We have tried to give briefly our views on the important aspects of theory about which there are differences in our world Communist movement today. We have not singled out the leadership of the C.P.S.U., many others hold similar views. We have had to deal with their point of view because of their overall wide influence.
However, we cannot accept the view of the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U., as expressed to our delegation to the bilateral talks in Moscow last August when, on their behalf, M. A. Suslov said: –
In conclusion, we ask you to take note of the following. The Central Committee of the C.P.S.U., which has always treated the fraternal Communist Party of New Zealand with brotherly sympathy, is alarmed over the present stand of its leadership. By departing from the Marxist-Leninist principles of the Declaration and Statement, by estranging itself from the fraternal family of Communist Parties, your Party is, in our opinion, taking the wrong path that is likely to cause it serious damage.
We believe it is our internationalist duty to point out to you candidly what great harm the position you now hold is liable to do to your Party, to the working class and all the working people of New Zealand.
We believe that the differences between our two Parties, between the C.P.S.U. and the C.P.N.Z., have not yet reached the irremediable stage. Furthermore, there are no objective reasons to prevent restoration of fraternal relations between the C.P.S.U. and the C.P.N.Z. If the leadership of the Communist Party of New Zealand will show an understanding for the prevailing state of affairs and if it manages to summon strength enough to defend the only correct Marxist-Leninist course now followed by the absolute majority of the world’s Communist Parties, it will be a match for the responsible tasks faced by the C.P.N.Z. in the complex contemporary situation. It is not too late yet to do so.
For our part, our Party will do its utmost to preserve the fraternity and sincerity that have always marked the relations between our Parties and which accord, first and foremost, with the interests of the New Zealand Communists, the interests of the Soviet Communists, of all the working people of your country, of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., and also the interests of the world Communist movement.
Frankly, that is very much like saying “agree with us or you are no longer part of the fraternal Marxist-Leninist Parties.” But no one Party has the authority to make such decisions. This sort of statement has been referred to as the “wielding of the baton.” The average New Zealander, whether in the Communist Party or out, is unlikely to accept such an approach. We are sure that the leadership of the C.P.S.U. will come to realise how incorrect this attitude is and will not use it in any discussions with other fraternal Parties.
To disagree over some matters does not, in our opinion, exclude fraternal relations. Nor, in fact, did any such break occur in our relations with the leading representatives of the C.P.S.U. whom our delegation met in Moscow. This is, moreover, shown by the fact that, at the conclusion of our bilateral talks, the representatives of the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U. and our delegation signed a joint statement in which the fact that further consideration and discussion would take place was included. This was very welcome. There at the moment the matter rests.
In New Zealand, the Communist Party faces a man-sized job. It is here, around our own Party programme, in the struggle against the ever-growing inroads of international monopoly, in the struggle against the growing United States imperialist influence, in the struggle for a socialist New Zealand, that the correctness of our opinions will be proved in practice.
It would be fatal if we became so absorbed in argument overseas that we neglected our full-time activity at home. Our job is right here in New Zealand.
We have to take our policy out to the people in the industries, on the ships, in the mines, on the farms. We must win support for it, we must make our influence grow.
The decline of imperialism on a world scale is creating ever new problems for our Party, for the New Zealand working class and for all progressives. But it is also presenting ever greater opportunities for the advance of the working-class movement.
Our direct struggle here against such a widespread monopoly as the Colonial Sugar Refinery Company, a monopoly whose activities hit hard at our living standards, brings out the need for a correct ideological understanding of Marxism-Leninism. The same applies to such issues as our fight for improved Social Security, for better education and improved facilities, for the placing of the tax burden on the shoulders of Big Business and reducing the weight on the workers, farmers and others with low incomes.
Our efforts to develop a more militant policy in the New Zealand trade union movement involve the issue of whether it moves to class conciliation or relies on class struggle as the major factor. If we don’t see clearly the nature of the capitalist state, we begin to believe that our “state”, a capitalist state, will act “fairly” to all. Whereas, in fact, it protects the interests of Capitalism and not the workers. It cannot be “fair” to the exploited.
This is where the ideology we have been outlining in this pamphlet directly affects us.
Again, our endeavours to make the workers and others who think the Labour Party is the solution understand that it is today a party that also supports Big Business and therefore is a capitalist party and not a workers’ party no matter how many workers may be in it, are part of this ideological struggle. It is policy, not numbers or name, that counts. And that, again is the crux of our approach to ideological problems!
Our stand for peace, in which we say that for a secure peace we must work to eliminate and not in any way assist imperialism, the system that contains within it the seeds of modern war, is also part of this same thing.
You can thus see how really it does affect us very much in New Zealand.
It is because of these things and because our reasons are honest ones that we have spoken out. The Communist Party of New Zealand, as part of the wide fraternity of Marxist-Leninist Parties, has not only the right but the duty to make its views known. It is our duty in the interests of proletarian internationalism and in the interests of the future of our own New Zealand movement.
In the Marxist movement, if disagreement occurs, the dialectical method should be used to solve it. If this is done, then a new understanding and a new unity based on correct Marxist ideology will arise. That is what the Communist Party, in expressing its views, is looking for. The present “dispute” will, in fact, strengthen our whole world movement if this approach is made. Today millions are re-studying the classics of Marxism-Leninism and applying them creatively to the conditions of the world of 1964.
We can, therefore, look to the future with confidence as far as the world progress of our movement is concerned. We can look with confidence to our own programme, knowing that if we are active around it then the influence of the Communist Party of New Zealand, of Marxism-Leninism, will grow ever wider among the workers and all who are exploited by international monopoly.
The false “red” dawn heralded in by the Labour Party leaders in 1936 has faded. But we can be as sure as we are that the sun will rise tomorrow that the true red dawn is coming and that the workers of New Zealand will advance to Socialism under the leadership of the Communist Party of New Zealand.