First Published: Palante, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 1-August 1, 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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The international struggle between the two classes, two lines, two roads, the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, between what is rising – coming into being and what is dying – what is going out of being has greatly intensified in the last several months. Inside the international anti-revisionist communist movement, the proletariat has emerged even stronger, has cleaned house of capitalist-roaders, revisionists and traitorous Mensheviks, has beat back several bourgeois plans designed to destroy from within. In both the Communist Party of China and the Party of Labor of Albania, capitalist-roaders have been exposed and removed from positions of power by the proletarian forces, the revisionist line has been repulsed once again, and the broad masses, led by the proletariat have rallied in support of the vanguard. This revolutionary practice taken in its general aspect has greatly added to the treasure house of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought.
And in the U.S., too, the proletarian forces, the Bolsheviks, have been taking care of business, fulfilling our internationalist duties, exposing and purging the Mensheviks of ATM from the Revolutionary Wing, thus setting the conditions to intensify the struggle against the right opportunist conciliators, hidden Mensheviks and paid bourgeois agents still hiding within the wing, to defeat yet another bourgeois plan to destroy the future U.S. Bolshevik Party.
Among the ranks of the Bolshevik Party cadres, the Revolutionary wing of the U.S. anti-revisionist communist movement, the Party spirit indeed prevails. Working tirelessly to hammer out the Party’s basic line and program of action, uniting genuine Marxist-Leninists, and winning the advanced to communism, we are engaging in the revolutionary practice of fighting for the final aim of the dictatorship of the proletariat by correctly fighting to build the Bolshevik Party which is in the immediate interest of the proletariat, the only class we serve. In carrying out Party building as our central and only task, we spit in the eye of the bourgeoisie and its theory of spontaneity, based on metaphysics and idealism, and in the eye of its agents, the Mensheviks of the opportunists wing, the hidden Mensheviks and right opportunist conciliators within the Revolutionary Wing itself, and the paid provocateurs who hide behind these opportunists. The two-line struggle in the communist movement, a reflection of the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, is intensifying as each battle brings the Revolutionary wing to the head of the movement, thus bringing closer the First Party Congress of the U.S. Bolshevik Party.
The advances, the positive development of the revolutionary wing stand in fundamental contrast to the rapid degeneration of the sham wing. Allow us to give a few examples:
(1) The Revolutionary wing, through grasping the key link of hammering out the Party’s basic line and program of action, through applying its line on Party building to the concrete conditions of the U.S., has been able to swell its ranks with new forces, genuine Marxist-Leninists and advanced workers, won, not through some social-democratic, broad unity conferences, but through the correct Marxist-Leninist method of factory nuclei style of work. While bringing forward new forces, we have continued to purge our ranks of Mensheviks and opportunist conciliators, ridding ourselves of old baggage, dangerous agents of the state, certified and uncertified. Compare this with the sham wing. No longer stopping at recruiting “every striker, every high school student”, the sham wing now has as a principle to recruit every purged element from the Revolutionary wing, thus swelling their ranks with more slime. And the October League goes even a step further. Flowing from their Menshevik line that police are in the working class, they went so far as to recruit a patrol officer –that’s right, a pig, into their ranks. If that’s not a sign of taking a stand with all that is decadent and moribund in society, with what’s going out of being, then nothing is.
(2) The Revolutionary wing has been carrying out the chief form of activity, propaganda, aimed at the Bolshevik party cadre, at Marxist-Leninists and advanced workers. The Mensheviks have frantically called out “Stop that propaganda – agitation should be the chief form.” But we have stood firm, and responded, “We must do more and better propaganda.” Standing on this, we can see the continued development of the Bolshevik Press, with Palante more and more emerging at the head of the movement, providing timely summations of the two line struggle, deepening and broadening the Bolshevik line on party building, and further isolating – preparing to defeat the Menshevik line. Palante has also contained propaganda supplements on the major working class holidays, designed to be used in study groups to unite Marxist-Leninists and win the advanced to communism. The Revolutionary wing has also developed a theoretical Journal, Bolshevik, which will continue to aid in raising to a theoretical plane our revolutionary practice, continue to fulfill the ideological duties the Revolutionary wing has always carried out through grasping the key link of political line.
