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

He spread the view that a new war would be “a real catastrophicsmash-up of a large part of the world” and “maythrow . . . most of the world back into barbarism for 50 or 100years”, and that the “emphasis upon agreement that transcendsall class divisions” 1 was necessary in order to wipe out the disasterof war.He advocated relying “entirely upon democratic persuasionand conviction” 2 to realize socialism, and declared that afterWorld War II certain countries “have gained the conditions inwhich a peaceful transition to socialism has become possible”. 3He negated the independent role of the proletarian parties,saying that “the practical political aims they [the Communists]hold will for a long time be in agreement on all essential pointswith the aims of a much larger body of non-Communists”. 4Guided by these ideas, he dissolved the Communist Party ofthe U.S.A.For a time, Browder’s revisionism led the revolutionarycause of the American proletariat to the brink of the precipice,and it contaminated the proletarian parties of other countrieswith the poison of liquidationism.Browder’s revisionist line was opposed by many AmericanCommunists headed by Comrade William Z. Foster and wasrejected and repudiated by many fraternal Parties. However,the revisionist trend represented by Browderism was not thoroughlycriticized and liquidated by the international communistmovement as a whole. In the new circumstances afterthe War, the revisionist trend developed anew among the Communistranks in certain countries.1Earl Browder, Communists and National Unity, Eng. ed., WorkersLibrary Publishers, New York, 1944, pp. 9-10.2Earl Browder, The Road to Victory, Eng. ed., Workers LibraryPublishers, New York, 1941, p. 22.3Earl Browder, World Communism and U.S. Foreign Policy, Eng. ed.,published by the Author, New York City, 1948, p. 19.4Earl Browder, Teheran, Our Path in War and Peace, Eng. ed., InternationalPublishers, New York, 1944, p. 117.405