File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1997/marxism-general.9707, message 265


From: Weklu-AT-aol.com
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 16:52:32 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: M-G: NEUE EINHEIT about the Background of Rolf Martens (96/08/17)


The following explanations, which were first sent to Sabina Astete as a mail,

are worth being published in this newsgroup. They are suitable to show the 
public some details about the background  of Rolf Martens' agitation 
against NEUE EINHEIT:
____________________________



Hello Sabina Astete, 

we noticed several postings of Rolf Martens directed at you. He is a
former member of our organization, until april 1990.  For a while he
had close connections to A. Olaechea,  now attempting to cause 
confusion on that. His intentions towards NEUE EINHEIT and Klaus 
Sender are not at all friendly ones.

Like anyone of Rolf Martens' statements concerning NEUE EINHEIT,
the last ones adressed to you contain some spiteful slanders,
committed with stubbornness. Instead of providing the evidence, his
statements are full with gossip and prattle. 

It will be necessary to read our original documents for forming a 
right impression of Neue Einheit.

For your information we are adding a statement we already 
published on august 17, 1996.

Uwe Mueller,
Member of Editorial Staff NEUE EINHEIT



Appendix:


Subject: Background of Rolf Martens
======================================================
ABOUT ROLF MARTENS


A man from the city of Malmoe, Sweden, Rolf Martens, a former member
of the KPD/ML (NEUE EINHEIT), keeps publishing libels on our 
organization, at the same time trying to give the impression  that 
he still has some connection with us, and is publishing articles and
unauthorized translations of publications by us without our 
permission.



About him the following facts should be stressed: 

Rolf Martens only speaks for himself. He was excluded from the 
KPD/ML(NEUE EINHEIT) in April 1990. By no means we are responsible 
for his activities.He was excluded because of his massive slandering
of our organization: that it had changed sides and had become a 
bourgeois one. These were assertions never supported by any real 
reasons. The only "argument" was that we did not fight enough against
the Green movement, in this context he attacked an important article
about 1st of May 1989. This is nonsense. Our organization had always,
since 15 years before 1990, been unmasking and fighting the Green and
Alternative swindlers and so-called Ecologist movement, the same has
been done against it in 1989 and 1990 and after 1990. This was 
nothing but a pure invention by Rolf Martens. No further arguments 
were brought forward by him in April 1990. 

In spite of all attempts to bring him away from his wrong and ab-
surd attitudes, he clung to his views, declared his withdrawal from
the organization and at the same time unanimously was excluded. 
Within a time of six weeks, a deadline that we had fixed for him to
bring written grounds for his views, no letter, no document arrived
at our organization. Five months later he tried to elaborate a new
standpoint against our organization, with new arguments, using 
slandering, distorted summaries of publications, and quotations from
unauthorized papers and discussions from within our organization, to
give grounds for his standpoint. This document, too, is a self-
exposure of Rolf Martens, it does not hit us at all. He did not 
translate it, neither into Swedish nor into English, so it is 
virtually unknown. 

It was a very surprising attack, which Rolf Martens started against 
our organization in the April of 1990. In his paper from Sept. 1990 
he tried to add some arguments: that our organization had fought the
'Aussiedler'(resettlement)-campaign of our bourgeoisie (see note 
below). He demanded 'simply to integrate the new citizens' and 
similar nonsense, topics which never had been discussed with him in 
our organization, and on which he had systematically avoided a 
discussion within the organization. 

These points must be kept in mind, if you read the letters and 
publications by Rolf Martens. He has no right to speak for the 
KPD/ML (NEUE EINHEIT). He only represents himself. 
It is very significant, that his paper is unable to criticize 
official documents of our organization. Our organization will go 
forward.

The further policy of our organization in current political affairs
after April 1990 also proves the correctness of the theses of our 
organization.It was our organization that led a massive campaign
against the Iraqi war of US-imperialism and its allies, it was our
organization that extensively pointed out her position concerning the
Jugoslavian war, the biggest war, also in terms of victims, of the
last decades in Europe, and developed a detailed and correct analysis
of this question. We also took position against the fascist
acitivities and the reconstruction of fascism in our country. A very
large and important commentary which we published was the article
"The State Connection" (April 1992). Therein our chairman dealt once
again, in a very condensed and comprehensible manner, with the
crucial points about the background to the so-called terrorism, and
went into the matter. The article deals with affairs with which
revolutionary organizations in this country have been concerned for
twenty years, that is to say in the very first respect with the role
of organs of the state. Naturally we supported the social interests
of the working class. 

