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Luo Ruiqing / Lo Jui-ching, Commemorate the Victory Over German Fascism! Carry the Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Through to the End! (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1965)
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LO JUI-CHING
COMMEMORATE THE VICTORY
OVER GERMAN FASCISM!
CARRY THE STRUGGLE
AGAINST U.S. IMPERIALISM
THROUGH TO THE END!
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS
PEKING 1965
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE
This article is written by Lo Jui-ching, Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice-Premier of the State Council and Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It was first published in Hongqi (Red Flag), No. 5, May 10, 1965.
Printed in the People's Republic of China
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Fully twenty years have elapsed since the great victory over German fascism.
Twenty years have elapsed since the great victory over the bloc of German, Japanese and Italian fascism.
These twenty years have witnessed earth-shaking transformations. As Comrade Mao Tse-tung said, the victory of the anti-fascist Second World War "has opened up still wider possibilities for the emancipation of the working class and the oppressed peoples of the world and has opened up still more realistic paths towards it".1 Since the War, two great historical currents, the socialist revolution and the national liberation movement, have been changing the face of the world; they have merged to present a magnificent spectacle — The [the --MIWS] Four Seas are raging, the Five Continents are rocking. We are filled with boundless confidence in victory as we recall the victory over German, Japanese and Italian fascism twenty years ago, take stock of the excellent situation for the people's revolution in the world today and see the bright prospects of the fight for world peace, national liberation, people's democracy and socialism.
More than twenty years ago, when Hitler swept over the continent of Europe and threw all his forces into the surprise attack on the Soviet Union, believing that she¬
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could be "wiped out" in a couple of months, the whole world was heavily overcast for a time as if "the city might crumble under the mass of dark clouds". Many people throughout the world were morbidly afraid of Hitler, paled even at the mention of his name, and they grew pessimistic about the international situation. At the time Hitler's fascist armies were considered to be virtually invincible. Not only were the small European countries unable to withstand them, even the forces of such imperialist powers as Britain and France collapsed at the first encounter or fled pell-mell. In the circumstances, could socialism defeat fascism? Could the socialist system triumph over the capitalist imperialist system? Could the Soviet Union withstand the attacks of Hitler's fascist armies? Could the Soviet army defeat Hitler's fascist army? These were questions of the utmost concern to the people all over the world. This was a grave test for the first socialist state, for the socialist system and for the revolutionary armed forces of the proletariat. This was an issue crucial for the destiny of mankind.
Under the brilliant leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Supreme Command headed by Comrade Stalin, the Soviet state created by Lenin, a young state which had only recently accomplished socialist industrialization, and its young Red Army of workers and peasants not only stood up to the attack of Hitler's supposedly invincible fascist troops and destroyed the enemy's effectives on masse [en masse --MIWS], but turned to a resolute and timely counter-offensive and pursuit and fought all the way to Berlin, thoroughly smashing Hitler's fascist war machine and scoring the decisive victory in the Anti-Fascist War.
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The victory over German fascism was not just an ordinary or regional victory, it was a victory affecting the course of history and the destiny of mankind. It was a triumph for the socialist system. It was a triumph for the Soviet people and the Soviet army. It was a triumph for the Marxist-Leninist leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union headed by Comrade Stalin. It was also a triumph for the people of Germany, of Europe, of Asia and of the whole world in their common struggle.
In their struggle against the fascist brigands, the Soviet people demonstrated iron will and unparalleled heroism. Fearing no sacrifices and defying all difficulties, they made a great contribution to victory in the Anti-Fascist War.
Holding aloft the banner of Lenin and Stalin, the Soviet Red Army fought valiantly in an indomitable revolutionary spirit, advanced wave upon wave and brilliantly performed immortal deeds in playing its glorious role as the main force against fascism.
Following Lenin's behest, Comrade Stalin armed the Soviet people with Marxism-Leninism, and under his leadership, they accomplished socialist industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture before the war, thus building backward Russia into an advanced socialist power. In the face of the powerful onslaught of the fascist Hitlerite forces, he dauntlessly and brilliantly led the Soviet people and army to complete victory in the anti-fascist Patriotic War after an unprecedentedly stubborn struggle. Although Stalin committed certain mistakes, including a number in military affairs, facts showed that he was worthy of the name of a great Marxist-Lenin-¬
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ist and of a brilliant commander of the revolutionary armed forces of the proletariat.
The people of the world will always honour the heroic exploits of the Soviet people and army, who reared such heroes as Zoya Kosmodemiyanskaya and Aleksander Matrosov. They will always honour the valiant record of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union headed by Stalin in leading the war.
By spreading countless lies during the past twenty years the imperialists and the modern revisionists have deliberately distorted the history of the anti-fascist Patriotic War, besmirched the heroic stature of the Soviet people and army and grossly slandered the leadership of the CPSU headed by Stalin. However, the more they do so, the more they prove the correctness of Stalin's leadership and the greatness of the Soviet people and army, united under the banner of Lenin and Stalin. Attempts to distort history can never succeed. Just imagine. If the Soviet people and army had not been led by Stalin but by revisionists such as Khrushchov, and if they had not acted in accordance with the line, policy and method of the Marxist-Leninists represented by Stalin, but with the line, policy and method of the revisionists represented by Khrushchov in the latter's dealings with U.S. imperialism in our day, the outcome could only have been disastrous defeat or capitulation, and who knows how many more hardships the people of the Soviet Union and the world would have had to suffer and how many years Soviet and world history would have been pushed back.
History advances according to its own laws. Alienated from and setting themselves against the people, fascist¬
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brigands like Hitler and revisionists like Khrushchov are simply fools on the stage of history, while the socialist cause and the anti-fascist cause to which Stalin and the Soviet people and army under his leadership devoted themselves will shine for ever.
Today, when we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the victory over German fascism and of victory in the whole Anti-Fascist War, we must never forget that U.S. imperialism is playing a role more ferocious than that of Hitler. Immediately upon the conclusion of the Anti-Fascist War, U.S. imperialism stepped into the shoes of German, Japanese and Italian fascism, has worked out and pressed its counter-revolutionary strategy for world hegemony, making the Dollar Empire the greatest international exploiter, the gendarme of the world, the chief bulwark of all the forces of reaction and colonialism, the main source of aggression and war in our times and the sworn enemy of the people of the world.
For the last twenty years, U.S. imperialism has been engaged in frantic arms expansion and war preparations and has launched aggression right and left, and it is preparing to impose another world war on the people. We used to say in the past that fascism means war; today we have all the more reason to say that U.S. imperialism means war. In order to smash the aggression of U.S. imperialism and to frustrate its plot for a new war, it is of great practical importance, nay essential, for the socialist countries and the people of all countries to review the historical experience of the war waged by the people of the world against German, Japanese and Italian fascism.
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The historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War teaches us that, so long as imperialism exists, the socialist countries and all revolutionary people must maintain the highest revolutionary vigilance and make effective preparations against the eventuality that imperialism may suddenly impose a war on us.
The danger of war exists so long as imperialism exists. Until imperialism is eliminated and socialism has won victory throughout the world, the victory of socialism in one or a number of countries cannot be regarded as final or complete, and nor can the victory of the cause of national independence or national liberation in one or a number of countries.
The truth of this has been repeatedly confirmed by history. The imperialists and reactionaries invariably try by every possible means to suppress and destroy those countries and people who have been victorious in their revolutions. This holds good when the revolutionary forces are weak and continues to hold good when they have grown strong. As Comrade Mao Tse-tung put it, "The principle of the reactionary forces in dealing with the democratic forces of the people is definitely to destroy all they can and to prepare to destroy later whatever they cannot destroy now."1 This is the way they deal with China as well as the Soviet Union; this is the way they deal with the national independent countries as well¬
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as the socialist countries, and this is the way they deal with countries and people fighting for national liberation and carrying on people's revolutionary struggles as well as with countries and people that have achieved victory. This is determined by the class nature of imperialism. After all, imperialism is imperialism, it will never lay down its butcher's knife and suddenly become a Buddha. Khrushchov and other modern revisionists assert that the nature of imperialism has changed as a result of the growing might of the socialist camp. This completely violates the Leninist theory of imperialism and is sheer nonsense.
