March 13, 2009 - No. 54 - Afternoon Edition 46th Anniversary of the Founding of The Internationalists Long Live the Legacy of The
Internationalists
|
|
Today we celebrate the 46th anniversary of the founding of The Internationalists led by Hardial Bains at the University of British Colombia on March 13, 1963. It is an important occasion which the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) celebrates in recognition of the significance of the legacy of The Internationalists which CPC(M-L) inherited fully in various important directions.
At the time of the founding of The Internationalists, the bourgeoisie was waging a barbaric struggle to deceive the people about the character of imperialism and neo-colonialism. Imperialism was presented as peaceful, and as a force with which the people could reason and negotiate. Neo-colonialism was presented as an expression of the freedom and independence of the peoples. The reality that imperialism, especially U.S. imperialism, was waging the most counter-revolutionary wars of aggression, intervention and occupation, was being obscured by such ideas. The economic domination of countries which had recently achieved their formal political independence from the old colonial rule was also obscured and covered up. The problem was interpreted as one of the low level of development of these countries, and the solution was presented as one of imperialist "aid" and investments. Browderite revisionism which emerged at the end of World War II actually put forward the thesis that the extension of the tentacles of finance capital to the "underdeveloped" countries would guarantee full employment in the United States as well as the uplifting of the former colonies. This line was echoed by others making the battle over the character of imperialism one of the most important battles waged in that period. The Internationalists considered that the question of the stand towards imperialism was a touchstone differentiating the revolutionary and progressive forces from the forces of exploitation, enslavement and reaction.
The work to create the conditions for the creation of the party of the new type spearheaded by the Internationalists was also carried out in the conditions of the U.S. imperialist cultural aggression and the further degeneration of the bourgeois decadent education system. The Internationalists also waged the struggle in defence of the revolutionary interest on these fronts.
Taken together, these and all the other battles waged at that time brought to the fore the fundamental question of outlook. The Internationalists raised the basic issue: either acquire the materialist world outlook or submit to the idealist world outlook and accept the prevailing ideas which held sway at the time.
Taking as their starting point the materialist world outlook, The Internationalists upheld the view that society, like nature, is governed by objective laws, and that to change the world it is necessary to act in conformity with these laws. Not only is it necessary to act in conformity with these laws, it is also necessary to take up consciously those tasks which are historically necessary in order for the advance of the society and to carry out those tasks by basing them on the working class. Thus, The Internationalists were able to isolate the key task of the period -- the building of the party which the working class required at that time just as today the task is to build the kind of party the working class requires to constitute itself the nation and vest sovereignty in the people. This is the task which is in conformity with the objective laws and consistent with the needs of the revolutionary class struggle. The Internationalists considered that without elaborating the independent leading role of the working class, its party and its Marxist-Leninist ideology, the materialist dialectic is an empty phrase.
The Internationalists put the internal life of the organization on a proper level, that is, a conscious level. They paid first rate attention to dealing with the problems of organization and with the problems of organizing the class and the broad sections of the people. In the course of dealing with these problems, they laid the foundation of a sound organization, based on the Leninist principle of democratic centralism. At the same time, this organization was continuously raised to the level required by the political tasks and it reflected the character and level of the struggles which were waged. The organization was based on the needs of the society so as to open its path to progress -- in particular, the need for the working class to have the kind of party which would develop its independent leading role. All the work was directed towards the fulfilment of that need as it is today.
The Internationalists fought against indifference to organizational problems and against the tendency of making commentaries from the sidelines instead of organizing the people. If The Internationalists had not fought resolutely on these questions, they could not have founded the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) on March 31, 1970 and the Party would not exist today.
The Internationalists provided revolutionary content to their words through their heroic and self-sacrificing activities geared towards the realization of the decisive task of the period, the building of the party required. So too today, turning words into deeds is one of the most important preoccupations of all genuine Marxist-Leninist Communists.
At this time, inspired by the Party, all its members and cadres are dedicated to solving the real problems of life so as to open a path to society's progress and defeat the plans of Canada's anti-social and anti-national government to create disasters at home and abroad.
