Siraj Sikder
The East Bengal Workers Movement produced and published the original Bengali document on March 1970
The Proletarian Party of East Bengal edited the original document with some corrections and published on April 1972
The Communist Party Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Bangladesh translated the document in English and published it online via www.sarbaharapath.com on 26 October 2012
The CPMLM-BD edited the translation on 7 August 2016 with a few corrections
The CPMLM-BD re-edited the translation on 22 August 2016 with a few corrections
Great leader, teacher, commander-in-chief and navigator of the world proletariat of the present era chairman Mao teaches us, “We must criticize wrong ideas of every description. It certainly would not be right to refrain from criticism, look on while wrong ideas spread unchecked and allow them to dominate the field. Mistakes must be criticized and poisonous weeds fought wherever they crop up”. Let us expose the real character of the so-called Communist Party of East Bengal with the help of Mao Tse-tung Thought, which is the Marxism-Leninism of the present era, the strongest ideological weapon of the proletarian class of the present day world.
Chairman Mao teaches us, “Historic experience deserves attention”. He adds, “Look at its past, and you can tell its present; look at its past and present, and you can tell its future.” With the above mentioned teachings, let us look at the past of the creators of the Communist Party of East Bengal. They were in both the revisionist and the neo-revisionist parties. When they were there, they put forward and struggled for several years for the anti-Marxist theory that “The capitalist exploitation prevails in rural areas of East Bengal.”
By not leaving that hated anti-Marxist theory with self-criticism, by not raising the flag of ‘Its right to rebel against the reactionaries’ against the neo-revisionist East Pakistan Communist party, by not waging principled struggle, they conspired, made clique and embryonic party inside party and was expelled by the neo-revisionists.
At present, as the revisionist party and the neo-revisionist party are unmasked in front of revolutionaries, this fraction of neo-revisionists has come to catch fish in dirty water in the name of Marxism-Leninism. They formed “Communist Party of East Bengal” with that aim. The “Communist party of East Bengal” has been formed with the unholy collusion of neo-revisionists, petit bourgeoisie romanticists, Guevarists, Trotskyites, petit bourgeoisie lackeys, agents, vagabonds (lumpens) and adventurist conspirators.
Chairman Mao said, “Concrete analysis of concrete condition is the very essence and living soul of Marxism.” But the so-called Communist party of East Bengal, in their draft strategy and program, failed to make concrete analysis of concrete condition of the pre-independence Indian society. They failed to find out the reason why bourgeoisie democratic revolution was not carried led by the Communist party of India in pre-independence period.
By making concrete analysis of concrete condition of East Bengal society with the help of Marxism-Leninism,Mao Tse-tung Thought, we find the following basic contradictions:
1) National contradiction of East Bengal people versus Pakistani colonial ruling regime
2) Contradiction of vast peasantry of East Bengal versus feudalism
3) East Bengal people’s
a) Contradiction with US-led imperialism
b) Contradiction with Soviet social imperialist-led and controlled countries
c) National contradiction with Indian expansionism
4) Contradiction of East Bengal working class versus bourgeoisie
Among the above basic contradictions, the principal one is the East Bengal people’s national contradiction with Pakistani colonial ruling regime.
Other than this scientific analysis, they presented the view of revisionists and neo-revisionists as it is. In that theory, by denying colonial rule and exploitation of Pakistani ruling regime over East Bengal, they mentioned three demon fish theory of revisionists and neo revisionists, that is, contradiction of East Bengal people versus imperialism, feudalism, big and monopoly capitalists.
They, by not raising the national flag against colonial rule and exploitation over East Bengal people, have strengthened the hands of colonialists, and are pushing hundreds of thousands of revolutionary masses behind the pro-imperialist pro-six points Awami League. In this way, they are helping the imperialists.
