Maoist Internationalist Movement
Iran 2006 struggle:
Summing up the struggle against accommodation to U.$. imperialism
October 16 2006
International Minister
Comrades, the original MIM cell now calls on all genuine Maoists to take in the lessons we have learned from the past seven months of intense ideological struggle and move on to the next phase of public opinion building. As in the 1993 struggle against the peace accords for Peru, the struggle against defeat of Iran by u.$. imperialism revealed that most of what we see around us seeming to be Maoist party material is rot.
It's been seven months since it came to light that RIM is building for war on Iran and fronting for CIA recruiters such as Ray McGovern and Phyllis Chesler. There has not been one solid article by anyone defending their position. What there has been is on our Iran web page in the weeds section. This is a struggle where the enemy wins by running out the clock. The Pentagon would like to be able to invade Iran and prop up RIM lackeys in the government, before anyone can stop them. Thus there has been a question of how quickly to push this question. If we consider that I$rael attacked Lebanon largely with justifications about Iran, it would be possible to say MIM has been too slow ideologically. Let it be predicted that after invasion is over or after the Pentagon plan has been defeated, the enemy will come forward with justifications for its line for its own membership slow to engage ideological issues.
It is very important that comrades not blame themselves for the spies and counterrevolutionaries in the pay of u.$. imperialism that are taking advantage of the extensive petty-bourgeoisie to oppose the proletarian line. The struggle at the MIM website and IRTR were more than enough clear, too much.
In the Peru peace accords struggle, the enemy said that purging the rot would not build our forces, but anyone who looks at www.eldiariointernacional.com the past 10 years would have to admit it flourished while the counter-revolutionaries and other backward forces though initially more numerous stayed in the slow lane.
Those who have been watching the struggle most carefully can see that CIA intrigue is heavy in the air in connection to India and MIM. It is difficult to see how the chips will fall, but the "India Communists" discussion board never put up their own statement attacking RIM defeatism on Iran-- and instead wrote intentionally vague statements to MIM. Now it is uniting with RIM with typical CIA language. Another character missing--Joseph Ball--where did he go? Did he not choose an apt moment to disappear from the struggle?
Perhaps there are intrigues going back some months to anger the CPI(Maoist) with the MIM. What the purpose of that is, MIM is not sure. The CPI(Maoist) is banned and thus MIM is unable to contact it directly. If CPI(Maoist) would like to be angry with MIM over its Iran stance, that is fine, but the enemy seems to be throwing up so many other issues at the moment. We have no indication from the CPI(Maoist) that it will sign our Iran statement, so our desperate enemies should take it easy. They just risk exposing themselves over something that was not happening anyway. We doubt that if the CPI(Maoist) agreed with our statement, that it would allow these side distractions to keep it from signing.
The CIA modus operandi is all over the struggle lately, but the question is why in connection to India.
Maneuvers have been so quick and international it will probably take some time for them to all settle out. We regret to inform readers that once again our formula holds true--more spy activity than actual Amerikan communist activity. We apologize that MIM's exploratory activity in India has attracted so much trouble. MIM would like to bow out of further discussion of India and even IRTR at this point. We will be retreating to study India matters before commenting further. Great things in struggle must happen in India and so there must be "disorder under Heaven." Struggles will go forward on their own now and reveal their own character. So our formula is to finish with ideological struggle on Iran and retreat and observe on India.
The "Communist Party" of the Philippines and the "Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)" have had adequate time to be able to assess the issue of defeatism in Iran, that much is sure, but soon the U.$. election will be upon us and we must prepare public opinion in case of any war and repression moves after that election. It will be many months if not years before the full weight of this struggle trickles into India. In Turkey too, there is a very large language barrier between MIM and the People's War. There is also hope for new People's Wars to arise on a revolutionary basis.
MIM will make every effort to win at least one organization conducting People's War to what has to be done in the situation facing us today. We will try to find one that will uphold Mao on Iran and support the struggle of Occupied Mexico/Aztlan. We want one People's War that will not be promoting accommodation to imperialism on the side--one that will not be both siding with the revolutionary forces and those calling for peace accords in Peru in 1994. MIM is not casting off all the revolutionary wars just because two party leaderships have temporarily chosen accommodation with u.$. imperialism. MIM has also left the door open with a specific proposal of principle for the two People's Wars and Russian Maoist Party, to give them a way out of their current position promoting accommodation with imperialism--our quaint suggestion regarding ideology given the current context of spy maneuvers. Theory finds it unlikely that these organizations will improve to escape the ideological influence of super-profits, once these organizations have fallen off the wagon, but the door is open if they do.
It must be said that in 1993-4, even among Peruvians in exile and leaving aside Europeans and Amerikans, the majority went to rot. People we would not imagine as stooges of imperialism just a short time ago became just that--stooges of U.$. imperialism. Hence, the struggle cannot always have a steady build up of revolutionary forces and a friendly metaphysical unity. Peruvian comrades split into all directions.
Nonetheless, we remember fondly that Comrade Gonzalo included Saddam Hussein in the united front in the First Gulf War. We contrast him with the CIA's rabid dogs of the RIM today who do not include Iran in their united front and instead at best double-deal with words opposing imperialist war while supporting the Fort Bragg extension of the RIM in Iran.
Likewise today, there is a tendency to overestimate the build-up of revolutionary forces and move into party-building work. This move stems in part from an overestimation of MIM's influence at the revolutionary level and an underestimation of MIM's influence at the yeast level. MIM's readership is very large and shows up in nooks and crannies around the world, but that readership is chewing on what we say: it is not on the edge of making revolution. When we really put this material to the ideological test, most of it shatters. It is no different in 2006 than 1993. If you have read the MIM website and taken a revolutionary stand on Iran in 2006, know that you are the exception and do not generalize practice from that.
The reasons for this split building up over decades are well known--evasion of class analysis of the class structure, underestimation of imperialist parasitism, consignment of Stalin on the national question to the dustbin and inability to sort out what Gonzalo called the "three magic weapons." With all this in the background, we cannot be surprised that imperialist country labor aristocracies have exerted their influence and finally gained a big pay-off, with a line openly capitulating to imperialism in Iran.
There are those who will be consolidating the ideological struggle in the next few days by taking a stand on questions others have already taken stands on. We should not be working with anyone at our side who has not proved herself in the struggle with a clear stand on Iran. Everyone should use this struggle to improve security. Related to that security, we also need to cool it because of the super-charged situation with India.
MIM itself will be moving out of ideological work with the knowledge that most calling themselves revolutionary will not have digested even what has been said so far by MIM and IRTR. We urge the IRTR comrades to leave that line of work as well and take up work elsewhere in building public opinion. The IRTR is not designed to reach a large number of people and by its nature cannot. We urge the comrades to return to public opinion work as the MIM cell will as well. Those who are seriously interested in ideological matters can always peruse the IRTR archives. We salute the IRTR for managing to bring the Iran question to a boil and we also warn it of more struggles to come. Already the enemy is trying to use IRTR and another forum to spam us with RIM garbage and trying to make it look like a third party is responsible. Those fighting to disband the RIM have our gratitude.
In 2006, we have seen much waving of the red flag to oppose the red flag. For anyone not there for the struggle on the peace accords for Peru, this was a chance to see the same thing. The enemy raises the ideological cost of struggle very high, because something dear to it is at stake. Secretary of State Rice has already made it clear what that is: the idea that Iran is U.$. imperialism's single biggest enemy right now. For this reason, the enemy uses covers and attempts even to frame third parties uninvolved in ideological discussion. Only the most dedicated will follow the struggle all the way through.
Again we urge revolutionary comrades not to blame themselves. They should not think that one more turn of phrase will convince the spies and petty- bourgeoisie. That would be a party-building delusion. Compared with the 1993 struggle, this struggle happened much more quickly with much greater clarity. Then as now the majority of people could not deal with what needed to be done. They will never be able to absorb the implications of the profound betrayal of Maoist principle that occurred in 2006. For many accustomed to infotainment all the time, it will be much too much to believe. We urge comrades to leave their false friends on the wastelands of the ideological battlefield and not fall for their honeyed expressions. We must rally public opinion and seek out new revolutionary forces. The bribed must be left behind. The enemy has enough money to keep the revolutionaries busy talking just to the hopelessly bribed. Let the bribed speak with the bribed.