Right Wing Revisionism Today - 1
Translated from the Russian by Jim Riordan
First Printed 1976 progress Publishers
PREFACE
The present book, written by a group of Soviet and Czechoslovak authors, is primarily intended as a critical analysis and expose of the anti-Marxist, anti-Leninist nature of contemporary Right-wing revisionist ideas that are inim- ical to the interests of the working class, world socialism and the international communist movement.
The idea of the need for such a book arose during the political crisis in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The events of that period utterly exposed the political nature of Right- wing revisionism and opportunism as allies of imperialist forces; they also revealed the great danger of Right-wing revisionism when it is not properly repulsed.
The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, held in Moscow in 1969, had as its main theme the struggle against Right- and revisionism and against opportunism of all brands. This Meeting made an important contribution to further strengthening the ideolog- ical unity of fraternal parties on the basis of the principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.
Present-day revisionism continues to be an international phenomenon; it finds a fertile soil wherever intermediate sections of the population stand alongside the working class, where the consciousness of the working class, the common people and Communists is under pressure from hostile bour- geois ideology. Revisionism strikes when the working people drop their guard and relax their fight against it. Although differences exist in the views of Roger Garaudy, Ota Teodoro Petkoff and other revisionists, they relate to secon- dary issues and not the principal problems of the day. As an ideological trend, revisionism is a system of kindred views, alien to Marxism-Leninism, on the fundamental problems of the international working-class movement and the construc- tion of socialism and communism. The authors of this book included in their critical analysis the most essential aspects of present-day Right-wing revisionism which lead to a betrayal of the working-class cause, to opportunism and to renegade actions. They thereby criticise both revisionist ideas and their argumentation Revisionism is by no means novel to the history of the world working-class movement. Marxism-Leninism has had to deal firmly with numerous versions of revisionism and opportunism since the end of the 1890s. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, made an enormous contribution to this fight. His works are a classic model of Marxist scientific criticism of ideas and theories hostile to the working class; they remain a powerful weapon in the hands of Communists in their contention with Right- and revisionism and all manner of opportunism.
Contemporary Right-wing revisionist ideas and theories have inherited the worst aspects of Bernsteinism, the reformist ideology of Right-wing socialism and the most reactionary old and new bourgeois concepts and theories. Guided by the Leninist method of combating ideological opponents of Marxism, the authors of this book have tried to show both the class and ideological sources of revisionist concepts, their theoretical and logical contradictions and falseness, and the practical damage they can cause, as evidenced by historical facts and the revolutionary experience of class struggle, by the experience of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, by the building of socialism and communism in the USSR and elsewhere.
Contemporary revisionism uses all the means at its dis- posal, including support from bourgeois "experts" on Marx- ism, to gain public recognition as a variety of Marxism in order to perform its main function of disorientating and dis- uniting the international working class. The authors of this book have drawn attention to the Leninist idea of the inte- gral nature of Marxism both in its historical development and in the structural unity and dialectical relationship of all its component parts.
Experience has shown that the revisionists' attempts to speculate on their adherence to Marxism and to mask their anti-Marxist nature by Marxist phraseology are inevitably doomed to failure. Communists expose revisionists and exclude them from their ranks. This has been the fate of latter-day Right-wing revisionist ideologists like Garaudy, and Ernst Fischer. Nevertheless, a criticism of their ideas retains its relevance and importance. It is a weapon that Communists use in the fight for the purity of Marxist- Leninist theory and a stronger unity and solidarity of all
Communist and Workers' parties.
The authors have relied on the main theoretical and political documents of Communist and Workers' parties. These include material from the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in 1969, the subsequent regional meetings, the communist conferences and seminars on theory. Documents of the 24th Congress of the Commu- nist Party of the Soviet Union and the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and other recent con- gresses of fraternal parties have served as an important guide in evaluating the various revisionist ideas and a source of rational argument in criticising revisionist views. These Party documents creatively develop Marxist-Leninist theory. As Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Com- mittee of the CPSU, has said: "The successes of communist construction depend in many ways on the development of Marxist-Leninist theory, which is our unerring scientific compass. The decisions of the congresses and plenary meet- ings of the CC of our Party and major Party documents are a model of the creative development of Marxism-Leninism. But the very character of the tasks confronting us demands an increasingly active elaboration of the theoretical problems of social development and a creative approach to all the phenomena of The fight against revisionists cannot be successful without development of such theory.