Today, U.S. imperialism is using its counter-revolutionary dual tactics of war and so-called "peace". While playing up its deceitful talk and [of --MIWS] peace, it is launching wars of aggression everywhere and accelerating its preparations for new wars. In these circumstances, it is all the more necessary for us to bear in mind the historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War, never cease to maintain high revolutionary vigilance, refuse to be duped by the imperialist peace hoax and guard against any slackening of vigilance and any idea of leaving things to chance. While persevering in their peaceful foreign policy and their economic construction, the socialist countries and the countries that have won national independence must at the same time strengthen their national defences and make adequate preparations against imperialist wars of aggression. It makes a world of difference whether or not one is prepared once a war breaks out. Among all these preparations, political and ideological preparation must be given the first priority. Moreover, these preparations must be made for the most difficult and worst situations that may possibly arise. Preparations must be¬
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made not only against any small-scale warfare but also against any medium- or large-scale warfare that imperialism may launch. These preparations must envisage the use by the imperialists of nuclear weapons as well as of conventional weapons. To think and act along these lines is more realistic and more likely to win the initiative, so that come what may, we shall be in a position to cope with the situation successfully and be surer of defeating the enemy.
The historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War also teaches us that imperialism is perfidious. Under given conditions, it is permissible for socialist countries to enter into negotiations and reach certain agreements with imperialist countries. But in no case should they pin their hopes for the defence of world peace on such negotiations and agreements. They must firmly oppose any Munich policy like that of Chamberlain and Daladier.
The imperialists and all the reactionaries are amoral pragmatists who for all their fine words stop at no crime. When they feel the need, when they are not yet ready to attack you, when they need to put up a smokescreen before launching attacks, and when they need a breathing spell or have to stop after suffering serious defeats in their wars of aggression, they will sit down to negotiate with you and even talk glibly about "peace" and "friendship", sign all kinds of treaties and agreements, and make all sorts of assurances and pledges. But once they think they can swallow you up, when they con-¬
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sider the situation to be in their favour, and when they have sharpened their knives, they will immediately drop this mask and tear all the sacred treaties, solemn agreements and inviolable pledges to shreds. Modern history provides countless instances of this sort. A case in point was the undeclared blitzkrieg which Hitler launched against the Soviet Union less than two years after he had concluded a non-aggression treaty with it.
This was how Hitler acted, but doesn't U.S. imperialism act the same way today? Indeed, to say that U.S. imperialism is as perfidious as Hitler doesn't go far enough. For U.S. imperialism is actually many times more insidious and deadly than Hitler. Even with regard to its closest allies and partners, such as Britain and France, and its most faithful lackeys, such as Syngman Rhee and Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States makes use of them when they are useful and kicks them aside when they are no longer needed — sometimes even "slaughtering the donkey after it has done its job at the mill". Such being the way it treats its own partners, is it conceivable that the United States would keep faith with the socialist countries, the national independent countries and the revolutionary people?
