March 5, 2019
On
March 5, 2019 is the 66th anniversary of the death of Josef Stalin.
Recently, on December 21, 2018 was the 139th anniversary of his birth.
It seems for us to be a proper opportunity to document a declaration of
the Committees for the Foundation of the (maoist) Communist Party in Austria, which was first published by this comrades six years ago in their organ Rote Fahne (Red Flag).
According to that, some of the expressions and formulations still wear
the birth mark of this organisation, however the comrades emphasize,
that they still understand this document as an important basis for their
ideological understanding. It was left to us with minimally cutbacks
for publication. In this document Stalin, as one of the five classics,
is being defended and upheld against the defamations and attacks of the
bourgeoisie and revisionists. This happens at the ground of
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and in service of Proletarian World Revolution.
We think this document sums up the legacy, the positive heritage, as
well as the deficiencies, which were corrected by Mao Zedong, on the
basis of the proletarian world view, as one of few documents which
developed in the last years on this issue. Therefore it is a
contribution for the profund debate of the International Communist
Movement and serves the red forces in their struggle for unification in
service of the Proletarian World Revolution. (- notation of the
editorial staff)
Proletarians of all countries and oppressed peoples, unite!
The political power grows from the barrel of a gun!
Resolution on the 60th anniversary of Josef W. Stalin's death
In the recent years, all progressive people, democrats, revolutionaries and communists have been facing increased anti-communist propaganda. Anti-“stalinism“ plays a decisive, if not to speak, paramount role within that. It serves as a link between alleged "left" critics (such as Trotskyists, anarchists, etc.) and the positions of open defenders of the imperialist system, the open bourgeois ideologues. The sixtieth anniversary of the death of Comrade Josef Wissarionovitch Stalin is marked on 5 March 2013. Stalin was an important personality of the communist world movement, he is one of the five classics and his work is a positive part of our history. Of course, Stalin also made mistakes, there is no one who makes no mistakes. We do not refuse the criticism of Stalin, nor criticism of any other classic. But we insist that criticism must be practiced on the basis of the principles of the proletariat in its struggle for power, not on a in reality inexistent "neutral" class standpoint, which can not exist in class struggle. Chairman Mao Zedong wrote that "there are no ideas in society, that would not bear the stamp of one class or another". This materialist principle must also be applied to the question of criticism of Stalin, although unfortunately we can observe the opposite is the case very often, and Stalin becomes a popular target not only for bourgeois and fascist attacks, but also the target of attacks by otherwise hidden revisionist and other anti-communist attitudes. It is essential, that only if crticism of Stalin has a proletarian content, this criticism will be placed on the ground of the class to which Stalin devoted his entire life: the proletariat. Here we see, despite some mistakes (*), that the vast majority of Stalin's work is correct and must be assessed as a great contribution to the scientific ideology of the proletariat.
Stalin was an outstanding personality of the International Communist Movement and symbolizes its unity. History shows us that no class could have ever led the struggle for power, not to mention its conquer, without crystallizing its own leaders within the struggle. In his day, Stalin was such a personality for the international proletariat. The historical-materialist conception of history understands such leading personalities as crystallizations of the class line in the social practice of the class struggle, whereby it is opposing the bourgeois conception which places the individual, the single person itself in the center of attention and is therefore foredoomed to tend to personality cult.
Stalins personality
was formed by the struggle of millions of proletarians, evolved in the
class struggle – as well as the four other classics: Karl Marx,
Friedrich Engels, V.I. Lenin, and Mao Zedong.
For
many reasons the work of Stalin must be discredited so much by the
bourgeoisie an their lackeys, it must be fought by them to the last full
of hate and hysteria, because the historical political person of Stalin
combines everything they hate. Especially today, under the conditions
of increasing fascization and the state of lack of perspective and
ideological anarchism of a large part of the organizations of the
workers' movement, it is particularly important to point out the merits
of the communists under the leadership of Josef Stalin. Especially
today, it is of tremendous importance to study the teachings of the
forces of the proletarian world revolution as they were drawn under the
guidance of Comrade Stalin, and to apply them to the present conditions.
