Polemic on General Line of International ... - From Marx to Mao

THE PATH OF NATIONALISM ANDDEGENERATIONIn their Open Letter of July 14, the leaders of the CPSUattempt to pin on the Chinese Communist Party the chargeof “isolating the national-liberation movement from the internationalworking class and its creation, the socialist worldsystem”. They also accuse us of “separating” the nationalliberation movement from the socialist system and theworking-class movement in the Western capitalist countriesand “counterposing” the former to the latter. There are otherCommunists, like the leaders of the French Communist Party,who loudly echo the leaders of the CPSU.But what are the facts? Those who counterpose the nationalliberation movement to the socialist camp and the workingclassmovement in the Western capitalist countries are noneother than the leaders of the CPSU and their followers, whodo not support, and even oppose, the national liberation movement.The Chinese Communist Party has consistently maintainedthat the revolutionary struggles of all peoples support eachother. We always consider the national liberation movementfrom the viewpoint of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism,from the viewpoint of the proletarian worldrevolution as a whole. We believe the victorious developmentof the national liberation revolution is of tremendous significancefor the socialist camp, the working-class movement inthe capitalist countries and the cause of defending world peace.But the leaders of the CPSU and their followers refuse toacknowledge this significance. They talk only about the supportwhich the socialist camp gives the national liberationmovement and ignore the support which the latter gives theformer. They talk only about the role of the working-classmovement in the Western capitalist countries in dealing blowsat imperialism and belittle or ignore the role of the nationalliberation movement in the same connection. Their stand con-206