First Published: Global Digest, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 1966.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Global Digest Introduction: This text is condensed from the Ad Hoc Bulletin of March 1966.
Since U.S. imperialism stepped into the role as the number one world oppressor after the defeat of fascism two decades ago, the dual tactics of imperialism – that of waging war while talking “peace” has been crystal clear to many Marxist-Leninists.
Today, L. B. Johnson is waging a savage, genocidal war against the people of Southeast Asia to satisfy the interests of America’s sixty billionaire families.
Tens of thousands across the country are becoming awakened to the immoral and inhumane policies of U.S., imperialism. They are making themselves heard thru direct mass activity and through a number of forms of struggle. This rising resentment among all sectors of American society against Johnson’s war policies has caused the Administration deep concern and in an attempt to pacify the people, L. B. Johnson launched a “peace offensive”.
Events of the past year have awakened millions to the fact that the central aim of the foreign policy of U.S. imperialism is to destroy any people – any government – which chooses freedom over subjugation, which refuses to bend to the baton of L. B. Johnson, imperialism’s Board Chairman. What is not so obvious, but none the less odious, is the diplomatic machinations of the international revisionists in their role as servitor to U.S. imperialism.
The struggle against U.S. imperialism in Viet Nam is the focal point of struggle against imperialism everywhere. Simply stated, it is a struggle to determine if millions in Asia, Africa and Latin America can be free to build their own society or it they must continue to live under the heel of imperialism.
Today the heroic people of Viet Nam are standing in the forefront against the savage aggression of U.S. imperialism. They have the material support of China and the moral and spiritual support of the overwhelming majority of mankind.
But the Brezhnev-Kosygin clique, who possess sufficient air and naval forces to challenge and hall the slaughter of the Vietnamese people, choose to offer token military aid to conceal the essence of their true role, that of working in consort with imperialism in the diplomatic held to “stabilize” the world and halt the people’s movements for liberation and national salvation all over the globe.
There has been a flurry of Soviet diplomatic activity in the past few months from the UN to Ulan Bator which is clearly designed to force a phoney peace conference on the Vietnamese people, to guarantee the presence of U.S. imperialism in Southeast Asia, to halt national liberation movements throughout the Third World, and to complete the northern trust of the USSR-USA pincer around China, anchored in India on the West and Japan on the East.
Let us take a closer view of the sinister diplomatic maneuvers of the Brezhnev-Kosygin clique.
During the past year the heirs of Khrushchov have gone out of their way to show a special friendship for the Japanese reactionaries (if the Sato government. They have closed their eyes to the Japanese-South Korea Treaty, which is an instrument of aggression against the People’s Republic of Korea and China, and a clear indication of the revival of Japanese militarism under the tutelage of U.S. imperialism.
The Soviet leaders have hailed the Sato government as a “stabilizing force in Asia”, as occupying “a leading position in Asia”, and they called for close coordination of the Soviet Union and the Japanese reactionaries in international affairs.
Gromyko’s recent declaration that the development of amicable relations between the Soviet government and the Sato regime would not harm Japan’s relations with “third countries” (USA) clearly points up the fact that the course of USSR-USA collaboration has found a new avenue in the Far East thru the Japanese reactionaries.
In spite of Japan’s role as faithful mouthpiece to U.S. imperialism in the United Nations, the Soviet leadership has the utter gall to declare the Sato government as “peace-loving” and a government resisting the policy of U.S. aggression!!!
Last December, the Kosygin-Brezhnev Clique announced a three pronged diplomatic attack against Viet Nam and the People’s Republic, of China. Kosygin went to Tashkent, Shelepin to Hanoi, and Brezhnev to Ulan Bator.
Why were the modern revisionists so interested in pressuring Pakistan into an agreement with the Indian reactionaries at Tashkent, thus denying the peoples of Kashmir the right to self-determination and independence from the oppressive Indian regime?
The maneuvers of Kosygin at Tashkent are plain for the world to see. It was a part of a general plan of “parallel actions” in the service of U.S. imperialism. The ink was hardly dry on the Indian Pakistan agreement when the Soviet leaders hailed it as the “Tashkent Spirit”. Tactically, this move was designed to publicize their general line of “peaceful coexistence” and to undermine and weaken the united struggle against U.S. imperialism in Southeast. Asia and elsewhere. The forced treaty also served U.S. imperialism’s global strategy of containment and isolation of China with the Soviet Union putting on the pressure in Asia.
