Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 10:23:31 +0200 (MET DST)
From: rolf.martens-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se (Rolf Martens)
Subject: M-G: UNITE! Info #41en: 1/5 NE: Intl. sit., Europe, M-L, '73


UNITE! Info #41en: 1/5 NE: Intl. sit., Europe, M-L, '73
[Posted: 18.07.97]

Note / Anmerkung / Note / Nota / Anm=E4rkning:
On the UNITE! / VEREINIGT EUCH! / UNISSEZ-VOUS! /
=A1UNIOS! /  F=D6RENA ER! Info en/de/fr/es/se series:
See information on the last page / Siehe Information auf der
letzten Seite / Verrez information =E0 la derni=E8re page / Ver
informaci=F3n en la =FAltima p=E1gina / Se information p=E5 sista sidan.


INTRO NOTE:

In this Info is reproduced in translation an article written in
1973 by Klaus Sender, chairman of the KPD/ML(NEUE EINHEIT): "The
International Situation, Europe and the Position of the Marxist-
Leninist Parties". It was originally published in German in the
1/73 issue of that party's theoretical organ, NEUE EINHEIT.

I've long planned to post this article and am finally posting
it now, because it in my opinion should be of considerable
value for the adherents of the political line of Marx, Lenin and
Mao Zedong even today, and this by no means only in Europe.

True enough, 24 years have passed since it was written. But not
a few of the important elements of the international situation
then are still in existence today. And not least is the very
correct method of approach here very instructive, in my opinion,
and the conclusions concerning history and concerning some vital
principles likewise.

Proceeding from points of departure that were in part naturally
rather different from each other, the small KPD/ML(NEUE EINHEIT)
in Germany and the big CPC in China led by chairman Mao Zedong,
came to conclusions, in the early/mid-70s concerning the then
international situation, which very much covered each other.
Later events confirmed how very correct they were.

I've earlier in several Infos reproduced statements from China
on the international situation of that time, 1973-76 - see also
a note rather early in the below text. Both these statements
and also the article reproduced here in fact are demonstrating
and pointing at some important elements which still exist in
today's international situation too but which seem to have
later been largely forgotten by, or have remained unknown to,
rather many people in different parts of the world. That's one
reason why I think reproducing them today may be useful.

One important theme common to these articles from China and
from Germany is the analysis and assessment of modern revision-
ism and (the today of course no longer existing, at least not
in the same form) Soviet social-imperialism, i.a. of the serious
threat of aggression which it at that time was posing, above
all against the European peoples and countries. That power,
although greatly weakened of course, and with the people in its
territory now greatly suffering from the long-term effects of
its degeneration from the earlier socialism, still exists in
the world as the at least militarily still powerful Russian new
tsarism. Its former character and methods never were very well
understood, it seems, by left-wing people on the American con-
tinent for instance, so not least to American readers (both
North and South) I recommend checking these articles out.

Klaus Sender actually wrote the below article here in Malm=F6,
Sweden, from which I'm now posting and where he was in exile at
the time. (On the context of this, see some earlier postings,
and later perhaps I'll go into the struggle at that time in this
particular part of the world in more detail.)

In 1974, I translated this article into Swedish, together with
a comrade from Germany, and published it here. A particular
local struggle which was very much directly connected with this
is another chapter by itself. The English translation likewise
was made largely by me and in co-operation with others, this
in the spring of 1975. Some obstacles, i.a. on the part of some
murky forces within the British Immigration authorities, caused
that it wasn't published, in the UK where there were some
KPD/ML(NEUE EINHEIT) adherents too, until 1976. Those transla-
tors' names which appear below are pseudonyms.

On the much later bourgeois degeneration of the KPD/ML(NEUE
EINHEIT), in the late 1980:s, I've written elsewhere. Its pre-
sent remnants can be contacted at <klasber-AT-aol.com>, <wagerd-AT-
aol.com>, <weklu-AT-aol.com> or <wasderg-AT-berlin.snafu.de>.

End of Intro Note



      T H E  I N T E R N A T I O N A L  S I T U A T I O N,

        E U R O P E  A N D  T H E  P O S I T I O N  O F

      T H E  M A R X I S T - L E N I N I S T  P A R T I E S


           - OUTLINES AND THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS -


                        BY KLAUS SENDER



First preliminary English edition February 1976
Second revised preliminary English edition June 1976
Published by Richard Davies in London
English translation by Richard Adam and William Johnson
[Slightly edited, July 1997 - Richard Adam, aka RM]=09

The author of this article is Chairman of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of
Germany (Marxist-Leninist) "New Unity"

First published by Verlag Neue Einheit, 1973, in Berlin(West)


                                

                       INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The following article deals with some fundamental questions con-
cerning the international situation, the position of the Euro-
pean countries and the position of the Marxist-Leninist parties.
It was written, in its essentials, in the summer of this year
(1973 - Tr.), and the situation analysed here has since, above
all with the Middle East war, sharpened even more and its fea-
tures have become even more clearly marked. The threats to the
European countries remain acute. The Soviet revisionists' doub-
le-dealing in the Middle East during the Zionist aggression de-
mands high vigilance. We shall also, in other publications,
state our standpoints on current political questions. The fol-
lowing article however above all deals with fundamental ques-
tions.

"NEUE EINHEIT" editors (9.11.1973)



                               I.

What is the present international situation? Where are, on the
international level, the most important contradictions? In what
position are those developed capitalist countries, such as the
Federal Republic of Germany, which are not among the super-
powers, not among the "overlords", but themselves are imperia-
list countries? These questions currently are engaging the at-
tention of the Marxist-Leninists in a number of countries.

We shall here "outline" the standpoint of our Party. When in
this context we are speaking of "outlining", this means that we
aim to answer and shall answer this whole complex of questions
in its totality. At the same time, however, there will arise a
multitude of important theoretical questions which we cannot yet
dwell on here, concerning above all the history of the communist
working-class movement in the developed capitalist countries
themselves, its decline, and the question of the objective eco-
nomic development in the last fifty years, during which period
the worldwide national-liberation movements have risen to become
the most conspicuous characteristic of the present situation.


a) The importance of an analysis of the concrete situation

Every political step by a Marxist or a Marxist party is derived
from the analysis of a concrete situation. What is the interna-
tional situation, and the national situation? Where are there
organised, self-dependent proletarian forces, how strong is re-
action, which developments are favourable and which unfavourab-
le to the proletariat?

Such a question a Marxist must always put to himself, and he
must make every effort to solve it as thoroughly and as accura-
tely as possible. Carefulness in these questions is an absolute
command to a Marxist, for an error in such questions means no-
thing but carelessly exposing the masses to reaction, either
involving the masses in a premature, hopeless battle or else
letting possibilities for a victory of the mass movement slip
away, missing a chance at a certain moment, in either case
causing a defeat to the world proletariat and aiding the adver-
sary.

And here one must never lose sight of the fact that present-day
imperialism is the most highly developed form of exploiting
classes' rule ever, which has incorporated into itself all ex-
perience of former exploiting classes in strategy and tactics
against the masses. The leading cliques of imperialism will
make use of all possibilities and reserves in order to prolong
their rule; in particular, they will exploit every mistake by
the socialist forces in the world.

Hence this inrreconciliability of the struggle, this trial of
strength like that between two wrestlers, demanding of both the
utmost concentration, this kind of struggle in which today,
world-widely as well as on the smaller scale, nationally and
regionally, the proletarian revolution and imperialism and so-
cial-imperialism are confronting each other, although the revo-
lutionary forces are in the strategically better position and
revolution is the the main trend in the world today.


b) Now what is the concrete international situation?

(Note: We here are dealing only with the basic elements of the
concrete situation. For a closer study of the present interna-
tional situation, reference should be made to, for instance,
the analysis of the concrete situation in Comrade Chou En-lai's
Report to the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of
China. This report contains, in the chapter "On the Situation
and Our Tasks", an excellent summing-up analysis of the strate-
gic and tactical situation.)

[Note, July 1997: That report by Zhou Enlai was published in Pe-
king Review No. 35-36/1973 and posted by me on the Net on 10.07.
1996 as "UNITE! Info #13en: CPC 10th Congress 1973, I.". The
chapter referred to is in parts 3/4 and 4/4 of that posting. For
some statements by official Chinese representatives on the situ-
ation in the then immediately following years, see my Infos
#11en ("China on three worlds, 1974") 27.05.96, #16en ("China
'76 on new tsars & Africa"), 04.10.96, and #18en ("China on
world situation, 1976"), 05.10.96. The statement in the last-
mentioned posting can also be found on the "China and the World"
homepage at <http://www.chinabulletin.com>. - RM, '97]

The situation is characterized by great disorder and turbulence
throughout the world. Countries want independence, nations want
liberation and the people want revolution; in this trend and in
this intensification of the struggle against the two superpowers
is manifesting itself, perticularly at the present time, the
sharpening of all basic contradictions in the world.

