MIM Notes #225     January 1, 2001

Four centers of international communist organizing: a guide
by the International Minister, December 9, 2000

Here we have listed in order of estimated quantitative 
significance the major efforts afoot to reorient the international 
communist movement. This article is an attempt to explain to 
comrades the impact that their own effort might make and why MIM 
is seeking signatories to the call to commemorate W.E.B. Du Bois's 
birthday as Mao did when he was alive. It's time to stand up and 
be counted and categorized.

The International Ministry has cut back its work and has ordered 
all MIM comrades to travel as tourists, not as official 
representatives, but there is nothing stopping comrades from 
studying each of the organizing trends in today's international 
communist movement. With MIM's call to commemorate the birthday of 
W.E.B. Du Bois appropriately, it is fitting to understand the 
international situation of the communist movement and how MIM's 
call fits in.

1. International Communist Seminar http://www.wpb.be/icm.htm

Ideology: Boasting representatives from Korea and Cuba, this 
effort seems to contain the bulk of organizations formerly 
oriented toward Moscow. Maoism is allowed in the seminar but not 
required.

Leader: The extremely capable and multi-lingual post-Maoist Ludo 
Martens may be the most voluminous writer of those claiming to be 
Marxist-Leninist today. Perhaps writing too much and juggling too 
many thoughts at once has led to a failure to correctly 
prioritize. His party no longer recognizes Maoism as the highest 
stage of Marxism-Leninism. It upholds Mao in a lesser way.

MIM comments: MIM invited the PTB to send Ludo Martens to speak in 
the United $tates on Stalin but the PTB sidestepped us. Ludo 
Martens did appear as an expert speaker on Africa in meetings of 
the U.$. Congress however. The PTB gives continuous publicity in 
French, Flemish and on the Internet to dead and defunct 
organizations in the U$A upholding Hua Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping and 
the like.

2. International Seminar on Mao and People's War 
http://www.geocities.com:80/CapitolHill/Congress/9337/COMMUNIQUE.h
tm

Ideology: With regard to the Third World side of the international 
communist movement, this organization is the most promising so far 
with the participants in armed struggle. The effect of focus on 
armed struggle was to jettison much social-democracy from the 
imperialist countries. Nonetheless, the remaining participants do 
not agree with MIM's third cardinal principle on the labor 
aristocracy.

Contrast with another effort of Joma Sison's: "Resolutions of the 
5th Conference of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist 
Parties and Organizations" which includes parties even more 
blatantly social-democratic than the Kautskyite "RCP"-USA.

Leader: As the initiator of the protracted people's war in the 
Philippines, Jose Maria Sison is the great leader doing the most 
for the international communist movement at this time. MIM has 
pinned many of its hopes on finding a new Lenin to reorient the 
international communist movement on him.

MIM comments: At this time, the participants have false 
consciousness on a cardinal question, the split in the working 
class, what that means for the dictatorship of the proletariat and 
the end of imperialism and exploitation. Nonetheless, the ideal 
organization of the international communist movement would in the 
main look like this one, but with a bar raised on the question of 
the labor aristocracy. This organization should be the base and 
bulk of a reorganization. MIM is prepared to lend scientific 
assistance to any imperialist country organization seeking to 
detail its class structure, understand the labor theory of value, 
calculate exploitation and super-exploitation and say what it 
would be like concretely speaking to end imperialism. The largest 
single essay on the question is available free at 
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mt/imp97/index.html

3. Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM)

Ideology: This organization upholds 3 out of 4 of MIM's cardinal 
questions at least nominally. Historically, the RIM upholds the 
"Gang of Four," which in one swoop is to uphold three out of four 
of MIM's cardinal questions. The RIM falls short in its assessment 
of the imperialist-country labor aristocracies.

