Even though the open polemic of the Great Debate took place in 1963-64, the history of the differences in the international communist movement and between the CPC and the CPSU was much older. Serious differences arose with the twentieth Congress of the CPSU in 1956 when Khrushchov unleashed an all out attack on Stalin. Raising the bogey of the personality cult he negated Stalin completely and in fact attacked the dictatorship of the proletariat itself. Pretending to attack Stalin’s mistakes he, in fact, attacked his achievements. He proclaimed the revisionist thesis of “peaceful co-existence”, “peaceful competition” and “peaceful transition” and thus made Marxism-Leninism itself the target of his attacks. The ideological struggle began soon after the Twentieth Congress. As the leaders of the CPSU receded more and more in to the mire of the revisionism, the struggle grew more and more bitter and it came out in the public with the polemic of the Great Debate.

Mao Tsetung led the CPC and the genuine Marxists-Leninists all over the world against the onslaught of the modern revisionists. This struggle further enriched and developed Marxism-Leninism and took it to new heights. It was a struggle in the glorious tradition of Lenin and his struggle against the renegade Kautsky and the old revisionists of the Second International. Lenin's ideological struggle against the old revisionists at the time of the First World War was crowned by the great social experiment of the October Revolution, which, in practice, settled the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat and opened the era of the proletarian revolutions. Mao Tsetung's ideological struggle against the modern revisionists led to the great social experiment of the Great Proletarian Cultural. Revolution, which illumined the laws of class struggle in a socialist society and, in practice, settled the question of how to combat the attempts of capitalist restoration and how to keep on the socialist road.

Here we briefly recount the main events of this epical struggle as it unfolded after the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU, so that the reader, if not familiar with the history of this period of the international communist movement, may be helped in situating these documents in their historical context.

The events, which took place after the Twentieth Congress, had, of necessity, their moorings in the history prior to that.

The CPSU (B) was the party of, the, great Lenin, the, party which had led the Russian working people to the glorious October Revolution, which had led the international proletariat against the in-house traitors of the Second International and which led the revolutionary people all over the world in the struggle against imperialism. The Soviet Union was the land of the first socialist state During the years of the Civil War after the October Revolution Lenin led the Soviet people in defending the Soviet state against the imperialist intervention and white reaction. After the victory of the Soviet people in the civil war Lenin addressed himself to the question of socialist construction. Until his death he remained engrossed in analyzing the newly emerging complexities of class struggle and revolution in the socialist society. Over and again he pointed out that the transition from Capitalism to Communism represents an entire historical epoch. Until this epoch has terminated, the exploiters inevitably cherish the hope of restoration, and this hope is converted into attempts at restoration. Over and again he pointed out that even after the overthrow of' the power of capital and the destruction of the bourgeois state and in fact, throughout the stage of socialism a long; difficult and stubborn class struggle would continue. Therefore, throughout this period, the dictatorship of the proletariat would be in order to be able to prevent capitalist restoration and to be able to move towards the abolition of classes. Throughout this period the party of the proletariat would be needed to lead the proletariat in the protracted and acute class struggle.

In the international communist movement Lenin founded the Communist International, gave the general line of the movement and charted the revolutionary course for the international proletariat in the era of' imperialism and proletarian revolutions. He pointed out that the socialist revolutions and the national liberation struggles of the colonial and the oppressed peoples were the two components of the world proletarian revolution. He pointed out that it was the revolutionary duty of the proletariat in the advanced capitalist countries to support the national liberation struggles of the colonial and the oppressed peoples. He pointed out that the foreign policy of the socialist state must be based on the fundamental principle of the proletarian internationalism.

After Lenin Sta1in led the CPSU (B) for the next thirty years until his death. He led the party and Soviet State through the period of socialist construction. During this period he led the struggle against the anti-party cliques of Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin. He led the party and the Soviet people in destroying the capitalist private ownership and in creating the socialist ownership by the whole people and the socialist collective ownership through the nationalization of industry and the collectivization of agriculture. During this period great victories were won by the CPSU and the Soviet people in building a strong socialist economy and a powerful socialist state.

