ISTURBING events are tak-
ing place in China these
days, events which are of

concern to all progressive-mind-
ed Canadians, to all Commun-
ists, to all genuine friends of
China.

In the name of a so-called
“proletarian cultural revolution”,
books, works of art, music,
monuments—all part of the cul-
tural heritage of China and of
mankind—are being destroyed.
At the same time leaders of the
Communist Party have been ar-
bitrarily removed from office,
the Young Communist League
pushed into the background,
universities and schools, news-
papers and magazines either re-
organized or closed down while
specialists in various fields of
endeavor have been pilloried, as-
saulted in many cases, and re-
moved from office.

These acts of vandalism and
of organized violence are being
carried out by the Red Guards,
a para-military organization of
teenagers, students and teach-
ers which is spearheading this
so-called “proletarian cultural
revolution”.

The question could be asked:

How is it possible to place in
the hands of school children and
students such a vital problem
as that of culture? Where is the
working class? Where are the
- party and government institu-
tions, the trade unions and other
public organizations in such an
undertaking? The question could
also be asked: What concept is
it which associates socialism

with the destruction of culture
and with the exercise of violence
against workers and peasants,
intellectuals and party officials?

Socialist culture values the
cultural heritage of mankind,
utilizes and builds upon its pro-
gressive aspects for the further
development and flowering of
socialist culture. But this is not
what is taking place in China

today. The activities of the Red

On the

{

outside the bounds of party de-
mocracy. In the name of pre-
venting “revisionism” and the
“restoration of capitalism” in
China, Mao Tse-tung’s théory—
in fact a repetition of Stalin’s
thesis—that as socialism is being
built the class struggle sharpens,
has become the pretext on which
to attack all those “ghosts and
monsters” in the party who have
begun to question present policy

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

General Secretary, Communist Party of Canada

Guards not only discredit the
Communist Party of China; they
cause great harm to the noble
aims of socialism. These crude
excesses, and: worse, are an ex-
pression of nihilism, of anarch-
ism. Neither they nor the so-
called “proletarian cultural revo-
lution” have anything to do with
socialist culture or with Marx-
ism-Leninism. No Communist
worthy of the name can asso-
ciate himself with such actions.

The “prolearian cultural revo-
lution” is being used as a cover
to suppress among the people
and in the party all opposition to
the present course and policies
of some of the leaders of the
Chinese Communist Party. The
Red Guards are being directed to
conduct that struggle, over the
heads of party committees and

RED GUARDS in Shanghai (above) tear down a 48-year-old sign on a
department store called “Yung An” (Eternal Tranquility) because it was
named by a capitalist in pre-revolutionary China. They suggested the name
be changed to “Eternally Red” or “Eternal Struggle.” At right: the same Red
Guards at a meeting proclaim the 16-point decision of the Communist Party

on the “proletarian cultural revolution.”

and are striving to modify or
change it. j

It is in this context that one
can understand some of the im-
plications behind the deification
of Mao Tse-tung. Its aim is to
stifle creative thinking and
crush all opposition to the pre-
sent dogmatic, fanatical and
anti-Soviet policy of the leader-
ship of the Communist Party of
China. This deification of Mao
Tse-tung and his thoughts, which
the Chinese party’s central com-
mittee meeting in August raised
to fantastic proportions, stands
in sharp contrast to the decision
of that party’s 8th Congress
which stressed the importance of
combatting “‘the glorification and
exaltation of individuals’.

There is a direct relationship
between the cult of Mao Tse-

proletarian cultural re volution’
in China

tung and the stifling of inner
party democracy and of social-
ist democracy. How far this has
gone can be seen in the fact that

there has been no party con-—

gress since 1958. The August
central committee meeting was
the first one held after four
years. The cult of the infallibi-
lity and of dogma has replaced
creative thinking, while the cult
of the personality has replaced
collective leadership and a de-
mocratically functioning party.

What is taking place in China
serves as yet another serious
warning of the dangers which
befall-a Communist Party when
it departs from Communist de-
mocratic practice and permits
the cult of the personality to
take over. The similarity in the
excesses seen in China today
around Mac Tse-tung and in the
past around Stalin is striking
not only in the fact that some
of them relate to the same insti-
tutions, but also in their direc-
tion. If the Chinese people do
not act against it, it can have
dire consequences.

Some of these consequences
are already to be seen in the
setbacks suffered by China in its
foreign as well as its domestic
policies. These setbacks arise
from the adventurous course

. pursued by the leaders of the

Communist Party of China. On
the international arena this ad-
venturous course brought defeat
to the Indonesian Communists
and split the Indian Communist
Party, while internally, the
course of splitting from the so-

i

- class struggle on a world S©

tional workingclass moveme

October 21, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 10

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cialist states and “relying
one’s own resources” has mad? —
more difficult the task of ove!
coming heritages of the past .
which weigh so heavily on Chin@ ; é
today. 4,

It is no wonder, therefore, that
some parties which previous? —

‘supported the line of the Com —

munist Party of China have D&
gun to re-examine their positions
and change them and that the
present adventurous course pul”
sued by the Chinese leaders 8
leading to  self-isolation 1%
China.

If the leaders who at preset —
carry the banner of Mao TS®
tung should succeed in crushins
all opposition in China then the
logic of the struggle will 5°
them in hostile relationships
the Soviet Union and other 8&
cialist countries, weaken China
and jeopardize the fruits of the:
revolution.

The course of the ‘‘proletatia”
cultural revolution” points ™
the fact that the leaders of tH?”
Communist Party of China al

“not only distorting Mararted

Leninism; they have depart
from Marxism-Leninism. They
have likewise departed from Pf)
letarian internationalism and
taken the path of nationalis™ —

and great power chauvinism.

The August meeting of tt?
Chinese Communist Party’s °°”
tral committee underscores 8%
position. The previous prete™,
of support for the line adopl®
at the 1957 and 1960 meetin
of Communist and Workers Pa
ties, in which they participate” —
has been abandoned. It has Lo |
replaced by the “thoughts” 4
line of Mao Tse-tung. 4

What is this line? It deni }
the possibility of preventing ae
imperialists from unleashing h
world nuclear war in our epo%
and counterposes to the ne
and struggle for peaceful ©
existence a policy based on the
inevitability of war. It replace”
the Marxist-Leninist theory ¢ %
the main contradiction in

Se

fime is between the workilé
class and monopoly, betwee? *
cialism ‘and imperialism, by ‘a
unscientific theory of a world
divided into zones, instead
class relations. Such a line
nothing in common with :

a Y
or with proletarian international
ism. It is a line which separa” :
the national liberation mov —
ments from the socialist syst”
of states and from the inter™

and thus weakens each and all. d

While in words, according uf
the August central commit? —
meeting, imperialism is said -

CHINA—Page I1