Therefore, in our dealings with the imperialists and reactionaries we must never cherish any illusion about their pledges or lightly believe in their fine words. The socialist nature of our society determines the peaceful nature of our foreign policy. We do not oppose negotiations with imperialist countries which are necessary for the interests of the people and the revolution, for the defence of world peace, and for the exposure of the enemy and the education of the people, but have always taken such negotiations seriously; we do not refuse to¬
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sign agreements and treaties which are necessary, and we have always honoured all the agreements and treaties we have signed. But while so acting, we must never forget that no agreements and treaties can stop imperialism when it is bent on war. Whoever pins his hopes for preventing war on treaties and agreements will certainly be badly fooled.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong are the common characteristics of imperialists and all reactionaries. Whoever wants to ensure his own safety by making concessions to the aggressor and by satisfying his greed at the expense of other people's interests is lifting a rock that will inevitably fall on his own toes. Chamberlain and Daladier rejected the Soviet proposal for an alliance against the fascist war menace and hatched the Munich plot selling out the interests of the Czechoslovak and Polish peoples, in the hope that Hitler would turn the spearhead of his aggression against the Soviet Union. But perceiving their fear of war as a weakness, Hitler struck at them first and caught them unprepared. The three million French troops collapsed in a month and a half, and Great Britain was brought to the verge of subjugation, barely avoiding the tragedy of France thanks to the English Channel. The Munich policy of Chamberlain and Daladier, which inflicted harm on themselves as well as on others, will live in history as a byword of infamy. Today, whoever plots another Munich in the face of the war blackmail of the U.S. imperialists will, like Chamberlain and Daladier, begin by doing harm to others and end by injuring himself. Since the people of the world are awakened, such plots are doomed to failure and such schemers will come to no good end.
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The historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War also teaches us that it is imperative to distinguish enemies from friends, make use of contradictions, win over the majority, unite with all the forces that can be united and form the broadest possible united front against the main enemy.
The fascist bloc of Germany, Japan and Italy represented the most rapacious and aggressive imperialism of the time. Their predatory policies seriously menaced the freedom and independence of every nation, not excepting their own partners; that is, the robbers preyed on each other. It follows from the predatory nature of the imperialists that not only will they be opposed by the broadest masses of the people all over the world, but that they are bound to oppose each other and break up.
One of Stalin's major contributions was that he correctly analysed the current situation in the international class struggle, identified the principal contradiction in the world arena and the principal enemy of the world's people and was therefore able to advance the correct slogan of an anti-fascist united front and to rally all the anti-fascist forces in a united front, with the Soviet Union and the world proletariat as its main force. As a result, the imperialist anti-Soviet alliance was shattered with the establishment of an anti-fascist alliance, and the imperialist encirclement of the socialist Soviet Union was broken with the achievement of a counter-encirclement of the fascist forces of aggression by the world-wide forces against aggression; thus a fundamental change was brought about in the strategic situation which became¬
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favourable to ourselves and unfavourable to the enemy. This was a vitally important factor in the great victory of the Anti-Fascist War.
Today, U.S. imperialism is not only striving to destroy socialism and grabbing vast regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America, which form the first intermediate zone, it also wants to control the capitalist and imperialist countries of West Europe, North America, Oceania and Japan, which form the second intermediate zone. By its policy of world domination U.S. imperialism is compelling over 90 per cent of the people of the world to rise up against it, inevitably alienating its followers and increasingly isolating itself, and becoming surrounded by enemies. In these circumstances, as Comrade Mao Tse-tung teaches us, the U.S. plans for aggression and war can be frustrated and defeated, provided that we are good at uniting the socialist camp and the people's anti-imperialist forces in all countries as well as at making use of the contradictions within the imperialist camp and forming the broadest possible united front against U.S. imperialism. And if nevertheless U.S. imperialism should venture on a new world war, we will be all the more certain of defeating it completely.
Regarding enemies as friends and friends as enemies, modern revisionists such as Khrushchov unite with the United States in "peaceful co-operation" against the people's revolutions, instead of uniting with all the anti-American forces, making use of the contradictions within the imperialist camp and forming an anti-American united front. This is a gross betrayal of the world proletarian revolution. It is also a gross betrayal of the oppressed nations and peoples. The modern revisionists'¬
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actions only help U.S. imperialism to extricate itself from its isolation, inflate its arrogance in aggression and increase the danger of its launching a new war. We must therefore relentlessly oppose such actions.
The historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War also teaches us that the strategy of active defence is the only correct strategy for the socialist countries in fighting against imperialist wars of aggression.
