"The world proletarian revolution has as its principal force the international proletariat, and as its allies the colonial and semi-colonial oppressed nations. Whatever classes, parties or individuals, whether or not they are conscious of this point, whether they understand it or not at the subjective level, it is enough that they struggle against imperialism for their revolution to become part of the world socialist revolution, so that they can become its allies." Mao Tse-tung in "New Democracy" (1940).
"We have great enthusiasm; because of this we are strong, optimistic with vigorous spirit and overwhelming enthusiasm . . . This is the order: Uphold optimism and overwhelming enthusiasm!" President Gonzalo, March 28, 1980 (ILA-80).
The Communist Party of Peru (PCP) has correctly established that since 1980, the World Proletarian Revolution has entered the Strategic Offensive Stage. This stage develops as a protracted process lasting decades, and is characterized by wars of national liberation of various types, primarily in Third World countries against the imperialist powers and superpowers. The People's Wars in Peru, Nepal, India, and Philippines, led by Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Communist Parties, at present, are in the vanguard front of the World Proletarian Revolution (precisely because such People's Wars are led by Communist Parties). Other armed struggles in the Third World, although led by nationalist organizations (including those of Islamic nature) such as in Burma, Malaysia, Colombia, Turkey, Palestine, Kurdistan, Ireland, Albania, East Timor, Algiers, Somalia, Polisario, Puerto Rico, etc. are also in great part anti-imperialist in character, thus their existence confirm two important theses of the PCP:
- 1. The principal political and historical tendency in the world today is revolution.
- 2. The principal political and historical contradiction in today's world is the exploited Third World nation against the imperialist powers and superpowers.
On the other hand, revisionism (colluded with imperialism) upholds that "an unquestionable feature of these times is the retreat of the revolution on a world scale," and "more than ever in the past, counterrevolution is a science." Two issues are involved in this reactionary position: First, the supposed retreat of revolution was caused by the collapse of social imperialism led by the former USSR and its satellites, and the second one implies a legitimization of the crimes inflicted upon the people by world reaction and imperialism.
It is quite obvious that the world counterrevolution, led by Yankee imperialism, in reality imposes exploitation, oppression, corruption, slavery and genocide over the working class masses through the world. Therefore, the counterrevolution is wage-slavery for the working class and genocide for the people, not science as revisionists advertise.
The contentions that they are a "retreat of revolution on a world scale," and that we should save the struggle for the future by means of "peace talks," that such "peace agreements" should be sponsored by the United Nations, are deceitful manipulations promoted by imperialism to demoralize the masses and liquidate the revolutionary movements. This is the method of promises and rewards for the future such as "sacrifice today for a better tomorrow" or the Wall Street ad, "invest today, enjoy tomorrow," combined with "there is retreat, now your struggle achieves nothing." In synthesis, they are plain imperialist psychological warfare.
Revisionists claim that the struggles in the Third World have suffered "serious blows," and thus "there is retreat" and "revolution does not advance." Therefore, peace talks are in order. This claim is simply preposterous and unfounded, because such struggles continue today. As concrete examples, let us consider the heroic examples of the Palestinian people against Israeli and Yankee imperialist domination. This class struggle continues (regardless of Arafat's capitulation). Also, the armed struggle in the Congo led to the overthrow of the Mobuto regime, a puppet of imperialism. And we can go on and on to show that the armed struggles portrayed as "defeated" by revisionism and imperialism, are actually continuing and advancing today in 1998. They dismiss the class struggle in some countries of Africa by calling them "tribalism" or in Corcega, Algiers, Ireland and the Balkans by referring to them as "religious wars." But such struggles exist and are mainly carried out by the oppressed and exploited masses in the Third World, and they are anti-imperialist struggles developing in today's world.
However, it is important to note that very often due to the lack of proletarian and Communist leadership some of these struggles fall back under the control of imperialist powers, i.e., Cuba, Vietnam, Central America, Cambodia, Albania, etc. And precisely for this reason armed class struggle continues. In any case, the success of revolutionary warfare depends on the ideology that motivates, the class that leads, the interests being defended and the cause being served.
The United Nations is an instrument of the United States. Today, the imperialists need greater "rights" to justify their relentless aggression (as demonstrated by the Gulf War and the massacre and occupation of Iraq); they need to "legally" reduce the sovereignty of oppressed nations, a variant of Brezhnev's "restricted sovereignty." For this reason, they hypocritically and deceivingly call for struggle against genocide (and precisely they are the ones who carry out genocides!), in the name of "human rights," obviously "for humanitarian reasons," and even by calling for an "international tribunal on genocide" (of course one controlled by imperialist powers to whitewash their crimes) Yankee imperialism perpetrates aggression in the Third World. The European imperialists are also playing a leading role in this kind of set-up. Everything including the above positions, is showing that their usual means, mainly the military means used up to now, are not enough for them to impose and maintain their domination. The peoples of the world continue their revolutionary road.
In this protracted global process, imperialism is led by the main hegemonist at the moment, Yankee imperialism. It is launching general offensive campaigns (e.g., massive propaganda, ideological crusades, etc.) along with military interventions under the veil of "humanitarian aid" and "war on drugs." Such general imperialist offensive campaigns are in turn confronted with counter-campaigns led by the organized vanguards of the international proletariat (the Communist Parties) and other leading organizations that carry out wars of national liberation. This is a clear confrontation between a world revolution and world counterrevolution.
Then, where is the retreat? It is the imperialist powers and superpowers who are retreating. Wars of national liberation against imperialist domination, are surging ahead, and are part of the World Proletarian Revolution, with the People's War in Peru, as the vanguard front. The heroic Communist Party of Peru is leading the revolutionary masses toward the strategic counteroffensive and conquest of Power in all of Perú. This will be a great victory in the Strategic Offensive of the World Proletarian Revolution that will wipe out imperialist domination off the face of the Earth. Yes, President Gonzalo is just and correct:
The red flags of the international proletariat are full of optimism and victory!
Proletarian Press International
The New Flag
http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp