First Published: The Call, Vol. 6, No. 17, May 2, 1977.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.
The propaganda machines of the Soviet social-imperialists as well as the Communist Party (CPUSA) have been working, overtime to convince the people that the “irreversible process of detente” characterizes the present world situation. According to the revisionists, war between the two superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, can be averted. They claim this can be done through peace and “arms limitations” negotiations, such as last year’s Helsinki Conference and the present SALT talks.
The Draft Program of the Communist Party (M-L) completely refutes these myths, tearing off their pacifist cover. The program reveals them to be nothing more than a smokescreen for increased U.S.-Soviet contention and, in particular, the arms build-up, aggression and hegemonism of the Soviet Union.
The Draft Program states: “The United States, along with the Soviet Union, stands today as one of the two imperialist superpowers who are the biggest international oppressors and exploiters. Together, they constitute the main enemy of the peoples, nations, and countries of the world. The contention between the two superpowers is the source of a new world war.”
The program reaffirms Lenin’s teaching that “an essential feature of imperialism is the rivalry between several Great Powers in the striving for hegemony.” It shows how, along with the rising revolutionary trend in the world, “the growing menace of another imperialist world war between the two superpowers” is also rapidly developing.
The Draft Program reveals that it is superpower rivalry, and not “detente,” that presently characterizes the world situation. The Soviet Union, a rising imperialist power and a newcomer to the imperialist feast, is especially aggressive in its attempts to redivide the world.
The Draft Program explains how the uneven development between the two superpowers leads to their contention and, ultimately, to armed conflict: “U.S. imperialism, which up until its defeat in Indochina was the dominant imperialist power in the world, is now on the decline. ... Everywhere that U.S. imperialism is being expelled from the front door, the Soviet social-imperialists are trying to sneak in the back door.”
International events bear out the Draft Program’s indictment of Soviet social-imperialism as “the most dangerous of the two superpowers” and “the main source of a new world war.” Posing as the “natural ally” of the national liberation movements, the Soviet revisionists have trampled on the sovereignty and national rights of the third world countries. They have done everything possible to sow divisions among the national liberation movements in order to gain hegemony over them.
Along with its other crimes, the Brezhnev clique has been found interfering in Angola, fomenting a civil war which resulted in the deaths of 150,000 Angolan people. The social-imperialists have launched coup attempts in third world countries which have resisted Soviet hegemonism, such as Egypt and Sudan. They have supported fascist cliques like the now-defunct Gandhi regime in India. Even today, they are unleashing a mercenary invasion against Zaire, covering up their activities by calling it a “popular uprising.”
The Soviet Union, along with the U.S., is arming itself to the teeth in preparation for war, with Europe as the focus of their contention. The social-imperialists have devoted three-fourths of their armed forces, three-fifths of their air force, two-thirds of their medium-range missile bases and a greater part of their naval vessels in or around Europe.
The ink wasn’t even dry on the Final Act of the Helsinki conference when the Soviet Union reenforced their Eastern European garrisons by over 100,000 troops, tested missiles in the Barents Sea and intensified military maneuvers for attacks on Western Europe. In spite of the “fine words” spoken at Helsinki, there is no “detente” or “peaceful development.”
The Draft Program points out that social-imperialism is even more dangerous than U.S. imperialism because “it carries out its aggression under the signboard of ’socialism.’ ” The Soviet revisionists have their fifth-column parties in many .countries throughout the world. In this country, they have the revisionist CPUSA, led by the Gus Hall clique, which expends endless energy promoting the imperialist interests of the new czars.
The aims and ambitions of the social-imperialists are also aided by certain forces calling themselves “anti-revisionist,“ who serve as their apologists. Such “anti-revisionist” conciliation to social-imperialism is found in the centrist Guardian and the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). The Guardian centrists openly put forward the view that U.S. imperialism is the “main enemy” of the world’s people and that the Soviet Union is a “friend” of the national liberation movements.
The RCP covers their conciliation with the theory of equilibrium. This theory promotes the view that the two superpowers have achieved “rough parity” with each other and that there is an “overall equality of power“ between the two.
The theory of equilibrium is only a new twist on the old “detente” theme. Like the Guardian’s prettification of social-imperialism, this theory aids the revisionists in promoting “detente” by providing a smokescreen for the increased Soviet arms build-up and aggression.
The Draft Program of the Communist Party (M-L) soundly refutes the metaphysical equilibrium theory. Besides pointing out the general uneven development between the superpowers, the Draft Program states that “the Soviet Union today is the mightiest military power in history, fully armed and geared for war.”
A recent article in the Chinese press substantiates the Draft Program’s assessment of the immense Soviet military build-up and the present Soviet military superiority:
“Before 1963, Soviet stocks of inter-continental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles respectively were less than one-quarter and one-half those of the United States. By 1975, twelve years later, Moscow had increased its stock of these missiles by more than 16 and 17 times. Furthermore, according to U.S. Pentagon-compiled materials, the Soviet Union produces on an annual average 9 times as many warships and tanks, twice as many attack submarines and helicopters as the United States, and has twice as many troops on active service as the United States.” (China Features)
Covering up these realities, the theory of equilibrium ends up completely negating the uneven development between the superpowers, the factor that drives them towards increased contention and war.
Along with their new-found allies on the Guardian, the RCP promotes the same treacherous “detente” myth by creating the false illusion that the superpowers can achieve a “balance of power” and “peacefully” exploit the world’s peoples.
Both the Guardian and RCP also conciliate to the U.S. imperialists’ policy of appeasement towards the Soviet Union. The appeasement policy, advocated by the leading circles of U.S. imperialism, is the way the U.S. imperialists have chosen to best contend with social-imperialism.
But this policy has been shown historically to only aid and abet the imperialist ambitions of the aggressors and bring on war that much sooner. This was the case with the Munich policy which was followed by Britain and France prior to World War II.
The Draft Program of the CP (M-L) reflects the Party’s staunch opposition to both superpowers and its refusal to conciliate to either of them. At the same time, the program correctly points out the need to “direct our main blow internationally at Soviet Social-imperialism.”
In this way, our Party will prepare the people to meet the imperialist war with revolutionary struggle. It will especially prepare the people to fight against the war preparations of both superpowers through consistent exposure of the revisionist lies of “detente” and “equilibrium”.