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

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pursued the policy <strong>of</strong> peaceful coexistence and that they wereforced <strong>to</strong> wage a war <strong>of</strong> self-defence <strong>on</strong>ly when attacked bythe German imperialists.Since its founding, the People’s Republic <strong>of</strong> China <strong>to</strong>o hasc<strong>on</strong>sistently pursued the policy <strong>of</strong> peaceful coexistence withcountries having different social systems, and it is China whichinitiated the Five Principles <strong>of</strong> Peaceful Coexistence.However, a few years ago certain pers<strong>on</strong>s suddenly claimedLenin’s policy <strong>of</strong> peaceful coexistence as their own “greatdiscovery”. They maintain that they have a m<strong>on</strong>opoly <strong>on</strong> theinterpretati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> this policy. They treat “peaceful coexistence”as if it were an all-inclusive, mystical book from heaven andattribute <strong>to</strong> it every success the people <strong>of</strong> the world achieveby struggle. What is more, they label all who disagree withtheir dis<strong>to</strong>rti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Lenin’s views as opp<strong>on</strong>ents <strong>of</strong> peacefulcoexistence, as people completely ignorant <strong>of</strong> Lenin and Leninism,and as heretics deserving <strong>to</strong> be burnt at the stake.How can the Chinese Communists agree with this view andpractice? They cannot, it is impossible.Lenin’s principle <strong>of</strong> peaceful coexistence is very clear andreadily comprehensible by ordinary people. Peaceful coexistencedesignates a relati<strong>on</strong>ship between countries with differentsocial systems, and must not be interpreted as <strong>on</strong>e pleases.It should never be extended <strong>to</strong> apply <strong>to</strong> the relati<strong>on</strong>s betweenoppressed and oppressor nati<strong>on</strong>s, between oppressed andoppressor countries or between oppressed and oppressorclasses, and never be described as the main c<strong>on</strong>tent <strong>of</strong> thetransiti<strong>on</strong> from capitalism <strong>to</strong> socialism, still less should itbe asserted that peaceful coexistence is mankind’s road <strong>to</strong>socialism. The reas<strong>on</strong> is that it is <strong>on</strong>e thing <strong>to</strong> practise peacefulcoexistence between countries with different social systems.It is absolutely impermissible and impossible for countriespractising peaceful coexistence <strong>to</strong> <strong>to</strong>uch even a hair <strong>of</strong> eachother’s social system. The class struggle, the struggle fornati<strong>on</strong>al liberati<strong>on</strong> and the transiti<strong>on</strong> from capitalism <strong>to</strong> socialismin various countries are quite another thing. They are31

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