Defence of Leninism and ideological struggle.
Stalin was the most important defender of Leninism in his period in the epoch of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Not only that he defended it at a high level against the enemies of the peoples masses, but in the meantime he also provided important contributions to the popularization of Marxism-Leninism. Thus, millions of proletarians around the world were able to gain access to the ideology and politics of proletarian world revolution, the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, which represented the most advanced ideology of the day, became more widespread through his contributions and consolidated as a sharp weapon in the hands of the masses. Important works in this context are: "The Foundations of Leninism," many writings about the October Revolution, or the works summarized in the anthology "On the Opposition." Moreover, excellent trainig courses were developed under the personal guidance of Stalin, with these tools the ideological-theoretical work of the International Communist Movement reached its highest point so far. Under the leadership of Satlin, the ideological struggle has been extended to many other areas of science (especially the natural sciences) and has led to great debates on questions of psychology, biology, art, linguistics, etc. This is a crucial point that can not be overcome by the enemies of the Proletarian World Revolution: under Stalin's leadership, the ideological struggle became, more than ever, a struggle of an international mass character, which means that it was also a struggle against that bureaucratism that focuses on the ideological-theoretical debate in small leading circles, treating it in reality as a kind of "secret doctrine" and using the masses only as a maneuvering mass of this doctrine. Chairman Mao increased and deepened this understanding of the mass ideological struggle and, following up on the accomplishments of Comrade Stalin, developed it further to the concept of the continued Proletarian Cultural Revolution, as the third universal type of Proletarian World Revolution. An important lesson that can be drawn from the work of Stalin in this area is the international ideological struggle and must be taken up by the international communist movement also today, despite difficult conditions.
Party, criticism and self-criticism
Stalin was no enemy of self-criticism and no supporter of the theory of the party as a monolithic block, contrary to the lies of bourgeois forces and their appendages. Stalin defended Comrade Lenins' views on the question of criticism and self-criticism, pointing out in several speeches and writings that in the application of criticism and self-criticism, precisely pragmatism and other deficiencies are a sign of bureaucratism and he took the view that the profound application of criticism and self-criticism must be a conscious applied law of development of the Communist Party. Comrade Stalin's struggle for this principle in particular, shows the decisiveness he had towards bureaucratic and (right- as well as "left-") opportunist tendencies in the party. He defined criticism and self-criticism in the sense of Leninism as principle of the Communists and also practiced self-criticism in several questions of theory and practice. Stalin strongly criticized the ideology of personality cult and combined this criticism with an upright struggle against it. The petty-bourgeois thesis that, above all, under the leadership of Comrade Stalin the personality cult around him was advanced by himself and the bolshevist, marxist-leninist majority of the KPdSU(B) must be firmly rejected and carries a slanderous, anti-communist character. It does not distinguish between a revolutionary and marxist-leninist line and a right, revisionist line that used personality cult in the struggle against bolshevism. Already in Soviet Union the revisionists struggled against communism by lifting up the red banner, just to throw it in the dirt. As an expression of the revisionist trend[Strömung], the harmful and idealistic theory of the Communist Party as a "monolithic block" developed, which can still be found today in different forms in several revisionist theories, which, however, was decisevely combated[struggled] by Stalin and which is directed against those principles of the construction of the Communist Party, as elaborated by the Bolsheviks under the leadership of Lenin and which still represent fundamental elements in the construction of the Communist Party today. Stalin dealt with the question of criticism and self-criticism in accordance with the path already pointed out on this question by Marx, Engels and Lenin, and he emphasized its fundamental character, upon which Comrade Mao Zedong was able to build on, by systematizing the question of criticism and self-criticism comprehensively and expounding the insight that criticism and self-criticism are based on the objective law of the struggle of two lines within the party.