All this proves that we have been continuing the revolutionary 
proletarian line in the years 1991-94, with all our knowledge, all
our information. Simultaneously we have been deepening our 
theoretical work and have been working all the time on the 
continuation of the foundations of revolutionary policy. To all 
that Rolf Martens turns a deaf ear, declaring it nil. 
Rolf Martens has to come out on the policy, which we have been 
continuing: is it a revolutionary policy or not?

A letter of the Central Committee to Rolf Martens of  Sept. 1994
will also be translated and published. 

___________________________________________




* What was the role of the KPD/ML (NEUE EINHEIT) - Communist Party 
of Germany/Marxist-Leninist (New Unity) - in the development? *

In the beginning of the 70's our organization defended the Cultural
Revolution against the resistance of the whole revisionist and 
social-democratic mafia. During the years 1970-72 we fought with all
our energy against our state and against the political powers, which
were present particularly in Berlin (West), where our organization 
had come into being, worked in trade unions, in other institutions, 
did social propaganda, did propaganda for the revolution and also 
did not shrink back from applying it in practice. The activity of 
our organization stood out in particular due to the concrete 
analysis of the concrete situation, due to the concrete application 
of the fundamental teachings of Marxism-Leninism and of Mao Zedong.  
Reversely we had to defend ourselves against the heaviest subversion
by the state in Berlin and West Germany, and were exposed to the 
hardest tests.  
We fought against the labor-aristocratic and revisionist conception
of the so-called KABD (today MLPD). We fought against pseudomarxist
and swindler organizations like the "Roter Morgen", the "KPD/AO", 
the "KBW" and the so-called "ZB", who all were really phoney 
organizations with state and direct bourgeois influence. The latter 
was divided between the former three in 1972, and these former three
changed sides as quickly as possible, as soon as the turnabout in 
China had become reality. As quickly as possible all these 
organizations went to the enemy, to the revisionists, and fought 
against Marxism-Leninism, against the politics and teachings of Mao 
Zedong and against any creative revolutionary implementation on the 
whole.
In the time of 73 to 74 our organization fought, against all 
resistance, for the line of Mao Zedong in international questions, 
in the same time organized resistance of our group against the 
suppression by the authorities of our country, alone, without help 
from any organization abroad. 

During all that time our organization continued working practically
in the factories, fought for the social interests of the workers and
of other suppressed and exploited strata, as far as the size of this
group did permit that at all. Although by the repression by the 
state the organization had been much decimated from 1973 on it 
nevertheless continued its work by a host of publications and public
propaganda appearances.



* About some questions of the situation in 1976 to 1977 *
 
In the end of the 70's our organization defended the line of Mao 
Zedong against the revisionist usurpation in China. We - and not the
TKP/ML - defended Mao Zedong's line, refuted the Albanian line and 
those who worked together with them. There are many documents of 
that time which prove this assertion. Everybody can come and ask the
details. We shall explain our assertion by many proofs from that 
time, which are interesting for the communist and revolutionary 
movement all over the world.

It was also during that time that our organization under the 
guidance of Klaus Sender developed a criticism of the rising 
ecologism and of the attempts to disparage modern production and to
disseminate in the whole country ultra-rightist attitudes against 
development and growth. In particular against the so-called Anti 
Nuclear Energy Movement our organization was the only one to make 
stand. It defended the revolutionary modern productive forces, 
defended in particular the natural sciences and revolutionary 
materialism. Therefore it was also solely our organization which 
defended the basic view of Marxism of productive forces and 
relations of production. In this role we stood exclusively and 
solely within our country and furthermore, as far as we know, in the
European countries. Which organisation elsewhere in the world has 
played this role? 

But the defaming of our organization by all these forces especially
in that time - end of the 70's, beginning of the 80s - and their 
striving to cut us off from any foreign organization have had no 
limits.  

The situation for the revolutionary party in Germany was very 
difficult not only and not in the first place because of repression
by the state. There have been overwhelming changes in the structure 
of the working population already in that time, there was a 
widespread substitution of industrial workers and low paid jobs at 
that time by foreign labourers and employees. They soon constituted a
very big part of the concentrated proletariat at the assembly lines 
for instance. Later on more and more work of domestic and foreign
workers was being displaced into so-called "cheap labour" countries.
This process began on full scale in 1974, with many social effects
like setting free of workers, underemployemnt among the youth,
sectionalism on one side and a widespread increase of
labour-aristocratism and corruption among the workers on the other
side. The foreign workers became an important part and got a decisive
role in the world of Germany's workers, the biggest rate of the
foreign workers being of Turkish origin. So also foreign
revolutionary organizations became important in the whole situation
on the revolutionary  side in Germany in the early seventies. From
the early beginnings the German state authorities saw these problems
and infiltrated and controlled foreign workers associations. There
has never been any longer-time-unity neither between German and
foreign revolutionary organizations nor between organizations of
different nationalities. And if they work together, like the TKP/ML,
then only with a purely studying group like "Gegen die Stroemung"  -
at that time a pro-Albanian organization without any revolutionary
practice. The fundamental course of the TKP/ML was to orientate the
Turkish workers in Germany to the events in their mother cuntry. All
this made the role of a revolutionary party in Germany even more
difficult than it was anyway. 
    
