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

obey it. When the Social-Democratic Party of Germany wasin the forefront of the movement, Engels said that “it has noright to speak in the name of the European proletariat andespecially no right to say something false”. 1 When the RussianBolshevik Party was in the van, Lenin said, “. . . while foreseeingevery stage of development in other countries, we mustdecree nothing from Moscow.” 2Even the vanguard position referred to by Engels and Lenindoes not remain unchanged for a long time but shifts accordingto changing conditions. This shift is decided not by thesubjective wishes of any individual or Party, but by the conditionsshaped by history. If conditions change, other Partiesmay come to the van of the movement. When a Party whichformerly held the position of vanguard takes the path ofrevisionism, it is bound to forfeit this position despite thefact that it has been the largest Party and has exerted thegreatest influence. The German Social-Democratic Party wasa case in point.At one period in the history of the international communistmovement, the Communist International gave centralizedleadership to the Communist Parties of the world. It playeda great historic role in promoting the establishment andgrowth of Communist Parties in many countries. But whenthe Communist Parties matured and the situation of the internationalcommunist movement grew more complicated,centralized leadership on the part of the Communist Internationalceased to be either feasible or necessary. In 1943 thePresidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist Internationalstated in a resolution proposing to dissolve theComintern:1“Engels to A. Bebel, March 18-28, 1875”, Selected Correspondenceof Marx and Engels, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, p. 354.2V. I. Lenin, “Report on the Party Program, Delivered at the EighthCongress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”, SelectedWorks, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1952, Vol. II, Part 2, p. 159.333