CHARU MAZUMDAR
Translated from the original text as appeared in Bengali weekly Deshabrati, September 4, 1969.
From Liberation, Vol. II, No. 11 (September 1969).
Naxalbari represents the first ever application of Mao Tsetung Thought on the soil of India. It was in Naxalbari that the peasants for the first time launched their struggle for the seizure of power. For this reason, Naxalbari symbolizes the path of liberation for the exploited masses of the Indian people, thus ushering in a new era in the political history of India. This new political era in India can be understood only by what Comrade Stalin said about the Chinese revolution, that is, in India today armed revolution has begun its battle with armed counter-revolution. Waging revolutionary war has, therefore, become the only and main tactic of the revolutionary masses.
A correct leadership is essential for waging this revolutionary war successfully. It is precisely for this reason that the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) has been established. Unless we understand this new situation in India, we can have no understanding of the significance and work of the revolutionary Party. That is why our Party is the party of armed struggle, the party which will lead the Indian people’s democratic revolution to victory.
It is the duty of every member and every front of our Party to carry forward this revolutionary civil war. So, our Party’s work will always be directed towards carrying forward the revolutionary civil war.
The ways of doing things which were created and developed so far by the communist movement in India have become wholly and entirely useless in the present era. This is so because they are unable to serve the needs of the present era. The present revolutionary civil war can be carried on only on the basis of the Thought of Chairman Mao Tsetung and only by creating a new style of work.
So, the Party members must first of all be able to grasp the revolutionary politics, and must give prominence to this politics in all their work.
Secondly, every Party member must show initiative in whatever he does. He must adhere to our Party’s political line and general directive, study Mao Tsetung Thought, take initiative and thus be able to create ingenious ways of doing things. The practice of waiting for instructions to come from the Party leadership will rob this Party of its mobility and the Party will be unable to fulfil its revolutionary task.
Thirdly, every Party member must be highly vigilant. In this era, when imperialism is heading towards total collapse, world imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism have turned India into their base and are hatching plots to destroy great China and the national liberation struggles of south-east Asia. The armed struggle in India led by the revolutionary Party will foil all their plots. For this reason, they aim, on the one hand, at destroying our Party through repression while, on the other, they aim at undermining its fighting capability by sending their agents into the Party, thus creating political disruption within it. Our old revisionist ideas and style of work are forces which help the imperialist scheme. That is why every Party member must be on the alert and vigilant against erroneous politics and also against any attempt that may be made to undermine initiative in the name of carrying on ‘political struggle’ within Party. Our political consciousness and style of work are weapons with which we can prevent imperialist infiltration into our Party. So, every Party member must also be on the alert against such infiltration.
Fourthly, every Party member must be industrious. Influence of bourgeois ideology breeds laziness and passivity. Having revolutionary consciousness means having unfailing zeal to do hard work and fulfil arduous tasks.
Agreat responsibility has fallen on our shoulders. We have to translate into reality the dream of making a revolution — the dream which has remained unfulfilled during the forty years of communist movement in India. We can fulfil this task only by mobilizing our entire strength and industriousness and by combining the two. We can achieve our goal and make an ‘impossible’ thing possible only by bringing into full play our strength and ability.
