This is Part VI in a series of UNITY study columns on Chairman Mao’s theory of the three worlds. The first five parts covered the general features of the theory of the three worlds; the role of the two superpowers, the U.S. and U.5.S.R., as the main enemies of the world’s people; the role of the third world as the main force opposing colonialism, imperialism and superpower hegemonism; the second world as a force that can be united with in the struggle against the two superpowers; and the danger of war and how the two superpowers are the main source of a new world war.
Part VI is on the importance of combatting the war, how the world’s people can postpone the outbreak of war, and the danger of appeasement.
We encourage readers to send in comments, criticisms and questions about the study columns. Each study column has a list of suggested readings and study questions.
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The situation in the world at this time is very favorable for the masses and the revolution. At the same time, the danger of war between the two superpowers is escalating.
The danger of war between big imperialist countries is not something new in the world, as this threat has existed since imperialism first emerged, in the latter part of the 19th century. But it has not been a central problem in the world revolutionary movement for most of the post-World War II period. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, most attention in the international arena was given to the wars of aggression which the imperialist countries, especially the U.S., launched or threatened to launch against the oppressed and socialist countries.
Consequently, in the U.S., there are some in the revolutionary movement who are unfamiliar with the question of inter-imperialist war and what our tasks should be toward this threat. Some underestimate or even altogether ignore the danger, believing that the proletariat need not be concerned with the war danger. There are others who even believe that war will be advantageous to the masses as it will weaken the bourgeoisie.
In our view, these are seriously mistaken ideas. While the masses or people have no stake in supporting either of the two superpowers in their war preparations, it would be entirely wrong to conclude that we should not pay attention to the war danger. In fact, the proletariat must give close attention to the danger of war.
In the event of war between the two superpowers, the masses of people will suffer most terribly. A third world war will cause tremendous destruction and loss of lives. World war brings out most sharply the irrational and criminal nature of monopoly capital. This is one reason why the proletariat is striving to destroy imperialism once and for all. Only the destruction of imperialism can eliminate the danger of war. In particular there must be victorious socialist revolution, overthrowing the bourgeoisies in the two superpowers, to end the threat of world war.
To accomplish this task, though, the working class must fight to postpone as long as possible the actual outbreak of war. This way the masses of people throughout the world will have more time to become alerted to the danger of war, make preparations and develop their revolutionary work. The longer war can be put off, the more the masses can develop their organized strength and therefore, be better able to deal with the tasks war would bring. This goes for the socialist countries as well. These preparations will be decisive factors in case of world war.
If there is imperialist war with the Soviet Union, the U.S. proletariat would strive to turn that war into a civil war to overthrow the bourgeoisie and win socialism. A war with the Soviet Union most likely would greatly weaken the superpowers. But it is a slander of communism to therefore say that world war is advantageous to the masses. This slander is being used against socialist China by some today, to cover up the actual war danger posed by the two superpowers.
The attention that China and communists give to the danger of war is not a sign of encouragement, but rather a sign of the efforts to oppose such a war. Such a war is in the making, so one must take steps to deal with it. The Communist Party of China and all genuine communists oppose imperialist war. As Comrade Mao Tsetung pointed out in 1939 about the then-socialist Soviet Union:
The foreign policy of the Soviet Union over a very long period of time has consistently been one of peace. For its own socialist construction the Soviet Union has always needed peace, has always needed to strengthen its peaceful relations with other countries and prevent an anti-Soviet war, for the sake of peace on a world scale, it also needed to check the aggression of the fascist countries and delay the outbreak of an imperialist war for as long as possible. (“The Identity of Interests Between the Soviet Union and All Mankind,” Collected Works of Mao Tsetung, Vol. 2, p. 275.)
The policy of communists toward war is to oppose it, but at the same time to make preparations to deal with it in case of its outbreak.
Today, the work of communists throughout the world must include postponing the outbreak of war. This is not in contradiction to developing our revolutionary work, since our efforts to overthrow the superpowers must include combatting their reactionary measures, including preparing for war.
On an international scale, communists must alert the masses to the growing danger of war. Communists must point out all the various economic, ideological, political and military ways the two superpowers are preparing for war, and lead the masses to stand against the two superpowers. Communists need to expose the hypocrisy of Carter’s “human rights” campaign and the Soviets’ “anti-imperialism” as policies designed to win people to their intervention and aggression. The two superpowers also make a lot of noise about “detente” and “disarmament,” but these too are smokescreens for their actual war preparations, which go on unabated.
Each superpower strives to gain an advantage over the other to be in a better position to launch a war. Consequently, the people of the world must expose and combat every step the two superpowers take in their drives for hegemony, whether by political, economic or military means. Actions ’taken by the people of a certain country or group of countries against the superpowers help the people of those countries, but also help to frustrate the superpowers’ worldwide plans.
In recent years, there have been a number of actions that have weakened or isolated the superpowers. Last year, Somalia kicked out thousands of Soviet advisers and closed down Soviet military bases on its territory; the Zairean people defeated two Soviet-backed invasions of their country; the Panamanian people achieved sovereignty over their canal from the U.S.; the Nicaraguan people are fighting to overthrow the U.S.-supported Somoza dictatorship. All these and many others have objectively frustrated the plans of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. They have restricted the superpowers’ ability to use these countries’ resources and land for their own military and economic purposes. They have curbed the superpowers’ ability to use their strategic waterways, ports, and location as a stepping stone to gain world hegemony. Thus these and many other actions around the world have contributed to delaying the outbreak of war.