On this occasion, the Central Committee of CPC(M-L), on its own behalf and on behalf of all Party members and supporters, especially those who date back to the 1963-1967 period, as well as on behalf of the current generation of youth, pays its deepest respects to the memory of Comrade Hardial Bains, our dearly beloved comrade and leader who led the founding of The Internationalists 46 years ago and on the basis of the same principles and methods of work, led the founding of CPC(M-L) on March 31, 1970 and gave us the Party we have today. Because it is based on revolutionary principles and methods of work established by The Internationalists in the course of their work, especially after the Necessity for Change Study Program held in August 1967, CPC(M-L) has its own thinking. The Necessity for Change analysis emphasizes the need to wage a determined offensive against ideological subversion and block to development through social forms. This offensive is carried out by participating in acts of conscious participation of the individual in acts of finding out, placing action in the first place and understanding in its service. This permits the revolutionary forces to find their bearings under all conditions and circumstances. On this basis, the Party has maintained its revolutionary vanguard character at each new historical turn.
CPC(M-L) is such a vanguard because it inherited from The Internationalists their insistence on remaining in step with the movement at the base of the society and diverting it towards the aim of creating a new society. This is a permanent feature of CPC(M-L)'s work which guides itself always by paying attention to the solution of those problems which block the advance of society. Today, 46 years after the founding of the Internationalists, the battle to provide society with the focus it needs to open a path to its progress is still the most crucial.
Long Live the Work of The
Internationalists!
Long
Live Our Party!
The Internationalists -- Reflections of Hardial Bains
When I think about The Internationalists, I recall those determined youth who knew no pessimism and were unafraid to face any hardship. The sixties did not belong to any individual but to the working people, their spirit and special product. Throughout the world, millions upon millions of working people yearned for and demanded change. The sixties belonged to that spirit for change. The Internationalists were the special product of the sixties and their spirit for change. The sixties belonged to the working people, their spirit for change and special product The Internationalists, the Marxist-Leninist youth.
***
Action with Analysis; Action with an Aim
Anyone who has participated in some revolutionary activism knows that it is easy to become engrossed in activism and lose sight of the direction of the movement. It is easy to fall prey to practicism, which is tantamount to submitting to an ideology that does not take into account the role of the conscious factor and the leading position of the working class in changing society. Such an ideology recognizes change but not a qualitative one and condemns the world to repetition of the same quality. Practicism enforces a spirit that resists any qualitative change and condemns everything to routine and spontaneity. The Internationalists were quite different in the qualitative sense from all the practicists. Our guideline of Action With Analysis ensured that we participated in all the actions with the excitement and enthusiasm they deserved, while at the same time ensuring that the actions were looked at from our historical perspective, with a view to the crucial task at hand. (...)
***
(...) The Internationalists emerged as an organisation for several very distinct reasons. One such reason was that it had an aim -- the building of the Party. This was an immediate aim, a problem taken up for solution on the path leading to the long-term victory of revolution and socialism. Another reason was our quality of turning words into deeds. (...)
Stepwise development was and essentially remains our refrain, which keeps us from sinking into spontaneity or adventurism. It keeps us away from pessimism as well. We do things for which the conditions are ripe, and when they are not ripe, we work out a program to create the conditions for their realisation. In other words, we do not conduct ourselves as helpless individuals with unattainable goals. What The Internationalists put forward in the sixties was very much attainable, and we did it. We founded the Party.
I remember the resistance and opposition towards the realization of our aim. Action was posed as an "alternative"; so, action-oriented groups sprang up. But they soon found out that action also has an aim. Action cannot be just an end in itself. We put forward our view of stepwise development, action with analysis, that is, action with an aim. ( ...)
***
In the final analysis, our ideas are a reflection of what we are to achieve. For The Internationalists and the Party, we have no program for any personal gain or gain for the organization. We set our entire work so as to contribute to the advance of the society. All our ideas must be in accord with that direction. This setting of our work begins with dealing with the problems as they exist, and in our case, with the problem of outlook and cognition with regard to changing and advancing society. (...)
Marxist-Leninist Conception of Reality and Its Opponents
In recalling the events of the early 1960s, we recognise the great spirit of the student youth for just causes. We also recognise that being the product of the post-war period the spirit of the student youth for just causes was tinged with a fear of communism. In spite of their background, quite a number of people made the transition from support for just causes tinged with a fear of communism to support of just causes and love for communism.