The strategy of active defence applied by the Soviet Supreme Command headed by Stalin was an important factor contributing to victory in the anti-fascist Patriotic War. The Soviet Union applied this strategy, thoroughly exposed the aggressive features of fascist Germany, aroused boundless and righteous anger among the Soviet people and army, and won extensive sympathy and support among the people of the world. It was through the application of this strategy that the Soviet army was able to trade space for time, deplete and destroy the enemy's effective forces on a large scale, and compel him to switch from the strategic offensive to the strategic defensive and finally go down in destruction. It was also through the application of this strategy that the Soviet army was able to take full advantage of the superiority inherent in a just war, gather strength in the course of the fighting, turn from the strategic defensive to the strategic offensive and then to pursuit, and, with the support and co-operation of the people of the world, triumph in the anti-fascist Patriotic War.
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Khrushchov and his like have done their utmost to denounce this strategy, alleging that it constituted one of Stalin's crimes and was a theory Stalin invented to justify his errors during the early period of the war. This is a gross distortion and slander. If the strategy of active defence adopted by Stalin was wrong, as they assert, one would like to ask: What other strategy should the Soviet Union have adopted? Pre-emptive war? This is obviously incompatible with the nature of the socialist system. It is not necessary, or permissible, for a socialist country to be the first to attack others; it will never fire the first shot. Or should the Soviet Union's strategy have been one of passive defence, of simply waiting to be attacked? This was obviously not to our advantage. Engels affirmed long ago that "passive defence invariably meets with certain defeat, no matter how well armed one is".1 Or should the strategy of the Soviet Union have been one of surrender to the enemy? This would have been the betrayal of revolution and the people. Such a strategy is absolutely unacceptable to the people. Whoever wishes to surrender to the enemy will be spurned by the people and branded as a traitor through the ages. Then what is the correct strategy? Of course, it can only be active defence.
Comrade Mao Tse-tung said:
Active defence is also known as offensive defence, or defence through decisive engagements. Passive defence is also known as purely defensive defence or pure defence. Passive defence is actually a spurious¬
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kind of defence, and the only real defence is active defence, defence for the purpose of counter-attacking and taking the offensive.1
Operationally, the strategy of active defence should not have the holding or capturing of territory as its main objective. It should be to concentrate superior forces to destroy the enemy's effectives. It was precisely by adopting this strategy in the anti-fascist Patriotic War that the Soviet Union forced Hitler to halt his troops before high mountains and outside fortified cities along the far-flung battle line stretching from Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad to the Caucasus, so that they were caught in an impasse, unable either to advance or to retreat, and suffered tremendous losses. Over 300,000 German fascist crack troops were encircled and annihilated in the Battle of Stalingrad, which marked the turning point of the Second World War. In the subsequent counter-offensives the effective forces of the aggressor were successively wiped out in large numbers. Such was the brilliant strategy that brought Hitler to his doom. Experience shows that only by energetically wiping out the enemy's effectives is it possible successfully to change the military situation, to defend cities and other places, and finally to defeat the aggressor.
The strategy of active defence does not stop with driving the aggressor out of the country, but requires strategic pursuit to destroy the enemy at his starting point, to destroy him in his nest. As Stalin put it, we must not allow a wounded beast to crawl back to re-¬
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cuperate; we must follow on its heels in hot pursuit and finish it off in its own lair. It was precisely this strategy that was applied by the Soviet Supreme Command headed by Stalin, with the result that the Soviet army's strategic pursuit actively supported the anti-fascist armed uprisings of the peoples of other European countries and helped the East European peoples overthrow their reactionary regimes and win victory in their revolutions. This was a splendid contribution by the Soviet people and army. In any future war against U.S. imperialist aggression, this is the only strategy for the socialist countries to adopt. We seriously warn the U.S. imperialists that they must not expect us to refrain from counter-attacking once they have attacked us. Nothing comes so cheap.
The historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War also teaches us that weapons are an important factor in war but not the decisive factor, and that people and not things are the fundamental factor determining the outcome of war.
Since they are divorced from and antagonistic to the people, imperialists and reactionaries dare not and cannot rely on the masses or on their own troops. In waging war they can only pin their hopes on weapons. They do their best to exaggerate the role of weapons simply because they want to intimidate people, and first of all to disarm the targets of their aggression morally so that their victims lose confidence in their capacity to resist and can be vanquished in a single battle or even without¬
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battle. This is the real value of the theory spread by the imperialists and reactionaries that weapons decide everything.
