An International Maoist Symposium was organized by Umut Publishing on 6-7th April in Turkey commemorating 130th birthday of Mao Tse Tung. On the first day of the symposium two sessions were staged. The first session started with Volkan Yaraşır’s presentation on “Dialectics of the Chinese Revolution and Mao Zedong”.
Then Jülide Yazıcı from Teori ve Politika (Theory and Politics) made a presentation on “The relationship between leader, party and the masses in the revolution”, followed by a presentation of Partizan titled “One Master, One Revolution, Three Leaders: Mao Zedong, Gonzalo, Mazumdar and İbrahim Kaypakkaya”.
The session concluded with the presentation of Noyau D’etudes Marxistes on “The Chinese Revolution and Maoism as Part of the World Revolution”.
The second session started with the presentation by the Union of Migrant Workers (Britain) on “Conditions of capitalism in socialism and the inevitability of the revolution” followed by the presentation of Cihan Cinemre on “The Return to Capitalism in Chinese Agriculture”. The session concluded with a presentation from the Partizan on “Leading Women in the Revolution and the Communist Party in the Context of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR).”
The 2nd day of the symposium was addressed by speakers from Turkey, India, Brazil and Germany. The session started with a presentation by Ajith, a Maoist from India, on “Experiences of the Maoist Movement in India and Nepal, the Success of Maoism against Modern Revisionism”.
Then there was a presentation from the Rote Post from Germany on the political situation in Germany and the importance of mass work, followed by a presentation of the Partizan on “Communist thought against imperialism and all kinds of collaborators”. The final presentation was then made by the Revolutionary Front for the Defense of the Rights of the People (FRDDP) from Brazil, on “Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Internationalism and Democratic Revolution”.
Ajith emphasised that modernisation reflected itself in different forms in Western countries and other semi-colonial countries. He summed up that in the modernities where colonialism sprouted, a characteristic modernity developed in which the colonial political power tried to crush everything.
Interpreting Maoism at this point provides a wholesome perspective on the forms in which imperialism continues to penetrate in semi-colonial countries. It was emphasised that the transformation of feudalism blossomed within capitalism and was patronised by imperialism, he said, adding, India has a ‘very layered structure’, offering an analysis of Brahmanism.
The Rote Post speaker dwelled on the general political situation in the world and the political situation in Germany in particular, citing the example that the political struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie expresses itself in strike waves and the participation of the peasants in the struggle against the monopolies.
Analysing the youth and environmental movements, which were directed by the bourgeoisie, he said, they were basically a rebellion against the order and planted seeds for developing a revolutionary movement. With regard to the fact that the revisionists in Germany are divided, the speaker referred to the existence of a revolutionary situation.
He insisted, the anti-revisionist and anti-fascist struggle must be sharpened to pave way for reconstruction of the party, emphasising the importance of political leadership and the need for mass support for the creation of a national front and the indispensability of ideological unity. He wanted Maoists to construct very broad platforms, exert influence on the masses and convey the work of the front to the masses.
The Partizan representative claimed that Maoism was a higher stage of communist thinking and said: “The confrontation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is the source of universality.” He said, the application of Maoism by the communist movement has to be inter linked with the struggle against imperialism and all its collaborators.
When the Communist Party was built to develop the revolution in Russia, the Mensheviks faced the Bolsheviks, the civil war had to be waged against the Mensheviks, and a similar process took place in China, he noted. Imperialism and its domestic collaborators attacked communism, and revisionism took a stance to prevent imperialism from being hit.
He insisted, the anti-revisionist and anti-fascist struggle must be sharpened to pave way for reconstruction of the party, emphasising the importance of political leadership and the need for mass support for the creation of a national front and the indispensability of ideological unity. He wanted Maoists to construct very broad platforms, exert influence on the masses and convey the work of the front to the masses.
The Partizan representative claimed that Maoism was a higher stage of communist thinking and said: “The confrontation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is the source of universality.” He said, the application of Maoism by the communist movement has to be inter linked with the struggle against imperialism and all its collaborators.
When the Communist Party was built to develop the revolution in Russia, the Mensheviks faced the Bolsheviks, the civil war had to be waged against the Mensheviks, and a similar process took place in China, he noted. Imperialism and its domestic collaborators attacked communism, and revisionism took a stance to prevent imperialism from being hit.
Youth and environmental movements are directed against bourgeoisie, are a rebellion against order and plant seeds of revolution
The speaker of the Revolutionary Front for the Defence of People’s Rights (FRRDP) began her speech with the words: “Greet the masses, the fighters and the Maoist communist parties leading the people’s wars in Peru, India, the Philippines and Turkey!”.
She summarised that the significance and greatness of Mao was illustrated by the three greatest revolutionary events of the 20th century: “The Great October Socialist Revolution, the Great Chinese Revolution and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: two of these three great events were personally and directly carried out by Chairman Mao”.
The speaker asserted that Mao illustrated how transformation of democratic revolution into the socialist revolution takes place, stating, it is the outcome of an unbroken transition from the stage of new democracy to the socialist stage of revolution in semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries.
“The generalisation and development of the theory of bureaucratic capitalism, based on the work of Chairman Mao Zedong, is therefore a great contribution of Chairman Gonzalo with universal validity; it corresponds to the development of Marxist political economy, which is indispensable today to prove the validity of the New Democratic Revolution in all colonial and semi-colonial countries of the world.”
Keen analysts say, predominant theoretical weakness of the symposium was the analysis of the Maoist concept of protracted peoples war as universally applicable, even on developed counties, for fostering the immediate building of a Communist International and in propagating Maoism as ‘principal’, thus deriding its integral link with Leninism.
Speakers were oblivious of the regressive or eclectic concepts of Gonzalo thought like party militarisation or ‘people’s war till Communism.’ Protracted peoples war needs conditions characteristic of a third world semi-colonial society like China before 1949, and is not viable in societies with developed technology and with no geographical terrain for a red army to retreat.
She summarised that the significance and greatness of Mao was illustrated by the three greatest revolutionary events of the 20th century: “The Great October Socialist Revolution, the Great Chinese Revolution and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: two of these three great events were personally and directly carried out by Chairman Mao”.
The speaker asserted that Mao illustrated how transformation of democratic revolution into the socialist revolution takes place, stating, it is the outcome of an unbroken transition from the stage of new democracy to the socialist stage of revolution in semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries.
“The generalisation and development of the theory of bureaucratic capitalism, based on the work of Chairman Mao Zedong, is therefore a great contribution of Chairman Gonzalo with universal validity; it corresponds to the development of Marxist political economy, which is indispensable today to prove the validity of the New Democratic Revolution in all colonial and semi-colonial countries of the world.”
Keen analysts say, predominant theoretical weakness of the symposium was the analysis of the Maoist concept of protracted peoples war as universally applicable, even on developed counties, for fostering the immediate building of a Communist International and in propagating Maoism as ‘principal’, thus deriding its integral link with Leninism.
Speakers were oblivious of the regressive or eclectic concepts of Gonzalo thought like party militarisation or ‘people’s war till Communism.’ Protracted peoples war needs conditions characteristic of a third world semi-colonial society like China before 1949, and is not viable in societies with developed technology and with no geographical terrain for a red army to retreat.
The Communist Party of Philippines and the CPI (Maoist) are known to believe that protracted peoples war is path confined to third world countries.
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*Freelance journalist
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*Freelance journalist
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