Practitioners of Mao's People's War unite!

On January 11th, the Communist Party of the Philippines released a document prepared in December, 1998 by the existing practitioners of People's War. The document was proof of the unity of parties practicing Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It is also the single greatest step forward in international communist movement unity since the death of Mao in 1976.

The document lists the following practioners of the People's War in the world. Seminar organizers attempted to reach the Central Committee of the PCP ("Sendero Luminoso") in Peru, but failed. They hope to add the PCP soon. The two organizations with asterisks next to them also were not present, but participated.

1. Proletarian Party of Purba Bangla (PBSP) - Bangladesh*
2. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War
3. Maoist Communist Centre - India
4. Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)*
5. Communist Party of the Philippines
6. Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist

In the world today, the most advanced communist parties are all to be found in the Third World. For this reason it was a brilliant stroke for them to meet and unify. The exchange of experiences in fighting imperialism alone would make this the most significant event in international communist movement history since 1976.

The leaders of the international communist movement agreed on the following:

1. "We honor Mao Zedong as the great exponent of the theory and practice of people's war in the new-democratic revolution in China against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. The historical experience proves that Mao's theory and practice of people's war is in consonance with the teachings of Marx that the class struggle must lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat. Mao's proletarian revolutionary line consistently runs from people's war and the new democratic revolution through socialist revolution and construction to the theory and practice of continuing revolution under the proletarian dictatorship--which is his most outstanding contribution to the development of Marxism-Leninism.

2. We acknowledge Mao as the master strategist of people's war. His development of the strategy and tactics of people's war remains unsurpassed to this day. His works on people's war involve the application of materialist dialectics and the revolutionary class line in the process of revolutionary war. Mao's theory and practice of people's war consistently carries forward the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism. It is a further development of Lenin's theory and practice of the two-stage revolution, in which the socialist revolution follows the bourgeois-democratic revolution of a new type.

3. The strategic line of protracted people's war, involving the encirclement of the cities from the countryside, is the revolutionary expression of the fundamental democratic alliance of the proletariat and peasantry. It is applicable in many countries, like those where the peasant masses are the majority among the basic producers and fight for agrarian revolution as the main component of the democratic revolution.

4. There are a number of Communist parties successfully carrying out the strategic line of protracted people's war in accordance with the teachings of Comrade Mao. They avail themselves of the inexhaustible participation and support of the people. They have built or are preparing to build democratic organs of political power.

   They have consolidated and expanded the organized strength of the masses in the course of fierce revolutionary struggle. They have overcome all kinds of enemy offensives including the enemy's use of the "low intensity conflict'' strategy , the anticommunist ideological and political offensive related to the fall of the revisionist regimes, the misrepresentation of armed revolutionary movements as terrorism and, in certain cases, offers of peace negotiations and the sham calls for "peace and development''. In maintaining their revolutionary position, they have outlasted the armed movements previously enjoying the support of revisionist-ruled countries as well as bourgeois mass media hype. Such movements have been betrayed by opportunist leaders and led astray to capitulation and neocolonial compromise.

5. The people's wars and the revolutionary uprisings constitute the most advanced detachment of the struggle against the "New World Order". Objectively, they are inflicting severe blows against imperialism, are showing that the people's resistance cannot be suppressed, and are strengthening the self-confidence of the masses. They are giving the general signal for the advancement of the struggles against contemporary imperialism, and they are playing a crucial role in the reconstruction of the communist movement. They answer the central question of revolution, which is the seizure of political power."

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