File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/marxism-international.9707, message 111


Date: Sat, 05 Jul 1997 20:10:43 -0700
From: CSRP <csrp-AT-usa.net>
Subject: M-I: Anti-RIM Critics from the Cyberswamp (1/2) AWTW#22


This article appeared in the December 96 issue of A World to Win #22 and
is
post here with their permission. It is also available at
http://www.csrp.org/awtw.htm

Anti-RIM Critics from the Cyberswamp:
           "Virtual Maoism" and Real Opportunism

By R. Voina

As explained in the Introduction to this section of AWTW on the two-line
struggle in Peru, some forces who claim to support the Communist Party
of
Peru (PCP) and the People's War there have not only opposed the struggle
against the Right Opportunist Line but have recently launched a campaign
of
vicious attacks against the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement
(RIM)
and especially the Committee of RIM (CoRIM). As we go to press, the hard
core of this anti-RIM cabal includes Luis Arce Borja, a Peruvian exile
who
edits El Diario Internacional, published in Belgium; Adolfo Olaechea, a
close ally of Arce, who distributes his publications on the Internet and
usually signs himself as the Committee Sol Peru, London; New Flag, an
occasional magazine also edited by a Peruvian exile, which comes out in
New
York City; and a small group in the US called the Maoist
Internationalist
Movement (MIM), which, despite its name, has nothing to do with RIM.
There
are a few other groups and individuals scattered around Western Europe
and
North America who are more loosely associated with this hard core. 

It would be an overstatement to say that these forces actually
constitute a
trend. While trying to wrap themselves in the mantle of the PCP and
Maoism,
they have a long history of standing aloof from RIM and from the PCP
itself, with each of them jealously guarding their independence. Even
while
joining forces to attack RIM, they savagely turn on each other from time
to
time like crabs scrabbling to be top of the heap. 

They say that they have no interests other than defending the PCP
Central
Committee and the People's War, but their denunciation of the fight
against
the Right Opportunist Line (ROL) is a disservice to the PCP and to all
those who support the cause of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Their opposition
to
fighting the Right Opportunist Line inexorably pushes them in the
direction
of liquidating the struggle against revisionism more generally. Common
political discussions among these forces include such themes as whether
"RIM is too opportunist to be saved", and they regularly welcome into
their
ranks almost anyone who denies the two-line struggle and is opposed to
CoRIM, including pro-Chinese revisionists, old-style pro-Soviet
revisionists and the like. Indeed, their opposition to fighting the
Right
Opportunist Line in Peru is the leading edge of a platform of refusing
to
fight opportunism at all, and ultimately converges with a programme of
liquidating key dividing lines between Marxism and revisionism in the
international communist movement more generally. 

False Representatives of the PCP

Arce, New Flag and Olaechea claim that in attacking RIM they are acting
as
true representatives of the PCP, or at least of its line. This has no
basis
in fact. The PCP has been a participant in RIM since it was founded 12
years ago, and in statements since the arrest of Chairman Gonzalo has
continued to firmly uphold RIM. 1 Faced with this incontrovertible
reality,
Arce, New Flag and the rest are forced into a dizzying display of
half-truths and insinuations to try to give some legitimacy to their
anti-RIM project. Arce, for example, tries to create the impression that
he
is a "PCP representative", but has always refrained from doing so
explicitly in print where this might more easily come to the attention
of
those who know better, not least of all the PCP itself. 2 There are in
fact
no PCP representatives abroad at this time. 3 

Lately, the efforts of these forces to adopt the mantle of the PCP have
focused on presenting themselves as "unconditional" champions of
Chairman
Gonzalo. A brief look at this claim shows not only how hollow it too is,
but also reveals some fundamental features of their method. 

The least that can be said is that immediately following the capture of
Chairman Gonzalo, these "unconditional" champions seriously minimized
the
struggle to defend his life. Arce's El Diario Internacional headlined
its
cover not with a call to defend the life of Chairman Gonzalo, as had
been
put out by CoRIM, the PCP and the International Emergency Committee to
Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzmán (IEC), but with "Gonzalo Thought Is
Still Free"; Arce then refused to play almost any role at all in the IEC
campaign. An explanation for this boycott came out from Olaechea, in an
interview with the British journalist Colin Harding. Olaechea, it should
be
pointed out, often plays the role of "point man" for these forces,
especially Arce, saying out loud what is more hidden in their own line.
In
regards to the capture of Chairman Gonzalo, Olaechea explained to
Harding
that it "...is more of a problem for Fujimori's regime than for us,
really.
They have relieved the Party of the responsibility of looking after the
Chairman." 4 The disdain for Maoist leadership expressed in this
statement,
not to mention Olaechea's attempt to pass his opinion off as that of the
PCP by equating "us" and "the Party", should wake up anyone who still
has
the slightest illusion about the "Maoism" of Olaechea, or of his
credibility as a "PCP representative". 