For The Internationalists, support for just causes and communism were synonymous. In opposition were the "new" leftists who pretended to support just causes but hated communism with a passion. They had a great love for capitalist institutions and their aim was to reform those institutions and raise the glory of capitalism to the level they thought it deserved. They believed passionately that capitalism was being mishandled; more precisely, they wanted socialist or socialistic capitalism. They hid their social-democratic prejudices behind revolutionary slogans while they used their hatred of communism to rally forces against The Internationalists. All those individuals and organizations with their variants of the same ideology constituted what we characterized as the holy alliance of the left. Broadly known as the new left, they argued that Marxism was outmoded yet at the same time called themselves Marxists. They yearned for a new Marxism, a new ideology. According to one variant, young Marx had different opinions than adult Marx and the new left preferred the young Marx popularising his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 as somehow being in contradiction with his later works.
According to another variant, youth had emerged as a social class, and yet another insisted the lumpen-proletariat had become the most thoroughly revolutionary class, as the working class had lost its revolutionary character because it liked consuming, especially beer. (...)
The variants of anti-Marxist-Leninist conception of reality could not see the reality as a whole. They only saw fragments, and they presented those in an exaggerated form. One such variant insisted the degeneration of socialism began while J.V. Stalin was still alive. The fragments they saw were bureaucratic and liberal tendencies within the Soviet Union but what do those fragments have to do with the profound reality of construction of socialism under the direct leadership of J.V. Stalin? From the fragments of bureaucratic and liberal tendencies they concluded that Stalin was responsible for the degeneration of socialism. From this exalted position they pretended to be the greatest defenders of socialism. Being eternally so virtuous, always on the side of the angels and so far away from any contact with the devil, they swore their attacks on Stalin were only for the sake of socialism, for the sake of humanity.
This variant of the anti-Marxist-Leninist conception of reality refused to see the reality as a whole and presented in exaggerated form the fragments they wanted to use. It rejected a profound conception of reality, the Marxist-Leninist thesis that class struggle under socialism becomes acute as it develops and advances toward victory. Class struggle, as the law of development under socialism, forcefully articulated and practised by J.V. Stalin, escapes the grasp of this variant. It attributes the acuteness of the class struggle under socialism as a manoeuvre of Stalin to get rid of "his" enemies. He was after all the "devil." Here, objectivity of consideration is completely lost. Stalin the "bad" becomes a very dangerous idealistic notion to obscure reality. Individuals replace social classes; struggle between individuals replaces class struggle; and, individuals lose any semblance of their class character. Individuals no longer represent definite class interests but their own interests. According to the anti-Marxist-Leninist conception of reality, J.V. Stalin did not represent the working class but his own personal ambitions, and was even punch drunk with them. Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and the other architects of post-war anti-communist counter-revolutionary policy did not represent world imperialism and reaction but just happened to have a personal dislike of communism.
Such a conception of reality becomes horribly entangled in its own machinations and prejudices. A perpetual muddle is not its worst vice; its deadly vice is unbridled chauvinism, a lust for itself, its megalomania, and intolerant attitude leading to violence. The anti-Marxist-Leninist conception of reality does not meet even the most minimum standards of human cognition. To serve its end, in many ways its irrationality surpasses the blindness and instinct of wild beasts.
The Internationalists characterized the anti-Marxist-Leninist conception of reality as anti-consciousness, a consciousness deliberately directed towards covering up reality and distorting it. Behind it lie the class interests of the bourgeoisie enforced by the state through persecution and terror. Within this anti-consciousness, a "smart" person should know what to say at all times and under all conditions. Within anti-consciousness, "smart" people only see what their master wants them to see. All variants of the anti-Marxist-Leninist schools appeal to the most backward and the most anti-conscious. Drivel is passed off as social science without even minimal self-respect or respect for scientific inquiry. These days even Nobel prizes are given to individuals for committing atrocities against the high road of civilization.
