Cominform - Growing Upsurge of National- Liberation Movement

FOR A LASTING PEACE, FOR A PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY!

NO. 2 (218), FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 1953

EDITORIAL: GROWING UPSURGE OF NATIONAL-LIBERATION MOVEMENT

IN COLONIAL AND DEPENDENT COUNTRIES.

The defeat of fascist Germany and militarist Japan as a result of the world-historic victory of the Soviet Union in World War II, the rise of the countries of people’s democracy and the weakening of the forces of world imperialism constituted most important factors stimulating a new powerful upsurge of the national-liberation struggle in the dependent countries and in the colonies and aggravating the crisis of the entire colonial system of imperialism.

The triumph of the people’s revolution in China and the establishment of the Chinese People’s Republic dealt a terrific blow to the colonial system of imperialism; still further revolutionized the East, facilitating the continued development of the great liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples against the imperialist yoke.

For over two and a half-years the heroic people of Korea have been waging a selfless struggle for national independence, demonstrating to the world an example of a just liberation war against the joint forces of the aggressive US – British bloc. The Democratic Republic of Viet Nam was born in the fires of fierce battles and gained strength in these battles. The national-liberation movement of the peoples of Malaya, Burma, the Philippines, Indonesia and Latin America is gaining momentum. The peoples of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, the Union of South Africa, Kenya and other African countries are rising in struggle for freedom. The peoples of Iran, Iraq, Egypt and other countries in the Near and Middle East have moved into action.

In India – the last of the biggest dependent, semi-colonial countries in Asia – national resistance is growing and an economic and political crisis is rapidly maturing. The political consciousness of the masses grows in the sharp ideological struggle. The Communist Party of India is inspiring and organising the popular struggle against the domination of foreign imperialism, against British imperialism in the first instance.

The national-liberation struggle in the colonial and dependent countries is assuming a more active and resolute nature. The spontaneous and divided centres of the movement of independence are becoming more and more organised in separate countries; the struggle is assuming a nation-wide character. The imperialists are no longer able to rule in the old way in the dependent and colonial countries and the colonial peoples no longer want to live in the old way. Nor can any efforts on the part of the imperialists avert the progressive disintegration of the colonial system, hold back the liberation of the peoples from colonial yoke.

One-third of mankind has already forever freed itself from the fetters of capitalist slavery, and having formed the mighty camp of democracy and Socialism, is marching forward along the pathway of economic and cultural prosperity, along the pathway of happiness and abundance.

The brilliant foresight of the great Lenin receives confirmation.

Lenin said:

“In the last analysis, the upshot of the struggle will be determined by the fact that Russia, India, China, etc., accounted for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe. And it is precisely this majority that, during the past few years, has been drawn into the struggle for emancipation with extraordinary rapidity, so that in this respect there cannot be the slightest shadow of doubt what the final outcome of the world struggle will be. In this sense, the complete victory of Socialism is fully and absolutely assured”.

Imperialism cannot exist without political and economic enslavement of nations and peoples denied equal rights. Like an insatiable vampire it sucks the blood of the colonial peoples. The imperialists amass colossal profits by means of the slave labour of the peoples of the backward countries, by ruthlessly plundering their rich raw materials resources and marketing at fabulous prices their surplus stocks.

The many years of imperialist oppression and feudal survivals have resulted in an unprecedented decline in the economy in the colonies and semi-colonies.

Tens of millions in India, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia and in the countries of Africa eke out a miserable existence; they suffer from chronic hunger and die from starvation. Purchasing power in the dependent countries and colonies is exceptionally low and the market for manufactures goods is constantly shrinking. All this weighs heavily on the capitalist economy, degrading it, and intensifying the contradictions within the countries of the anti-democratic, imperialist camp. The more the capitalists experience a shortage of raw materials, the sharper the capitalist competition in the drive for markets and more desperate the struggle of the imperialist states and monopolies for securing and preserving spheres of influence. Of late the contradictions between the capitalist countries, and in first place between the USA and Britain, have become particularly acute.

