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

It seems to me that the main thing that is usually forgottenon the question of war, which receives inadequate attention,the main reason why there is so much controversy, and, Iwould say, futile, hopeless and aimless controversy, is thatpeople forget the fundamental question of the class characterof the war; why the war broke out; the classes that are wagingit; the historical and historico-economic conditions thatgave rise to it. 1As Marxist-Leninists see it, war is the continuation of politicsby other means, and every war is inseparable from thepolitical system and the political struggles which give rise toit. If one departs from this scientific Marxist-Leninist propositionwhich has been confirmed by the entire history of classstruggle, one will never be able to understand either the questionof war or the question of peace.There are different types of peace and different types ofwar. Marxist-Leninists must be clear about what type of peaceor what type of war is in question. Lumping just wars andunjust wars together and opposing all of them undiscriminatinglyis a bourgeois pacifist and not a Marxist-Leninistapproach.Certain persons say that revolutions are entirely possiblewithout war. Now which type of war are they referring to —a war of national liberation or a revolutionary civil war, ora world war?If they are referring to a war of national liberation or arevolutionary civil war, then this formulation is, in effect,opposed to revolutionary wars and to revolution.If they are referring to a world war, then they are shootingat a nonexistent target. Although Marxist-Leninists havepointed out, on the basis of the history of the two world wars,that world wars inevitably lead to revolution, no Marxist-1V. I. Lenin, “War and Revolution”, Collected Works, Russ. ed.,State Publishing House for Political Literature, Moscow, 1949, Vol.XXIV, p. 362.26