Leader: Bob Avakian of the social-imperialist "RCP"-USA is the 
subjective force behind this organization. The great leader 
Comrade Gonzalo gave his endorsement to the RIM before he went to 
prison and perhaps from within prison, and the RIM continues to 
ride the wave of such prestige. Comrade Gonzalo initiated the 
people's war in Peru and his thought continues to guide the 
Communist Party of Peru.

MIM comments: This organization consciously heads off MIM at the 
pass by protecting its "left" and "right" flanks and perfectly 
epitomizes contemporary Kautskyism by trying to have things both 
ways. On the right, "Notes on Political Economy" say that the 
United $tates is re-proletarianizing. On the left, are those who 
realize that parasitism is increasing in the imperialist 
countries, and not just in Bill Gates's house. The best outcome 
for this organization would be for the "RCP"-USA to split into 
those seeing re-proletarianization and those who seek to jettison 
their social-imperialist comrades by taking up MIM's third 
cardinal.

4. Maoist Internationalist Movement

No matter what the outcome of the efforts above, the next re-
orientation of the international communist movement will have a 
bigger role for the historical legacy of Stalin and Mao. The ideal 
scenario from MIM's point of view would be to allow Ludo Martens 
to have the Brezhnevites and social-democrats while splitting off 
some of his people to our camp. Doing this, the Ludo Martens camp 
will be the largest, but it will also be nearly devoid of armed 
struggle. The sooner we realize that Ludo Martens's camp will be 
the largest, the better off we will be. It is a fact of material 
life reflecting the split in the working class and the hoary 
persistence of the Cuban, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese 
revisionists.

Joma Sison's organization should be the bulk of the international 
communist movement and prepare itself to combat false 
consciousness on the labor aristocracy and social-imperialism by 
making such questions cardinal and not allowing imperialist 
country organization admittance until they have rectified their 
positions. We distinguish Third World organizations from 
imperialist country organizations, because the social base of 
Third World parties has no self-interest in prolonging super-
exploitation and exploitation, while the usual social base of 
imperialist country parties does. The former is guilty of false 
consciousness while the latter consciously defends its standard of 
living and economic dominance. In the question of the Third World 
parties, it can only be a question of leaders selling out as labor 
bureaucrats or potential social-imperialist compradors.

The RIM should split. Third World RIM parties should join up with 
Joma Sison and continue to uphold the "Gang of Four." If a split 
can be managed in the imperialist country parties, on the question 
of parasitism, that would be good. If not, these elements will 
probably split off to join up with the social-democrats jettisoned 
in Europe and either join or contend with Ludo Martens's 
organization in another social-democratic organization. MIM's own 
efforts will take increasing shape in the next year. Up to this 
point, MIM has served mostly as a theoretical reference point, a 
pressure on the movement. Hopefully the various organizations of 
the oppressed nations with some direct experience concerning MIM's 
third cardinal will hoist their banners with MIM right now and 
seek to influence the outcome of international communist 
reorientation. Concretely, we must show to the Third World parties 
that the comrades alleging to be their brethren are in fact 
social-imperialist parties wanting to put imperialism on a new and 
more secure footing. We must make ourselves heard so that our 
Third World comrades do not distrust their materialist instinct 
that there must be a proletarian pole in the imperialist 
countries.

In summary, the bad news is that in all likelihood, the 
international communist movement will end up in at least two 
streams, with one claiming Mao and Stalin but taking up social-
democracy. On the plus side, having reoriented itself, the 
international communist movement can prepare the next upsurge. 
With its own independent proletarian pole established, the 
international communist movement can then seek meaningful 
alliances with the petty-bourgeoisie including the labor 
aristocracy. MIM has suggested that the most logical and first 
alliance should be with internationalist social-democracy--those 
organizations willing to lend concrete aid to the Maoist People's 
Wars while taking up social-democracy in their home countries for 
their own interests. In the best of outcomes, a combination of 
forces from the proletarian camp headed by Joma Sison or the like 
would then be able to find internationalist social-democratic 
allies in Ludo Martens's camp.