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

support of the proletariat and oppressed nations of the worldand utilized the contradictions among the imperialists.Lenin said in November 1919:That is the way it always is — when the enemy is beaten,he begins talking peace. We have told these gentlemen,the imperialists of Europe, time and again that we agree tomake peace, but they continued to dream of enslavingRussia. Now they have realized that their dreams are notfated to come true. 1He pointed out in 1921:. . . the imperialist powers, with all their hatred of SovietRussia and desire to throw themselves upon her, have hadto reject this thought, because the decay of the capitalistworld is increasingly advancing, its unity is becoming lessand less, and the pressure of the forces of the oppressedcolonial peoples, with a population of over 1,000 million, isbecoming stronger with each year, each month and eveneach week. 2Thirdly, in carrying out the, policy of peaceful coexistence.Lenin adopted different principles with regard to the differenttypes of countries in the capitalist world.He attached particular importance to establishing friendlyrelations with countries which the imperialists were bullyingand oppressing. He pointed out that “the fundamental interestsof all peoples suffering from the yoke of imperialismcoincide” and that the “world policy of imperialism is leadingto the establishment of closer relations, alliance and friendshipamong all the oppressed nations”. He said that the peace1V. I. Lenin, “Speech Delivered at the First All-Russian Conferenceon Party Work in the Countryside”, Alliance of the Working Class andthe Peasantry, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1959, p. 326.2V. I. Lenin, “Speech at the Conclusion of the Tenth National Conferenceof the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”, Collected Works,Russ. ed., SPPL, Moscow, 1950, Vol. XXXII, pp. 412-13.265