The Johnson Administration hailed the Tashkent Agreement with these words from Vice President Humphrey: “That was well done.” The New York Times noted that the interests of the United States and the Soviet Union “seem to coincide” on the Indian-Pakistan question.
The interests of the Soviet Union and the United States did indeed coincide on the India-Pakistan question. Both supported the Indian reactionaries and by so doing denied the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir. The settlement temporarily settled the hostilities on die Indian subcontinent so that the Indian reactionaries could direct their attentions to the service of Imperialism by transforming India into the western anchor of a USSR-USA-Japan encirclement of China.
Hubert Humphrey with obvious self-satisfaction, recently remarked, “The Soviets are trying to build a containment wall around Communist China.” There is little doubt that Humphrey had in mind the large Soviet Delegation to Ulan Bator led by Brezhnev. This move was announced simultaneously with the Kosygin Delegation to Tashkent and the Shelepin Delegation to Hanoi. The mutual, assistance pact forced upon Mongolia by Brezhnev was but another act by the revisionist leadership of the Soviet Union to turn their attention to Asia, to bring Soviet pressures to bear on China’s northern frontier and to work in consort with U.S. imperialism to contain China and dominate the world.
In January, McGeorge Bundy speaking on the Viet Nam question noted that “It has been made clear to us for some time that the Soviet Government hopes there can be a peaceful settlement”. The type of “peaceful settlement” of which the Special Assistant to L. B. Johnson speaks need not be defined here. It will suffice to say that he is speaking of peace on imperialism’s terms which means the continued subjugation of the Vietnamese people.
It was during this same month that a Soviet Delegation under A. N. Shelepin arrived in Hanoi. The journey to Hanoi was given much advanced publicity. It took place amid the fanfare of the great peace fraud of L. B. Johnson and the “Spirit of Tashkent” ballyhooed by the Brezhnev-Kosygin clique.
At this same time the Soviet press made a great deal of fuss over the “Tashkent Spirit” by. Calling for the settlement of differences through negotiations, by noting that the settlement of Tashkent far exceeds the confines of the Indian sub-continent, and they even went so far as to announce that the Indian-Pakistan agreement was of great importance to all of Southeast Asia. Thus by implication, the Soviet leaders again called on the Vietnamese people to sit down with L. B. Johnson at a conference table and surrender their homeland to the world oppressor.
What was Shelepin’s attitude to U.S. Imperialism’s “peace offensive” hoax? He did not expose it, nor did he condemn it. But if Shelepin was silent on imperialism’s role in Viet Nam, the Soviet leaders at home were not. At the conclusion of Soviet-Japanese talks in Moscow a joint communique was issued which said nothing about U.S. aggression but noted that both sides viewed the events in Viet Nam “as a menace to peace.” We could expect such a statement from the Japanese reactionaries but for the Soviet leadership to call on the heroic people of Viet Nam to halt their struggle for liberation in the name of peace at the price of freedom, peace without liberation, places them squarely on the side of imperialism in its quest for world domination, and in opposition to national independence for hundreds of millions who suffer under the imperialist yoke.
Moscow trumpeted the Hanoi mission by Shelepin as a new commitment for more military support for the Vietnamese people including more advanced weapons, but Charles Bartlett reported in the Chicago Sun Times (2/27/66) that American military commanders are “surprised” at the absence of these advanced weapons in the hands of the Vietnamese as promised by the USSR.
While U.S. imperialism talks “peace” and, at the same time, steps up its brutal slaughter against the people of Viet Nam, the Brezhnev-Kosygin clique are working overtime in the diplomatic field to collaborate with U.S. imperialism to halt wars of national liberation, and, strategically, to “contain” China.
Even while these Soviet maneuvers are in process, we hear angry words against US aggression from the Soviet leadership.
But as Marxist-Leninists we must grasp the essence behind the appearance of the revisionist clique who call for unity of the socialist world, who “denounce” U.S. imperialism with “harsh” words, and at the same time are engaged in a plot with this same U.S. imperialism to dominate the world.
The Ad Hoc Committee calls on all Marxist-Leninists to distinguish themselves against international revisionism, to hold high the banner of Marxism-Leninism, to persevere in the struggle against reaction for peace, liberation and the step-by-step victory of the world proletarian movement which will give way to a new era devoid of oppression and exploitation.