against trotskyists
HONG KONG macists launch For the first time in many years, the Hong Kong Maoists have launched a vicious and slanderous press campaign against Trotskyism. The frenzied campaign, based on deliberate distortion and fabrication of historical fact, is clearly aimed at counteracting the growth of the revolutonary Marxist movement, which has recently emerged as a political threat to the Maoists. The malicious campaign is a reflection of the political inability of the Maoists to defend the Chinese bureaucracy and its pseudorevolutionary policies toward the British colony of Hong Kong. This in turn accounts for the Maoists' inability to contain the militancy that is now on the rise among the toiling masses. The Maoists are genuinely worried about the growing Marxist orientation of Hong Kong radicals who have completely escaped Maoist control. The main target:
_Trotsky Leon Trotsky has once again been selected as the main target. A fusillade of frame-up charges, clearly contradicted by historical facts, is levelled against him -- not only in order to discredit him as one of the greatest revolutionaries of this century, but in order as well to label him a counterrevolutionary. In the Maoist journal Hong Kong Workers it is said that "Trotsky was the top leader of opportunism in the Soviet Union, was a renegade, a spy, a traitor, a murderer plotting to assassinate Lenin and other leaders of the Soviet Communist party. He was the common enemy of the people of the Soviet Union as well as of the revolutionary people in the world. " But the Hong Kong Maoists have a problem, which is to explain how such a "counterrevolutionary" could have emerged in the top leader24 by S.S. WU ship of the Bolshevik party next to Lenin and could have played such an extremely important role in the October Revolution. (This role was clearly described in John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World, which was published in China in a Chinese translation in 1957) A futile attempt to dispose of this problem appeared in an article entitled "The Founder of Trotskyism -Trotsky. " Here is the story: "Trotsky (1879-1940) and his followers were an opportunist tendency which first showed its 'ultra-left' mask in the Russian revolutionary movement. From 1903 onwards, they sided with the Mensheviks in opposition to Lenin and the Bolshevik Party. After they sneaked into the Party on the eve of the October Revolution, they did not discontinue their anti-Party, antiLeninist activities for a single day. In the end, while ending up in collusion with various counter-revolutionaries of all sorts and frantically opposing the Soviet regime, they completely degenerated into a counter-revolutionary bandit gang." Borrowing from the bankrupt Stalinist school of falsification, the Maoists rewrite the history of Trotsky's prominent contribution to the Russian revolution. They ignore the wavering and elusive attitude displayed by Stalin before and during the insurrection. They likewise ignore the crucial role played by the military-revolutionary committee, which Trotsky headed. Trotsky is accused of "having revealed to the enemy the date for the insurrection that had been decided in the meeting of the Petrograd Soviet on the eve of the October Revolution." Thus, according to the lie presented by the Hong Kong Maoists, "the party was compelled to organize the insurrection ahead of the scheduled day." Another unfounded fabrication is concocted in the case of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, which ended Russian participation in the first world imperialist war. The story is that "Trotsky and all reactionaries organized a hysterical campaign to oppose the signing of the peace treaty and destroyed the peace negotiations. The German army was thus incited to invade and attack the Soviet regime, and this drove the success that had been achieved by the proletariat and peasantry to the brink of failure. " The same article goes on to say that "if was later discovered that Trotsky had already organized a plot against the Soviet government, frantically trying to sabotage the BrestLitovsk Peace Treaty, to arrest and murder Lenin, Stalin, and the others, and then to establish an opportunist government. For good measure, the Maoists add -- again contrary to fact and all historical documents -- that Trotsky "conspiringly encouraged German imperialism to step up its military offensive against the Soviet Union." The Maoists portray Trotsky as having been responsible for all counterrevolutionary acts committed against the Soviet regime and as having established contact with all other "counterre volutionaries" operating in Soviet territory. So it is hardly surprising to read that "in the summer of 1918 the bloc comprising Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev wounded Lenin in an attempt to assassinate him. In July 1918 Trotsky and Bukharin incited the 'left' SRs (Social Revolutionaries -- INPRECOR) to stage