Party construction and Bolshevization.
Defence of Leninism and ideological struggle.
Stalin was the most important defender of Leninism in his period in the epoch of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Not only that he defended it at a high level against the enemies of the peoples masses, but in the meantime he also provided important contributions to the popularization of Marxism-Leninism. Thus, millions of proletarians around the world were able to gain access to the ideology and politics of proletarian world revolution, the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, which represented the most advanced ideology of the day, became more widespread through his contributions and consolidated as a sharp weapon in the hands of the masses. Important works in this context are: "The Foundations of Leninism," many writings about the October Revolution, or the works summarized in the anthology "On the Opposition." Moreover, excellent trainig courses were developed under the personal guidance of Stalin, with these tools the ideological-theoretical work of the International Communist Movement reached its highest point so far. Under the leadership of Satlin, the ideological struggle has been extended to many other areas of science (especially the natural sciences) and has led to great debates on questions of psychology, biology, art, linguistics, etc. This is a crucial point that can not be overcome by the enemies of the Proletarian World Revolution: under Stalin's leadership, the ideological struggle became, more than ever, a struggle of an international mass character, which means that it was also a struggle against that bureaucratism that focuses on the ideological-theoretical debate in small leading circles, treating it in reality as a kind of "secret doctrine" and using the masses only as a maneuvering mass of this doctrine. Chairman Mao increased and deepened this understanding of the mass ideological struggle and, following up on the accomplishments of Comrade Stalin, developed it further to the concept of the continued Proletarian Cultural Revolution, as the third universal type of Proletarian World Revolution. An important lesson that can be drawn from the work of Stalin in this area is the international ideological struggle and must be taken up by the international communist movement also today, despite difficult conditions.
Party, criticism and self-criticism
Stalin was no enemy of self-criticism and no supporter of the theory of the party as a monolithic block, contrary to the lies of bourgeois forces and their appendages. Stalin defended Comrade Lenins' views on the question of criticism and self-criticism, pointing out in several speeches and writings that in the application of criticism and self-criticism, precisely pragmatism and other deficiencies are a sign of bureaucratism and he took the view that the profound application of criticism and self-criticism must be a conscious applied law of development of the Communist Party. Comrade Stalin's struggle for this principle in particular, shows the decisiveness he had towards bureaucratic and (right- as well as "left-") opportunist tendencies in the party. He defined criticism and self-criticism in the sense of Leninism as principle of the Communists and also practiced self-criticism in several questions of theory and practice. Stalin strongly criticized the ideology of personality cult and combined this criticism with an upright struggle against it. The petty-bourgeois thesis that, above all, under the leadership of Comrade Stalin the personality cult around him was advanced by himself and the bolshevist, marxist-leninist majority of the KPdSU(B) must be firmly rejected and carries a slanderous, anti-communist character. It does not distinguish between a revolutionary and marxist-leninist line and a right, revisionist line that used personality cult in the struggle against bolshevism. Already in Soviet Union the revisionists struggled against communism by lifting up the red banner, just to throw it in the dirt. As an expression of the revisionist trend[Strömung], the harmful and idealistic theory of the Communist Party as a "monolithic block" developed, which can still be found today in different forms in several revisionist theories, which, however, was decisevely combated[struggled] by Stalin and which is directed against those principles of the construction of the Communist Party, as elaborated by the Bolsheviks under the leadership of Lenin and which still represent fundamental elements in the construction of the Communist Party today. Stalin dealt with the question of criticism and self-criticism in accordance with the path already pointed out on this question by Marx, Engels and Lenin, and he emphasized its fundamental character, upon which Comrade Mao Zedong was able to build on, by systematizing the question of criticism and self-criticism comprehensively and expounding the insight that criticism and self-criticism are based on the objective law of the struggle of two lines within the party.
Party construction and Bolshevization.
Beside
the struggle against the denial or distortion of the principle of
criticism and self-criticism, which is a very important contribution to
the theory and practice of the construction of the Communist Party, also
the work „The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(Bolsheviks) – Short Course“ developed under the editorial guidance of
Comrade Stalin. Up to now, this work is an indispensable contribution to
the debate about the correct way of the (re-)construction of Communist
Parties and the ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in general. Comrade
Stalin led the struggle against right and "left" deviations in the
question of the construction of the Communist Party and its anchorage
within the masses, not only in the Soviet Union but also
internationally. The struggle for the Boshevization of the Communist
Parties developed under his personal leadership, which was a struggle
for the proletarian character of the Communist Parties and emphasized
the leadership and necessity of the hegemony of the proletariat. Both
right and „left“ mistakes in the leaderships of the Communist Parties
was struggled through Bolshevization and the tasks of the communists in
the struggle for anchorage within the working class and its struggle for
political power under the conditions of relative stabilization of
imperialist capitalism, were defined. Against revisionists,
counterrevolutionaries and both right and „left“ deviations, the correct
policy of Bolshevization was mainly successfully enforced. For the
first time workers stood at the top of important Communist Parties,
which was not unessentially conditioned by the process of boshevization.
During the politics of Bolshevization, armed mass organizations were
created by the Communist Parties in several countries, which in their
construction were the seeds of the militarization of the Communist mass
organizations. The struggle against Luxemburgism, which was connected
with the boshevization, contains several points that are still of great
importance today in overcoming the infantile disorders or
undisciplinedness and the weak organization of young Communist Parties,
but also important in struggling against the senile stubbornness of
those organizations, that can no longer perceive important political
changes inside the masses and the political situation. The
Bolshevization provided an important basis for combining revolutionary,
educational mass work with strategic clarity of goals and was an
important cornerstone on which Chairman Mao later has been able to
develop the theory of the relationship between avantgarde and masses
further and to work out the policy of the mass line, which is why Mao
also pointed out Bolshevization as an important question in the struggle
for the leadership of the revolutionary masses by the Communist Party
of China.
The construction of Socialism, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
Stalin led the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) as elected general secretary for more than 30 years and thus leading the first socialist state in human history. (…) This heavy legacy [of the profound feudal relations - note] became a major burden for the Bolsheviks in the construction of socialism. However, this problem was resolutely tackled, the industrialization was pushed ahead and collectivization of agriculture was pushed through, mainly under the direction of J.W. Stalin. This formed a solid basis on which socialism could be constructed and on which great forms of proletarian avantgarde- and mass culture were developed. Through the construction of socialism and measures in the base and superstructure under Stalin's leadership, a stable base of the proletarian world revolution, a bastion against imperialism and fascist aggression was accomplished. However, socialist construction also had to defend itself against enemies within the Soviet Union against revisionism, against bourgeois views, against the new emerging Red Bourgeoisie. The „Moscow Trials“ have to be seen in this correlation as well. These trials are to be understood as juridical-administrative means in class struggle under the conditions of socialism, therefore it would be wrong to reduce their application in the class struggle only to one of the struggling classes. The trials were used by the communist, bolshevik majority in the KPdSU (B) against the revisionists, new bourgeois and conspirators, as well as by those against the bolsheviks. This was also the realization of Comrade Stalin and leading bolsheviks, which is why there were also self-critical statements within the bolshevik Central Committee, which emphasized that trials as the sole means would not be enough to beat the enemies. Despite their limitations, the trials, since they were primarily directed against revisionism and Trotskyism because of their character, must be defended as a historically generally correct struggle under the leadership of Stalin. The assessment of the relative limitation of judicial-administrative means in class struggle under socialist conditions, brought Comrade Mao Zedong to the correct conclusion that on the one hand he defended the trials as an important struggle against the right and applied them in China as well, but on the other hand saw their limitation and developed the conception of the mobilization of the popular masses under proletarian leadership aganst the new Bourgeoisie within the party, as the main in proportion to the trials.