In the Second World War Stalin led the Soviet people and the people all over the world in defeating Fascism and Nazism. He led the CPSDU and Soviet people during the great Patriotic War in defending the socialist state against the Hitlerite invasion. This led to the debate of Hitler and the total defeat of the Fascist Axis.

After Lenin Stalin became the acknowledged leader of the international proletariat. He led the, until his death, the international communist movement and provided guidance to the revolutionary struggles of the peoples all over the world. Under his leadership the Soviet Union gave material and moral support to the working class movements and to the national liberation struggles, all over the world.

However, Stalin made some serious mistakes in the sphere of theory as well as in organisation and style of work. He deviated from Marxist-Leninist dialectics in his understanding of the laws of class struggle in the socialist society. He failed to grasp the essence of the problems of socialist construction with which Lenin had grappled until his death and about which Lenin had given seminal but clear guidelines. After the completion of the collectivization of agriculture Stalin declared, that there were “no longer antagonistic classes" in the Soviet Union and that "it was free of class conflicts.” This was an erroneous understanding and was in conflict with Lenin's teachings about the continuation of persistent and stubborn class struggle throughout the entire stage of socialism. He failed to recognise the danger of capitalist restoration from the internal, sources. He failed to grasp the fact that the overthrown exploiting classes cannot be abolished in a generation or two. He failed to recognize the possibility of the emergence of new exploiting classes during the socialist stage. He identified the danger of capitalist restoration only in the imperialist intervention and encirclement and thus overlooked, the contradiction present in the socialist society itself. He, thus, identified the conflict; originating from the internal social contradiction as problems created by imperialist intervention and sabotage. All these problems were dealt with as problems created by imperialist agents and provocateurs. He failed to rely on the working class and the masses in the class struggle, which was actually waging in the Soviet Society. He failed to kindle the revolutionary vigilance of the masses against the internal bourgeoisie and against their attempts at capitalist restoration. The revolutionary mass line was, thus, weakened and this was used by the internal bourgeoisie and the capitalist roaders for their own purpose.

Stalin, nevertheless, remained a great Marxist-Leninist. Under his leadership the dictatorship of the proletariat was strengthened, a socialist economy was created and the imperialist designs to thwart the advance of the international communist movement and to crush the first socialist state were defeated. Under his leadership the socialist camp was created and throughout his lifetime it remained strong and united. For these reasons Stalin remained a thorn in the eyes of the imperialists and the bourgeoisie in general. They always used his mistakes to attack him and to malign him. The entire bourgeoisie attack on Marxism-Leninism was concentrated in the attacks on Stalin because it proved convenient for the bourgeoisie to attack the relatively weaker side in the fort of Marxist-Leninism.

The twentieth Congress of the CPSU and Khrushchev’s virulent attacks on Stalin at this Congress must be seen in this historical perspective.

Stalin died in 1953. A collective leadership of Malenkov, Beria and Khrushcbov came to lead the Party and the State. Maiehkov became the Premier of the Soviet Union while Khrushchov assumed the secretaryship of the CPSU. Utilizing the lack of a through going mass struggle and vigilance against the capitalist roader during the period of Stalin’s leadership, opportunist elements like Khrushchov have wormed their way up to the leading circles in the Party unnoticed and unrecognized. During the three years between 1953 and 1956 the Khrushchov clique, true to their bourgeoisie character, engaged in behind the scene machinations and intrigues to pave the way for the coup to usurp the leadership of the Party and the State. Beria was executed in 1953. Malenkov had to resign from the premiership in 1955. By the time of the Twentieth Congress in February 1956 Khrushchov and his clique had captured the leadership of the Party and the State.