These contributions to hammering out the Party’s line and program, this centralization of polemics, this development of the Party’s Press has gone to a higher level, despite bourgeois schemes to halt production of our propaganda, especially Palante. And as the Revolutionary wing makes these advances the sham wing continues to back-slide even further into the marsh, the only struggle inside their ranks being between Menshevism and total revisionism. This is manifested in the further degeneration of the Call, organ of the O.L., which only needs to print, “Independent Newsweekly” on the cover to be an exact copy of the Guardian (Carl Davidson has proved to be a good student of Irwin Silber). The longest polemic in the weekly Call to date has been one-half of one page, attacking the Revolutionary wing, something they claimed six months ago didn’t exist.
From WVO we get the “Baby Blue Book”, 150 pages of distortions, a university paper on “Hustlerism” their latest premise. Like Engels said about the book written by Duhring attacking Marxism, this “Baby Blue Book” will only be remembered because of the polemics waged against it.
The sham wing is producing rag sheets faster than roaches produce babies, even IWK is on the band wagon, coming back out with “Getting Together”, the contents of which make it crystal, clear that they aren’t. All these rag sheets are another manifestation of the growing strength of the Bolshevik line of the Revolutionary wing, for the one thing they all unite on is their attack on the “ultra-leftism” of the Revolutionary wing, in essence, their attack on Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought.
The Revolutionary wing has always boldly disclosed our errors. We have stood on the Leninist method and in its application have sought to educate the masses through public self-criticism. This Leninist tradition is continued in this issue, where we sum-up the secondary aspect of the contradiction in the Revolutionary wing, compromise with a right opportunist line of conciliation to Menshevism. But the sham wing, continuing the tradition of the Second International, tries to cover up its principle aspect, Menshevik line, does sham wrist slaps, and like the OL goes out front in its resolution to cover up “shades of difference”, bureaucratically stifles struggle and rams through the consolidation of its Menshevik line. The stance of the Revolutionary wing, one of strength and determination, the sham wing, one of fear and isolation. Yes, indeed, Bolshevism is on the Rise!
Our Party is a union of the advanced class-conscious fighters for the emancipation of the working class. (Lenin)
It is in the light of the overall development of the struggle between Bolshevism and Menshevism, of the development and rise of the Revolutionary wing and further degeneration into the swamp of the sham wing, that we must look at the traitorous betrayal of the August Twenty-Ninth Movement (ATM), once members of the Revolutionary wing, now thoroughly opportunist, slimely struggling for hegemony of the opportunist wing.
These Mensheviks have broken unities that have been fought for and achieved in the heat of two-line struggle, have subverted the line of their own Unity Congress of 1974, and have tried to cover their opportunist line in the correct line of the Revolutionary wing, trying to hitch-hike on what’s coming into being, only to later attack it.
But the Revolutionary wing has once again stood firm, refused to compromise with Menshevism, and in this article will continue the exposure of Menshevism, particularly the line of ATM. As known, polemics with ATM have been going on for some time with major differences on line publicly laid out, and it has been the persistent struggle over differences that has dragged out the full system of Menshevik views that is ATM’s degenerated line.
Our polemics in the past have been based on unity, proceeding to struggle for greater unity. But these hegemonic snakes have broken all our former unities as they systematically developed their opportunist line in unity with the sham wing, and from now on our polemics with these scoundrels will be like our polemics with all opportunists, coming from struggle, expose, isolate and defeat. This particular article will deal with ATM’s Menshevik line on “two-line struggle is an exception”, and flowing from this their line that the central task is to build the mass movement against war and fascism, using “political line” (which for them and all Mensheviks is simple formulations developed by a few “great theoreticians”) to build a Social-Democratic party from below, ”to lead the struggle for reform”, that is to keep the proletariat under the hegemony of the theory of spontaneity, tied to the bourgeoisie.