A year later, when Fujimori attributed the call for peace negotiations
to
Chairman Gonzalo, and CoRIM was urging the need to carry out serious
investigation and study of the two-line struggle while continuing to
support the People's War, Olaechea made the following argument: "Today
we
have received confirmation that the letters and videos attributed by the
regime to Dr Abimael Guzmán were obtained through psychological
torture....
It is completely clear that what has been said and written by Dr Guzmán
has
been done under force through continuous 'psy war' carried out by
professional torturers. Far from being an insult, we should be proud
that
he resisted for so long a period.... Psy warfare in this case is no more
than the imposition of violence ... under which the victim has no choice
but to surrender." 5 Arce likewise advances the argument that once
Chairman
Gonzalo was arrested, the only real choice facing him was "death or
capitulation". 6 

How astonishing it is that these same characters who so quickly and
lightly
spoke of Chairman Gonzalo's "capitulation" are now presenting themselves
as
his "unconditional" champions and denouncing as "traitors" and "Fujimori
agents" anyone who even considers the possibility that Chairman Gonzalo
might be advocating the Right Opportunist Line. If their words were
taken
seriously, they themselves would be the biggest "agents" of all! 

It is apparent here that what is driving Arce & Co's attacks on RIM is
not
some excess of zeal in defence of Chairman Gonzalo, or, for that matter,
of
the PCP, however much they might like to protest otherwise. Their recent
donning of the mantle of "unconditional champions" of Chairman Gonzalo
is
as shallow and opportunist as their previous casual acceptance of what
they
saw as his "capitulation", and it is no more trustworthy. 

The "Usefulness" of Truth

The way Arce, Olaechea and New Flag handle the possible involvement of
Chairman Gonzalo in the Right Opportunist Line, along with their
countless
other half-truths, distortions and outright falsifications, reveals a
strikingly cavalier approach to the question of truth. 7 Furthermore, in
a
line of argument characteristic of these forces, Arce holds that this
approach is not only justified but necessary, in order to avoid
"demoralization" in the face of "any setbacks to the revolution and even
imperialist propaganda itself". 8 Because of this, he claims that to
speak
of two-line struggle "confuses and spreads doubt among the less advanced
sections of the people". In other words, in the interest of supposedly
avoiding "confusion" and "demoralization", Arce thinks it is appropriate
to
distort, exaggerate, conceal and even invent important elements of the
actual situation. 

Maoists energetically seek the truth; unlike the bourgeoisie, which is
rooted in class exploitation, and hence has much to hide, the
proletariat
has nothing to lose, no special interests to defend in class society -
hence, as Mao said, "thoroughgoing materialists are fearless". Whether
to
seek the truth unflinchingly is ultimately a matter of class stand. 

The approach of Arce & Co to the truth frees them to say whatever they
feel
is immediately expedient "for the revolution" at a given moment, which
is
then interpreted to mean whatever is expedient to their own narrow
interests. Thus to slander RIM's line on the two-line struggle and avoid
actual line struggle itself, they now baldly assert that RIM supports
the
line of peace negotiations! 9 As for the possible involvement of
Chairman
Gonzalo in the Right Opportunist Line, regardless of the actual
situation
Arce & Co are going to assert whatever suits them at that particular
moment. This is a great disservice, for revolutionary communists can
only
advance by facing the truth squarely, however bitter it may be. 

The Internet Café

Another point on which the views of these forces converge is their
criticism of CoRIM for its "hidden methods of functioning". This is
associated with a more or less general demand by these forces that RIM
functions in a more "open", "democratic" fashion. One group, for
instance,
has demanded that CoRIM reveal its internal functioning, while another
one
ridiculed CoRIM's members for their "anonymity". 

These complaints against RIM's "hidden functioning" echo longstanding
social-democratic critiques of Leninist organizations for being "too
conspiratorial" and "too secretive". The first question communists must
ask
is, "hidden" from whom? Do they really want CoRIM to "reveal RIM's
functioning" publicly, which can only mean to the imperialist political
police as well, when for instance, in the case of Chairman Gonzalo the
whole world has just seen to what lengths the political police will go
to
hunt down and "neutralize" revolutionary leaders? Are these people so
numbed by the routine functioning of Western bourgeois democracies that
they do not even consider that members and leaders of many RIM parties
and
organizations could be arrested, tortured and even executed merely for
being identified as being members of their group?! 

One of the great victories represented by the formation of RIM was to
provide a means by which the Maoist parties and organizations around the
world could learn from each other's experience and understanding, so as
to
accelerate and strengthen the revolutionary process. The
social-democratic
complaints of these forces only undermine these hard-won gains. Maoists
must hope and indeed firmly insist that CoRIM and RIM do everything
possible to function along true Leninist lines and protect the core of
the
Movement's internal functioning from the secret police, even if this
offends the "democratic sensibilities" of some intellectuals. 

Given this kind of bourgeois-democratic critique of RIM, it is not too
surprising that the main forum for the organizing efforts of these
anti-RIM
forces has been the international computer network called the Internet.
The
Internet enables those who can afford a computer, a telephone, and a
device
called a modem (which links the computer with the telephone system) to
subscribe to a service through which they can send electronic mail to
anyone else on the Internet, access other Internet computers and post
messages instantly on what are called forums, or electronic bulletin
boards. Anyone else on the Internet can then read the messages and
respond
immediately. In this electronic world of the Internet, often called a
"virtual world" or "cyberspace", these forces can generate hundreds of
pages weekly on the forum where they regularly carry out their political
attacks on RIM and each other. The atmosphere is like nothing so much as
a
non-stop university coffee house political discussion, only the debate
takes place in the electronic world of "virtual reality". 

Because the Internet makes it possible for millions of people from
around
the world to be connected electronically with one another with
unprecedented speed and ease, it has been hailed in the media as a great
instrument for "breaking down the barriers" between people of different
nations and promoting an unfettered "global democracy". The "virtual
reality" of Internet "cyberspace" is said to have turned the world into
an
"electronic global village". 

The anti-RIM "virtual revolutionaries" openly conduct their activities
on
the Internet as if all this were real. They are blinded by their
bourgeois-democratic outlook to some hard truths of life in virtual
reality, not least of all that Big Brother is on the Net. In 1994, a
spokesman for the US FBI acknowledged that they had twenty- five "net
literate" agents for Internet operations, a figure which in the fast
changing world of the Internet has undoubtedly multiplied several times
since then. And this does not include the CIA, National Security Agency
(NSA), and other political police operations in the US alone. 10 The UK
has
at least seven intelligence agencies monitoring the Net, including MI5,
MI6
and GCHQ in Cheltenham. 11 

The "virtual revolutionaries" conduct the core of their affairs openly
on
the Internet and taunt CoRIM, demanding, for instance, how "in the age
of
the Internet" it could possibly "take so long" to come to a public
position
on the two-line struggle, as if – leaving aside the question of taking
seriously the two-line struggle – RIM could simply carry out its most
important affairs over the Internet itself. Suffice it to say that,
having
fought so hard against the political police in ordinary reality, Maoists
should not just turn themselves over to the virtual reality snoops on
the
Net. 

This Internet-centered approach on the part of the "virtual
revolutionaries", besides being legalistic, is also inherently
Eurocentric.
Maoists must of course be present and active wherever there are masses,
including on the Internet, so as to do the most possible to advance the
cause of revolution. However, the way this is done must conform to the
principle of Mao's dictum that "you fight your way and I'll fight mine".
Most RIM parties and organizations, for instance, do not have modems and
Internet addresses. This is not only because many groups are functioning
in
conditions of severe repression, but also because of the marked
inequality
underpinning the structure of the Internet itself. Whatever the
potential
of the Internet, it has arisen under imperialism and reflects and indeed
reinforces the inequalities in the imperialist world. Whereas almost all
university students in the US have Internet access, most people in the
oppressed countries do not have access to a telephone, and half the
world's
people have never even made a phone call. The way the "virtual
revolutionaries" function, the loudest voices are inevitably those of
the
relatively privileged, whereas whole sections of the world, including
revolutionary parties from the poorest countries, are silent and
forgotten.
And the PCP itself is unable to take an active part in these debates,
only
to be misrepresented by a host of conflicting "spokesmen", each with
their
own modem and their own political line. In such an unequal world,
virtual
and real, all modems cannot and must not be treated as equal. Building
organization around a structure that is so inherently unequal and
lopsided
will give rise to an irresistible pull towards imperialist chauvinism. 

But even if somehow everyone on earth had a modem and somehow there were
no
imperialist political police in virtual reality, it would still not be
correct to carry on RIM's affairs openly on the Internet, for it would
go
against the Marxist theory of knowledge and its organizational
corollary,
democratic centralism. RIM is made up of organizations that have been
forged in the various countries through the protracted, difficult
process
of going among the masses, waging revolutionary struggle, finding and
bringing forward the advanced, working out the basic strategy and
tactics
of revolution in the country, welding together a vanguard, and
throughout
this process, developing and sharpening the understanding and practice
of
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM), in the back-and-forth dialectic of "from
the
masses, to the masses", together with and as part of the international
communist movement. Although it is not the same as a communist party in
a
single country, RIM is based on MLM organizational principles. The
process
of knowing and changing the world must inevitably respect the Marxist
theory of knowledge and the mass line. Democratic centralism must be
applied in a way appropriate to RIM at this time, which will necessarily
be
different to how this functions in a party in a single country.
Furthermore, while this general principle of democratic centralism is
publicly proclaimed, RIM does not have to and indeed must not publicly
reveal its principles of functioning, its methods of work, and so on. 12 

As for the efforts of these forces to speculate on differences within
RIM:
of course there are differences within RIM – and the discussion and
debate
that goes on in RIM is part of the process of unity-struggle-unity
through
which the whole Movement advances. For example, the adoption of
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism by RIM was illustrative of this very process.
Some
of this takes place in public, whereas other parts of it are and should
remain internal to the Movement itself. As is usually the case, those
who
claim to "be in the know" about communists' internal functioning know
the
least! 

Reducing Line Struggle to Police Plots

The stubborn insistence of the virtual world revolutionaries on reducing
the two-line struggle in Peru to a police plot has inexorably pushed
them
in the direction of reducing all line struggle to police plots. Their
turning away from major questions to become absorbed in speculation
about
police conspiracies, intrigue, spying, backstabbing and treachery has
contributed to developing a spectacularly sick atmosphere on the
Internet
forum where these forces regularly congregate. Their initial unity
against
CoRIM and against waging the two-line struggle has given way to a wave
of
vicious infighting, where people whom a few months ago were being hailed
as
"comrades" and whose documents were being reprinted and circulated are
now
denounced as "frauds", "sects" and "police agents" (this happened for
instance with MIM, which turned on New Flag, and New Flag, which turned
on
Olaechea). 13 In an ominous development, with Olaechea's support one
North
American journalist even gave out physical descriptions and what he
claimed
were the home addresses of some New Flag supporters over the Internet. 

This is the bitter fruit of these forces' anti-Maoist insistence on
reducing line struggle to a police plot and their general departure from
the Maoist approach to handling contradictions. They ridiculed CoRIM for
insisting from the beginning of the outbreak of the two-line struggle in
Peru on the need to do serious investigation and focus on major
questions
of line, and now they are wading waist-high in a perilous swamp. The
point
is that real unity can only be based on a deep understanding of major
questions of line. These people either do not understand this or oppose
it
and so are left uniting and splitting based on the infinitude of chops
and
changes that invariably arise over secondary matters, so that a mere
harsh
word suffices to turn yesterday's "comrade" into today's "cop". Indeed,
it
would hardly be surprising if the Arce-Olaechea duo itself were to
explode
in mutual recrimination. 

Furthermore, for revolutionaries, the battle against the political
police
is a life-and-death affair, and labeling someone a "police agent" is a
matter of great seriousness. It is only to be done after solid evidence
is
gathered, not simply because someone has raised incorrect ideas or even
been dishonest. Yet for these forces, labeling opponents "police agents"
has become a casual, almost everyday affair. 14 

The situation has now degenerated to such an extent that activity that
would raise the darkest suspicions to any outside observer has now
become
routine on the Internet forum. All this has provided an atmosphere,
which
the real political police are no doubt applauding with glee and
laughter.
One active supporter of Arce & Co, castigating the "secrecy" in which
CoRIM
functions, likened CoRIM members to Fujimori's "hooded judges", and even
demanded that they "step forward" to "reveal" themselves. 15 He went on
to
say that he was virtually sure that "the CIA was running the IEC
founding
conference". Olaechea attacked CoRIM, the IEC and the RCP,USA,
especially
its Chairman Bob Avakian, as a "three-headed hydra" that are "dumb tools
of
Fujimori", and he has repeatedly singled out Comrade Avakian for
especially
savage attack. 16 Likewise, New Flag routinely labels CoRIM and Comrade
Avakian "revisionist", "Trotskyite", "opportunist", etc, calls for
"overthrowing CoRIM" and recently circulated a scurrilous cartoon
portraying Comrade Avakian as an "agent" and called for forming "an
emergency task force" to "separate and isolate" him. 

Maoists understand only too well from bitter experience that treating
revolutionary leaders as "police agents" only makes it easier for
genuine
police agents to hatch physical attacks on them and their organizations.
These unprincipled attacks on CoRIM, Comrade Avakian or any
revolutionary
leader will not be tolerated by genuine Maoists: New Flag, Arce,
Olaechea
and others who have taken part in this unprincipled activity should
cease
their attacks, and those who have gone part of the way with these people
and tolerated this kind of climate should dissociate themselves from it
and
draw appropriate conclusions. 

The main object of their attacks on CoRIM, Bob Avakian, the IEC, etc, is
the Maoist line of RIM itself. Olaechea, for instance, has attacked
RIM's
Declaration as "opportunist" from the moment RIM was formed, despite the
PCP's signature on that document, and has long considered RIM (and PCP)
too
Maoist and pushed for alliances with anti-Maoist forces. One way the
opposition of these forces to Mao's line sometimes finds expression is
in
their denigration of his closest comrades in the revolutionary left of
the
Communist Party of China, especially Chiang Ching. Olaechea argues that
"the question of the character of Madame Mao is not a dogma nor has it
been
settled in the international communist movement". He goes on to say
that,
"One of the features of 'Avakianist' theory is to hold forth that
'mistakes
are not unavoidable' and that there is a magic potion of pure theory to
resolve every problem. Madame Mao was in fact also an upholder of such
views." 17 Here Olaechea's efforts to caricature the theory of
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and mock its power, and to link this with
Comrades
Avakian and Chiang Ching, whom he disparagingly refers to as "Madame
Mao",
reflect that the real source of his problems is the Maoist line forged
in
the Cultural Revolution. 

Indeed, what these forces really hold against Comrade Avakian is that
for
years now he has been associated with a stalwart defence of Mao and his
revolutionary development of Marxism-Leninism, particularly in the
crucible
of the Cultural Revolution, and with a penetrating criticism of
revisionism. Comrade Avakian is the leader of the RCP,USA, which,
together
with other Maoist parties and organizations around the world, notably
the
PCP itself, has been associated with the development of RIM and its
line.
18 

MIM, New Flag and the rest of these "virtual revolutionaries" oppose
basic
tenets of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, but rather than reveal their own line
and risk actual line struggle, they try to hide their opposition beneath
unprincipled personal attacks on a few Maoist leaders. Furthermore, one
of
the problems they have in maintaining their fragile alliance against RIM
is
that they are in serious disagreement with each other over just about
everything else. The shallowness of their personal attacks on Comrade
Avakian and CoRIM reflect the shallowness of their own unity, which
turns
on opposition to Maoism. So in a feeble attempt to maintain what little
unity they have, and also because they do not consider line all that
important in the first place, they avoid any real substantive critique
of
RIM's basic line – for instance, not one of them has said a word about
the
most important RIM document in the past few years, Long Live
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!, perhaps in part because the PCP CC they
repeatedly claim to speak for in opposing RIM has hailed its adoption.
Similarly, these forces have had nothing to say about the important
article
"It's Right to Rebel" by the Union of Communists of Iran (Sarbedaran),
written at CoRIM's request, which thoroughly dissects and criticizes the
Right Opportunist Line, a task which Arce & Co has never even attempted
–
nothing that is, except a pathetic attack by Arce on a single footnote
in
the UIC text, which furthermore, in typical Arce fashion, he dishonestly
truncated. 

The virtual revolutionaries also repeatedly assert that "Avakian is
running
RIM", that "RIM is nothing but an Avakian front", and the like.
Ironically,
RIM is often slandered by reactionaries as the "Senderista
International".
This kind of anti-Communist slander is exactly like the anti-Communist
hysteria of the bourgeoisie themselves, with their talk of "Stalinist
dupes", "communist manipulation", etc, all contemptuous of the conscious
unity and understanding of the revolutionaries. One variant of this
attack
is that "Avakian's domination of RIM" mirrors US imperialism's
domination
of the oppressed countries. 19 This particular slander reeks of
imperialist
chauvinism and disrespect for the RIM parties and organizations in the
oppressed countries, including the PCP itself. The unity of RIM parties
and
organizations on basic principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is open for
all to see, including in the pages of AWTW, in the numerous documents of
the various RIM parties and organizations, as well as in the Declaration
of
RIM and Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!, both adopted by all the
parties
and organizations participating in RIM. 

Part One of Two

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