October 20, 1976
To the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China:
We vigorously protest the current attacks being waged against Chiang, Wang, Yao, Chang, and other Marxist-Leninists within your Party. This attack has shown that not only is the “bourgeoisie right in the Party”, but that it is attempting a final consolidation of its power in order to subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat and turn China onto the capitalist road.
What are the Lefts accused of? Of “attempting to take power”. But from whom? When revisionists in your Party have already concentrated power into their own hands, it is precisely the right and duty of Marxist-Leninists to ’attempt to take power’ from them and thus safeguard the Party and the workers’ dictatorship. Only opportunists would find such an attempt so offensive. In reality, this accusation of “attempting to take power” should be put against Hua and the Rights behind him, since in fact they are the ones who are attempting to rob the working class of its power and put themselves in the lead.
We do not accept Hua as the legitimate Chairman of the Party, since it is clear his nomination was brought about solely through opportunist intrigues and the expulsion of the Lefts. Nor do we believe that the demonstrations in Shanghai show any valid support for the present Party ’leadership’ by the masses of workers. By staging their anti-communist attacks in Shanghai, the Rights hope to destroy the main base of the Lefts in China, and thus undermine mass support for them throughout China and the world. But we are not children to be intimidated by such superficial shows of force. Class conscious workers and communists throughout the world will understand that such maneuvers were orchestrated well in advance by the Rights, and reflect, not the sentiments of the working class, but the treachery of bourgeois elements within the Party.
This treachery has already had its effect on the development of the new communist movement worldwide. At a time when principled Marxist-Leninist leadership is sorely needed, the revisionists in your Party have used their prominent posts to foster and support opportunist and social-chauvinist tendencies within the vast majority of new “ML” parties and organizations. This has been most evident in the corruptive influence of your Foreign Ministry, headed by Chiao Kaun-hua, which has, in collaboration with the Albanian Foreign Ministry headed by Mesti Nase, cultivated a revisionist and overtly social-chauvinist line on the question of international contradictions and imperialist war. This line has provided an ’official’ sanction for opportunist tendencies who wish to use the issue of imperialist war as an excuse to ally with their own bourgeoisie. It is an outright betrayal of the interests of the world proletariat. Thus the struggle between Marxism-Leninism and revisionism in your Party is a matter of vital concern to us all. The further consolidation of Right opportunism in your Party both threatens the future of socialism in China and “marks” a tremendous setback in the development of a principled international Marxist-Leninist movement.
We will not sit with folded arms, awaiting the ’official’ decrees of the Rights as to the outcome of the struggle. It is the common task of all Marxist-Leninists to protect the dictatorship of the proletariat wherever it has been won, and to oppose all those who attempt to subvert it, no matter what official posts they may occupy or how great their influence. We must render every possible aid to the Lefts, counter the current attempts to defame and discredit them, and expose the rotten intrigues and wretched diplomacy behind which the revisionists do their work. No communist should hesitate to take up this task.
The attempt by the revisionists to take the Party into their hands is an attack on the workers’ movement in all countries. We call upon the principled Marxist-Leninists within the CPC and the international movement to wage a resolute and open struggle against this betrayal.
Organization of Communist Workers (ML) Canada
Communist Workers Group (ML) U.S.A.