To view a situation correctly we should analyze social phenomena in the basic context of the struggle between the two classes, two roads, and two lines. This is our most fundamental starting point. (emphasis ours, “Seeing the Essence of Problems”. Study Philosophy, pg. 21)
It is from this, the most fundamental starting point that we must analyze the historical motion of the two great movements, the communist and workers movement, in this period of the formation and consolidation of our Party. Two classes, two lines, two roads – our most fundamental starting point. And we use this, the two line struggle as our starting point in all that we do. This especially applies to training the Party’s cadre, to prepare for battle. The Bolshevik method is to train cadre in two-line struggle, the Menshevik method, to train cadre in spontaneity, in reform, in peaceful debates. This training in the two-line struggle, taking the struggle between two lines, classes and roads as the most fundamental starting point is a Marxist-Leninist principle of Bolshevization. But the Mensheviks of ATM denounce this principle of Bolshevization, slander the great Stalin and attack Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought and we must punish them for this, by quoting them. In a document, “Paper for Leadership Training Conference on Left and Right Errors – Two Line Struggle in ATM”, these Mensheviks consolidated themselves around this:
Comrades have been making the “left” error of calling all line struggle in ATM “two line” struggle. All line struggle is not two line struggle, in fact, two line struggle is and should be an exception.
Bolsheviks, repulse this line, revisionism, straight up, no cover – naked as a jay bird.
ATM, who at one time did carry out the task of Party building, did train the Party cadres, now, in revising Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought, attack the Bolshevik Party cadre and train social props, “progressive” trade union hacks and more “militant” poverty pimps for the national movements.
Two line struggle an exception? Is the struggle between the proletariat and bourgeoisie an exception? Is the class struggle an exception? Is the struggle between the proletarian line and the bourgeois line an exception, a struggle for “clarity, unity and consolidation”? NO, not only is it not an exception but the rule. Even the bourgeoisie recognizes the class struggle, but the Mensheviks of ATM laid down this ideological preparation to consolidate their Menshevik line on party building – disarming their cadre as one step to the total degenerated state that ATM finds itself in today, and there is no turning back.
Chairman Mao teaches us that two line struggle is the life of the Party, without ideological struggle the struggle between two lines, the Party’s life would come to an end. But ATM, traitorous Mensheviks, say two line struggle is an exception – they go on to say:
What kind of line struggle do we have in ATM? Three main types – for clarity, for unity and for consolidation around the line in the course of the struggle to implement it.
The answer, therefore, to “what kind of struggle do we have in ATM” is no two-line struggle. Philistines of ATM and all your Menshevik partners who practice this decadent existence, you’re doomed – stop calling this treason “struggle”. Come out of your closet, your line is the bourgeois line, the bourgeoisie in our midst who we victoriously have purged from the Revolutionary wing.
This same treacherous line on two-line struggle, an outright attack on Marxism, designed to disarm the cadre, ideologically preparing the path to “peacefully” subvert the line of the Revolutionary wing, showed itself on ATM’s Menshevik line on political education. In a document “Political line is the Key Link” (a cover for the real content of “ideology the key link”) these Mensheviks say:
1. We must change our study program to meet the needs of our movement: (a) through collective study of at least the lead article in Revolutionary Cause in all units and local committees as well as all of our printed documents as they come out. This study is to ensure that we have full consolidation around our line, and all significant new developments of the line, to facilitate broad democratic discussion over the line ’ particularly as to its implementation in practice...(c)the fundamentals. This study is individual and optional and is geared to giving all comrades an understanding of tie basic principles of Marxism-Leninism.
In essence, “Study Menshevism, Criticize Marxism”, disarming of the cadre. This line, the same line of the RU, that the leadership “studies” (that is revises), Marxism, the rank and file study the Red Papers, was beat back years ago, yet ATM boldly puts this forward, a sign of the degeneration. No Bolshevik, no advanced worker will tolerate this line, will try to overcome this line from within. ATM, these attacks on Marxism, on the Bolshevik line, have served to gain you a permanent seat at the bottom of the swamp of opportunism. It is with this kind of ideological preparation, with these attacks on dialectical and historical materialism that you laid the basis to go back and subvert the line of your own Unity Congress, and to distort the history of the anti-revisionist communist movement, to attack Party building as the central and only task. Again, we will punish you with your own words:
The initial roots of our errors can be traced back to our Unity Congress, which failed to clearly define the task facing us – instead saying that all our tasks must be put into the context of Party building, rather than saying that Party building had to be put into the context of solving the questions put in front of Communists by the mass movement.
