CHARU MAZUMDAR
from Liberation, Vol. III, No. 4 (February 1970)
The year 1969 has ended. What a year it was, what great victories the revolutionary masses of India won during the year! The spring thunder of the Naxalbari struggle in 1967 came as the happy augury. The revolutionaries of India listened to the radio broadcasts from Peking to understand the significance of this event. In November of that year was formed the All India Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries. What vacillation and obstacles, what distrust and treachery, were there both inside the Committee and outside. Gradually, the Committee became the meeting-place of the revolutionaries, overcame vacillation and won recognition. Attempts to follow the directives of the Committee were noticed everywhere and it was this that made possible the Srikakulam struggle. As this struggle developed beyond the scope of the Co-ordination Committee, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) was formed to meet the historical necessity. A new high tide appeared in the struggle with the formation of the revolutionary Party.
The peasant armed struggle is already raging everywhere, that is, in Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and, above all, in Andhra. Red political power in rudimentary form has come into existence in Srikakulam. The struggle may spread to Tamil Nadu and Kerala any moment. Active Party units have been formed in every province. And all this has happened in the space of just one year. We must certainly learn to recognize this tremendous advance of the revolutionary peasant armed struggle as an uncommon phenomenon. This is why I have said that 1969 was a year of great victories of the revolutionary masses of India.
How was this uncommon advance possible? This advance was possible because the Indian revolutionaries received the guidance of Chairman Mao Tsetung’s leadership every day through the radio broadcasts from Peking. This made it possible to arrive at a unanimity all over India regarding the general line and the main task of the Party. The experience of our struggle every day is constantly smashing the revisionist ideas in us and the unity among us is growing firmer in the light of this experience. The Party ranks are becoming self-reliant and their confidence is growing.
The ruling clique of India is caught up in a severe crisis and the revolutionary peasant armed struggle is daily accentuating the internal conflicts of the crisis-ridden ruling classes. It was in 1969 that the Congress party got split. All the governments at the State level and at the Centre are in the grip of instability. In Bihar the instability is such that no cabinet whatsoever can be formed. The so-called United Front is proving incapable of standing on its own legs as the alternative to the Congress. Both in Kerala and West Bengal the conflicts among the parties of the United Front are taking the form of open clashes. The revolutionary situation in India is daily becoming more excellent. The year 1970 has arrived with the promise of the birth of a disciplined people’s army and the emergence of extensive liberated areas.
Beset with crises at home and abroad, imperialism and social-imperialism have come to their wits’ end. To save themselves from these crises they are stepping up war preparations. Imperialism means war. The danger of a war is most acute today. This is precisely because imperialism and social-imperialism are in grave crisis. No matter where it breaks out the war will inevitably be directed against the great socialist China, because China is today the pivot of all the revolutionary struggles the world over, the source of inspiration for them and their reliable base area.
Today, imperialism and social-imperialism are openly threatening to use nuclear weapons. Hence, the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in this war is real, because this war will bring about the destruction of world imperialism. While greeting the 1970’s, the great Communist Party of China has pointed out : “The emergence of Soviet revisionist social-imperialism is but an episode in the course of imperialism heading for total collapse.” Chairman Mao has taught us that the reactionaries will never “step down from the stage of history of their own accord.” Hence, the danger of the use of nuclear weapons in the war, and the danger is very real, too.
The danger of a war has never been so real since World War II as at the present moment. This is why Chairman Mao has given the call to the world’s people : “People of the world, unite and oppose the war of aggression launched by any imperialism or social-imperialism, Specially one in which atom bombs are used as weapons If such a war breaks out, the people of the world should use revolutionary war to eliminate the war of aggression, and preparations should be made right now!” To be able to respond to this great call of Chairman Mao’s we must make preparations — both theoretical and material. To be prepared theoretically means raising the level of our study and application of Mao Tsetung Thought. We must constantly study Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung and his “three articles” and judge our own activities in the light of these teachings and try constantly to apply them correctly. To be prepared materially means, first, to carry on propaganda about the danger of a war not only among the members and sympathizers of our Party but also among the broad masses. The possibility of a nuclear war breaking out must be clearly pointed out during this propaganda. We must, however, be careful and see that our propaganda like the revisionist, does not scare the people. Our propaganda should be such as to create confidence among the masses and help them see that the horrifying picture of destruction of a nuclear war assiduously propagated for so long by imperialism and social-imperialism is false. The nuclear weapon is also a paper tiger. Nuclear weapons can do no harm to people staying in underground rooms or tunnels. There is a limit to the power of destruction of every weapon. Once we know this limit we can find ways to protect ourselves from it. The spectre of radiation effects and such other things, which imperialism and social-imperialism have publicized widely, is sheer nonsense concocted by them with a view to stifling the struggle of the revolutionary masses. We fear neither war nor the nuclear weapons. The confidence must be strengthened among the masses that in case the war breaks out it will bring our liberation as well as the liberation of mankind would be nearer. No force whatsoever can ever prevent the victory of the people and the onward march of the world.