Struggle against fascism.
Stalin led the camp of the proletarian world revolution in the struggle against Nazi-fascism and Italian-fascism, as well as Comrade Mao Zedong took up this task outstandingly towards Japanese-fascism. The Soviet Union unleashed all its forces for the struggle against imperialist barbarism in the struggle against fascism, also on Stalin's initiative. In this stage, the policy of the Popular Front was established, in which the proletariat, as leading force, struggles together with all forces which can be concretely united against fascism as their common enemy. It is a historical political fact that there have been serious deviations in this policy. It must be noted, however, that these deviations are not due to Comrade Stalin's policies and the marxist-leninist line in the CPSU(B) and the Communist International, but also arose very much within the Western European parties, in which even then a revisionist right trend was particularly strong often. On this basis, any lie about the "general failure" of the Popular Front has to be rejected as deeply (western-)eurocentric, because beside many other countries also China, with its population of a quater of humanity, has been freed from fascism and became part of the socialist and people‘s democratic camp, due to the struggle against fascism under the correct application of the Popular Front. Thus, Stalin and Mao were at the head of the international communist movement at a time when it reached its highest point, when hundreds of millions of people around the world actively participated in socialist construction, and the great red banner of the proletarian world revolution waved above half of the world. The outcome of the Second World War and the subsequent constitution of the people's democratic-socialist camp, prove once and for all also in the historical social practice on an international level, the absurdity of Trotskyism, the possibility of building socialism in one country and the possible role of a single socialist country as a base of the proletarian world revolution, and by its consolidation the proletariat can achieve further victories. It is impossible to emphasize Stalin's great role in the struggle against fascism, without mentioning the innumerable partisans whose ideological leader in the main was Stalin and which often went to battle with the cry "For Stalin!". New forms of proletarian warfare were developed in the war against Nazi-fascist barbarism under the leadership of Stalin as Commander-in-Chief [Generalissimo] of the Red Army and General Secretary of the CPSU(B), by which he accomplished important contributions to communist military science. Stalin fulfilled his role and tasks during the Second World War correctly and creatively. At the same time, the theory and practice of the longlasting People's War was worked out in China in the national liberation war against Japanese-fascism and in the civil wars. The struggle against fascism, this great decisive battle of humanity, established not only the comprehensive partisan war, the national liberation war and the socialist patriotic war (as forms of war led by Stalin) but also the long-lasting People's War, and only with the long-lasting People's War as political-military strategy, it was possible to defeat fascism independently outside of Europe up to now! This important development of proletarian military science and ideological-political line, took place in the process of the proletarian world revolution under the leadership of Stalin and Mao. Although Comrade Mao Zedong made the main contribution here and explained the questions of the leadership of the long-lasting People's War, Comrade Stalin's contribution must not be concealed. The role of the socialist Soviet Union and the Chinese revolution were decisive for the outcome of the Second World War, for the defeat of world fascism under the leadership of Nazi-fascism. This historical truth must be upheld against historical-revisionist lies which, in particular, want to whitewash US-imperialism of its interest in fascism and thus try to present it as a consistent antifascist force.
Josef W. Stalin and Mao Zedong.