“Build the mass movement is the central task!” The line of the Unity Congress, hammered out in struggle, summing up errors drawing lessons, basing itself on Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought has now been subverted by the very line the Congress repulsed, RU’s line of build the mass movement, the Menshevik line. The line of the Unity Congress was a forward step for all Bolsheviks, strengthening the Revolutionary wing. But the right opportunists concilliators who were hiding within the ranks of ATM especially in leadership, now come out in the open, having subverted that line and degenerated into the full system of Menshevik views. This is, the same leadership that sent a telegram of congratulations to the Menshevik liberal O.L.’s Congress in 1975, who intrigued and conspired with MLOC, trying to sneak them into the Revolutionary wing; who, six months after the purge of WVO from the Revolutionary wing, have yet to wage one word of polemic and who today are preparing to merge with the fruit flies of the sham wing – IWK, Resistencia and maybe even CAP, who are saying that there never were two wings, a cover for the fact that they have taken the organization into the sham wing, purged from the Revolutionary wing.
These traitorous Mensheviks came out, in bold print in Revolutionary Cause, Vol.1, #5 with:
We must build our party in the course of fighting against war and fascism, national oppression, etc. This is extremely important – if we are to prevent war and fascism, it can only be through revolutionary mass struggle.
Attempting to negate the fact that Revolution is the main trend, thus breaking with the line of the International Communist Movement which the Revolutionary Wing stands on and applies, ATM promotes defeatism and pessimism, that war is the main trend. They do this to justify the line of build the mass movement, even having the nerve to try and falsify the glorious history of the Party of Labor of Albania, slandering them by saying, in essence, that it was built through worshipping spontaneity. Outright lies, for in the history of the P.L.A. itself, it clearly summed-up that they could not begin to build mass organizations until they had prepared the political leaders of the working class, that is the Party.
THESE ACHIEVEMENTS HAVE BEEN ATTAINED BY THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE, FIRST AND FOREMOST, THANKS TO THE CORRECT LINE PURSUED BY THE PARTY OF LABOR OF ALBANIA. WITH THE FORMATION OF THE PARTY, THE WORKING CLASS, THE LABORING MASSES BROUGHT FORTH FROM THEIR RANKS, IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE AGAINST THE FASCIST INVADERS AND TRAITORS TO THE COUNTRY, A REVOLUTIONARY NATIONAL LEADERSHIP ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED TO DEFEND THE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE, CAPABLE OF BRINGING ABOUT NATIONAL LIBERATION AND SOCIAL EMANCIPATION. (History of the Party of Labor of Albania, p. 5)
Comrades, in order to give the spontaneous movement a planned conscious character we must build the Bolshevik Party, there are no if’s, and’s or but’s about this. In order to build the party we must hammer out the Party’s basic line on the class questions of the U.S. revolution, the key link, we must simultaneously apply the two tactical principles of Marxist-Leninists unite, and win the advanced to communism and we must carry out propaganda as the chief form of activity.
Line is the lifeblood of our Party. Fifty years of experience prove that as long as we persist in struggle for the correct line we will win. If our line is correct, even if we have only a few Party members our Party will grow, as when our Communist Party was organized in 1921. We had only a few people then, no army, nothing. But as long as our political line is correct we can recruit Party members, we can build an army and we can win victory. But if our political line is not correct the Communist Party will collapse. (On the Importance of Political Line, Chou en-Lai, interview in New China, Jan. 1976)
Application of this line is revolutionary practice. To put forward that we must build the mass movement is sheer poppycock, treachery to the proletariat. ATM, you stand in opposition to Lenin, and all the great teachers, and no amount of theoretical justifications will ever cover this up.
