Xiao Banfa
5th December 2005, 11:00
MAO -- DEFENDER OF STALIN?
In his talk to the Stalin Society in October, Adolfo Olaechea stated that:
"The Communist Party of China under his (Mao's -- Ed.) personal leadership was the most staunch defender of the historical role of Comrade Stalin".
(Adolfo Olaechea: op. cit.; p. 18).
In fact, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February 1956 the Communist Party of China's assessment of Stalin was little different from that of Soviet revisionist leader Nikita Khrushchev:
"Stalin erroneously exaggerated his own role and counter-posed his individual authority to the collective leadership, and as a result certain of his actions were opposed to certain fundamental Marxist-Leninist concepts. . . .
When any leader of the Party or the state places himself over and above the Party and the masses, . . . he ceases to have an all-round, penetrating insight into the affairs of the state. As long as this was the case, . . . Stalin could not avoid making unrealistic and erroneous decisions on certain matters. . . . During the latter part of his life, Stalin took more and more pleasure in this cult of the individual and violated the Party's system of democratic centralism and the principle of combining collective leadership with individual responsibility. As a result, . . . he gave certain wrong advice on the international communist movement and, in particular, made a wrong decision on the question of Yugoslavia. On these issues, Stalin fell victim to subjectivism and one-sidedness, and divorced himself from objective reality and from the masses.
The Chinese Communist Party congratulates the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on its great achievements in this historic struggle against the cult of the individual".
('On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat' (April 1956), in: 'Renmin Ribao' (People's Daily)', in: John Gittings: 'Survey of the Sino-Soviet Dispute: A Commentary and Extracts from the Recent Polemics: 1963-1967"; London; 1968; p. 291-92, 293).
"Stalin made some serious mistakes in regard to the domestic and foreign policies of the Soviet Union. His arbitrary method of work impaired . . . the principle of democratic centralism . . . and disrupted part of the socialist legal system. Because in many fields of work Stalin estranged himself from the masses . . . and made personal, arbitrary decisions concerning many important policies, it was inevitable that he should have made grave mistakes. . . . He wronged many local communists and honest citizens, and this caused serious losses. . . . Sometimes he even intervened mistakenly, with many grave consequences, in the internal affairs of certain brother countries and parties. . . .
Some of the mistakes made by Stalin during the latter years of his life became serious, nationwide and persistent, and were not corrected in time. . . .
Stalin's mistakes did harm to the Soviet Union which could have been avoided. . . .
Stalin . . . committed the serious mistake of violating socialist democracy. . . .
Stalin displayed certain great-nation chauvinist tendencies in relations with brother parties and countries".
('More on the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat' (December 1956), in: 'Renmin Ribao' (People's Daily), in: John Gittings: ibid.; p. 298, 300, 301, 302, 303).
And in April 1956 Mao himself wrote:
"Stalin's mistakes amounted to . . . 30% of the whole. Stalin did a number of wrong things in connection with China. The Left adventurism pursued by Wang Ming in the latter part of . . . the Second Revolutionary Civil War period and his Right opportunism in the early days of the War of Resistance against Japan can both be traced to Stalin".
(Mao Tse-tung: 'On the Ten Major Relationships' (April 1956), in: 'Selected Works', Volume 5; Peking; 1977; p. 304).
It will be seen that the Communist Party of China's assessment of Stalin was incorrect and basically little different from that put forward by the Soviet revisionists.
Olaechea's statement that:
"The Communist Party of China under his (Mao's -- Ed.) personal leadership was the most staunch defender of the historical role of Comrade Stalin"
(Adolfo Olaechea: op. cit.; p. 18).
is clearly false.
In his talk to the Stalin Society in October, Adolfo Olaechea stated that:
"The Communist Party of China under his (Mao's -- Ed.) personal leadership was the most staunch defender of the historical role of Comrade Stalin".
(Adolfo Olaechea: op. cit.; p. 18).
In fact, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February 1956 the Communist Party of China's assessment of Stalin was little different from that of Soviet revisionist leader Nikita Khrushchev:
"Stalin erroneously exaggerated his own role and counter-posed his individual authority to the collective leadership, and as a result certain of his actions were opposed to certain fundamental Marxist-Leninist concepts. . . .
When any leader of the Party or the state places himself over and above the Party and the masses, . . . he ceases to have an all-round, penetrating insight into the affairs of the state. As long as this was the case, . . . Stalin could not avoid making unrealistic and erroneous decisions on certain matters. . . . During the latter part of his life, Stalin took more and more pleasure in this cult of the individual and violated the Party's system of democratic centralism and the principle of combining collective leadership with individual responsibility. As a result, . . . he gave certain wrong advice on the international communist movement and, in particular, made a wrong decision on the question of Yugoslavia. On these issues, Stalin fell victim to subjectivism and one-sidedness, and divorced himself from objective reality and from the masses.
The Chinese Communist Party congratulates the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on its great achievements in this historic struggle against the cult of the individual".
('On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat' (April 1956), in: 'Renmin Ribao' (People's Daily)', in: John Gittings: 'Survey of the Sino-Soviet Dispute: A Commentary and Extracts from the Recent Polemics: 1963-1967"; London; 1968; p. 291-92, 293).
"Stalin made some serious mistakes in regard to the domestic and foreign policies of the Soviet Union. His arbitrary method of work impaired . . . the principle of democratic centralism . . . and disrupted part of the socialist legal system. Because in many fields of work Stalin estranged himself from the masses . . . and made personal, arbitrary decisions concerning many important policies, it was inevitable that he should have made grave mistakes. . . . He wronged many local communists and honest citizens, and this caused serious losses. . . . Sometimes he even intervened mistakenly, with many grave consequences, in the internal affairs of certain brother countries and parties. . . .
Some of the mistakes made by Stalin during the latter years of his life became serious, nationwide and persistent, and were not corrected in time. . . .
Stalin's mistakes did harm to the Soviet Union which could have been avoided. . . .
Stalin . . . committed the serious mistake of violating socialist democracy. . . .
Stalin displayed certain great-nation chauvinist tendencies in relations with brother parties and countries".
('More on the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat' (December 1956), in: 'Renmin Ribao' (People's Daily), in: John Gittings: ibid.; p. 298, 300, 301, 302, 303).
And in April 1956 Mao himself wrote:
"Stalin's mistakes amounted to . . . 30% of the whole. Stalin did a number of wrong things in connection with China. The Left adventurism pursued by Wang Ming in the latter part of . . . the Second Revolutionary Civil War period and his Right opportunism in the early days of the War of Resistance against Japan can both be traced to Stalin".
(Mao Tse-tung: 'On the Ten Major Relationships' (April 1956), in: 'Selected Works', Volume 5; Peking; 1977; p. 304).
It will be seen that the Communist Party of China's assessment of Stalin was incorrect and basically little different from that put forward by the Soviet revisionists.
Olaechea's statement that:
"The Communist Party of China under his (Mao's -- Ed.) personal leadership was the most staunch defender of the historical role of Comrade Stalin"
(Adolfo Olaechea: op. cit.; p. 18).
is clearly false.