Summary of the analysis of the CMKP, Taimur Rabman, March 17, 2002.

A rag tag defeated army of peasants, workers, and a few intellectuals was holding a meeting in a remote Chinese village. Constant fighting, hunger, cold, and depravation had very nearly destroyed their morale. A determined young man got up and asked the troops "Although we have lost many men, are we stronger now, or are we weaker?" They replied "Obviously we are weaker. We have lost many precious friends, arms, ammunition, land, resources." "No we are stronger" answered this young fiery individual. "The people who remain, are gold." Although the Soviet Union is no more, are we stronger now or are we weaker? The Communist Workers Peasants Party Pakistan replies "Even though we are fewer, we are stronger. In our defeat is concealed the secret of our future success, and in the victory of the oppressor is concealed their defeat." History’ will prove these words to be true.

If the matter is looked at dialectically, the very defeat of socialism in the Soviet Union contains in itself the future foundations of socialism on an incomparably greater basis. We do not doubt this dialectical conclusion for a second. However, in order to convert this dialectic of defeat into victory, it is necessary to learn and correct the mistakes of the past. We feel that the facts of history demonstrate quite clearly that the tendency aptly termed Modern Revisionism is principally responsible for the destruction of the Soviet Union. Therefore, all Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries must study this tendency, re-educate all revolutionary elements, and crush this bourgeois philosophy with an iron fist.

Revisionism is a philosophy that arises from the petty’ bourgeois and privileged stratum of the workers. Owing to its position in the social division of labour and the class point of view that arises from this objective position, this middle strata is constantly attempting for a class compromise with the bourgeoisie. Therefore, as Lenin said "Revisionism denies class struggle and preaches class collaboration." (1) In fact, the influence of compromising middle strata on the working class movement plays an enormously important role in holding the entire bourgeois edifice together. The basic task of these bourgeois agents is to prevent the revolutionary elements from accumulating enough strength to strike with decisive force at the ruling class. Lenin pointed out that "Practice has shown that the active people in the working-class movement who adhere to the opportunist trend are better defenders of the bourgeoisie, than the bourgeoisie itself. Without their leadership of the workers, the bourgeoisie could not have stayed in power." (2) History has confirmed this conclusion. The class collaborationist tendencies, that is the modern revisionists, are responsible for the destruction of the motherland of socialism.

We can only present a brief summary of the analysis made by the CMKP Pakistan in this particular essay. We hope to publish a complete book regarding this topic shortly (and our views can be analysed in full).

The famous Marxist axiom holds that "The dominant ideas of the times are the ideas of the dominant class". Put another way, victory in the field of ideas is a prerequisite for the transfer of power from one class to another. It follows that the proletarian state can be created or destroyed in the measure that proletarian ideas are accepted or rejected in society at large. Every class intuitively understands that in order to destroy its class opponents, it is necessary to destroy and discredit the ideas that form the basis of the opposition’s organisation. Therefore, the first struggle between the revisionists and the revolutionaries occurred in the field of ideas; this spread to the field of organisation and politics; then from politics to the control of the economy; and finally towards explicit capitalist restoration. In connection with the objective actions of the revisionist movement, and using the method of dialectical historical materialism, we can divide the phases of the struggle into three parts.

1956— 1965: Revisionism consolidates its ideological and political victory

1965 — 1985: Revisionism consolidates its economic victory

1985— 1991: Revisionism begins the process of explicit capitalist restoration

Revisionism raised its ugly head at the 20"’ Congress in 1956. Thereafter, a destructive struggle spread through the party between the revolutionaries on the one hand and the revisionists on the other. Unfortunately, this struggle ended with the defeat of the revolutionaries. After the defeat of the main revolutionary leaders, the cadre base was reorganized from head to foot to support the revisionist leadership. The new ideological super-structure of the revisionists rested on five basic tenets.

I) De-Stalinisation
2) The End of Antagonistic Classes and the State and Party of the Whole People
3) Peaceful Coexistence and Peaceful Competition
4) "Market Socialism": A Redefinition of the Ends of Socialism
5) The Peaceful Third Way in Third World Countries:

The campaign against Marxism-Leninism was carried out using the vilest methods. Since the revisionists understood that they would never be able to defeat Marxism-Leninism in an honest theoretical discussion, they resorted to the worst kind of deceit and personal attacks in order to confuse people. They used the oldest trick in the book; if you can not destroy an idea, discredit the person advocating the idea. The campaign against the "cult of personality", which was later called de-Stalinization, was nothing but an attempt to discredit proletarian ideas by attempting to discredit the person advocating those ideas. Once the principle proponents of Marxism-Leninism could be termed "Stalinist", which was equated with "murderers", the field was left open for capitalist restoration.

Once the revisionists felt secure in the party, they began a long-term plan for capitalist restoration in the economic field. In September 1965 the Plenum of the CPSU met to discuss ways of "improving the performance of the economy". These reforms were carried out under the banner of building "Socialism by using capitalist means." In reality, the slogan of market socialism was a deception to destroy socialism and restore capitalism. The revisionists undertook the following steps:

The entire program was aimed, structured, and implemented in such a way that it consolidated the position of the new capitalist class in Russia. This new capitalist class was composed of managers of industry and high party officials. The level of deceit and self-deception reached gregarious proportions in this period.

