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p The disruptive intervention of Peking
Radio on Naxalbari and their fulminations against the West Bengal and Kerala Ministries sharply underline the intensification of the undermining activities of the Chinese leadership headed by the Mao Tse-tung group against national liberation movements all over the world since the so-called "cultural revolution" began.

p The ideological basis for these activities was the theory they initially propounded in opposition to the Moscow 1960 Statement—firstly, that the main contradiction in the world today is the contradiction between imperialism and the national liberation movement and that the focal point of all contradictions is in Asia, Africa and Latin America; and secondly, that guerilla war is the obligatory form of struggle for the success of all national liberation movements.

p The essence of this theory in practice was to ignore the decisive role of the world socialist system and the workingclass movement in the present epoch in relation to the national liberation movement, to alienate the national liberation movement from the world socialist system and the working-class movement, to pit one against the other. Again, only one form of struggle, guerilla war, was recognised and all other forms—taking into consideration diversity of conditions in the various fighting countries—were ignored.

p Due to various factors, both objective and subjective, it was difficult in the beginning for certain leaders in the national liberation movement to recognise the serious error of the Chinese ideological positions and to see to what disastrous results such positions would lead in practice.

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p But the experience of the last three years, and particularly since the so-called "cultural revolution" was started by the Mao Tse-tung group, has brought home very valuable lessons in this respect.

p Nowadays we can see the steady failure of the attempts of Maoism to isolate the national liberation movement from the world socialist camp and the working-class movement. Equally marked is the failure of China to impose guerilla war on every country irrespective of actual conditions there.

p The Chinese leaders, who preach revolutionary people’s war for everybody else, are themselves extremely flexible wherever their own positions and problems are concerned. Even now they maintain extensive trade with South Africa and Rhodesia utilising for this purpose the help of Japan and the Chiang Kai-shek regime.

p According to official figures published by the South African Government, South Africa’s trade with China increased ten times in the period 1961-63. Last year the South African Government refused publication of trade figures with People’s China saying that it would adversely affect the state interests of South Africa.

p The tragic developments in Indonesia unabled many to see to what disastrous consequences the Chinese line would lead the national liberation movement in practice and dealt a severe blow to the prestige of the Mao Tse-tung group in the Asian states.

p The incendiary role played by China during the IndoPakistani war in 1965 and their opposition to the Tashkent agreement served as still another eye-opener to many. Their entire line was directed towards delivering a blow against the policy of non-alignment and Afro-Asian unity. In sharp contrast the constructive and realistic approach of the Soviet Union to such complicated problems stood out, as well as its anti-imperialist role, in practice.

p The failure of China to convene the Afro-Asian conference in the manner dictated by it and to block the participation of the Soviet Union in it meant still another defeat for the policies of the Mao group.

p The Chinese policy in relation to Vietnam has met with almost universal criticism and has shocked many responsible leaders in the democratic and socialist movement throughout the world.

p The refusal of the Chinese leaders to co-operate with other 161 socialist states even on a minimum programme of concerted action to aid Vietnam has encouraged the American aggressors to escalate the war. This became marked especially after the Chinese rejection of the initiative taken by 17 nonaligned countries in regard to Vietnam. Indeed, every time the American aggressors further escalated the war the Chinese stepped up their anti-Soviet campaign, thus objectively giving the green light to the aggressors.

p This policy has continued even up to the present. It seems that the Chinese leaders are not interested in the end of the Vietnam tragedy but that they want the war in Vietnam to continue, trying to make use of it for the furtherance of their nationalistic ambitions and for continuing their antiSoviet propagandist campaign.

p The prestige of People’s China in the Third World fell further as a result of the so-called "cultural revolution”. Typical in this respect was the command of the Morning Post of Nigeria: ".. . You can hardly imagine anything going more against the interests of the developing countries than this ’cultural revolution’.”

p The bourgeois press throughout the world has widely utilised the latest developments in China for discrediting the ideas of socialism and communism especially among the peoples of colonial and newly-liberated countries.

p After the failure of their efforts to win over the national liberation movements to their side, the Mao group began concentrating their attention on activities directed against the leaders of the liberation movement who are interested in co-operation with the socialist world. In a number of countries they support small Trotskyite and factionalist groups which attack the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the Communist Parties of Latin America and so on.

p In fact the Chinese leadership is now more isolated than before from the real struggle of the working masses in the national liberation movement and its activities result in only objectively strengthening the influence of imperialism and internal reaction.

p In the African State of Lesotho the Chinese leaders support the Right-wing nationalist Party Basutoland Congress while opposing the local Communist Party. In South Africa they support the racist organisation Pan-African Congress which is conducting a struggle against the African 162 National Congress in which the South African Communists and other progressives are working together and which commands great influence.

p In the UAR the Embassy of People’s China indulged in activities directed towards overthrowing the Nasser Government, so much so that in February 1966 the UAR Ambassador in Peking delivered a special note of protest. In 1965 a group of so-called “Communists” whose activities were directed from Peking were arrested in UAR and charged with organising a terrorist plot.

p In Congo (Brazzaville) the Chinese leaders tried to corrupt some public functionaries with supply of money, etc., and through them attempted to secure their control over the youth organisation as well as some well-known journals.

p Burma also needs special mention. There, the Communist Party of Burma which is influenced by the Chinese leadership is carrying on an armed struggle against the Ne Win regime and in fact takes up the same anti-government position as the reactionary separatist groups. Things have gone so far that in the recent period Peking Radio has openly come out denouncing Ne Win’s regime as “counter-revolutionary”, "a stooge of imperialism" and so on. Provocative demonstrations have been organised against the Burmese Embassy in the same manner as was done against the Indian Embassy.

p The disruptive intervention of the Chinese leadership in the domestic affairs of some other newly independent African states is also well-known. In Tanzania they tried to gain the confidence of military experts of the Tanzanian government and with their help to ensure that fighters of African liberation movements obtained exclusively Chinese-made weapons with the propagandist aim of being considered the only country which renders real assistance to the liberation forces in Africa.

p In Cambodia the Chinese leadership tried to block local organisations from economic co-operation with the Soviet Union especially in matters of supply of equipment. When the Cambodian leaders refused to fall in line with this policy, the Chinese leadership started undermining activities against them.

p In Nepal too the Mao Tse-tung group, during the recent period of the "cultural revolution”, started blatantly interfering in the domestic affairs of that country and imposing the cult of .Mao on the Nepalese people. The result has been 163 angry demonstrations by the Nepalese people against such interference. Discontent against the interfering policies of the Mao group has begun to spread widely in Nepal.

p As to the recent developments in West Asia, the Chinese leaders also did their best to aggravate the situation. They called upon the Arabs to ignore the Security Council call for cease-fire. Chou En-lai sent a special message to the Arab leaders calling upon them not to stop hostilities but to continue the war—a course of action which under the circumstances would have been suicidal for the Arab world.

p In many African countries the Chinese leaders are trying to fan hostility between different political organisations and thus disrupt and weaken anti-imperialist unity. In Southern Rhodesia, they support the ZANU against ZAPU which has established contacts with the Soviet Union and the socialist camp. Representatives of the ZAPU were told that they would receive Chinese support if they condemned "Soviet revisionism”.

p In “Portuguese” Guinea, the Chinese leaders were trying to press upon the Guinean people to adopt the Peking political line. When this was rejected, they tried to split the nationalist party of Kabral.

p In Angola, where active struggle is carried on against imperialism by the National Movement for Liberation of Angola Party headed by Neto, the Mao Tse-tung group supported rival leaders of the type of Viriato da Cruza, although it is well-known that these leaders have contacts with Western imperialist circles.

p The Chinese activities have also contributed to split in the ranks of the African Party of Independence of Senegal which carries on a very difficult underground struggle against the neocolonialist regime of Senghor. In May 1965 the pro-Chinese splitters declared establishment of a socalled "Senegal Communist Party”, and in October 1966 they founded still another rival group, the so-called "New Organisation of African Party of Independence”. It is worth noting that the Senghor Government of Senegal which persecutes and represses active members of the African Party of Independence of Senegal allows full freedom for the activities of the new splitting organisation.