a rebellion in Moscow that bombarded the Kremlin. " Not only that: "In 1918, when more than ten imperialist countries militarily intervened against the Soviet Union and cooperated with the landlords and the bourgeoisie in staging an armed insurrection, Trotsky vainly attempted to strangle the young Soviet regime. The Bolshevik Party mobilized the peasantry and the proletariat and carried out a brave war in defense of the country, while Trotsky, having usurped the post of chairman of the military-revolutionary committee, only conducted activities of assassination. He attempted to execute many communist cadres at the front in order to help the enemy. This was only avoided by the opposition of the Central Committee and the protest of the military servicemen. During the war he gave suicidal orders, which resulted in the failure of some campaigns". With these "accounts" the Maoists attempt to show that the creation of the Red Army and the Bolshevik victory in the Civil War had nothing at all to do with Trotsky, who had nevertheless somehow managed to "usurp" the posts of organizer of the insurrection and creator and commander of the Red Army throughout the Civil War. The short-lived difference between Trotsky and Lenin on the question of the trade unions is fully exploited by the Maoist falsifiers. Trotsky is accused of "opposing" the party's policy of "convincing the working masses through discussion and favoring imposing military means on the trade unions, that is, using compulsory and coercive administrative methods and tightening the screws in a vain aftempt to provoke the non-party workers into opposing the Party. At the same time, Trotsky is said to have "opposed the NEP, demanded enormous concessions to foreign and indigenous capitalists, proposed to apply the principle of rent or to absorb private investment in order to transfer the backbone of the economy into the hands of private capital. He proposed to build up industry by exploiting the poor peasantry, fufilely aiming at sabotaging the alliance between the proletariat and the peasantry." "In the Autumn of 1923, " the Maoist story continues, "while Lenin was sick, Trotsky thought the time had come for the destruction of the Party and the toppling of its leadership. Hence, he united with all anti-Leninist elements inside the Party and distributed the so-called Declaration of the 46 Oppositionists, with the aims of opposing the Party, the Party's leading apparatus, and the Party's policies. " Following from this, the heroic struggles of the Left Opposition in resisting the Stalinist counterrevolution are distorted beyond all recognition. Trotsky, we are told, "set up factional groupings here and there, collected Party dues among his companions, distributed his reactionary political program, established an underground printshop, organized an anti-Soviet-Government demonstration and parade, and fanatically opposed Leninism and the dictatorship of the proletariat. " Trotsky predicted that "the Soviet regime was doomed to failure. " Trotsky's The Lessons of October is presented as evidence that tie "thoroughly vilified the Party and its leader, Lenin, hoping in vain to replace Leninism with Trotskyism." The rest of Trotsky's political life is merely copied from the works of any Stalinist historian. Once again, the vicious legend is repeated that "Trotsky had already surrendered his services to the spying institution of the fascists, and was thus a spy of the fascists, a running-dog. " The reimposition of capitalist slavery system in the Soviet Union was his ultimate goal. Kirov was murdered with his complicity.
Trotskyism under fire The movement of Trotskyism, which has increasingly proved its revolutionary authority in the mass struggle throughout the world, is attacked by the Hong Kong Maoists with the same system of lies and slanders that they use against Trotsky himself. This is done in an article entitled "What Is Trotskyism, " published in the Hong Kong Workers of August 1,1974. The article introduces Trotskyism as "a tool of imperialism and the bourgeoisie, the most malicious enemy of the toiling masses. It raises the banner of Marxist-Leninism while opposing it. It upholds the flag of revolution while sabotaging it. " Three prominent characteristics allegedly distinguishing Trotskyism from Leninism are then "elaborated": 1. Trotskyism is accused of "opposing Leninism on the theories of proletarian revolution and proletarian dictatorship. " Two arguments are formulated to back up this accusation. The theory of permanent revolution "negates the peasantry as a revolutionary force and opposes the worker-peasant alliance. " More subtly, the article argues that "under the objective conditions of the proletarian dictatorship, he (Trotsky) maintained that the vanguard of the proletariat was bound to be in antagonistic conflict with the broad peasant masses. " In addition to that, the author obsequiously defends the "theory" of "socialism in one country." He distorts the theory of permanent revolution to the extent that it "practically negates Lenin's theory of proletarion revolution and elimi. ates the proletarian revolution." The second argument is that Trotskyism is "against proletarian dictatorship. "The reason is that Trotsky "slanderously claimed that the state power of the proletarian dictatorship was in the hands of the bureaucrats, that the regime had become degenerate, and that this degeneration had not yet altered the institution of nationalized property. He thus slanderously described the state of the proletarian dictatorship as a degenerated workers state. " In order to justify the Chinese CP's defense of Stalinisni, the Hong Kong Maoisis are obliged, in the absence of any political or theoretical arguments, to simply assert that Trotskyism is "anti-Marxism." 