What, though, does the threat of war mean for the proletariat in the U.S. – one of the two superpowers?
Overall, it means that we must take advantage of the relatively favorable conditions at present to intensify our revolutionary work. The growing danger of war requires that we see more urgent the task of forging a single, unified communist party in this country. Such a party will enable communists to more widely expand our influence among the masses and become more of a force affecting events of the day.
The U.S. proletariat can contribute to the task of postponing war by building support for all the anti-superpower actions of other countries and peoples internationally. Because these actions are directed at a common enemy, they are in the direct interest of the international working class. It is important that the masses of people in the U.S. also fight the war preparations of the imperialists and expose the schemes and maneuvers of the government’s foreign policy.
The vast majority of American people want peace. The bourgeoisie plays on this just desire with false promises of “detente” or by promoting bourgeois pacifism. Communists need to educate the masses of people about these deceptions and about the growing war danger. We need to show that the war danger comes from the imperialist system itself.
Part of postponing the outbreak of war is combatting the developing political and economic attacks on the masses. To wage war, the bourgeoisie needs to secure its homefront in the U.S. Among other things, this means that the U.S. imperialists are out to weaken the trade unions and tighten control over the workers. They are beefing up their police forces and repressive apparatus. They are attacking the masses’ living standards to squeeze more and more out of the laboring people. Communists must, therefore, strive to lead mass struggles against the bourgeoisie’s measures to tighten their own rule. This includes the bourgeoisie’s attacks on living standards, political rights, and its intensification of national oppression and the exploitation of the working class.
At the same time that we fight against superpower arms buildups, we also need to expose the tendency of appeasement among the bourgeoisie.
As a response to Soviet social-imperialism – the more aggressive of the two superpowers – there is a certain tendency among the U.S. and European ruling circles towards appeasement. Appeasement is a policy of conniving with the Soviets in hopes of at least temporarily diverting or profiting from Soviet aggression. The policy of appeasement favors giving concessions to the Soviets and increasing economic ties, such as through huge loans, investments, and trade in advanced technology and industrial equipment. Some appeasers even advocate giving up parts of Europe or other areas of the world to the Soviets, in the mistaken belief that this will satisfy social-imperialism’s appetite. Some believe that appeasement will lessen the danger of war, buy more time for U.S. war preparations to take place, or even turn Soviet war aims toward the East.
But nothing could be further from the truth. By way of example, the U.S.S.R.’s victory in Angola only encouraged its aggression in Ethiopia, Zaire and other parts of Africa.
Appeasement is an imperialist policy which disarms the people in the face of the war danger and objectively helps the Soviets grow stronger. Appeasement makes the Soviets want even more, and better equips them to launch a war – thus bringing the outbreak of war even closer. This is why the appeasement policy is particularly dangerous and must be exposed.
The world has seen the results of an appeasement policy in the past. During Hitler’s rise to power, ruling circles in the U.S., France and Britain pursued an appeasement policy toward Hitler. The result was that they actually helped fascism to grow. With each new concession, Hitler grew in strength, which brought World War II closer.
Stalin, Mao and communists during the 1930’s condemned the appeasement policy as a reactionary policy. The Soviet Union tried to utilize the contradictions between the western capitalist democracies and the fascist countries by encouraging “collective security” and cooperation with the Soviet Union. This was entirely in keeping with the Soviet Union’s aim of delaying the outbreak of war for as long as possible.
Today, as part of opposing the danger of war, we should expose the modern appeasers who wish to connive with or assist the Soviet social-imperialists. We should also oppose attempts by the U.S. bourgeoisie to incite the Soviet Union against the socialist countries, especially China. And we should support the efforts of the socialist countries and all countries threatened with aggression to strengthen themselves and their national defense.
In the U.S., opposing appeasement does not mean we support U.S. war preparations and war mongering. We oppose all the imperialist policies of the U.S. bourgeoisie and show how they are leading toward war. The appeasement policy at this time, though, is particularly dangerous because of the illusions it fosters that war is not on the horizon, and because of the actual assistance it gives to the social-imperialists.
While imperialist war is inevitable, the international proletariat must do everything possible under the current conditions to build up its strength, develop its work and help delay the outbreak of this war. It should unite with all the various anti-hegemony actions of the countries, nations and peoples of the world as they are all in each other’s interests. The developing international united front is helping to weaken the two superpowers, thereby helping to delay the outbreak of war, isolate the main enemies of the people, and advance the interests of the overwhelming majority of the world’s people.
History has shown that war and revolution are very closely connected. War is a result of the aggravation of the fundamental contradictions in the world, and in turn war itself further aggravates the contradictions. Under these circumstances, the proletariat faces many challenges as well as potential difficulties. As long as the proletariat squarely confronts reality, it will be able to deal with developing circumstances to advance its cause and win ultimate victory.
Chairman Mao Tsetung’s Differentiation of the Three Worlds Is A Major Contribution to Marxism-Leninism, especially pp. 64-79.
“Some perspectives on appeasement and the danger of world war,” Getting Together, May 1978
Stalin, “Report to the 18th Congress of the CPSU,” in Problems of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, especially pp. 874-889.
Mao Tsetung, “The Identity of Interests Between the Soviet Union and All Mankind,” in Selected Works of Mao Tsetung, Vol. 2.
1. Why does the proletariat oppose imperialist war?
2. Why should the proletariat work to postpone imperialist war?
3. What are some ways the danger of war is being combatted?