The US imperialists, intensifying their preparations for a new world war and striving for world domination are waging concealed and open struggle for undivided subordination to themselves of more and more countries, they are penetrating into the spheres of influence of other colonial powers, seizing key positions and dislodging the old colonial powers. In the process of this struggle the US imperialists plot conspiracies and intrigues against their British, French and Belgian “partners” in the aggressive Atlantic bloc.

The ruling circles in Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and of the other colonial powers, in their turn, seek to uphold their “right” to colonies and semi-colonies, to compensate themselves at the expense of the latter for the excessive burden dictated by the frenzied arms drive and predatory US expansion. All this cannot but lead to further growth of the contradictions in the imperialist camp. The imperialists hope to avert the oncoming economic crisis by means of war and by plundering their “own” and especially “alien” peoples.

The irreconcilable contradictions between the colonies and the metropolitan countries are becoming sharper and sharper. Consigned to the abyss of untold suffering, the peoples of colonial and dependent countries are resisting more and more the imperialist robbery and feudal despotism. New progressive and patriotic forces, additional masses of the oppressed and exploited – demanding freedom and independence, abrogation of unequal treaties and enslaving agreements, nationalisation of large-scale foreign enterprises and liquidation of feudal land ownership, democratisation of the country and radical improvement in the standard of living – are flowing in a mighty stream into the national-liberation movement.

Neither colonisers’ terror, persecution by the imperialists of the democratic, progressive and patriotic organizations, wholesale slaughter of demonstrators and strikers, arrests, deportations and executions of public figures, nor the foul treachery of the Right-wing Social Democratic leaders, acting on the direct orders of the US imperialists, can break the indomitable will of the colonial peoples for freedom and independence. The broad peasant masses are rallying closer and closer around the working class and its vanguard – the Communist and Workers’ Parties. Handicraftsmen, small and medium traders and manufacturers suffering from the foreign expansion, the patriotic elements of the bourgeoisie who refuse to collaborate with the imperialist monopolies, all are rising against colonial oppression. United National-Liberation Fronts for Struggle against colonial oppression, against the rule of foreign monopolies and for the right of the people to decide their own fate are being formed and consolidated.

The anti-imperialist and anti-feudal movement in the colonial and dependent countries is closely linked with the struggle for peace, for security and friendship of the peoples. Broad masses of the oppressed and exploited are becoming more and more convinced that a third world war, should the warmongers succeed in unleashing it, will bring the colonial and dependent countries additional and countless sufferings and sacrifices. Consequently, they demand the expulsion of all foreign troops from their countries, the liquidation of foreign military bases and resolutely oppose the so-called “unified military commands” and the involving of the colonial and dependent countries in the different aggressive US – British military blocs. The peace movement is growing and developing.

The peoples of the colonial and dependent countries look with hope to the great Soviet Union – the true defender of their national independence, the bulwark of peace and security of the peoples. They see in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics the embodiment of the cherished aspirations of all the oppressed and exploited masses, a country in which the one-time unequal, oppressed and backward nations have achieved unprecedented prosperity, where the friendship of the peoples, their moral-political unity and their life-giving patriotism have become the vital motive forces of society. The existence of the USSR, of the Chinese People’s Republic and the countries of the people’s democracy inspires the peoples of the dependent countries and the colonies, in the struggle for their just cause.

The national-liberation struggle of the colonial peoples enjoy the profound sympathy and moral support of the Communist and Workers’ Parties in all countries, of all the democratic and peace-loving forces of the world; the national liberation movement in the colonies – true ally of the fighters for peace, democracy and Socialism – is the common cause of all advanced and progressive mankind. This just struggle has the support of all people of labour, honour and progress in the metropolitan countries, because a nation which oppresses other nations cannot be free. The nation which oppresses another nation forges chains for itself.

The growing upsurge of the national-liberation movement leads the dependent countries and colonies onto the broad highway of independence, people’s democracy and peace. Imperialism is doomed and all its convulsive efforts to prolong and preserved its sanguinary colonial domination are hopeless before the great struggle of the oppressed and dependent peoples for freedom, national independence and for peace.