Raise the red banner of Unification under MLM to fulfill the tasks of the new situation!
We hereby publish a document on the 130th anniversary of the birth of Chairman Mao Tse-tung and on the 1st anniversary of the foundation of the International Communist League, that was published by the Communist International website.
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
Midst the 130th year of the birth of Chairman Mao Tse-tung celebrate the first anniversary of the International Communist League:
Raise the red banner of Unification under MLM to fulfill the tasks of the new situation!
On the first anniversary of the foundation of the International Communist League (ICL), we extend our firm proletarian greetings to the international proletariat and the peoples of the world. Our salutes are sent to the International Communist Movement and the People’s Wars, which are, in the midst of the new storms of the proletarian world revolution and the intensified attacks of reaction, struggling to provide orientation and leadership: By creating and forging the Communist Parties as instruments of struggle for the conquest of political power. With deep feelings of proletarian internationalism we transmit in this moment our flaming salutes to the heroic struggles of National Resistance in Palestine!
In this year, the communists and revolutionaries celebrate the 130 years of the great helmsman, Chairman Mao Tse-tung, who has personally led two of the greatest milestones of the proletariat; The Chinese Revolution, which opened the path of the New Democratic Revolution in the oppressed countries; and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, titanic battle that watered seeds all over the world, which flourished into the current People’s Wars and the new wave of the firm struggle for the reconstitution of the Communist Parties under the command of Maoism in several countries all over the world. With Chairman Mao Tse-tung, the proletarian movement has developed its most powerful and invincible weapon, its ideology, into the third, new stage of Marxism; Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the weapon with which the proletariat and the peoples of the world will sweep away imperialism and the reaction from the face of the earth.
With class hatred, we condemn all revisionism and opportunism. The capitalist restoration in China left the communists without a base area for the World Proletarian Revolution. We reject the reactionary Xi Jinping that, with his “Xi Jinping thought” and his fascist “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, is trying to deceive the peoples of the world about the meaning of socialism and the fight against imperialism. But for the proletariat there is no definitive defeat; As Chairman Mao pointed out, the only logic of the people is to fight, fail, fight, fail, and so on until victory. The capitalist restorations in the USSR in 1956 and in China 1976 cannot stop the revolutionary march of the international proletariat on its way to definitively settle in power. These defeats are only moments within the development of the contradiction between revolution and counterrevolution, from which we draw lessons to prevent restorations in the future.
The International Communist Movement and the National Liberation Movement are going through decisive moments, we witness the beginning of a turning point in the struggle between revolution and counterrevolution, the opening of a new period of revolutions within the World Proletarian Revolution.
Exactly one year ago, the foundation of a new international organization of the proletariat – the International Communist League – was announced with class pride and heroism. 15 Communist parties and organizations united in the Unified Maoist International Conference (UMIC) around three basic lines: 1) MLM 2) The struggle against revisionism, and 3) The Proletarian World Revolution. The Joint Declaration of Fundamentals and Principles defined the foundation of the ICL as a “step to reunite us and to overcome the dispersion in the International Communist Movement(…), and a new stage of the organized struggle for the reconstitution of the Communist International under the command and guide of Maoism was opened”.
One year after this event, the objective world situation is characterized by a further intensification of the basic contradictions, especially the main contradiction between imperialism and oppressed peoples and nations. The general crisis of capitalism in its imperialist stage has developed into a further peak in which upheavals and eruptions of great significance are taking place. Economically, the deepest crisis of the imperialist world system since the Second World War is currently unfolding, forming the basis for serious political crises, which in turn further deepen the economic crisis. US-imperialism, as the sole hegemonic superpower, is in decline and is trying by all means to advance its strategic goal of maintaining and expanding its position, even though it is finding it increasingly difficult to realize its plans to wrest the status as a nuclear superpower from Russian imperialism and to contain social-imperialist China. After the failure in Syria and Afghanistan, also the development of the war in Ukraine is a clear further example of the extent to which the political crisis of imperialism has reached and we renew our position that “The only way forward for the People of Ukraine are to relay on its own forces and to defend the Nation, against the foreign invader and the country selling traitors”. From the inter-imperialist contradiction, a tendency to expand the imperialist war is unfolding, which is currently expressed in the strong push for armament, militarism and the re-intensification of their failed counter-revolutionary offensive. In order to maintain its position, US-imperialism is strengthening its hegemonic ambitions over its alliances and allies, especially the NATO-countries, but in return it is deepening the crisis and demonstrating its character as a “colossus with feet of clay“. Although there are clear and certain pre-battles of a new world war, this is not imminent and the communists have the task of leading all those forces that are mobilized in the face of this situation and are spontaneously turning against imperialism. The assessment of the Declaration of Principles that “… the movement against the imperialist war will grow together with the rebellion against the exploitation and oppression of the class and the growing poverty of the masses…” proved to be correct and forward-looking. In addition to mass movements in the oppressed countries, the struggles of the workers and people in the imperialist countries also intensified, highlighting here great uprisings of the masses in France.
On the side of the international proletariat and the oppressed peoples and nations, we see that a new wave of revolutions – in an uneven development – is unfolding. The People’s Wars led by Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties in Peru, India, Turkey and the Philippines, not only withstood the attacks of the counter-revolution, they developed new initiatives and were able to advance, as the preparation of new People’s Wars is underway. In the oppressed countries, peasant movements continue to develop on an enormous scale and wherever they are under proletarian leadership, their role as the main force of the new democratic revolution against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism becomes clear. With the offensive of the Palestinian National War of Resistance, not only did the struggle for a free, self-determined Palestine enter a new stage, but also favors the conditions for the anti-imperialist struggle on a world scale, by being “a sharp spear stuck in the imperialist beast that with its example inspires and calls the proletariat and oppressed peoples of the world to combat and resist”, as we declared in our declaration of October 8. We renew here our call that it must be the communists who must take the lead in this movement in order to apply the universal teaching that the liberation of the nation under imperialism can only be victorious under proletarian leadership.