That there is something wrong can be illustrated by interesting 
facts. For example: The name of the great hero of the early Turkish 
revolution of the beginning 70's, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, was published 
in Germany in 1979, when two Germans had gone to Turkey and had 
brought back the name and the destiny of the first chairman of the 
TPK/ML to Germany. Ibrahim Kaypakkaya had been murdered by the 
Turkish state as early as 1973. The TKP/ML had been working in 
Germany from the beginning 70's to the end of the 70's and had never 
said any word about the destiny of the own chairman. What was wrong 
in this movement?! 

In the 80's our organization defended Marxism-Leninism and the 
teachings of Mao Zedong as before, and also began to develop the 
fundamental theories, for instance about Soviet history, about 
Leninism, and began to investigate questions about Marxism, which 
was dictated by reality. We never denied revolutionary war. But in 
some important questions it is necessary to look for the whole 
historical conception. It is not possible to stay upon the level of 
the theory of the 40's, of the 50's. Mao Zedong himself has 
developed the theory 'again and again', and it is quite clear that 
the historical step that now has happened and will happen, will need
new theoretical impulses to the revolutionary movement in the world.

The first result of  Klaus Sender's  investigations were the 
articles "Lenin's attitude towards Alexander Herzen", 9 chapters 
published in 1986 and 1987, and more important, the fundamental 
analysis "Leninism and Civilization - introduction to criticism", 
which discusses certain real problems not in order to destroy 
revolutionary movement but to bring it forward. We had no problems
in refuting the dirty attack of Rolf Martens which we mentioned 
above. 

A profound discussion was continued. The last two decades were a 
period of very great changes and new phenomena, on a world-wide 
scale. The supreme guide-line must be the complex reality, not 
forgetting all the historical experiences which in the theories of
mankind and of the working class have been laid down. These two 
maximes we have to regard. 

After gaining victory about a destructive and obstructive force in 
our own organization between the middle of 1992 to May 1993 we have
launched the biggest theoretical program for the investigation of 
cultural questions, which will play a big role in the coming 
international and internationalizing world. A check-up of Marxism is
indicated. 

But all the things we deal with we do in a very well-founded way and
with long tests of argumentation, in order not to embarrass the 
revolutionary movement but to come to a better starting point in the 
time to come. Rolf Martens, the slanderer of our organization, knew 
our concepts and our criticisms, and although he was enforced to 
admit that the criticism "Leninism and Civilization" was correct, 
which had been  published in 1989, he asserted that it was just in 
that time when we made great theoretical efforts and progress, that 
we "degenerated to a bourgeois organization". The nonsense of his 
assertion jumps into ones eyes.

It is all the more conspicuous that Rolf Martens does not give 
reasons in his international papers and statements, why our 
organization is being accused of degenerating, of being a bourgeois 
organization. Not by a single word he tries to substantiate this. 
This however is easily explainable, because he does not at all want 
to show what is the subject, but wants to abuse our organization for
his own purposes. 

Editorial staff of NEUE EINHEIT
 
concluded 15.Aug.96


Note:
By the 'Aussiedler'-campaign ('resettlement' campaign) is to be 
understood that the German bourgeoisie causes millions of citizens 
of the former Soviet Union, Poland, Romania and other countries, by
several methods, to leave these countries for Germany, arguing that
these people have German ancestors and have the right to be German 
citizens. The bourgeoisie plays these people off against the 
population of Germany, workers from Turkey and other countries 
included, who have been here working for a long time. For example,
in the eighties the 'Aussiedler' were being privileged against all
others in getting jobs and apartements, in a country with an 
unemployment of several million people and extreme shortage and rise 
in prices of apartements. 




First published in Internet 17 August, 1996
____________________________________________________________

                     neue einheit
    Zeitschrift fuer Politik, Oekonomie und Kultur
                  -Extrablatt Nr.27-
____________________________________________________________

Copyright:  Verlag NEUE EINHEIT (Inh.H.Dicke)
Koernebachstr.50, D-44143 Dortmund, Germany 
or  D-10973 Berlin, Postfach 309, 
Phone: +49-231-838932 resp. +49-306937470 
======================================================



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