They mentioned, “The two region of Pakistan is separated by Hindustan, and the distance is about twelve hundred miles in land and 14 hundred miles in water way. So, it is impossible to realize and carry struggle hand in hand with other oppressed nationalities of Pakistan. …This is why our field of revolution is East Pakistan.” They take East Bengal as the field of revolution due to geographical reason. Thus, they mentioned the reason why East Bengal revolution is limited within itself as external (geographical). But dialectical materialism teaches us “The fundamental cause of the development of a thing is not external but internal; it lies in the contradictoriness within the thing. There is internal contradiction in every single thing, hence its motion and development. Contradictoriness within a thing is the fundamental cause of its development”
Dialectical materialism further teaches us, “Dialectical materialism holds that external causes are the condition of change and internal causes are the basis of change.”
So, the reason why struggle for social change of East Bengal is limited in East Bengal is the internal contradiction of East Bengal society. Geographic reason is one of the external reasons only. But the neo-revisionists of the so-called Communist party of East Bengal, by mentioning geographic reason as the reason why revolution is limited in East Bengal “have reverted to the metaphysical theories of external causality and of mechanism”. Chairman Mao said about those, “They ascribe the causes of social development to factors external to society, such as geography and climate… In Europe, this mode of thinking existed as mechanical materialism in the 17th and 18th centuries and as vulgar evolutionism at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.” The Communist party of East Bengal is making futile attempt to present that old theory.
In this paragraph, they mention India as “Hindustan”. By saying “Hindustan” they show sectarian mentality like the Pakistani colonialists (the term which the Pakistani colonialists use from sectarian outlook).
In that same Paragraph, they mention, “to limit liberation of our Bengali nation within East Bengal”. Do they include people of West Bengal too as Bengali nation? In this way, they dream of unified Bengal by adjoining themselves with West Bengal. In personal conversation, they express people of East and West Bengal in a single nation, and they fantasize of making United States by taking East and West Bengal after revolution. This theory is totally anti-Marxist. In the later historic period of development of joining Pakistan, East Bengal people became a nation. At present stage, East Bengal is totally different from West Bengal in economy, culture, mentality etc. As according to the Marxist theory, even after completion of national democratic revolution of East Bengal, classes and class struggle in socialist society will continue to exist, and as long as imperialism and capitalism exist in the world, state will exist, this is why at present stage or even at socialist stage too, theory of unification of East and West Bengal is an anti-Marxist theory. Only in communist social system, classes will cease to exist and state will also cease to exist and only then, East Bengal and the whole world can be united.
In the chapter ‘three enemies in enemy camp’ they followed the method of serving old wine in new bottle. They mentioned three demon fish—imperialism, feudalism and big monopoly capitalism—of the revisionist Moni Singh-Mozaffar clique and Abdul Huq-Toha clique, as enemy of people of East Bengal. Despite in contradictions, they didn’t recognize national contradiction of East Bengal people versus Pakistani monopoly capitalists and feudalists (who at present are the owner of state machinery), unconsciously they recognize that in following way: “Actually this exploitation and oppression is no less but much more than British colonial time.” When a nation is much more exploited than that of colonial way, then it is surely exploited and oppressed in colonial way. Thus, unconsciously they have been compelled to recognize our views.
To hide colonial exploitation over East Bengal, they term it as a special exploitation.
Marxists never express the most important question in such an abstract way. We ask them what they mean by the ‘special’ exploitation.
They did not recognize national contradiction of East Bengal people versus Soviet Social imperialism-led revisionism. In our political position, we mentioned that countries and nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America versus US-led imperialism and Soviet social imperialism-led revisionism is the principal contradiction. From that we find, like US imperialism, Soviet Social imperialism too is main enemy of world people. Soviet social imperialists, by taking Pakistani colonialists, are trying to form anti-China anti Communist anti people alliance. They will not support national liberation struggle of East Bengal and the struggle to establish socialism and communism. Their aim is to exploit and plunder East Bengal. Their lackey revisionists in East Bengal are constantly trying to smash revolution of East Bengal. Revisionists are the lackeys of Pakistani colonialism, feudalism, imperialism, social imperialism, bourgeoisie and all reactionaries and Indian expansionism. So, by not mentioning Soviet Social imperialist led revisionism as national enemy of East Bengal people, by denying the theory that revisionism is the main enemy of Marxist movement and that the Soviet social imperialists are the main enemy of world people, they showed their own revisionist character.