Revisionism today is very much a product of the growth in nationalism fanned by the elaborate propaganda apparatus of bourgeois states. At the same time, revisionist concepts create a fertile soil for nationalist sentiments and views that are alien to proletarian, socialist ideology. In criticising revi sionism and its sources, the authors of this book take a Leninist approach in interpreting the principles of proletarian internationalism that underlie the documents of the world communist movement intended further to consolidate the unity of the socialist community, the international working class and all anti-imperialist forces.
*
The First through Eighteenth chapters have been written by Soviet authors, and the Nineteenth through Twenty- Fifth chapters by Czechoslovak authors: Y. D. Modrzhinskaya (Chapter 1), V. V. Midtsev (Chapter 2), S. I. Popov (Chapter 3), M. K. Igitkhanyan (Chapter 4), I . D. Zagoryanov (Chapter 5), M. Savelyev (Chapter 6), V. S.
(Chapter Y. D. Modrzhinskaya, L. S. Yeremenko and V. S. Yeremenko (Chapter 8), G. A. Davydova and V. A. Ni- kitin (Chapter 9), G. P. Davidyuk and V. I. Bovsh (Chapter 10), Ye. P. Sitkovsky (Chapter Editorial Board, on the basis of the material supplied by Yu. Ya. et (Chapter 12), R. I. Kosolapov (Chapter 13), A. A. Amvrosov and A. P. Sertsova (Chapter 14), B. S. Mankovsky (Chapter 15), F. T. Konstantinov and A. P. Sertsova (Chapter 16),
N. A. Ponomaryov (Chapter G. D. Karpov (Chapter 18),
V. (Chapter 19), A. K. Netopilik (Chapter 20), L. (Chapter 21), J. (Chapter 22), M. Fremer and
F. (Chapter 23), F. (Chapter 24), and
J. (Chapter 25).
WILL CONTINUE AS CONVERTED TO THE WORD
First Printed 1976 progress Publishers
PREFACE
The present book, written by a group of Soviet and Czechoslovak authors, is primarily intended as a critical analysis and expose of the anti-Marxist, anti-Leninist nature of contemporary Right-wing revisionist ideas that are inim- ical to the interests of the working class, world socialism and the international communist movement.
The idea of the need for such a book arose during the political crisis in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The events of that period utterly exposed the political nature of Right- wing revisionism and opportunism as allies of imperialist forces; they also revealed the great danger of Right-wing revisionism when it is not properly repulsed.
The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, held in Moscow in 1969, had as its main theme the struggle against Right- and revisionism and against opportunism of all brands. This Meeting made an important contribution to further strengthening the ideolog- ical unity of fraternal parties on the basis of the principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.
Present-day revisionism continues to be an international phenomenon; it finds a fertile soil wherever intermediate sections of the population stand alongside the working class, where the consciousness of the working class, the common people and Communists is under pressure from hostile bour- geois ideology. Revisionism strikes when the working people drop their guard and relax their fight against it. Although differences exist in the views of Roger Garaudy, Ota Teodoro Petkoff and other revisionists, they relate to secon- dary issues and not the principal problems of the day. As an ideological trend, revisionism is a system of kindred views, alien to Marxism-Leninism, on the fundamental problems of the international working-class movement and the construc- tion of socialism and communism. The authors of this book included in their critical analysis the most essential aspects of present-day Right-wing revisionism which lead to a betrayal of the working-class cause, to opportunism and to renegade actions. They thereby criticise both revisionist ideas and their argumentation Revisionism is by no means novel to the history of the world working-class movement. Marxism-Leninism has had to deal firmly with numerous versions of revisionism and opportunism since the end of the 1890s. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, made an enormous contribution to this fight. His works are a classic model of Marxist scientific criticism of ideas and theories hostile to the working class; they remain a powerful weapon in the hands of Communists in their contention with Right- and revisionism and all manner of opportunism.