Khrushchov also campaigned among the Marxist-Leninist and workers' parties before be showed his true colors at the congress. In this he fully utilised the respect naturally accorded to the Party of Lenin and Stalin and to the land of the first socialist state. Khrushchov and Bulganin had paid a visit to China in September 1954. Just befor this visit a Chinese delegation to the Soviet union had signed in 1953 an agreement with the Soviet Union for 14l large scale industrial projects. Mao Tsetung at that time had been praised in the Soviet press as a great Marxist-Leninist theoretician. During his visit Khrushchov accorded fully equal status to the fraternal Chinese party and Khrushchov and Mao came to an agreement to hold mutual consultation “on all matters of common interest pertaining to the socialist camp". This meant that in dealing with the imperialists and with the United States in particular the Chinese party and the other fraternal parties of the socialist camp must be consulted. Khrushchov was clear1y jockeying for a position of strength in the international communist movement before he would openly attack Marxism-Leninism.

On the occasion of the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU had assembled the delegates from all the Marxist-Leninist and workers' parties from the entire socialist camp and from ether countries the world over. Khrushchev delivered two speeches at the Congress, one of which was secret. In the secret speech he unleashed his all out attack on Stalin denouncing him completely. This threw the entire socialist camp and all the Marxist-Leninist parties into a state of shock and consternation. In the initial confusion it was thought that he was attacking only the mistakes of the Stalin period and telling the international communist movement to learn from those mistakes. In his second speech he propounded that a fundamental change had taken place in the world situation mainly due to the growth of a powerful socialist camp and that it was new possible for the countries under the capitalist mode to make a "peaceful transition" to socialism through the “parliamentary road”. He also proclaimed the thesis of “peaceful co-existence” and “peaceful competition” among the countries of different social and political systems as the general line of the foreign policy for the entire socialist camp.

The struggle against this modern revisionism of the Khrushchov clique started soon after the Congress. In April 1956 the CPC published the document called "On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" in which it was pointed out that Stalin had been an outstanding Marxist-Leninist who handled the CPSU and the Soviet people in the socialist construction and who had led the working class of the world and all the progressive mankind in the war against Hitler. Mao Tsetung in his talks in April 1956 with leading members of the Central Committee of the CPSU had emphasized that Stalin’s, “merits outweighed his faults". In October 1956 Mao Tsetung in his talks with the Soviet ambassador to China indicated that besides disagreeing with the method and scope of Khrushchov’s criticism of Stalin there were some other matters also on which the CPC disagreed with the CPSU leadership.

The point that Khrushchov's attack on Stalin weakened the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialist camp and served the imperialist was brought home clearly and poignantly through the counter-revolutionary rebellion bf 1956 in Hungary. Disturbing events had also taken place in Poland. Summarizing the developments on the world scale until that time the CPC in December 1956 published another document called "More on the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" in which the question was posed clearly,' "A further train of events has caused us concern…. Who is our enemy, who is our friend?” Mao Tsetung was clearly alluding to the fact that the Khrushchov’s talks on the one hand about Eisenhower being interested in maintaining peace and on the other hand his complete denunciation of Stalin were in fact, helping the real enemies and hurting the friends.

While the CPC under Mao Tsetung’s leadership waged struggle against Khrushchov’s line in the International Communist movement, the Chinese party itself was not free from internal struggles. Right from the time of liberation in 1949 there had been two lines in the CPC regarding the path of socialist construction. One line represented by Liu Shao- chi, advocated to imitate the soviet experience; It based itself on the view that after the capture of the state power the struggle for socialism was first and foremost the struggle for production. It believed that during the socialist transformation of the society class struggle takes the back seat and organizing a rapid development of the productive forces becomes the prime goal of the Party and the state.

Mao Tsetung strongly disagreed with this line and consistently opposed it. By 1956 he had made a careful study of the Soviet experience. He had realized that the one-sided emphasis on developing the productive forces and the negating of class struggle were fundamentally erroneous and had created a situation in which new bourgeoisie elements could thrive and make attempts of capitalist restoration. Mao grasped Lenin’s teaching about Class struggle being the decisive factor through out the entire stage of socialism. ,He grasped the fact that even in the socialist stage it was the superstructure, with the old modes of thoughts, customs, behavior and attitudes still permeating it, which obstruct the development of the economic base and hence continual1y revolutionizing the superstructure was the key element of the struggle for socialism.