Dig what Lenin said about the mass movements that you worship:
the economic struggle against the employers and government does not in the least require and therefore can never give rise to an all Russian centralized organization that will combine, in one general onslaught all and every manifestation of political opposition, protest and indignation, an organization that will consist of professional revolutionaries and be led by the real political leaders of the whole people. (What Is To Be Done, p. 122)
The Party does not “pop-up”, it doesn’t just happen, the formation of the Party is a planned, conscious activity. ATM, you are conscious of this. And you just as consciously have tried to cover, in the line that the party will develop out of the struggle against war and fascism, the fact that you are in fundamental opposition to building a Bolshevik Party. On each aspect of Party building you have broken unities and replaced it with the Menshevik line and your own hegemonic scheme to build the party from below. You try to promote defeatism by saying that no one is party-building, and dare to call your work “communist work.” But we Bolsheviks stand with Lenin and the International Communist Movement.
The present stage in the development of the international communist movement is marked by the fact that in the vast majority of capitalist countries, the proletariat’s preparedness to effect its dictatorship has not been completed, in many cases, has not even been systematically begun. From this, it does not, however, follow that the proletarian revolution is impossible in the immediate future; it is perfectly possible, since the entire economic and political situation is most inflammable and abounds in cases of sudden flare-up; the other condition for revolution, apart from the Proletariat’s prepardness viz., a general state of crisis in all the ruling and in all the bourgeois parties, also exists. However, it does follow that the communist parties’ current task consists in accelerating the revolution, in intensifying the preparation of the proletariat. On the other hand, the facts cited above from the history of many socialist parties makes it incumbent on us to see that ”recognition” of the dictatorship of the proletariat shall not remain a matter of words. Hence, from the point of view of the International proletarian movement, it is the communist parties’ principal task at the present moment to unite the scattered party in every country (or to reinforce or renovate the existing party) in order to increase tenfold the work of preparing the dictatorship of the proletariat. The ordinary socialist work conducted by groups and parties which recognize the dictatorship of the proletariat has by no means undergone that fundamental revolution, which is essential before this work can be considered communist work and adequate to the tasks to be accomplished on the eve of proletarian dictatorship. (Collected Works of Lenin, Vol. 31, “Theses on the Comintern’s Fundamental Task”, pages 188-189)
We will continue to unmask you, to tear off your covers on key link, tactical and strategical principles, fusion, periods, chief form of activity and main danger revealing the hegemonic line that runs throughout.
In putting forward the bankrupt line of build the mass movement, these Mensheviks still try to cover themselves by saying that political line is the key link. But to what, to the Party? No, for these traitors “political line” is the key to build the spontaneous movement, not to build the Party. These Mensheviks in fact hold that “ideology is the key link” to the Party, like all the hegemones. And do they mean proletarian ideology, dialectical and historical materialism, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought? Nothing could be more frightening to them, in fact, we have seen how feverishly they attack it. What they mean by “ideology” are distortions, revisions of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought, providing the basis for them to merge with the fruit-flies of the sham wing, the basis for the Social-Democratic Party from below.
Like WVO, ATM sees political line as simply demands for the topical issues of the day, like ERA and busing, as demands to render the reform struggle more militant – a new twist to an old reactionary line. Their only contradiction with the line of the O.L., Trots, and revisionists on these two issues is that they don’t fight hard enough, aren’t bold enough. Once again, ATM, we will use your own words to expose you. On busing:
’Even’ the liberals support forced busing of Blacks, but it is another question when it comes to busing white children. ATM stands in favor of forced busing in Boston (although we believe Blacks have the right to choose whether they wish to be bused or not), but its starting point is not simply the question of getting Black children a better education but a question of breaking the historically developed segregation patterns with all of its attendant political, economic and social ramifications. (Revolutionary Cause, Vol. 1, #3, “Right Opportunism the Main Danger”)
And, on ERA:
But it is our duty to lead the fight for any reform which objectively can represent a step forward for the masses. Women lack equal rights – that is a fact. It is our duty to fight for just that – we must sum-up all the partial demands of women and take them to a fundamental level. All the partial demands that women are fighting for can be summed up in the slogan – Equal Rights for Women!!... To the extent that a revolutionary mass struggle is waged for the passage of the ERA. to that extent will a “real” reform be won! (Revolutionary Cause, Vol. 1, #4, “International Working Women’s Day”, our emphasis)
No contradiction on line with your other swamp rats, just differences in degree in how hard or how loud you struggle. The Revolutionary wing has repeatedly propagated that both ERA and Busing are sham reforms, developed by the bourgeoisie to serve its interest, to narrow the field of activity of the working class, to strengthen the theory of spontaneity, tying the working class to its tail. We must oppose these sops of the ruling class, must educate the advanced to their treacherous character and win these advanced to communism, to build the U.S. Bolshevik Party. This is how we carry out our revolutionary practice, how we correctly link the immediate interest of the proletariat to its final aim.
