mainly the peasantry and the proletariat who sustain it. And taking it further, the poor peasants especially are the ones who go without to give us food from their tables, who share their blanket with us, and make a little place for us in their hut. They are the ones who sustain us, support us and even give us their own blood, as does the proletariat, as do the intellectuals. This is how we are developing. This is what we base ourselves on.

This problem brings us to the following questions. Since we start from this basis it allows us to be independent, to be under no one's command. Because in the international communist movement itbecame the habit to obey commands. Khrushchev was a champion at issuing commands, as is Gorbachev today, or that sinister character Deng. Independence, because each Communist Party must decide for itself since it is responsible for its own revolution, not in order to separate it from the world revolution, but precisely in order to serve it. This allows us to make our own decisions, to decide for ourselves. Chairman Mao said it like this: we were given a lot of advice, some good, some bad. We accepted the good and rejected the bad. But if we had accepted some erroneous principle, the responsibility would not have belonged to those who gave the advice, but to us. Why? Because we make our own decisions. That comes with independence, and it leads to self-sufficiency, to self-reliance.

Does this mean that we don't recognize proletarian internationalism? No, on the contrary, we are fervent and consistent practitioners of proletarian internationalism. And we are confident that we have the support of the international proletariat, the oppressed nations, the peoples of the world, the parties or organizations that remain loyal to Marxism whatever their degree of development, and we recognize that the first thing that they give us, their primary support, is their own struggle. The propaganda or celebrations that they carry out are a form of support that is creating favorable public opinion and this is an expression of proletarian internationalism. Proletarian internationalism also underlies the advice they give us and the opinions they express. But, I insist, we are the ones who must decide whether we accept these or not. If they are correct, we welcome them, obviously, because between Parties we have the obligation to help each other, especially in such difficult and complex times.

Then, to reiterate, all the struggles waged by the proletariat, the oppressed nations, the peoples of the world, the parties and organizations steadfast and loyal to Marxism--all that struggle is the primary concrete form of proletarian internationalist help. Nevertheless, the greatest assistance we have is undying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the ideology of the international proletariat, which has been generated by the working class through long decades and thousands of struggles all over the world. This is the greatest assistance we receive because it is the light, without which our eyes would see nothing. But with this light our eyes can see and our hands can act. This is how we see this problem, and this is how we advance.