First Published: The Call, Vol. 6, No. 22, June 6, 1977.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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The living example of socialism in the People’s Republic of China is one of the most powerful weapons in the hands of Marxist-Leninists in every country. The Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations throughout the world proudly point to the advances made by China’s 800,000,000 people under the leadership of the Communist Party as a testament to the socialist system’s infinite superiority over capitalism.
But the opportunists, such as the Revolutionary Communist Party, Workers Viewpoint Organization and a handful of others, refuse to publish any news about China. In particular, they have not covered the recent historic victory by the people of China over the reactionary “gang of four.”
We have exposed the line and practice of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) on this question on several occasions. We have also quoted their open spokesmen, who slandered China during their so-called “international conference” held last November in New York. We have shown how their newspaper Revolution has censored all news from China for almost a year. The RCP has not allowed their readers or their membership to learn about the momentous victory over the “gang” or to take part in giving international support to the Communist Party of China and its leader Hua Kuo-feng.
Another group that adopts this same reactionary behavior but may be lesser known is the Workers Viewpoint Organization (WVO). Although claiming to be the “core” of the new Marxist-Leninist party and the “vanguard” of the U.S. working class, WVO is in fact practicing the worst national chauvinism in leaving out of its journal all news about China.
WVO likes to use the prestige of China when it is convenient for them to strike a pose as “anti-revisionists.” But they have withheld even token support for the struggle of the Chinese people, while quietly lending their support to the “gang of four.”
The silence by WVO on the question of the “gang of four” doesn’t come from ignorance or a lack of information. They are well-read on the situation and even have members who translate Chinese documents.
What then is at the basis of their position? For one thing, WVO, like RCP, has long been opposed to the international stand of the Chinese Party, both under the leadership of Chairman Mao and under the present leadership of Chairman Hua. WVO has always opposed Chairman Mao’s strategic concept of the “three worlds.”
In fact, they have often directed their most vicious and slanderous attacks at the third world movement. They have denounced the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its leadership as agents of the CIA. They have denounced many of the Arab countries who united together to resist Zionist aggression as “reactionary” and called others “progressive” in order to split the ranks of the anti-imperialist struggle.
WVO has also tried to distort many of China’s positions in order to make them fit their own opportunist stand. For example, they have distorted the Marxist-Leninist view that “the factors for both war and revolution are on the rise” by saying that both factors “are contending.” In this way the WVO opportunists forward the revolutionary conditions in the world.
It is not simply a question of “war or revolution,” as the WVO view of “contending factors” would lead people to believe, but also one of war giving rise to revolution. This has characterized the history of the past two world wars and is more in line with the present realities which the Chinese have often spoken about.
These are just a few examples of WVO’s attempts to grab a piece of China’s prestige while withholding support for the real stand of the Chinese people and their Party. WVO is hoping for the defeat of the present leadership in China, dreaming that they will be replaced by a new “gang of four” who will reflect WVO’s own reactionary line on the international situation.
It is no accident that WVO’s stand of silent opposition to the Chinese Communist Party merges with the opposition of the Soviet revisionists. The WVO policy of dividing the Third World into “progressive” and “reactionary” movements also coincides with the Soviet revisionists’ policy. WVO has been among the loudest voices calling for “united action” with the revisionists.
By their position on China, WVO and the RCP are doing the dirty work for the revisionists. They are spreading confusion and doubt about China, which stands as a beacon of socialism for the oppressed masses. But this beacon shines too brightly to have its light blocked out by a few opportunist papers like Workers Viewpoint and Revolution.
The Chinese people’s victory over the “gang of four” was an event celebrated by the working class the world over. It saved the dictatorship of the proletariat from an open attempt to restore capitalism in China. The “gang of four,” like the WVO opportunists, were pretenders to the name of “communist.” They were right-opportunists who liked to throw around “left”-sounding rhetoric and strike a pose in the same manner as the WVO leadership.
But, like the “gang,” WVO ringleader Jerry Tung and his “Wing” are being exposed as the phonies that they are. Enemies of the third world, slanderers of China, and allies of revisionism, the Workers Viewpoint Organization is earning its place in the trash bin of history.