Once the revisionists had consolidated their hold on the entire economy of the country, they began a process of explicit capitalist restoration. The capitalist restoration had two aspects: a political and an economic

The new capitalist class threw all precautions to the winds and gave up all pretensions of socialism. They fanned bourgeois opposition until the proletarian state was destroyed and a naked bourgeois dictatorship was established. The ‘democracy’, for which there was so much clamour, was nothing but a dictatorial, oppressive, and exploitative bourgeois regime. The tendency for the restoration of capitalism managed to get a hold of all the party and state organs. Not only proletarian revolutionaries but proletarians themselves were eliminated from positions in the state. For example, here is the composition in the Supreme Soviet for three years. The reader can clearly see how the Gorbachev reforms were intended on eliminating the power of the proletarians and creating a bourgeois state.

Meanwhile, the bourgeoisie harps on about the destruction of Marxism-Leninism. They present all kinds of ridiculous theories. They say that socialism failed because of the Sino-Soviet Split. That the planned economy was not a viable economic system. That the heavy military burden of the cold war destroyed the soviet economy. That the Soviet Union was a society without "political democracy" and a repressive society. That Stalin was a dictator, as were all the other communist leaders. That the Leninist political party is by definition an authoritarian institution. That socialism can not survive because humans are selfish. That the very concept of class is incorrect. From all this nonsense they draw the conclusion that the failure of the Soviet Union was inevitable. The purpose of every single one of these theories is to indoctrinate the people, demoralise their revolutionary courage, and disintegrate their forces. These theories conclude that "it is wrong to rebel." We conclude that "it is justified to rebel."

In hindsight, the historic mistake of the revolutionaries was their failure to take this debate to the rank and file of the party. The revolutionaries should have mobilised all revolutionary elements in the USSR in order to defeat and dislodge the revisionists from the party and state leadership. The revolutionaries underestimated revisionism. The tendency of capitulation characterised by the arguments that "in time revisionist deviations will be corrected themselves" or that "taking this debate to the masses would have created too much instability that the imperialists would take advantage of’ meant leaving the field open to the revisionists. This proved to be a non-Marxist-Leninist approach and in sum meant that the revolutionaries surrendered their weapons. The result was that the entire Soviet Union and the international communist movement suffered the worst set back in its history. Of course it is far easier to write about these mistakes now. Our intentions in pointing out these mistakes are not to malign or discredit the genuine revolutionaries in the CPSU who fought till the last for Marxism-Leninism. Our intentions in pointing out these mistakes are to educate the communist movement today and prevent a repetition of the same mistakes.

Thus, the historic lesson from the break-up of the Soviet Union is that not only should revisionism be identified, it should be fought against tooth and nail by involving the cadres and masses of people. The revisionists rely on conflict control. Revolutionaries must learn how to utilise conflicts to educate the masses of people in a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist spirit. In conclusion, the enemies from within are far more powerful than the enemies from without. As Lenin said "A party that wants to exist cannot allow the slightest wavering on the question of its existence or any agreement with those who may bury it." (3)

Today we must raise the slogan "All Power to the Strike Committees" along with the Russian workers who are rebuilding the Soviet Union. Even if the imperialists destroy a thousand Soviet Unions, we are ready to build a thousand and one new ones. We are proletarian revolutionaries. hardened to the core and ready for any challenge. We will fight like the warriors of Stalingrad for every inch of soil. But first we need to destroy the ideological and organisational hold of those who betrayed us internally. We must show no mercy with those ideas and people who subjected an entire continent to plunder and rape at the hands of the imperialists.

Furthermore, we must not divide our own forces. All anti-revisionists must unite against our common enemies. All other questions can be worked out in a united party and international. History has placed the building of a new Communist International on the agenda of proletarian politics. The formation of a Communist International based on Marxist-Leninist praxis. even if it is composed of only a few parties to begin with, will have an immediate positive impact on the world proletariat movement. The formation of a new International does not preclude the possibility of joining with other anti-revisionist forces; it presupposes and builds the preconditions for such a unity. The Communist Workers Peasants Party is starting a process of first uniting all the Marxist-Leninist elements in Pakistan; second, uniting these forces with genuine proletarian forces in the entire Sub-Continent, and finally uniting with the entire International Communist movement.

We struggle for the people. We must become one with them. To use a local metaphor. we must fuse with the people just as a flame consumes a moth.

I. Lenin. Marxism and Revisionism’ (before April 3, 1908). (pg., 23).

2. V. I. Lenin. "The International Situation and the Fundamental Tasks of the Communist International. Report Delivered at the Second Congress of the Communist International" (July 19. 1920). (pg. 58)

3.Lenin, 'How Vera Zasulich Demolishes Liquidationism', Collected Works, FLPH, Moscow, 1963, Vol 19, p.414.