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

feudalism, by uniting all the patriotic forces of the nation ina single national front — the working class, the peasantry,the national bourgeoisie and the democratic intellectuals.The peoples who are fighting for their national liberationand have already won political independence have ceased, orare ceasing, to serve as a reserve for imperialism; with thesupport of the socialist states and of all progressive forcesthey are more and more frequently inflicting defeats uponthe imperialist powers and coalitions.The young national states are developing at a time whenthere is competition between the two world social systems.This circumstance has the strongest influence upon theirpolitical and economic development, upon the choice of theroads they will follow in the future. The states that haverecently achieved their national liberation belong neither tothe system of socialist states nor to the system of capitaliststates, but the overwhelming majority of them have not yetbroken away from the orbit of the world capitalist economy,although they hold a special place there. This part of theworld is still exploited by the capitalist monopolies.Now when political independence has been won, the struggleof the young sovereign states against imperialism, for theirultimate national revival, for economic independence, comesto the forefront. The achievement of complete independenceby the developing countries would mean a further seriousweakening of imperialism, for then the entire present systemof the predatory, unequal international division of labourwould be destroyed, and the foundation of the economicexploitation of the “world countryside” by the capitalistmonopolies would be undermined. The development of independentnational economies in the developing countries relyingupon the effective assistance of the socialist system will deala further heavy blow against imperialism.In the struggle for the attainment and consolidation ofindependence it is necessary to muster the whole of a nation’sforces in readiness to fight against imperialism. In an512