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 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru | | PO Box 1246, Berkeley CA 94701 (USA) | | phone (415)252-5786 * fax (415)252-7414 | | check out our web page at http://www.csrp.org | | | | The CSRP uses e-mail for public postings only. | | We will NOT reply to incoming messages, but | | please do call, mail or fax us! | \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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