The struggle between the two lines in the CPC continued on a tortuous, zig-zag course throughout the years after 1949 and finally culminated in Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. This is an epical story in itself, which cannot be dealt with here. Here we merely wish to point out that the struggle against the Khrushchov clique and the struggle against the Liu Shao-Chi's line in the CPC were part of the overall struggle against the modern revisionism in the international communist movement. Mao saw the danger that what was happening in the Soviet Union may happen in China too. From then on the struggle in the international communist movement and the struggle inside the CPC would continue on an intertwined path. While the modern revisionism, would be defeated theoretically in the Great Debate the question would be settled in practice through the social experiment of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Let us again turn back to 1956. In September 1956 the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of China took place. In this Congress Liu Shao-Chi's line had gained ascendance. It was declared that the basic contradiction in China was “between the productive forces which are backward and the advanced socialist system". Liu Shao-chi spoke of “the decisive victory of socialism". He stated, that in China the question whether the socialist road, would be victorious or the capitalist road would prevail had been, settled for good. In clear allusion to the theses of Khrushchov at the Twentieth Congress Liu Shao-chi too spoke the language or hope of "an era of peace" and of "relaxation of tension".

All this was in clear conflict with the revolutionary line of Mao Tsetung. The struggle against modern revisionism was reflecting in the two-line struggle inside the CPC. Mao started the struggle against the rightists in the party through a rectification and a socialist education campaign. This campaign came to be known as the Hundred Flowers Campaign as it gave the slogan, "Let a hundred flowers Gloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” Through his study of the Soviet experience and in the two-line struggle inside the CPC Mao had recognized that the one-sided emphasis on production and negation of class struggle on the one hand and not relying on the masses and adopting a bureaucratic style of work on the other were closely linked with each other. In the Hundred Flowers campaign he invited the masses to criticize the defects of the Party, Liu Shao-Chi and other rightist leaders were for restricting the scope of mass-criticism. Mao challenged the party members, "Let people speak up'. The sky will not fall...If you don't let people speak, you will lose..." This campaign, in addition to helping the party getting steeled in the fire of mass criticism, also exposed the rightist, elements hidden among the people and in the Party. They came out with big character posters wantonly attacking the Party. In September 1957 the anti-rightist campaign began. The workers and peasants now put up big character posters attacking the rightist elements. Mao Tsetung in his, characteristic way proved his point. There were classes and acute class struggles in the socialist society. Through the socialist education and rectification movement of the Hundred Flowers campaign he had partly succeeded in turning the negative of the Eighth Congress of the CPC in to a positive.

Armed with the experience of the struggle against the rightists at home Mao Tsetung went to Moscow in November 1957 where a direct struggle against the revisionist line of the Khrushchev clique would take place.

On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the Great October Revolution sixty-four delegations of communist and workers' parties from all over the world had assembled in Moscow. A meeting of these fraternal parties was organized in which the CPSU leadership attempted to impose the line of the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU on the international communist movement. The original draft of' the Declaration to be issued by the meeting of the fraternal parties had been prepared by the CPSU leadership in which they had smuggled in the thesis of "peaceful transition" from capitalism to socialism through the "parliamentary road".

Mao Tsetung conducted a determined and principled struggle at the meeting to safeguard the international communist movement from the revisionist onslaught and to keep it on the revolutionary path. His approach was based on scientific reasoning and principled arguments. He struggled in the spirit of "unity-criticism-unity". He still cherished the hope that the leaders of the CPSU would abandon their erroneous theses and return to the revolutionary fold.

In contrast to the imprecise statements and outbursts of Khrushchov at the Twentieth Congress Mao Tsetung laid out the facts of the world situation in a precise and realistic manner. In contrast to Khrushchov's ramblings about peace and his raising hell about the dangers of the nuclear holocaust, Mao Tsetung pointed out that after the second World War the imperialism was on the decline and the situation was growing in favour of socialism and world revolution. He cited the defeat of Hitler and Japan, the victory of revolution in China, the countering of America imperialism in Korea, the victory of the Vietnamese over the French colonialism, the withdrawal of colonial powers from South and Southeast Asia and Africa, the national liberation struggles in Algeria etc. as clear examples of wreaking of imperialism and Strengthening of the forces of socialism and world revolution. He summed up the situation in the poetic expression, "The east wind prevails over the west wind.”