However, these variants of the anti-Marxist-Leninist conception of reality underestimate the role of the objective world, the contradictions inherent in it and their maturing. The maturing of the contradictions inherent in the objective world plays the role of a sledgehammer against all stubborn refusal to recognize reality. Amongst The Internationalists, those who stood for just causes but had the baggage of anti-consciousness on their backs were to throw it off and march on. Meanwhile, the theoreticians of an anti-Marxist-Leninist conception of reality were instruments of the state and told the workers that they must not even live by what they know themselves. Workers learn through direct experience and pressure is exercised on them to abandon their experience and listen to and adopt the prejudices of the anti-Marxist-Leninists. (...)
Reality for The Internationalists was not a matter of definition, interpretation and discussion but a matter of analyzing reality by acting on all its sides. The objective side of reality we acknowledge without any fuss because it is true. This is the reality of capitalist exploitation and wage slavery. Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism and our grasp of this objective side leads us to explain why people are oppressed, why they face unemployment, poverty, war and all its other ills. The objective side of reality also leads us to draw the conclusion that class struggle is the basis of development of this reality, speaking generally.
The subjective side of reality is how the various social classes respond to objective reality in waging the class struggle. The subjective conscious side, the recognition of capitalist reality and the necessity of changing it, becomes the subjective basis of its development. Analyzing this reality further, The Internationalists saw through the betrayal of the interests of the working class and drew the conclusion that the most urgent necessity was to build a Party which is not only opposed to the bourgeoisie but is also opposed to the betrayal of revolution by revisionism and opportunism of all hues. We carried out actions on the basis of this analysis and further deepened it through our actions. We looked at different sides of reality by looking at the whole as well as by delineating its parts and the different fronts of work. We made sure that the analysis of the reality as a whole constituted the basis of looking at the parts, and not the other way around. This general line of "action with analysis", a policy we implement to date, is an important lever for turning words into deeds and ensuring also that we do not go astray from reality. The Marxist-Leninist conception of reality, the entire view of historical development, the conception of history, forbids any notion of arbitrariness, of detaching or discussing anything out of its time and space, out of its objective basis and its own consciousness. In this respect, recognition of objective reality is relatively easy. But to ensure our own consciousness does not become hide-bound requires vigilance; it requires guaranteeing that our ideology of Marxism-Leninism remains a guide to action and does not become dogma. (...)
(Extracts from the manuscript Thinking About the Sixties, Volume II)
Thinking about the Sixties, Volume I
Thinking about the
Sixties by Hardial Bains is important for anyone interested
in learning about the sixties, its personalities and the ideas of the
time.
Hardial Bains was at the centre of Marxist-Leninist politics in Canada for more than 34 years. He was instrumental in pushing those politics in the broad movement generally known as the Left. In addition to emerging as a well-known personality of this movement, he was personally acquainted with most other activists.
Two distinct tendencies developed in the sixties, both of them in response to the degeneration into revisionism and reformism of the old Communist Party. Hardial Bains spearheaded the Marxist-Leninist tendency. Along with others, Hardial founded an organization called The Internationalists on March 13, 1963. The other tendency in the sixties argued that the degeneration of the old Communist Party meant that Marxism-Leninism was a thing of the past and a new ideology had to be discovered. Its adherents constituted the New Left, an anti-Marxist-Leninist tendency. The New Left received considerable media publicity but the movement was short-lived. Its organizations and ideology were bankrupt and could not survive very long. In sharp contrast, The Internationalists thrived on the basis of mobilizing the people, establishing the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) March 31, 1970. Hardial Bains led CPC(M-L) until his untimely death August 24, 1997.
Many individuals have come and gone since the early sixties but Hardial Bains and CPC(M-L) carried on their work despite numerous state attacks. Today, CPC(M-L) continues to march forward based on the legacy inherited from its precursor organization, The Internationalists, and the work of Hardial Bains.
Thinking about the Sixties, written during 1988-92, is published in two volumes. Volume I 1960-1967 covers the years of the founding of the Internationalists with an introduction that puts the period in the perspective of the developments following the Second World War. Volume II 1968-1969 addresses the reorganization of the Internationalists as a Marxist-Leninist youth and student movement, which prepared the conditions for the founding of CPC(M-L).
We hope readers find the material timely and interesting.
***
Order your copy now! $10.00 (includes GST, shipping and handling). Send cheque or money order to: National Publications Centre, PO Box 264, Adelaide Stn, Toronto, ON M5C 2J0
Read The
Marxist-Leninist
Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca