14760 me developments in the dispute botween the leaders of the Chinese and Russian Communist Parties truly ontered into a new phase this week, We have produced clsewhere a summary of some of the points raised in Chinese criticism of Thorez so we will hot repeat them here tut we mst try to assess them. This attack on Thorez has been followed by another document some hundred thousand Chinose characters long which is as yet not fully available. We hope to have this well in time to comment upon next wee k. Tho accusations in the latter of tho jamming of Chinese broadcasts to Russia,are an indication of how sharp tha line taken by the Chinese has become.
- The Chinese attitude is no longer concerned merely with influencing the leadership of the C.P.s, it now appeals directly to the rank and file of the C,.P.a, It seems inevitable that soon they will be seeking to establish the ways and moans of gatting their point of over to the memberships of the C.P.s.e They have introduced into the polemic a healthy spirit of letting peopls 'read both sides', They heave demonstrated that they are prepared to publish, for’ the Chinese people to read, the criticisms * and theories of their opponents. This is to be commended and marks a major development in the process of retur= ning to Bolshevik/Lenin .st norme in conducting a political discussion,
The polemic seams almost certain to develop, covering more and mors fields. fot hice aedusation that the lroneh ¢C.Fso ie a prety which turns‘ 160 dagroon and Ba $8 ¥on must,if pursued to logical conclusion,;faéise the whole question of the policies ofall C.P.s, This will give any group ‘or section in these C,.P.s the green light to wage a fight against any tendency by the leadership to blindly follow the ‘Moscow line', tut more of this in future issues,
Anaysis of the issues at stake however shows that the Chinese ara by no means riz on every issue — we have had an occasion before to differentiate ouselves from “Inprincipled and unmarxist. attitude towarda Yugoslavia. Their attitude towards Albania on the other hand, apart from aid which they give to replace Russian eid and without which Albania would face disaster, is to te ~ deplored, This gives weight to the accusation against them that they are def= ending the worst aspects of Stalin's personal rule although they have not used the method of the trials themsclves, They have taken no stepa in China to modify the turecucratic regime in the Chincse C.P. or state apparatus. Until these points ere dealt with the Chinese C,.P.,no matter how correct they may be in their assessment of particular questions, can only be given critical support by marxists,
Thoir wrong attitude on the above questions is to be all the more depl- _~. ored because it hinders the development of tendencies (especially in Yeatern Burope) around the positive aspects of their position, These are notably: the view that imperialism has not changod and is still the source of the tend= ency towards warg further, that the risk of another war can be ended only by the overthrow of capitaliam and imperialism; consequently, 21a54*Be aif FaTfiatoa eolonial revolution and the workers struggle in-the afivancead countries neois of so-called peaceful co-existence; from this, no reliance can be placed upon the national bourgeoisie of colonial and semi—colonial countries and that tha rovolution once begun mist be uninterrupted (or perm.nent); that it is illusory to believe in the peaceful road to socialiem in the imperialist countries; and that, that a minority can exist side by side with the majority’ in the world communist movement ard that the minority can be right against the majority and should struggle to become the majority.
This ideological struggle bring us in Britain the hope that many of the thousands of honest and valuable militants trapped in tha C.P. can be liberated, This will be a process if we talk of masses of people, the first step of which | will ‘be to acquaint these socialists the true Chinese position and of tho attitude taken by other C,P.s, foeaders of the Bulletin should Find the means to do this and we shall help by producing material.