Mao also pointed out that the national liberation struggles in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America would now be in the forefront of the struggle against imperialism. It was the duty of the socialist camp to provide all possible support to these struggles. Only the victory of the Liberation struggles, the strengthening of the socialist camp and the eventual demise of the imperialist system would be the guarantee for peace. Mao was clearly alluding to the fact that the appeasing of imperialism, through the proclamations of "peaceful co-existence" with it and through withdrawing support to the national liberation movements as it supposedly entailed the danger of world nuclear conflagration would not bring in peace. The only way to strengthen peace was through the weakening of the imperialism. Mao, therefore, pointed out that giving all-possible support to the national liberation movements must be the key element of the general line of the international communist movement.

Khrushchov's designs of projecting' the Soviet Union as the only other great power besides the Americans, of showing that he was the unquestionable leader of the socialist camp and, thus, to be able to negotiate with the American imperialists from a favorable position were jeopardized by the principled struggle put up by Mao Tsetung and the Chinese delegation. Khrushchov became hostile to the Chinese since then. He would later misrepresent Mao's analysis as war mongering, would depict Mao as "bellicose' ...intent on promoting war... ...needing a psychiatrist...".

However, at the Moscow meeting of the fraternal parties an agreement was reached. A joint draft of the Declaration was prepared by the CPC and CPSU in which the non-peaceful paths for the transition between capitalism and socia1ism were emphasized. The document was not altogether satisfactory but the Chinese made a compromise in order to preserve the unity of the international communist movement and in the hope that the Soviet leadership would return to the correct path. The Declaration was ratified by the meeting of the fraternal parties.

Mao Tsetung, after this direct experience of the way things were in Moscow, returned more sceptical about the possibility of the Soviet leadership coming back to the revolutionary fold. He clearly realized that China would have to rely on herself in her struggle to build socialism. He conceived, planned and initiated the Great Leap Forward at home. The general line of the Great Leap Forward was formulated soon after his return from Moscow.

It set the task of the party and the state “to carry out the technological and cultural revolution simultaneously with the socialist revolution on the political and ideological fronts; to develop industry and agriculture simultaneously with priority development of the heavy industry; to develop central and local industries simultaneously under central leadership, overall planning and in co-ordination; and to develop large, medium and small enterprises simultaneously. To build socialism, faster, better and more economically by exerting efforts to the utmost and pressing ahead consistently.” Mao was giving a blue print for a self-reliant construction of socialism in China. He had serious apprehensions about the attitude the CPSU leadership would take towards the CPC and other genuine Marxist-Leninist parties in the on going ideological struggle. His worst apprehensions were to be realized in not too distant a future.

Organizing summit meetings and coming to agreements with the American imperialists became the main preoccupation for Khrushchev. In this he would continually blow hot and cold. He would describe Eisenhower as a man who “enjoy the absolute confidence of his people” and praise him for worrying “about ensuring peace just we do”. He would laud Kennedy as committed to peace. Then he would upon the Cuban missile adventure and when confronted and challenged by the American imperialist would surrender shamelessly and compromise the sovereignty of Cuba behind her back. His attitude towards the countries of the socialist camp would be that of a big brother who should enjoy exclusive right to speak for all of them while dealing with the imperialists. He would sign nuclear test ban treaty with the Americans to give the monopoly of the nuclear weapons to the two “great powers”. He would promise to the Americans that the nuclear know-how would not be put in the hands of “madman”, making a vulgar allusion to Mao Tsetung and the CPC leadership.