Secondly, we must prepare the materiel for carrying on a revolutionary war. And what constitute our materiel? Are they the dynamites, explosives and fire-arms? Certainly not. Man is the main materiel in a revolutionary war. Once inspired with the revolutionary theory, that is, Mao Tsetung Thought, men turn into spiritual atom bombs which are more powerful than thousands of atom bombs. Ours is a country of 500 million people. Once we can rouse them with Mao Tsetung Thought so that they participate in revolutionary activity, we shall be able to put into effect all kinds of daring plans, carry the revolutionary war against the war of aggression through to victory, and even face a nuclear war.
Comrades, a great responsibility lies on our shoulders. Let us overcome all our vacillations and recall Chairman Mao’s teaching that true revolutionaries are those who voluntarily “take the heavy loads themselves.” Think of the poor and landless peasants of our country and the boundless misery, endless oppression and abject poverty, which for thousands of years have oppressed and are still oppressing them cruelly. Comrades, it is you who possess Mao Tsetung Thought — the great magic weapon — with which you can end the exploitation and oppression weighing them down heavily, and bring happiness to the tens of millions of our countrymen. There is nothing more sacred and worthy than being able to lay down one’s life for this great cause, and we are fortunate to have the privilege of being among the first to sacrifice everything for this great cause. This is precisely why we are Communists, why we are disciples of Chairman Mao.
The battle of annihilation, started by our Party and led by the poor and landless peasants, must be carried forward for the establishment of Red political power in various areas, and must spread to every state and throughout India. The poor and landless peasants will become self-reliant and politically conscious, and their creative power will develop through waging the guerrilla warfare. What seems impossible today will become possible tomorrow, and anew man, who fears neither the most arduous hardship nor death, will be born in the course of this struggle. Faced with such men, imperialism, social-imperialism and all their lackeys are certain to flinch and flee in dread like beaten curs. The people of the world will then chase them, frightened rats scurrying along the street, and beat them to death; the imperialist system will be buried and a new world without exploitation will arise.
The emergence of social-imperialism is but an episode in the era in which the world imperialist system is heading for total collapse. So, the various groups in India today, that have united to oppose the battle of annihilation by using the name of Chairman Mao, are also bound to fail in their attempt. This is the law of history. World revisionism is trying to unify these groups under the banner of spurious politics. This attempt of theirs is also bound to fail. We must intensify further our struggle against these spurious theories of theirs. Only thus can we enhance the vigilance of the members and sympathizers of our Party and prevent the infiltration of the agents of imperialism and social-imperialism into the Party.
Comrades, this is not the time to scatter our forces for carrying on propaganda. Select a particular area, a particular unit and a particular squad and then proceed to carry out successfully the battle of annihilation. Then select another unit and another squad, and carry on as before. In this way concentrate your work in one third of your selected area and, after our forces are consolidated in that part of the area, spread the struggle to the remaining parts. This is the method pointed out by Chairman Mao, and this is the only correct method. Let us not indulge in aimless political propaganda; the political propaganda must serve the aim of carrying out successfully the battle of annihilation.
Organization means cadres. Therefore, we must exert ourselves to the utmost to raise cadres from the masses of poor and landless peasants. Learn how to apply Chairman Mao’s cadre policy in every field of work. The rearing of cadres is closely related to our giving them increasingly more responsibility. Try to promote the poor and landless peasant cadres to higher committees and teach them how to carry out the responsibilities of the higher committees. The poor and landless peasant cadres will be able to organize work in a much better way.
Stop holding big conferences and meetings of cadres. Start consulting and exchanging opinions with the cadres at all levels as well as with the revolutionary masses on all matters. Encourage criticism inside the Party. Self-reliance and confidence are no doubt very good qualities but these may also give rise to self-complacency and arrogance, the two most harmful vices for a revolutionary. These vices can be rectified only through criticism. That is why in the present period we must encourage the comrades in making criticism. We have many things to learn about criticism also. We should always encourage criticism on the basis of work.
We must lay special stress on our work among women and children. Our attitude to the children should be such as to help them realize their dignity. We must educate them in Mao Tsetung Thought. Only thus can we safeguard the future of the revolution.
Comrades, never belittle the work you are doing. Who else, if not you, made the victories achieved in 1969 possible? Who else, if not you, dealt a telling blow to bourgeois nationalism by declaring that “China’s Chairman is our Chairman” ?
The 1970’s is here. Let us make this decade the decade of liberation of the vast exploited and oppressed masses of India. With Chairman Mao as our leader, we will surely triumph !