ATM, you’re not stupid, you’re conscious that the Party’s basic line is not a list of militant economist demands for sham reforms, as you would have us believe. You know that these economist demands won’t give the spontaneous movement a planned conscious character. You put the demands forward as part of your overall hegemonic scheme, to ”militantly” tail the O.L., like they did the R.U., and swell your ranks with all the strikers, professors, purged Mensheviks from the Revolutionary wing they left behind.
It is your hegemonic line of build the Party from below that has you now competing for the O.L.’s base, who is competing for the R.U.’s base, who is competing for the CPUSA’s base, and all of you are competing for the position of most loyal lackies of the bourgeoisie. Just like the O.L. did the R.U., ATM, is now going after organizational hegemony of the petty-bourgeois National Lawyers Guild, chasing the O.L. out of the revisionist and trade union hack dominated Coalition of Labor Union Women, raising in essence the same demands, putting forward the same line, only with a little more gusto. “Move the unions to the left” – “Move the unions to the left Illegally”; “Free Greg Jones’ “Free Greg Jones. Now”; “Forced Busing for Everybody”.
You traitorous hegemones; hiding for years within the Revolutionary wing only to perfect your cover. And now that you’ve hitch-hiked long enough, got your own newspaper, feel big with those fruit-flies in your back-pocket, you come out with your degenerated full system of views, your Menshevik political line, your hegemonic plan to roll over the O.L. and become top dog of the opportunist wing. Traitors to the proletariat. Mensheviks to the bone.
The Party accompanied its propaganda and militant agitation, its political and military actions with its work for the organization of the people. It did not begin its work with the creation of mass organizations, because the masses had to be politically prepared beforehand for such organizations. (History of The Party of Labor of Albania, p. 106)
Starting from ideology, metaphysics and idealism, the key link to build the party from below, these Mensheviks having already attacked Bolshevization go on to attack the tactical principles of Party building.
Through correctly grasping the key link of political line the Revolutionary wing has been correctly applying the two tactical principles of Marxist-Leninists unite and win the advanced to communism. The two principles must be applied simultaneously, at all times. They must be simultaneously applied in order to hammer out the Party’s basic line and program of action in the heat of two line struggle, with all the Party cadre taking active part, under centralized leadership. When these two principles are not simultaneously applied, when one is raised as primary, as all the Mensheviks do, political line becomes mere formulations, resolutions based at “Unity Conferences”, dead dogma like that of the Second International, resolutions developed by “great theoreticians”, by the “leading circle”. These great theoreticians and leading circles, denying the existence of the advanced, holding the proletariat in contempt, like ATM, only seeing the need to quantitatively build their own organizations which they, in the tradition of R.U., believe is the Party. To these hegemones, numbers are what is most important. When ATM put forward the line, “of the two slogans mentioned one must necessarily be primary. It is the slogan ’Marxists-Leninists Unite!,” (Revolutionary Cause, Vol. 1, #1,), they were laying the basis to come forward with their merger plan for their party, of which they naturally will be the leading circle. They will try to give this hegemonic line of Marxist-Leninists as primary a slick cover and come forward with the line that there are two trends, in the movement, in essence an attack on the line of the Revolutionary wing. The “trend” that ATM will be the leading circle for, will in all liklihood be composed of IWK, CAP, Resistencia, MLOC, maybe W.C, and no telling what else might be thrown in. They will put forth that the “trend” must “consolidate” itself, that is merge on the basis of “ideology”, in opposition to the other “trend” of the Revolutionary wing; that Marxist-Leninists unite as primary should be carried out, first, to better worship the spontaneous movement.
Schemers, intriguers and conspirators. These hegemones develop theoretical justification for their attacks of the proletariat, its party and science at the drop of a hat, each time revealing more clearly their own hegemonic line.