During his visit to China in august 1958, Khrushchev tried to create a scare of aggressive intentions on the part of the US and attempted to coerce the Chinese leaders accepting proposals allowing naval bases for Russian submarines and ships and of locating Russian experts and military staff in Chinese sites which would have put China under the Russian military control. These proposals were firmly rejected. Khrushchev would now argue by force. “In June 1959 the Soviet Government unilaterally tore up the agreement on new technology for national defense concluded between China and the Soviet Union in October 1957 and refused to provide China with a sample of an atomic bomb and technical data concerning its manufacture.”

At the Twenty first Congress of the CPSU which took place in January-February 1959 Khrushchov spoke of total agreement between the CPC and the CPSU and singled, out "some people" in the CPC who were dogmatists. The attempt to show that differences existed inside the CPC and to isolate the revolutionary leadership of Mao Tsetung was not an exercise on Khrushchov's part to build castles in the air.

A very serious struggle was actually 'developing in the CPC at that time.

The Great Leap Forward had in the main been a success. The enthusiasm and the initiative of the masses had been aroused. This arousal expressed itself in the commune movement and in the struggle for production as inspired by the programme of the Leap. However, there were some shortcomings, There were exaggerated claims and resultant dislocations in the planning. The rightists in the party used these shortcomings to attack the Leap and the revolutionary line of Mao Tsetung, Peng Teh-huai, who was the defence minister at the time, led this rightist attack. Peng had always been a proponent of following the Soviet model for the socialist construction in China. He also insisted to raise a professional red army on the model of the Soviet red army and opposed Mao's concept of people’s army. His reliance was more on the modern weapon systems rather than on the revolutionary character of the people's army. He was for ideological conciliation with the Soviet leaders so that all these could be achieved with the help of the Soviets. Mao c1early saw that this would mean an opportunist compromise, on matters of principle and would definitely lead China on the capitalist road. Once more it was the struggle between the socialist and capitalist roads. Mao would not spare any effort in such a struggle. Lifting the whole struggle to the ideological plane he condemned rightists’ lack of confidence in revolution, "The Khrushchovs oppose these….. three things: Hundred Flowers blooming, people's communes and the Great Leap Forward….. we must use these things to challenge the entire world, including the opponents and skeptics within our party.” Once more he succeeded in turning the tide. The rightist onslaught was defeated. Pang Teh-huai was criticized by the Patty and was removed from the post of the minister of defence even though he remained in the Central Committee.

By the, beginning of 1960 the struggle between the CPC and the CPSU was growing bitter. Khrushchov was clearly colluding with the American imperialist against China, was unilaterally 'tearing up Treaties with China, calling Mao Tsetung and the Chinese leaders "mad men", "bellicose" “war-mongers" etc. He was attacking the, CPC leadership for the commune movement calling it “Trotskyism”. Along with all this the revisionist line of the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU, was constantly being peddled as the general line of the International communist; movement. In these circumstances, the CPC published the famous article "Long Live Leninism" in April 1960 on the occasion of the ninetieth anniversary of Lenin's birth. In this article the revisionist line of the Twentieth Congress was chal1enged and refuted even though the CPSU leadership was, still not criticized by name.

After this started the open hostility of the CPSU leadership towards the CPC and China. The scope of the ideological struggles was enlarged by the, Soviet leaders to effect the State to State relations. In July 1960 the Soviet Union withdrew from China the 1930 Soviet experts and “suspended” 343 contracts and 257 projects. At the meeting of the fraternal parties in Bucharest, which was taking place at the time of the Third Congress' of the Rumanian Workers’ Party, Khrushchov started an openly hostile and vicious anti-China campaign. He also attacked the Albanian party at this meeting with open hostility.

The meeting of 81 fraternal Parties was held in Moscow in November 1960. A sharp struggle took place at this meeting between the two lines in the international communist movement. The attempt of the CPSU leaders to load the draft Statement with their revisionist line was forcefully fought against by the CPC and other Marxist-Leninist parties in the drafting committee of the 26 fraternal parties. The Statement issued by the meeting was a compromise document but the CPC and other Marxist-Leninist parties had won an important victory in exposing the revisionist line of the CPSU.