Comrades, isn’t the development of the world situation an excellent proof that the foundation of the ICL took place at exactly the right time? That the struggle for the reunification of communists at the world level corresponds to the necessity of the objective situation? We see that essential assessments and definitions of the Declaration of Fundamentals got expression in this situation and have been fulfilled, that it is a good starting point for developing the struggle for a deeper understanding of proletarian ideology in its application to the concrete conditions. The revolutionary unity achieved at the UMIC through the two-line struggle, under the banner of the great classics Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Chairman Mao Tse-tung, must be developed as a living unity, which must be further consolidated and expanded through deepening discussion and strengthening the two-line struggle. Let us firmly rely on the teachings of Stalin, who, in the midst of building the Communist International, insisted on developing the two-line struggle not “abstractly, but concretely, on the basis of the political situation” in which communists are developing their struggle.
In the first year of the ICL’s existence, a total of ten declarations and resolutions and five campaigns, with international events and celebrations and hundreds of actions, which were echoed in more than 25 countries, were made. The international events and activities organized or supported by the ICL were able to extend the scope also beyond the member organizations of the ICL and were important steps against fragmentation and division. We salute all Parties, Organizations and Comrades who contributed to fulfilling these activities. As well as the achievements, we must recognize our limitations and weaknesses in order to consolidate and deepen these steps. The situation in which the International Communist Movement finds itself is complex and the challenges are great. It will therefore be crucial to implement the tasks set with the foundation of the ICL, the goals defined in our resolutions and declarations, with even more regularity and consciousness, fighting subjectivism. Furthermore, the development of anti-imperialist activities, the axis of which must be the defense and support of the People’s Wars, is currently of decisive importance in order to expand the ranks of the ICL and broaden the base of the member organizations.
The foundation of the ICL was an important peak of a complex struggle over 40 years to overcome the fragmentation of the communists and establish unity on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It is of great importance to understand this process, building on the great achievements of the First, Second and Third International, as well as taking into account the contributions of the Communist Information Bureau, in order to grasp the strategic importance of the task of reconstituting the Communist International. This process teaches us that proletarian unity has only ever been consolidated step by step in the struggle against revisionism, opportunism and splitting. Therefore, it must also be clear that the dispersion of forces has not been overcome, but the tendency of dispersion has been reversed towards the tendency of unification. The ideological, political and organizational unity achieved by the UMIC has opened the door to develop the two-line struggle, the law of development of proletarian unity, in a higher, more organized way. Therefore, we want to welcome all the contributions that have been made by the respective parties and organizations since the foundation, to increase debate and discussion and want to emphasize, that the basis for a higher international unity is the development of the independent construction of national parties and organizations, the legs on which the ICL will march forward. We would also like to welcome the statements addressed to us by Maoist parties and organizations outside the International Communist League. We salute them as an important position on a debate raised by the ICL, that will serve to strengthen the international organization through the two-line struggle, through “unity-struggle-unity”, criticism and self-criticism, and to make it even more firmly an instrument of the world proletarian revolution. We thus confirm our will to deepen these contacts and hope to be able to realize this endeavor soon in the form of ideological debate and further bilateral meetings.
The International Communist League is an instrument of the struggle of the international proletariat and the oppressed peoples and nations. The objective developments cry out to strengthen and consolidate this tool to meet the call for organization, for leadership in the worldwide struggle against imperialism. The great political storms that are currently developing will only be transformed into a subjective strength of the communists if we fulfill the main task, of making the only scientific, since true, ideology the center of international and party unity and apply it to the concrete conditions. We therefore express the necessity to redouble the efforts in the second year of the existence of the ICL. On the one hand, to consolidate and promote international unification by holding bilateral meetings, events, forums, debates and also to unite with those who have expressed criticism and doubts. Division and fragmentation serve revisionism and leave room for opportunism to flourish. Differentiation and unification, on the other hand, will serve the main task of the New International Organization “to fight for Maoism as the sole guide and command of the world proletarian revolution, to serve the constitution or reconstitution of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Communist Parties (the outstanding strategic task) and to serve the initiation, development and coordination of the people’s wars in the world for the reconstitution of the Communist International.” And on the other hand, to consolidate and expand the base among the masses and to intensify the struggle within the national framework for the reconstitution/constitution or further construction of the respective parties in service of the ICM. As Chairman Mao said, the foundation of Communist Party of China changed forever the face of the entire Chinese revolution. Today the reconstitution of the communist parties under Marxism-Leninism-Maoism will also change the face of revolution in each country and the World Proletarian Revolution. This requires above all to forge the leadership, the leading nuclei of comrades firmly united under Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
There are two forces that operate in the revolutionary movement in the whole world: the International Proletarian Movement and the National Liberation Movement. Lenin, developing Marx, lays the basis of the strategy of world revolution to undermine imperialism, unite the struggle of national liberation with the struggles of the international proletarian movement and develop revolution. “Proletarians of all countries and oppressed peoples of the world, unite!”. Chairman Mao – developing the strategy and tactics of the world revolution specified at the moment: “Marxist-Leninists of all countries, unite! Revolutionary peoples of the whole world, unite; overthrow imperialism, contemporary revisionism and all reactionaries of the different countries!”
Long live the New International Organization of the Proletariat, the ICL!
Long live the 130th anniversary of the birth of Chairman Mao!
Long live the heroic national resistance of the people of Palestine!
Unite under Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!
Down with Revisionism!
Long live the World Proletarian Revolution!
26th of December 2023,
International Communist League