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

of the world and has opened up still more realistic pathstowards it”. 1He also indicated,Make trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again . . .till their doom; that is the logic of the imperialists and allreactionaries the world over in dealing with the people’scause, and they will never go against this logic. This is aMarxist law. When we say “imperialism is ferocious”,we mean that its nature will never change, that the imperialistswill never lay down their butcher knives, thatthey will never become Buddhas, till their doom. 2Marxist-Leninists base themselves on the fact that thechanges in post-war conditions have become increasinglyfavourable for revolution and on the law that imperialismand reaction will never change their nature. Therefore theydraw the conclusion that revolution must be promoted, andthey hold that full use must be made of this very favourablesituation and that in the light of the specific conditions indifferent countries the development of revolutionary strugglesmust be actively promoted and preparations must be madeto seize victory in the revolution.On the other hand, using the pretext of these very changesin post-war conditions, Khrushchov draws the conclusion thatrevolution must be opposed and repudiated, and he holds thatas a result of the changes in the world balance of forces imperialismand reaction have changed their nature, the law ofclass struggle has changed, and the common road of theOctober Revolution and the Marxist-Leninist theory of proletarianrevolution have become outmoded.1Mao Tse-tung, “Revolutionary Forces of the World Unite, FightAgainst Imperialist Aggression!”, Selected Works, Eng. ed., FLP, Peking,1961, Vol. IV, p. 284.2Mao Tse-tung, “Cast Away Illusions, Prepare for Struggle”, SelectedWorks, Eng. ed., FLP, Peking, 1961, Vol. IV, p. 428.383