Chairman Mao said, in order to fight imperialism, we must fight revisionism. But they want to fight against imperialism without fighting against revisionism. So, actually, they are not even anti-imperialist. Petit bourgeoisie anti-Marxist romantic revolutionary Guevarists propagate about carrying anti-imperialist struggle without any anti-revisionist struggle. So, they are Guevarist.
They did not mention national contradiction of East Bengal people with Indian expansionism. As Indian expansionists are not able to exploit by investing capital like imperialists, they want to achieve field of commodity market and exploitation by expanding border. They will support independence struggle of East Bengal under bourgeoisie leadership because in that case they will be able to exploit East Bengal under bourgeoisie leadership and get anti-China anti-Communist anti-people ally, but proletarian led independent East Bengal will be helpful to the liberation movement of Assam, Tripura, West Bengal and proletariat of whole India. That is why Indian expansionism will make all-out effort to crush the struggle to establish proletarian led independent East Bengal. So, the Indian expansionists are the enemies of East Bengal people. But the creators of so called communist party of East Bengal, by not mentioning national contradiction of East Bengal people with Indian expansionism, have showed collaboration to expansionism.
They mentioned, “They (three enemies) are totally dependent on and closely related to each other, defend and serve each other. We can’t attack on one by separating it from others.”
They said in another place, “We should not separate these three enemies”. That means, among imperialism, feudalism and big rich & monopoly capitalism, they do not want to determine which one is principal and which one is secondary. Like Abdul Huq and Toha clique, they mention those as one and inseparable. They further add, “The question of determining principal contradiction is not a question of strategy, rather of tactics.” The first and second theory is totally anti-dialectical materialist. Chairman Mao said, “If in any process there are a number of contradictions, one of them must be the principal contradiction playing the leading and decisive role, while the rest occupy a secondary and subordinate position”. Therefore, in studying any complex process in which there are two or more contradictions, we must devote every effort to finding its principal contradiction. Once this principal contradiction is grasped, all problems can be readily solved. He further added, “There are thousands of scholars and men of action who do not understand it, and the result is that, lost in a fog, they are unable to get to the heart of a problem and naturally cannot find a way to resolve its contradictions.” He further added, “But whatever happens, there is no doubt at all that at every stage in the development of a process, there is only one principal contradiction which plays the leading role.”
Therefore, we must find out principal contradiction by analyzing different contradictions and must determine the main enemy whom the proletariat will target. This is a basic theory of dialectical materialism, which is the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought.
Comrade Stalin said, “Strategy is the determination of the direction of the main blow of the proletariat at a given stage of the revolution, the elaboration of a corresponding plan for the disposition of the revolutionary forces (main and secondary reserves), the fight to carry out this plan throughout the given stage of the revolution.”
So, finding out principal contradiction is a basic question of proletarian revolution, is a question of strategy. But the creators of the so-called Communist Party of East Bengal, by saying principal contradiction a tactical question, have distorted a basic theory of dialectical materialism, the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought. Chairman Mao said, “It is revisionism to negate the basic principles of Marxism and to negate its universal truth.” We see by exposing the real character of the so-called Communist Party of East Bengal, the creators of this party have corrected and distorted many basic theories of Marxism. So, whatever effort they make to disguise themselves under the cover of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought, they will not be able to hide their bourgeoisie character. They are actually revisionist of left in form but right in essence.
♦ Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought!
♦ Smash revisionism-neo-revisionism! ■