Stalin enriched Marxism-Leninism on important questions. He defended the dictatorship of the proletariat and led the struggle for its consolidation. This is of particular importance, since the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat is one of the essential components of the doctrine of scientific socialism. Under the leadership of Stalin, the international communist movement accomplished many of the greatest victories in its history. Stalin created the conditions for communism to take on new challenges and evolve. This development was made by Comrade Mao Zedong. Following up on Stalin's teachings, he profoundly deepened them, further developing the scientific ideology of the proletariat, and, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, made new contributions that took marxism-leninism to a new stage: Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Maoism developed ideologically within Marxism-Leninism and developed it decisively, just as Leninism developed from marxism and decisively developed it for the first period of the epoch of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Today it is wrong to regard only the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat as essential to the scientific ideology of the proletariat. In today's world, the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat must be advanced to recognize the objective existence of classes, the antagonistic class contradictions, the red bourgeoisie within the party, and the continuation of the class struggle under the dictatorship of the proletariat throughout the whole period of socialism - towards communism! Anyone who does not recognize this today, after the experiences of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, can not be a marxist-leninist either. The Marxism-Leninism of today is Maoism. Therefore, Stalin's work can not be consistently defended by the "Marxist-Leninist" but anti-maoist revisionists. The self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninists (as well as Hoxhaists) prove this every day, by comprehending Stalin's positive contributions conservatively and not taking them as a prerequisite for further development, thereby they are destroying its communist character and abusing the person of Stalin as justification for their own bureaucratism, their own sectarianism and their own right opportunism. Maoism, which contains Stalin's important contributions to Marxism-Leninism, includes the struggle against such elements as a necessity. Only in this struggle and by the recognition of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the highest stage of the scientific ideology of the proletariat, Stalin's teachings are to be defended, their creative character in Stalin's period of the present epoch to be emphasized, and to be linked to his work.
Stalin enriched Marxism-Leninism on important questions. He defended the dictatorship of the proletariat and led the struggle for its consolidation. This is of particular importance, since the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat is one of the essential components of the doctrine of scientific socialism. Under the leadership of Stalin, the international communist movement accomplished many of the greatest victories in its history. Stalin created the conditions for communism to take on new challenges and evolve. This development was made by Comrade Mao Zedong. Following up on Stalin's teachings, he profoundly deepened them, further developing the scientific ideology of the proletariat, and, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, made new contributions that took marxism-leninism to a new stage: Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Maoism developed ideologically within Marxism-Leninism and developed it decisively, just as Leninism developed from marxism and decisively developed it for the first period of the epoch of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Today it is wrong to regard only the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat as essential to the scientific ideology of the proletariat. In today's world, the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat must be advanced to recognize the objective existence of classes, the antagonistic class contradictions, the red bourgeoisie within the party, and the continuation of the class struggle under the dictatorship of the proletariat throughout the whole period of socialism - towards communism! Anyone who does not recognize this today, after the experiences of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, can not be a marxist-leninist either. The Marxism-Leninism of today is Maoism. Therefore, Stalin's work can not be consistently defended by the "Marxist-Leninist" but anti-maoist revisionists. The self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninists (as well as Hoxhaists) prove this every day, by comprehending Stalin's positive contributions conservatively and not taking them as a prerequisite for further development, thereby they are destroying its communist character and abusing the person of Stalin as justification for their own bureaucratism, their own sectarianism and their own right opportunism. Maoism, which contains Stalin's important contributions to Marxism-Leninism, includes the struggle against such elements as a necessity. Only in this struggle and by the recognition of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the highest stage of the scientific ideology of the proletariat, Stalin's teachings are to be defended, their creative character in Stalin's period of the present epoch to be emphasized, and to be linked to his work.
Wrong criticism of Stalin
In recent years, some of these tendencies which are hostile towards this attitude, have begun to delute the proletariat‘s most elemental weapon in the struggle for power, its scientific ideology, under the cover of seemingly positive reference to Mao Zedong and Stalin, and try to confuse the communist movement. These include the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP), the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) and the Initiative for the Construction of the Revolutionary-Communist Party, Austria (IA*RKP). The RCP accuses Stalin, Mao and all the other classics of having had an all too retarded understanding of class struggle, contradictions, dialectics, even scientific ideology at all. It revises all the great achievements, including the ones listed achieved by Stalin, as well as the Marxism-Leninism-Maoism itself. Only it alone, with the help of the idealistic so-called "New Synthesis" of its chairman Bob Avakian, is able to launch a truly new epoch of communism. In doing so, they and their barely seeded adherents sink into a new form of utopianism, but not without first making some attempts to divide and disorientate the communist world movement. The MLPD clearly rejects Maoism as the third and highest stage in the development of the scientific ideology of the proletariat, whereby it rejects in reality also Stalin's contribution to Marxism-Leninism. For it, "Mao's contributions" exist mainly in the struggle against Khrushchev, the Cultural Revolution and the New Democracy. This makes Mao Zedong a "Third World Revolutionary". This is a eurocentric viewpoint, which negates the universality of Maoism and therefore must develop a purely formal relationship with Stalin's contributions. The Austrian IA*RKP is struggling against the teachings of Stalin, when it claims that under his rule the "persecution and killing of communists by organs of the dictatorship of the proletariat" had taken place seemingly completely class neutrally and that he did "not distinguish between contradictions within the people from those to the class enemy". It tries to play off Mao against Stalin and, for example, to construct an alleged condemnation of the Moscow Trials by Mao. It tries to cause confusion, through its eclectic attitude on the scientific ideology of the proletariat, by declaring that Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, ML-Maozedong-ideas, etc., are more or less the same, however, it is clear to them that the concept of Maoism must be rejected. This wrong attitude to Maoism is not surprising, because after all, the IA*RKP has the conception that the contributions of Comrade Mao Zedong are essentially described as "anti-revisionism and new democracy plus cultural revolution". This is a position that was maybe still common in the 1960s, perhaps even in the 1970s, but has long been outdated today and not least refuted on an international level.
Positions such as those of RCP, MLPD and IA*RKP express themselves with different masks. What they all have in common is that they can not defend Stalin's teachings, that they can not take up the indipendently development of Mao Zedong, which is correlating with Stalins achievements, which is why they will not be able to properly prepare for the coming stage of proletarian world revolution in their own country, to play a leading role in it and to lead the masses in the class struggle.
In recent years, some of these tendencies which are hostile towards this attitude, have begun to delute the proletariat‘s most elemental weapon in the struggle for power, its scientific ideology, under the cover of seemingly positive reference to Mao Zedong and Stalin, and try to confuse the communist movement. These include the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP), the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) and the Initiative for the Construction of the Revolutionary-Communist Party, Austria (IA*RKP). The RCP accuses Stalin, Mao and all the other classics of having had an all too retarded understanding of class struggle, contradictions, dialectics, even scientific ideology at all. It revises all the great achievements, including the ones listed achieved by Stalin, as well as the Marxism-Leninism-Maoism itself. Only it alone, with the help of the idealistic so-called "New Synthesis" of its chairman Bob Avakian, is able to launch a truly new epoch of communism. In doing so, they and their barely seeded adherents sink into a new form of utopianism, but not without first making some attempts to divide and disorientate the communist world movement. The MLPD clearly rejects Maoism as the third and highest stage in the development of the scientific ideology of the proletariat, whereby it rejects in reality also Stalin's contribution to Marxism-Leninism. For it, "Mao's contributions" exist mainly in the struggle against Khrushchev, the Cultural Revolution and the New Democracy. This makes Mao Zedong a "Third World Revolutionary". This is a eurocentric viewpoint, which negates the universality of Maoism and therefore must develop a purely formal relationship with Stalin's contributions. The Austrian IA*RKP is struggling against the teachings of Stalin, when it claims that under his rule the "persecution and killing of communists by organs of the dictatorship of the proletariat" had taken place seemingly completely class neutrally and that he did "not distinguish between contradictions within the people from those to the class enemy". It tries to play off Mao against Stalin and, for example, to construct an alleged condemnation of the Moscow Trials by Mao. It tries to cause confusion, through its eclectic attitude on the scientific ideology of the proletariat, by declaring that Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, ML-Maozedong-ideas, etc., are more or less the same, however, it is clear to them that the concept of Maoism must be rejected. This wrong attitude to Maoism is not surprising, because after all, the IA*RKP has the conception that the contributions of Comrade Mao Zedong are essentially described as "anti-revisionism and new democracy plus cultural revolution". This is a position that was maybe still common in the 1960s, perhaps even in the 1970s, but has long been outdated today and not least refuted on an international level.
Positions such as those of RCP, MLPD and IA*RKP express themselves with different masks. What they all have in common is that they can not defend Stalin's teachings, that they can not take up the indipendently development of Mao Zedong, which is correlating with Stalins achievements, which is why they will not be able to properly prepare for the coming stage of proletarian world revolution in their own country, to play a leading role in it and to lead the masses in the class struggle.
The
political, organizational, ideological and military achievements and
developments of Stalin and Mao, summed up in Maoism, are decisive
foundations for the new uplift of the international communist movement.
The consequent struggle against utopism, defeatism, anarchism,
revisionism, etc., is only possible if we understand how to use this
armory properly, take up the teachings of these two classics more
strongly, defend and develop them for the concrete situation of class
struggle and the task of the socialist revolution in Austria, in the
service of the proletarian world revolution. (March 2013)
"There is a dogmatic Marxism and a creative Marxism. I stand by the latter." (Stalin)
Long live the communist legacy of Josef W. Stalin!
Death to fascism - freedom for the peoples!
Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!
(*) When we speak of criticism of Stalin, we assume that not every criticism of Stalin is a scientific and revolutionary criticism. For example, the unconceiled bourgeois criticism and revisionist criticism. On the other hand, Mao Zedong's criticism of Stalin, especially in the fields of political economy and philosophy, was scientifically studied and guided, and found its highest expression in the construction of socialism in China and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. As far as the errors of Stalin are concerned, the apprehension of some questions on theoretical (not ideological!) level, for example in historical and dialectical materialism, was limited. However, this was not "Stalin's personal mistake" but a reflection of the necessary historical limitations of the first experiences of building socialism. This historical limitation was the cause of weaknesses in the political economy and questions of the construction of socialism.
The unconceiled bourgeois critique makes use of the before mentioned weaknesses, to renovate its counter-revolutionary ideology and its anti-Marxism ([neo-]structuralism, Eurocommunism, postmodernism, Trotskyism, ...). Revisionist criticism, in turn, introduces new types of idealism through alleged "antidogmatism" or "anti-mechanism," etc. (such as categorial system, cybernetics, etc.) and historically formed an ideological basis for social imperialism. The allegedly "Maoist" criticisms of Stalin, such as those made by the RCP / USA, etc., are related to this.
"There is a dogmatic Marxism and a creative Marxism. I stand by the latter." (Stalin)
Long live the communist legacy of Josef W. Stalin!
Death to fascism - freedom for the peoples!
Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!
(*) When we speak of criticism of Stalin, we assume that not every criticism of Stalin is a scientific and revolutionary criticism. For example, the unconceiled bourgeois criticism and revisionist criticism. On the other hand, Mao Zedong's criticism of Stalin, especially in the fields of political economy and philosophy, was scientifically studied and guided, and found its highest expression in the construction of socialism in China and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. As far as the errors of Stalin are concerned, the apprehension of some questions on theoretical (not ideological!) level, for example in historical and dialectical materialism, was limited. However, this was not "Stalin's personal mistake" but a reflection of the necessary historical limitations of the first experiences of building socialism. This historical limitation was the cause of weaknesses in the political economy and questions of the construction of socialism.
The unconceiled bourgeois critique makes use of the before mentioned weaknesses, to renovate its counter-revolutionary ideology and its anti-Marxism ([neo-]structuralism, Eurocommunism, postmodernism, Trotskyism, ...). Revisionist criticism, in turn, introduces new types of idealism through alleged "antidogmatism" or "anti-mechanism," etc. (such as categorial system, cybernetics, etc.) and historically formed an ideological basis for social imperialism. The allegedly "Maoist" criticisms of Stalin, such as those made by the RCP / USA, etc., are related to this.