Marxist-Leninist Theory and Practice
Majdur, Marxist-Leninist Newswire | 12.01.2001 20:30
The two line struggle developed in 1995 after the infamous SIN chief Vladimiro Montesinos faked an "interview" on video tape which ostensibly "proved" that Chairman Gonzolo, President of the PCP(SL), who had been imprisoned in solitary confinement for over three years already, had called for an end to the peoples war.
Majdur, Marxist-Leninist Newswire
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Come to Islam
13.01.2001 01:12
Muslim
Interesting, but
14.01.2001 19:55
We sincerely hope that those not familiar with the details of the Trotsky- Stalin controversy are not misled by this type of article, but we are nonetheless glad that IMC UK has permitted it to stay up on the screen.
For Freedom of Debate !
Revolutionary Socialists
reply
14.01.2001 21:26
--Majdur
majdur
More Childishness From The Maoist Nursery
16.01.2001 15:38
First things first. The IMC is a news source for activists struggling against Corporate Globalization and corporate exploitation in general. It is not an arena for theological pissing contests between microscopic organizations vying for the role of "vanguard of the proletariat". While some of the groups mentioned, in particular Sendero Luminoso(Shining Path), may aspire to the status of guerrilla insurgency, this status is a confession of political weakness and marginality, not strength.
Nothing could underline this weakness and pollitical triviality more than the above piece. That anyone could imagine that the bickering between the RCP and its fraternal maoist micro-organisms would interest a significant portion of the IMC readership is mind boggling. It would be hardly worth reading much less responding to were it not for the danger that some unwitting soul might actually mistake it for a marxist analysis.
In the interest of saving time and avoiding tedium I'll strive for brevity. The "two line struggle" as presented above is an absurdity that will be found no where in Marx's writings. Nor, for that matter, will you find this formulation in Lenin (though he says much that is equally absurd). This particular jewel of vulgarization is Chairman Mao's contribution to the con game of vanguardism.
It's certainly true that Marx said that all social institutions and groups contain contradictions and that these contradictions have a class character. But Marx never asserted that all such contradictions could be reduced to a single " pair of contradictions"(sic). Marx didn't like opposition to his point of view but he also didn't go around denouncing his opponents as counter revolutionaries.
Lenin and the Bolsheviks did prepare the ground for this sort nonsense with their assaults on all non Bolshevik revolutionaries. In the end their sheer bloody mindedness rebounded against them when they were liquidated by Stalin. Here you find the true origins of the "two-lines" scam.
The "two line struggle" has nothing to do with any real class analysis. Rather, it is a club that competing factions can brandish at one another in the power struggles which naturally arise in any political leadership dedicated to the conquest of power. If there are only two lines then by definition all other positions can be liquidated by lumping them on one side or the other. Never mind that the individual proponents may say that they are not in agreement with whatever political label has been slapped on them. It doesn't matter what their professed opinions are. The two line struggle dictates that they are objectively on one side or the other.
To sum up, those who do not agree with whatever lunacy is spouted by the dominate faction are "objectively" counter revolutionary, bourgeois, etc. Mao made great use of this fable during the purges of the "Cultural Revolution", which came hard on the heels of the "hundred flowers" campaign.
One last thought. Complaining that Bob Avakian and Co. are undemocratic begs a question. Did you notice this before or only after you fell out with him?
W.B.Reeves
e-mail: wbreeves@hotmail.com