2. The second accusation is that Trotskyism "splits up the unity of the Party and wrecks the organization of the Party. " Trotsky is accused of having "organized factional groupings inside the Party, " leading to "the weakening of the Party's fighting strength. " Moreover, "under the cover of antibureaucratism inside the Party, (Trotskyism) opposed the Party's apparatus and weakened the Party's leadership. " It also "fawned on the youth and the students, saying that the students' response to the Party's bureaucratism was most sensitive. " This was against "the organizational orientation of the Party, which is a class line based on the proletarian elements. " Finally, Trotsky "distrusted the leaders of Bolshevism, did his utmost to damage the reputations of the leaders, and undermined their authority and prestige. " 3. The third trait of Trotskyism is derived from Trotsky's "conspiracy and counterrevolutionary activities. " Here the Hong Kong Maoists simply parrot all the vicious frame-up charges made against Trotsky and the Trotskyists by the Stalinists. Naturally, the Fourth International also comes in for attacks. The Hong Kong Maoists unashamedly say that "the Fourth International, (which) encompasses a group of renegades from the proletariat, has become an international spying and bandit organization in opposition to the proletarian revolution. " After claiming that the Fourth International is nothing but a "counterrevolutionary spying organization at the service of imperialism, " the Hong Kong Maoists go on to assert that "in
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HONG KONG essence, the Trotskyists are secret agents sent by imperialism into the camp of the revolutionaries. " In an article of more than 20,000 words, the Maoists, perhaps aware of the absurdity of their "ideological" attacks, devote only a few lines to the present Trotskyist movement. A sample: "In the 1968 French Revolution, those with the banners of the 'Fedération des étudiants révolutionnaires, ' "Parti communiste internationaliste,''Organisation communiste internationaliste, ' and the •Jeunesse communiste révolutionnaire' were groups organized by Trotskyists. These organizations always opposed the revolutionary organization of Marxist-Leninism. They even raised the slogan of 'world socialism. ' Frequently, they put out overradical, empty talks so as to eliminate the revolution in reality." *anti-evolesonaryti- communist, and Having "exposed" the "counterrevolutionary nature" of Trotsky and Trotskyism, the Maoists feel prepared to open fire on the Trotskyist movement in Hong Kong. Their opening salvo was an article entitled "The Trotskyists are a handful of anti-Chinese, anti-communist, and antirevolutionary elements. " It begins: "The Hong Kong Trotskyists disguise themselves as Marxists and revolutionists. They call themselves 'new-leftists,' while in fact they are a handful of anti-Chinese, anti-communist, and anti-revolutionary elements. They are actually ultra-rightists. Only a glimpse of how they vilify and attack our great leader Chairman Mao and of how they vilify and attack our great socialist Motherland enables us to recognize their ugly counterrevolutionary face. " The main charges can be summarized as: 1. The Hong Kong Trotskyists are accused of viciously attacking the proletarian dictatorship in China. This attack is based on an article published in the October Review, a Trotskyist monthly. The Maoists quote an except from an October Review article criticizing the policies of the Peking leadership: 'Proletarian Dictatorship' is in fact dictatorship imposed on the proletariat, 'socialism' is in fact an insult to socialism. " What is interesting here is that the Maoists are completely incapable of defending the Chinese bureaucracy with concrete political arguments. They can only resort to a quotation from Mao's writing. 2. The Hong Kong Trotskyists are also accused of "attacking the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the Anti-Lin, Anti-Confucius Campaign in China. " The Trotskyists "direct the (oppositional) spearhead at the Party's leadership, vainly hoping that we will grant 'democracy' and 'freedom' to those counterrevolutionaries so as to make it possible for them to overthrow the proletarian dictatorship by utilizing a movement to restore capitalism. " Again this is "illustrated" by a quotateaches us: "The Chinese Communist Party is the nucleus of tion from Chairman Mao: "Our great leader Chairman Mao leadership of all the Chinese people. Without such a nucleus, socialism can never win. ' He also says: Without the leadership of the CCP, no revolution can ever succeed. In each revolutionary movement, we must strengthen the leadership and strive for victory. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the Anti-Lin, Anti-Confucius Movement are designed to further consolidate and strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat." 3. Not surprisingly, the October Review's attack on Mao's foreign policy elicits another charge from the Maoists. Not a
26 word is said about the 1965 counterrevolution in Indonesia, the Ceylonese JVP, or Bangladesh. Instead, the Maoists simply boast that "people all over the world know that China firmly supports the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed people and nationalities, that China firmly opposes imperialism, neo-colonialism, and hegemonism. " According to them, the "real" intention of the Hong Kong Trotskyists is to "transform China into a colony of Soviet Social Imperialism." The criticisms made by the Trotskyists about China's passive attitude toward the revolution in Taiwan and Peking's economic policy in Hong Kong are likewise answered by the Maoists with falsification and slander instead of political arguments. Maoism in crisis The new Maoist attack on Trotskyism in Hong Kong is a sign of weakness rather than strength. The absence of a Maoist Communist party in the British colony is not accidental. It reflects, more than anything else, the unwillingness of the Maoists there - and more significantly, the unwillingness of the Peking government -- to wage a resolute revolutionary struggle against British colonial rule and the bourgeoisie in Hong Kong. The political orientation of the Maoists in the workers struggle and the youth radicalization is thoroughly defined by class collaborationism. Their temporary ultra left zig-zag in 1967, which resulted in massive workers strikes and riots, was only an episodic outbreak occasioned by the Great Cultural Revolution, which had thrown them into confusion. More revealingly, the episode was ended by a compromise between the British colonialists and the Peking government. During the 1950s and 1960s, whic' were marked by relative economic stability, the Maoists could easily conceal their opportunist policy in the mass movement. They concentrated their efforts in organizing the trade unions. They simply neglected the youth. This gave the liberal intellectuals an opportunity to influence the youth and students, which in turn resulted in retarding the youth radicalization (which began in 1969). But in the wake of the spontaneous workers explosions triggerec during the past two years by the deteriorating economy and the declining living standards, the opportunistic nature of the Maoists' policy has been greatly exposed. The Maoists are trying Hong Kong supermarket. Inflation is major issue.
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asian revolutionary youth to cope with the changing objective situation by resorting to the maneuver of containment. They deliberately ignored those struggles that broke out in sectors not under Maoist control. The objective effect of the Maoists' passivity has been the isolation of these spontaneous struggles, which frequently has helped to defeat them. On the other hand, the Maoists cannot apply the same tactics to the struggles organized by the workers -- among them many members of the Maoist-dominated trade unions. In this case the Maoists only push the workers to negotiate with the bosses as soon as possible and to stop the struggle when their demands are only partially won. In this way the Maoists try to limit the workers struggles to purely economic demands. More than ever, the colonial government appreciates the Maoists' cooperative attitude. As we reported in INPRECOR No.1 (June 6, 1974), "the document issued by the Twentieth Congress of the Hong Kong Federation of Workers Unions makes no mention of the current economic crisis or its far-reaching effects on the working class. Instead it claims that China's developing trade relations with other countries will help to improve the workers situation in Hong Kong." In the case of the youth radicalization, which developed completely outside the Maoist framework, the Maoists practice a less sophisticated reactionary line. Aware of their inability. to win over all the vanguard organizations in the youth movement, the Maoists are forming a close alliance with the student bureaucrats. In the name of "studying socialist China" and "studying our society, " the Maoists oppose any radical youth movement. Their logic is clearly this: to study colonial society means to avoid struggling against it. Not surprisingly, the Maoists are facing a grave political crinews Shient anaunetourtn niemationa JAPAN first conference of The '74 Asian Youth Conference was held in Tokyo July 2426. It was called by three Japanese organizations: the Youth Congress for the Release of the Soh Brothers (an urganization of solidarity with political prisoners in South Korea, the Women's News editorial committee, and the Vietnam-Indochina Solidarity Committee. The conference was a response to the growing need to coordinate the movements of struggle against Japanese imperialism, movements which, like their target, are spreading throughout East Asia. In effect, two factors are coming together today: a deep economic and social crisis in Japan on the one hand, and the emergence of open and massive resistance to Japanese imperialism's economic and political penetration of Southeast and East Asia on the other hand. A structural crisis of Japanese sis. To contain a strike can sometimes be effective, but in the long run to contain the discontent of the growing numbers of unemployed is bound to be abortive. Already last July a group of militants in the universities openly broke with the official Maoist line. They organized the "Progressive Youth Club, " and the first leaflet they distributed was a critique of the Maoist orientation in the student movement. It is in this situation that the revolutionary Marxist movement, led by the group around the Daily Combating Bulletin, stands as a powerful threat to the Maoists in Hong Kong. This explains why they are waging such a hysterical campaign against Trotskyism. Since the May 5 anti-inflation rally organized by the Trotskyists (See INPRECOR No. 1), which was attended by 5,000 people, Trotskyism has increasingly emerged as an effective revolutionary alternative. The Workers Commission organized and led by the Daily Combating Bulletin group is attracting worker militants through its intervention into workers strikes and through its organ, The