It can no longer be subject to any doubt whatever. Premier Khrushchev has taken the long, long step backward from which retreat is hard and difficult.
The failure of the Soviet-Chinese talks portend a great turn of events, especially if one views it in the light of Soviet talks with Harriman and his delegation.
It is not merely a question of the partial test ban with which we deal below What is involved is the evolution of a monumental capitulation to world imperialism.
Agreements between socialist and imperialist states on specific, concrete issues have always been regarded by Marxist-Leninists as necessary — and on occasion absolutely unavoidable.
But involved now is what bourgeois politicians, journalists and commentators have euphemistically ref erred to as an "accommodation" or "detente."
What do they really mean by such terms? Some of them mean a general, overall agreement by which the Soviet leadership agrees, either overtly or covertly, to ally itself with Western imperialism, to isolate and contain the People's Republic of China.
Still others, when they use the terns "accommodation" or "detente," attach a broader meaning to it. To them it implies nothing less than a full scale abandonment of the Asian, African, and Latin-American liberation movements, and an attempt to stifle the class struggle of the world working class.
But under any circumstances, the imperialists hope through the consummation of an "accommodation" or "detente" to put the Soviet Union on a collision course with the world proletarian revolution in general, and the Chinese People's Republic in particular.
That is what is really at stake. This is why such authoritative organs of the U.S. ruling class as The New York Times refer to the current negotiations as a possible "global turning point" or "a turning point in history," as Joseph Alsop wrote for the Herald Tribune. What they mean is a turning back of the clock of history.
But ominous as the situation appears, it is not an accomplished fact. The retreat may so embolden the West and feed its imperialist appetite, that Khrushchev may well be forced to reconsider.
And aside from any and all considerations, and in spite of all the machinations of imperialist diplomacy and the revisionist assistance given by Khrushchev and his collaborators, the accommodation may not take place.
The broad stream of history is against it. The tide of world revolution cannot be stemmed.
CHAPTERS:
Index Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Last updated: 16 June 2018