China After Mao

The death of Mao Tse-Tung and the arrests of Chiang Ching (his widow) and other "leftists" have occurred at a time when China is undergoing its most serious political crisis since the Cultural Revolution. The preserit conflict, which came into the open when about 100,000 Peking citizens riotedon April 5th, involves a faction struggle between the "leftist", or Maoist, wing and the "rightist" faction, apparently led by Teng Hsao Ping but which appeared to have the support of Chou En Lai before his The rightist faction are opposed in particular te what they regard as the downgrading of education and technology by the Maoist faction, for whom expertise in professional knowledge is secondary to "redness" in politics. The result of this line, they argue, has been to weaken seyerely the development of technology and retard socio-economic srowth. Teng sums up the rightist argument with a much-quoted maxim: "black cat, white The current faction fight goes much deeper than a dispute over standards in education or technology; at stake are the central characteristics of the Thinese road’ to socialism, The cohesion of Maoism as an ideology derives from the specific form which anti-capitalist revolution took in China and the role which the Party played in it. These features become clearer when we contrast the developdeath. eat: what's the difference so long as they catch mice."

THE COURSE OF THE CHINESE REVOLUTION ment of the Russian and Chinese revolutions.

The Chinese revolution occurred in isolation as a detour from the main course of world revolution, after the failure of the revolution in Western Europe and the bureaucratic degeneration of the Russian Revolution. The influence of the latter was especially evident in the nature and role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which was considerably different from the original Bolshevik Party. Whereas the Bolshevik Party was a revolutionary marx— ist organisation through and through, and the revolution it led was based upon proletarian democracy (i.e. the working class exercised power through its own organs -the soviets) the Chinese revolution did not involve any democratic organs of mass power. Likewise, the 'Marxism' of the CCP was heavily modified by traditionalism, dogmatism and Stalinist distortion. The collapse of the soviets in Russia during the course of the civil war and famine led to the bureaucratisation of the new state - the formation of a privileged caste of administrators who gradually monopolised power - a process which met its greatest opposition within the Bolshevik Party. The bureaucratisation of the Soviet Union was premised upon the destruction of the Party as it had been. and the institution of a reign of terror which was primarily directed against the wrking masses. MAOIST THEORY AND PRACTICE The Chinese context was very different. The Chinese Revolution was not based upon the democratic organs of mass power but rather on the mobilisation of the masses in an authoritarian manner. From this the CCPts fam ous 'mass line’ - a line premised upon the closest possible relationship between the Party and the masses, while simul taneously the Party - or rather the top echelons of the Party/Army complex - maintains a monopoly of all decision making. The Maoists have always been very anxious to prevent a deep chasm emerging between the Party leadership and the masses of a type which exists in the USSR and Eastern Europe. The Strategy they devised to prevent this deyelopment has been twofold: firstly, they have acted to prevent the esergence of a d@rge and hardened caste of administrators and managers, and secondly they have attempted to involve the masses in local administration and decision making, However, there is a great risk for the bureaucracy that an autonomous mass movement might develop which would attempt to assume full political power for the masses. To prevent this the Maoists impose a system of extreme regimentation over all political and intellect-_ ual discourse. The consequence of the Maoist © "mass linet is, in reality, a fairly wide- | spread a-politicism. Because, although Mao

_i_._.e.#s. SS declared that "the revolution must rely on the masses of the people, or everybody taking a hand", it is very difficult for the masses to become enthusiastic about political activity when "politics" consists merely of the oral and written repetition of the latest pontification from the Chairman or his cohorts.

The rightist faction has been able to increase its power and influence in the context of the disillusionment which has become widespread since the Cultural Revolution. The disastrous turn in Chinese foreign policy has been an important factor in assisting the process of demoralisation amongst leftist youth and workers. Whereas in the 1960s the CCP criticised the USSR for collaboratjon with Western Imperialism, they now characterise the USSR as imperialist itself: - as the main enemy -: and they ally with Imperialism against the USSR, and against progressive and revolutionary movements (e.g. Bangla Desh, Sri Lanka, and Angola). It is ironical that this flows directly from the ultra-leftism and subjectivism cf the Maoist faction, for whom socio-economic relations are irrelevant in analysing a situation or a society; for Maoism the determining factor is the subjective attitudes of a particular individual or group. The "new turn’ of Chinese foreign policy in the 70s has enabled Teng and his faction to appear more left-wing on some issues than the Maoists: it seems that Teng's faction favour an alliance with the USSR and oppose alliances with capitalist countries.

The key slogan of the anti-Maoist faction is "unity and stability". Their general proposals are classically Stalinist: - to allow small inc= reases in income differentials and thus create a narrow privileged layer to act as a cushion between the rule of the bureaucracy and the masses.

However, it does not favour making concessions to spontaneous capitalist development in any form and the Maoist characterisation of Teng and his followers as "capitalist roaders" is a slander.

More likel, the type of society they envisage is structurally similar to the USSR.

During the Cultural Revolution Mao proved capable of mobilising huge forces - especially the youth - against these tendencies, and of demobilising these forces when their activities threatened the whole existing bureaucratic structure.

Now Mao is dead, his faction has lost mich of its credibility, especially amonst the former activists in the Red Guards, and its main leaders have been arrested. The Coinese working class has increased its strength and its confidence and if any sector of the bureaucracy attempts to mobilise sections of the masses in the course of the _ faction struggle they will find it much more difficult to send them home again when they have achieved their ends. TAN McLEAN SCHOOLS...... continued from P in ASTI (Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland). University teachers, to the extent that they are organised. are seattered in WUI (Workers Union of Ireland), ASTMS (Association of Scientific Technical and Managerial Staffs) and IFUT (Irish Federation of University Teachers). Unification of the teachers' unions into a single fighting force is a vital goal. In the peried ahead, maximum common discussion, common action and solidarity by the different unions would pave the road to such unity.

Issues of common concern ta .all teachers would include defence of wace levels against inflation, defence of present Facilities and spending levels azainst cut-backs, reduction in student to teacher ratios, vast expansion in teacher training, a crash programme of school building, improvement in school facilities as well as curriculum development and adaptation to the needs of the com=unities, Elimination of clerical control would speak in the interests of the vast majority of lay teachers. And related to this issue is the need to mationalise all the churchheld school properties which were bought with community money. No compensation should be paid.

SOLUTIONS?

The annual conferences of the three main teachers! unions at Easter did not map out campaigns, common or otherwise, on these issues, Some discussion did occur at the TUI and ASTI conferences about the need for remedial teachers to deal with functional illiteracy. This palliative - undoubtedly needed. for today's victinas of the system = ja no answer to the population explosion in the primary schools. More schools, more teachers. better facilities are needed.

Probably the most ‘daring’ Stand taken oF the ASTI leadership was to demand lay actess to principalships in the secondary schools.

In a situation where of the 500 or so Secondary schools in the 26 Cos about a half dozen have lay principals, the issue of Clerical control and its effects on the career prospects of lay teachers is especislly acute.

The teachers! union conferences reflected the concerns of the older teachers, But currents are eddying about in the ranks of the three unions. Younger teachers are thinking and trying to work out solutions to the nightmare situation of the educational system, This radicalisation is deepenine under the impact of the deterioration of the system and will find expression more and more in the teachers' unions, And the policies and fights of the teachers, to have hope of success, Will have to deal with the fundamental issues of church control and national oppression as well as the immediate issues of wages and conditions of work.

The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) recently claimed responsibility for several military actions against the British Army. Although no official explanation has been given of the aims and motivation behind this campaign, it is clear that by inficting casualties on the British Army the INLA seeks to inspire the anti-unionist chettoes with a fresh hope of victory in the struggle -against British imperialism, By the heroism of the deed they believe they can detonate a new upsurge in the North, This scheme is obviously mid-way between the latest pacifism of the Officials and the militarism of the Provos, whose definition of a "military target" encompasses a great deal more than the British Army. By striking this balance the INLA apparently believes that it has found the Marxist mean between social reformism and traditional Republicanism. But the Marxist concept of armed struggle differs from all otherg not in terms of how it conceives of its target but in terms of how it sees the relatjionship between armed struggle and the mass of the population. On this crucial point the INLA is fundamentally in the same tradition as the Despite the bitter animosity between the Proves and the Officials and despite the wast differences in their tactics, they are both strategically linked to the repwblican tradition by their concept of the Irish People, Republicanism views the Irish people as an inert mass which can be activated only by applying action from without. The theme of the "bought people” being redeemed by the heroism of the valiant few is a familiar one in republican ideology. Only recently, when claiming responsibility for the assassination of the British Ambassador, the Proves emphasised that their mandate for action did not come from the Irish people but from the justice and correctness of their cause. The Officials also continue to express this theme, albeit from a more overtly reformist point of view, They have @ picture of the people aé so politically backward and apathetic as to portray an almost complete lack of independent political life in its midst, Thus, while the Officials eschew “acts of hercism" they nonetheless resort to external stimili such as the trade union bureaucracy or the bourgeois women's peace movement in Marxists have a mich different attitude to the masses. For Marxists, the working class constitutes the original dynamic and creative force which makes revolutionary action possible. All the mst effective forms of revolutionary struggle on which Marxists base themselves - the trade unions, workers! control, guerilla warfare, soviets, etc, - were all the spontaneous creation of the masses themselves. Of course, Marxists believe in the need for a disciplined, committed, and self-sacrificing revolutionary organisation; but the task of this organisation is to give leadership based on lessons learned from the atriggles of the working class, In short, Marxists begin with the spontaneous and sporadic initiatives of the masses and try to generalise these initiatives in a conscious and therefore @ore precise and effective way. How this concept of the working class moulds the Marxist attitude to armed struggle can beat be understood by considering Lenin's In Russia at the beginning of the century an organisation hnown as the SocialistRevolutionaries carried on activity quite similar to that of the present-day Republican Movement (excepting the S-R‘s open adherence to the general principles of Marxism). The 5-Rs consisted of a political wing and a military wing, called the Fighting Organisation, The Fighting Organisation was organised into Regional Mobile Detachments of Combat which were in turn organised into local brigades. Like the republicans, the 5-Rs based their armed activity on the need to encourage and The $-Rs were by no means a simple collection of desperate individuals ready for any adventure; - they had a committed membership of 50,000 with 300,000 close sympathisers who acted under their leadership; workers and peasants comprised 702 of the membership with intellectuals making up the rest, Nonetheless, Lenin characterised their activity as elitist and a diversion from real revolutionary Struggle. The very methods employed by the $-Rs excluded any mass participation. Moreover, in so far as militant acts inspired the masses, the result was not and could not be a greater self-confidence by the people in their own ability but a It is true that “Marxist” denunciations of "terrorism" are often little more than a figleaf for their own inactivity and their capitulation to bourgeois prejudices. Lenin was not that kind of Marxist. His starting point as always was the ingenuity and resilience of the working class. Marxism, he said, "recosnises the most varied forms of struggle and it does not tconcoct! them, but only generalises, organises, gives conscious expression to those forms of Struggle which arise of themselves in the course of the movement." Thus, when cuerilla warfare (i.e, attacks on the police, government officials, banks, etc.) broke out spontaneously in Russia (between | Autumn 1905 and Autumn 1906) Lenin fully endorsed and supported it and the Bolsheviks played a leading role in organising the fighting. While Lenin dismissed the indeterminate terrorism of the 5-Rs, he was quite willing to support another form of terrorism, provided: a) it not only had the passive approval of the masses but their active support and participation as well; and b) it was linked to a realis(To be continued next issue: discussion will include the perspective for armed struggle in the North and the record of the Irish left in relation to the need 'WORKERS' FIGHT" is the newasheet of members and Supporters of the Movement for a Socialist Republic. It covers the major issues on which class struggle elements within the trade union movement should be fighting, Not just describing strikes, it draws the lessons from particular strugcles and provides valuable information to back up the. intervention of militants, concentrating on opportunities to build and mobilise for class struggle initiatives.

If vou would like to receive "WORKERS' FIGHT’ regularly in the post, please cut out this form and send it with £1 (more if vou like!) to W.F. (Sub), c/o 36 Clanawley Rd, Dublin 5, ADDRESS w:oa:0iu:n meshes ao, mate ee ma Cee ee ee ee re ———<—<—<—<—<—<<— Republican Movement. LENIN AND ARMED STRUGGLE inspire the masses to revolt.

THE REPUBLICAN CONCEPT OF "THE PEOPLE"

hopes of breathing some life into the working class and small farmers.

THE WORKING CLASS AND REVOLUTION attitude to "terrorism" and guerilla warfare. passive waiting for the next militant act. tic short-term possibility of a mass uprising.

JAMES CONWAY for mass self-defence.) 12

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ARMED Way