At the present time, the movement towards national independence,
by all oppressed peoples and nations and all countries suffering
from superpowers' tyranny, takes on a particular significance.
At the  present time, the international questions are particu-
larly important in the struggle for progress, for the social re-
volution of the proletariat. And in connection with these ques-
tions, the questions concerning the position of a number of de-
veloped capitalist countries is also of particular significance
for social progress in the world. We shall here enumerate some
elementary factors which demonstrate this.

What is taking place in the world is international class strugg-
le. On the side of progress, of revolution, there stand today
unequivocally the international proletariat, the socialist coun-
tries and the oppressed peoples and nations, struggling for
their self-determination against colonialism, imperialism and
racism and for their real political and economic independence.

On the side of international reaction there are, first of all,
the superpowers and some reactionary outposts which are loyal
and firm lackeys of international counter-revolution, e.g. Is-
rael, South Africa, the Thieu clique and the Lon Nol clique
[the two last-mentioned, in Vietnam respectively in Cambodia -
RM, '97], and others.

As to the superpowers, it is to be emphasized that Soviet so-
cial-imperialism more and more is edging U.S. imperialism out of
the role of main protagonist of international reaction and
taking over this role itself, that today it has become and is
becoming even more the biggest warmonger, vanguard of political
reaction in the world, making expansive thrusts in all direc-
tions and establishing close relations with the arch-reactionary
forces everywhere in the world.

The fact that the movement for national independence is taking
on such great significance has its ultimate cause in the histo-
rical development. At any rate, the present movement for unity
and concerted action by the oppressed peoples and nations and
the countries now belonging to the third world is fulfilling a
great role in the struggle for progress in the world, *because*
it is an actual key link in the emancipation, *in the struggle
for these countries' independence* of the present hegemonic
powers, the two superpowers.

This trend towards national independence today has seized a
number of dependent, likewise in fact oppressed, highly indus-
trialied countries. And this is an extremely positive factor,
by no means a negative one, in the struggle against the super-
powers, since it restricts their possibilities of blackmailing
the peoples and of unleashing a world war, and the Marxist-Le-
ninists must promote this union.


c) Anyone who seeks to understand this contest between the
peoples struggling for freedom and independence, on the one
hand, and the superpowers, on the other, must acquaint himself
with the historical development of the last fifty years, follow
both the development of the communist movement and the interna-
tional development, the liberation struggles of the peoples.

The movement of the oppressed peoples and nations has, in the
last fifty years or more, along a road of various twists and
turns, experienced an essentially continuous and ever greater
rise. By far the majority of the oppressed peoples and nations
in this period have achieved state independence. In several de-
veloping countries, socialist (or new democratic) revolutions
have taken place.

Meanwhile, the working-class movement in the relatively deve-
loped countries quite undoubtedly has suffered several serious
defeats of strategic importance, e.g. the defeat of the German
communist movement to Nazi fascism and its henchmen, and the
degeneration of the Soviet Union into a fascist, counter-revo-
lutionary power.

Generally speaking, it is a fact, for the communist parties in
the developed countries, that, apart from the strategic defeats,
in the last twenty to fifty years these parties have, with some
ups and downs, passed through a development towards shallowness
and oversimplification, which led eventually to the complete re-
visionist degeneration of these parties. This holds equally
true, though in different forms and under mutual interaction,
for the C.P.S.U. as well as for the Communist Parties of Ger-
many, Britain, France, Italy etc.

Consider the social development: On the one hand, despite two
world wars, heavy economic crises and shakings in the system,
which in a way created revolutionary situations during certain
periods in these countries, *development and expansion* of op-
portunism among the labour leadership, causing that advantage
was not taken of the revolutionary situations and actually
even helping imperialism survive them; on the other hand, how-
ever, on the side of the oppressed peoples and nations there
developed, overcoming obstacles and setbacks, the revolution,
the liberation movements of the nations as well as, directly,
the social revolution of the proletariat.

[Continued in part 2/5]



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