p Generally speaking the splitting activities of the Peking leaders in the African countries have so far not resulted in much damage. They have been able to collect only such 164 followers or the representatives of the Swanu Party from Southwest Africa consisting mainly of students who arc studying in West European countries and have no real contact with their motherland.

p As for the other African Parties which are carrying on a political course corresponding to their national interest they are rejecting the Chinese pressures. Typical is the statement of Mondlane, leader of the Frelimo Party of Mozambique that carries the main brunt of the struggle against Portuguese imperialism: "My Party has no desire to get embroiled in disputes and fights with the socialist countries and the Frelimo Party has other tasks before it— the struggle for liberation of Mozambique and co-operation with all those countries which sincerely support this struggle.”

p Significant are the attempts of the Chinese leaders to split the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organisation and in case they fail, to establish a rival organisation in Peking itself. During the last four-five years Chinese representatives have been trying to develop this movement into a kind of an antiSoviet platform. When they failed in this, they tried another method—to block the activities of its main executive body, the Permanent Secretariat.

p In the background of the fall of Chinese prestige due to their wrong policies and undermining activities, the representatives of many African and Asian countries demanded that the Fifth Conference of the organisation should not be held in Peking as had been decided at the previous conference in Ghana in May 1965, but should be held in some other place. This question was put on the agenda at the Nicosia session of the Council of this Organisation in February 1967. The Chinese leaders realising the prospect of complete isolation decided to boycott the session and China was the only Asian country which refused to participate in it. Instead of mandated delegates only two so-called “journalists” were sent by China.

p These with the help of some others tried their best to disrupt and paralyse the conference but these attempts were rebuffed. The unanimous decision of the participants of this session not to hold the Fifth Conference in Peking is of great significance. In reply to this decision the Peking group announced that they would withdraw from this organisation and form a new organisation—an organisation which, 165 significantly enough, will fight not imperialism but the AfroAsian Solidarity Organisation.

p Nowadays we can see that the Peking leaders have learnt some lessons from their failures and are trying to adopt a more flexible line. They are enlarging the scale of their propagandist activity and trying to activise Chinese economic contacts with certain selected newly-independent states which they try to develop into a kind of exclusive stronghold in furtherance of their policy.

p The main goal of this new line is to conceal from world public opinion and from the Chinese public itself the fact of the growing isolation of China on the international arena and the sharp fall of its prestige among newly-independent countries. For such tyep of activities they are selecting what they call certain “reliable” countries such as Tanzania, Mali, Guinea and a couple of others. But this aid is very limited and has more propagandist than economic significance. In fact many enterprises built in these countries with Chinese help have proved to be uneconomic.

p At present the Peking leaders are elaborating new plans for the spread of the "cultural revolution" in Afro-Asian countries. There is increasing evidence of their activities in this direction such as restaffing the diplomatic missions of China ni Africa and sending red guards to them. The Press has also reported the decision of the Mao Tse-tung group to found on the African continent a so-called "United Revolutionary Front under the Great Red Banner of Mao’s Revolutionary Ideas”.

p The disruptive activities of the Mao Tse-tung group have in practice resulted in some harmful consequences for the national liberation movement. First, the Peking line of developing the newly-independent countries as a battleground for their struggle against the world socialist camp has resulted in some at least of the leaders of these countries expressing a general desire to keep aloof from the socialist camp and avoid too close contacts with it.

p Secondly, the Peking line has resulted in considerable harm being caused to the prestige and the prospects of furtherance of the ideas of socialism and communism in some of the newly-liberated countries.

p Thidly, the Peking line has created great difficulties in some newly-liberated countries for the movement fighting against neocolonialism and feudalism due to the disruptive activities 166 of certain groups and elements influenced by the adventurist line of the Mao Tse-tung group.

The experience, both positive as well as negative, of the last four years has conclusively proved that the stronger the union between newly-independent countries and the world socialist camp the greater are the successes of the national liberation movement. And every attempt that weakens this union is a blow against the national liberation movement itself and strengthens the hands of imperialism.