In breaking the simultaneity of the two tactical principles, the hegemones also reveal the fact that the social basis for their party is the petty-bourgeoisie and labor aristocracy, the “most educated and skilled” in the bourgeois decadent sense. It is only through simultaneously applying the two tactical principles that we continue to fuse the communist movement and working class movement, that we take our stand with what’s coming into being. But these hegemones, taking their stand with what’s going out of being, deny the existence of the advanced and attack the working class, raising up the contemptuous line of the C.L. and New Voice that the U.S. working class is bribed, giving it a new twist of privilege, in essence saying that the whole U.S. working class is “bourgeoisifled”, like the working class in England in the 19th century. Naturally, flowing from this thoroughly bankrupt line, you traitors you Mensheviks do not see any advanced workers. How could they be produced in this “land of milk and honey?” In fact, you see the principle contradiction in the U.S. not between the proletariat and bourgeoisie, but between the national movements and bourgeoisie. Flowing from this, there is no need to win the advanced to communism and Marxist-Leninists (read petty-bourgeois intellectuals) unite is primary. No amount of phrasemongering about the “advanced are communists” or “all the advanced have been won over” will cover up this anti-working class line. Yes, ATM, we will cut short your protest about slander, and punish you one more time with your own words, from a document “Bribery and Privileges within the Working Class”:
Comrades, we have discussed the question of bribery and socio-economic privileges – first in a historical context, i.e., England in the mid-nineteenth century when it enjoyed its monopoly as a colonial power. This plunder of the world ”laid the material basis for the creation of a labor aristocracy. In addition, it led to a working class which enjoyed socio-economic privileges in relation to the rest of the world’s proletariat. The important point to note is that the material basis for both bribery and socio-economic privileges is the superprofits of imperialism and that socio-economic privileges of the broader sector of U.S. workers is a temporary phenomenon. This was the case in mid-nineteenth century England and an analysis of objective conditions shows us that this is the case today in the U.S.
This is a thoroughly bankrupt line. Raising up “temporary phenomenon” is only to soften the real line, that the petty-bourgeoisie is the vanguard class, that it is the task of enlightened intellectuals to convince the stupid, privileged working class that it is really exploited. That’s the reason that these Mensheviks continually raise that the workers learn through “their own experiences,” that:
...we educate the masses through street actions, strikes, political demonstrations, etc., – actions which are illegal, i.e., violate bourgeois legality. (Revolutionary Cause, Vol. 1, #3, “Right Opportunism is the Main Danger”)
Our political exposures strive for clarity, we try to include facts, dates, names, who said what at such and such meeting. (Revolutionary Cause, Vol. 1, #3, “Tasks of Communists in the Trade Unions”)
This is the same line of “excitative terror” of the Narodniks in Lenin’s time. The essence, ATM and its partners are the only solution for the working class, that war and fascism will be a good thing since it will mean fewer privileges, the essence – hegemony for ATM, utter contempt for the proletariat. Traitors to the proletariat. Mensheviks to the bone.
ATM – you will go down in history for this treachery. You have placed yourselves in league with Kautsky, Trotsky, the Social-Democratic Parties of the Second International, with the Renegade Klonsky and Revisionist Avakian. Your secondary aspect of revisionism is rising fast. And we take our stand with the international proletariat, with the hope of mankind, and draw strength from our teachers:
We can never tolerate within the ranks of our Party people who think that the Party of Lenin and Stalin is like the Second International, who consider it a refuge of sinners, a place for loafers and sluggards, intriguers, careerists, cowardly elements with a petty-bourgeois spirit, with no spirit of sacrifice and elements who regard our Party as a republic of cowards, a place where discipline and security are abandoned. We have not tolerated them, and we will not tolerate them; the Party decisions will strike ruthlessly at them. (E., Hoxha, Circular to the Party Organizations of the Tirara Region on the Strengthening of the Party and Revolutionary Spirit, Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 65.)
