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

ly as possible, but how and with what losses this will beachieved appears to be a secondary question. Secondary forwhom, it may be asked — for the hundreds of millions of peoplewho would be doomed to death if a thermonuclear warwere unleashed? For the countries that would be wiped offthe face of the earth in the very first hours of such a war?No one, not even a big state, has the right to play with thedestinies of millions of people. Those who do not want toexert themselves to banish world war from the life of thepeoples, to avert mass annihilation and destruction of thevalues of human civilization, deserve condemnation.The CPC Central Committee letter of June 14 has muchto say about “inevitable sacrifices,” allegedly in the nameof the revolution. Some responsible Chinese leaders havealso declared that it is possible to sacrifice hundreds of millionsof people in a war. There is this assertion in the collection“Long Live Leninism!” which was approved by the CPCCentral Committee: “The victorious peoples will create withtremendous speed on the ruins of destroyed imperialism acivilization a thousand times higher than under the capitalistsystem, and will build a really beautiful future.”It is permissible to ask the Chinese comrades: do they realizewhat sort of “ruins” a world nuclear and rocket warwould leave behind?The CPSU Central Committee — and we are convinced thatthe entire party and the Soviet people unanimously supportus in this — cannot share the views of the Chinese leadershipabout the creation of “a thousand times higher civilization”on the corpses of hundreds of millions of people. Such viewsare fundamentally contrary to the ideas of Marxism-Leninism.It is permissible to ask the Chinese comrades: what meansdo they propose for the destruction of imperialism? We fullyfavour the destruction of imperialism and capitalism. Notonly do we believe in the inevitable demise of capitalism, butwe are doing everything to achieve this through the classstruggle, and as soon as possible. Who must decide this his-543