Contemporary Right-wing revisionist ideas and theories have inherited the worst aspects of Bernsteinism, the reformist ideology of Right-wing socialism and the most reactionary old and new bourgeois concepts and theories. Guided by the Leninist method of combating ideological opponents of Marxism, the authors of this book have tried to show both the class and ideological sources of revisionist concepts, their theoretical and logical contradictions and falseness, and the practical damage they can cause, as evidenced by historical facts and the revolutionary experience of class struggle, by the experience of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, by the building of socialism and communism in the USSR and elsewhere.
Contemporary revisionism uses all the means at its dis- posal, including support from bourgeois "experts" on Marx- ism, to gain public recognition as a variety of Marxism in order to perform its main function of disorientating and dis- uniting the international working class. The authors of this book have drawn attention to the Leninist idea of the inte- gral nature of Marxism both in its historical development and in the structural unity and dialectical relationship of all its component parts.
Experience has shown that the revisionists' attempts to speculate on their adherence to Marxism and to mask their anti-Marxist nature by Marxist phraseology are inevitably doomed to failure. Communists expose revisionists and exclude them from their ranks. This has been the fate of latter-day Right-wing revisionist ideologists like Garaudy, and Ernst Fischer. Nevertheless, a criticism of their ideas retains its relevance and importance. It is a weapon that Communists use in the fight for the purity of Marxist- Leninist theory and a stronger unity and solidarity of all
Communist and Workers' parties.
The authors have relied on the main theoretical and political documents of Communist and Workers' parties. These include material from the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in 1969, the subsequent regional meetings, the communist conferences and seminars on theory. Documents of the 24th Congress of the Commu- nist Party of the Soviet Union and the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and other recent con- gresses of fraternal parties have served as an important guide in evaluating the various revisionist ideas and a source of rational argument in criticising revisionist views. These Party documents creatively develop Marxist-Leninist theory. As Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Com- mittee of the CPSU, has said: "The successes of communist construction depend in many ways on the development of Marxist-Leninist theory, which is our unerring scientific compass. The decisions of the congresses and plenary meet- ings of the CC of our Party and major Party documents are a model of the creative development of Marxism-Leninism. But the very character of the tasks confronting us demands an increasingly active elaboration of the theoretical problems of social development and a creative approach to all the phenomena of The fight against revisionists cannot be successful without development of such theory.
Revisionism today is very much a product of the growth in nationalism fanned by the elaborate propaganda apparatus of bourgeois states. At the same time, revisionist concepts create a fertile soil for nationalist sentiments and views that are alien to proletarian, socialist ideology. In criticising revi sionism and its sources, the authors of this book take a Leninist approach in interpreting the principles of proletarian internationalism that underlie the documents of the world communist movement intended further to consolidate the unity of the socialist community, the international working class and all anti-imperialist forces.
*
The First through Eighteenth chapters have been written by Soviet authors, and the Nineteenth through Twenty- Fifth chapters by Czechoslovak authors: Y. D. Modrzhinskaya (Chapter 1), V. V. Midtsev (Chapter 2), S. I. Popov (Chapter 3), M. K. Igitkhanyan (Chapter 4), I . D. Zagoryanov (Chapter 5), M. Savelyev (Chapter 6), V. S.
(Chapter Y. D. Modrzhinskaya, L. S. Yeremenko and V. S. Yeremenko (Chapter 8), G. A. Davydova and V. A. Ni- kitin (Chapter 9), G. P. Davidyuk and V. I. Bovsh (Chapter 10), Ye. P. Sitkovsky (Chapter Editorial Board, on the basis of the material supplied by Yu. Ya. et (Chapter 12), R. I. Kosolapov (Chapter 13), A. A. Amvrosov and A. P. Sertsova (Chapter 14), B. S. Mankovsky (Chapter 15), F. T. Konstantinov and A. P. Sertsova (Chapter 16),
N. A. Ponomaryov (Chapter G. D. Karpov (Chapter 18),
V. (Chapter 19), A. K. Netopilik (Chapter 20), L. (Chapter 21), J. (Chapter 22), M. Fremer and
F. (Chapter 23), F. (Chapter 24), and
J. (Chapter 25).
WILL CONTINUE AS CONVERTED TO THE WORD
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