ATM, we have not tolerated and will not tolerate slime like you in our ranks. No amount of talk about “the Revolutionary wing never existed”, like the O.L., will cover up the fact that you have been branded traitors to the proletariat, and must wear this brand for the rest of your decadent existence. You can no more cover this up than you can your line of build the mass movement, your line of “ideology is key link”, your line of petty-bourgeoisie as vanguard class. And there is no way that you can cover the hegemonism that runs like a thread through your Menshevik system of views. This hegemonism comes out in your line of agitation is the chief form of activity for the working class putting forward that propaganda is aimed mainly at communists. A contemptuous, hegemonic line, a line that consciousness develops in stages, that the advanced (who you really mean are backward) must first be won to the reform struggle through agitation, then to communism and revolution through violent demonstrations and propaganda, in essence still another justification for the slavish worship of spontaneity you wallow in.
As a result of this political agitation and struggle the workers will come forward and unite around our views, and in particular, the advanced and intermediate workers. (Tasks of Communists, Revolutionary Cause, #3, 1976, our emphasis)
Agitation, aimed at the broad masses, is what brings forward and unites the advanced on line, in this period of formation of the Party? Menshevism – a direct attack on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought again. These Mensheviks go so far as to attack Stalin by saying that his work, “The Party Before and After Taking Power” is just brief notes, showing their unity with the International camp of revisionism. Let’s look at why. In this work Comrade Stalin clearly lays out:
In this period, the Party focused its attention and care upon the Party itself, upon its own existence and preservation. At this stage it regarded itself as a kind of self-sufficing force.
And on this same point he says in “Political Strategy and Tactics”:
To win the vanguard of the proletariat to the side of communism (i.e., build up cadres, create a Communist Party, work out the program, the principles of tactics). Propaganda as the chief form of activity.
From these two quotes we can see that ATM’s Menshevik line of build the mass movement, agitation to the broad masses to win the advanced is in fundamental opposition to Comrade Stalin and all the teachers. Once again breaking the unities of the Revolutionary wing, once again attacking Marxism, once again trying to cover their Menshevik line with “propaganda is chief form in the communist movement”, or “after the advanced have come forward and unite on line, then we do propaganda”, once again betraying the proletariat, standing with the bourgeoisie – stone Mensheviks.
Comrades, allow us to begin the sum-up of the first part of this polemic against the Mensheviks ATM, the first in the polemic designed to expose, isolate and defeat their bourgeois line. We have showed how the hidden right opportunist concilliators within their ranks, especially in leadership carried out ideological preparation to overthrow the line of the Revolutionary wing, attacked Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought, subverted the line of their own Congress, and systematically consolidated a full system of views, a Menshevik line, in unity with the sham wing. We have also drawn out the hegemonism that runs throughout this Menshevik line and pointed out ATM’s schemes to merge with the sham wing groupies.
And comrades, we have also shown how the Revolutionary wing has grown stronger in this struggle against falsehood, against Menshevism. And we close with a quote from Comrade E. Hoxha, which we address to all comrades of the Revolutionary wing, to the genuine Marxist-Leninists and advanced, to our Bolshevik Party cadre, which we put forth as a directive, to be strictly followed:
Resolute party comrades, at these critical moments, any laxity in our work, any evasion of work is a dagger in the heart of the Party, any negligence, any breach of discipline is a bullet in the heart of the Party, it is a dagger and a bullet in your own hearts, for you are the Party.
...Resolute party comrades, protect the party material, read it and distribute it! Our newspapers and leaflets, the party bulletins and pamphlets must reach the most remote cottage, the voice of justice and the call to arms must reach all ears and leave no heart untouched.
Resolute party comrades, comrades who are ready at any moment to shed your blood as true soldiers of Stalin, close your ranks, protect the Party and your comrades, be vigilant towards the enemies and traitors and show them no mercy, maintain the tightest security, because our work and struggle are not a subject for prattle and bragging but a terrible battle against a savage enemy; show no mercy to provocateurs, loafers, cowards, careerists and other opportunist elements who try in a thousand and one ways to hinder and damage the work within the Party.
Dear comrades, the Party has faith in you, for this is its strength. It has faith and is sure that you will set to work zealously, with discipline and self-sacrifice, and that in this way, our Party will assuredly lead our people towards certain victory. (“Circular to the Party Organizations of the Tirana Region on the Strengthening of the Party and the Revolutionary Spirit”, Selected Works, Enver Hoxha, p. 66-69).