The meeting of 1960 proved to be of little help in stemming the open split towards which the international communist movement was headed. The Twenty-second Congress of the CPSU was held in October 1961. At this congress the Khrushchov clique brought in the out-and-out revisionist Programme which crudely revised “the essence of Marxism-Leninism, namely, the teachings on proletarian revolution, on the dictatorship of the proletariat and on the party of the proletariat; declaring that the dictatorship of the proletariat is no longer needed in the Soviet Union and that the nature of the CPSU as the vanguard of the proletariat has changed, and advancing the fallacies of a "State of the whole people" and a "party of the entire people". As the Chinese documents say the- revisionism of the CPSU leadership became systematized with the Twenty-second congress.

At the Twenty-second congress the Albanian Party was criticized by name. The Albanian Party had not been invited to the Congress. Just as in the case of China Albania, too, had been deprived of the entire Soviet aid since the middle of 1961. And now, at the Congress Khrushchov “went so far as openly to call for the overthrow of the Albanian leadership,.." Chou En-lai heading the Chinese delegation strongly opposed this method of the 'CPSU leadership and immediately return to Peking.

In 1962 the Khrushchov clique instigated disturbance at the Sino-Soviet border and engaged in subversive activities in Sinkiang. The relation between the two parties was strained to the extreme. At the Congresses of the Parties of the East European countries Khrushchov engaged in most vicious tirade against the CPC and the China. The CPC was forced to make open replies to these tirades. Even then the CPC once more agreed for a meeting with the CPSU to sort out differences and gave a proposal concerning the general line of the international communist movement (the letter of June 14) so that systematic exchange of views could take place. However the CPSU leadership once more took a hostile attitude and while the meeting between the two patties was on, on July 14,1963 it published its Open Letter. As the CPSU leaders unilaterally opened the debate to public the CPC was forced to resume its public replies to the attacks of Khrushchov clique. In the Nine Comments it gave a systematic and comprehensive response to the entire key issues raised in the Open Letter of the CPSU. Such were the tortuous paths through which the glorious struggle against the modern revisionism was waged.

As we have stated before, through, this struggle Mao Tsetung further enriched Marxism-Leninism and took to new heights. It is clear from these documents, specially by the time one reaches the Ninth Comment, “On Khrushchev’s phoney Communism its Historical Lessons for the World” that Mao Tsetung by then had clearly understood the source of capitalist restoration in the Soviet Union and in a socialist society in general, he had unraveled the laws of class struggle in a socialist Society, had laid bare the dialectical interrelationship between the superstructure and the economic base, during the socialist stage and developed theories and policies for the party of the proletariat for this stage. The Great Debate was the doorway to the great social experiment of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. In this great social experiment the Chinese proletariat and hundreds of millions of the revolutionary working people of China would participate in a great revolutionary struggle to defeat the revisionists and the capitalist roaders' in the Party and in the State, to safeguard the proletarian character of the Party, to defend the dictatorship of the proletariat and to continually revolutionize the superstructure in order to be able to keep on the socialist road. Mao warned that many such Cultural Revolutions would be needed for the decisive victory of the socialist road over the capitalist road, that it would take many generations, may be five or ten to completely eliminate the danger of capitalist restoration.

Today the international communist movement is again going through a period of crisis. In fact, it is going through the worst crisis in its entire history. After Mao Tsetung's death the clique of the Chinese Khrushchov, Teng Hsiao-ping captured the leadership of the Chinese Party and the State through the counter revolutionary coup of 1976. Since then the Teng clique has unleashed the most dangerous attack on the ideology of the proletariat. They have moved at an extraordinary speed to restore capitalism in China. With these tragic events, the socialist camp has been liquidated. An unprecedented situation has been created for the international proletariat, as it does not have an experienced leader like Lenin or Mao to defend its ideology against the most dangerous attack.

In these difficult times it is the bounden duty of all genuine Marxist-Leninists all over the world to resolutely defend and safeguard Marxism-Leninism MaoTsetung Thought and uphold the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The documents of the Great Debate are a most effective and powerful weapon in such struggle.

Editorial Committee

October 1986