Didn't the theories of the fascist brigands that "air power decides the war" and that "tanks decide the war" inspire fear? The myth created by Goebbels of the invincibility of the German army, together with the scream of the siren-bombs and the activity of its Fifth Columns, spread such terror in capitalist Europe that some countries were morally disarmed even before Hitler attacked them. This was of enormous help to him. But when it came to attacking the socialist Soviet Union, Hitler's planes and tanks were no longer so fearsome or decisive. Why? What was the secret? Was it because the Soviet Union possessed more and better planes and tanks than Hitlerite Germany? No. The Soviet Union was inferior to Hitlerite Germany in this respect. Then what gave the Soviet army the strength to stand up to and defeat Hitler's fascist army? Truth to tell, there was nothing mysterious about it. It was because the Soviet Union relied on the people, the socialist system, revolutionary political work in the Red Army and the Marxist-Leninist leadership of the Communist Party. In brief, it was by relying on the politically conscious people led by the party of the proletariat that the Soviet Union smashed the fascist military machine. This is a law, this is the truth.
Wasn't this so? What could Hitler's fascist army with all its ferocity and power accomplish in the face of the Soviet army and the broad masses of the Soviet people, who, inspired by the glorious tradition of their October Revolution and armed with Marxist-Leninist ideology,¬
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were ready to sacrifice their lives to safeguard their socialist motherland? What could it do in the face of the thousands upon thousands of soldiers who defied death and courageously advanced to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, shouting as their slogans "For the motherland, for Stalin"?
Wasn't this so, too? How could Hitler's fascist army, for all its numbers and might, consolidate its occupied areas in the face of the widespread guerrilla warfare and sabotage carried on by the masses behind the enemy lines? What could it do except divert its armed forces? How could it avoid being buffeted on all sides? How could it escape tight encirclement by the people and final defeat?
All these facts show once again that victory in war does not depend on new weapons of one kind or another, or on a particular technical arm. It depends on the close integration of the armed forces and the civilian masses, the joint efforts of the people at the front and in the rear, the co-ordination of the battlefield at the front and the battlefield in the enemy rear, and close co-operation among the different armed services, of which the ground forces, and particularly the infantry, are primary. Without heroic fighting by the ground forces, no new weapons, however powerful, can determine the outcome of battles or achieve the political aim of a war. This is another law or truth governing war. It holds true for other wars as well as for the Anti-Fascist War. It holds true after as well as before the emergence of the atom bomb. It holds true for oppressed peoples engaged in revolutionary struggle as well as for a powerful socialist country such as the Soviet Union.
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The historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War also teaches us that all revolutionary wars support each other. Countries which have won victory should support and help the revolutionary struggles of those countries and people that have not yet won victory. The socialist countries should serve as base areas for the world revolution and as the main force in combating imperialist aggression.
By its victory in the anti-fascist Patriotic War the Soviet Union gave support to the people of all countries, helped the East European countries to win liberation and assisted the Chinese people in their War of Resistance Against Japan. At the same time, the anti-fascist struggles of the people of the world, the uprisings of the people of the European countries and their armed struggles against German and Italian fascism, and particularly the great anti-Japanese war with the Chinese people as the main force, to a large extent pinned down, hammered and weakened the military force of the fascist bloc as a whole. Without all these factors, it would have been impossible for the Soviet Union to win such a great victory in the anti-fascist Patriotic War.
From the Marxist-Leninist point of view, a revolutionary war or a war of resistance to aggression waged by a country is at once a struggle in its own national interest and a support for the revolutionary struggles of other countries, a support for those countries that have already won victory and a contribution to the defence of world peace. The countries and peoples engaged in such a war should do their best to tie down and destroy¬
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more enemy forces, while the countries that have won victory, and particularly the socialist countries, should give full play to the spirit of internationalism and regard it as their bounden duty to support the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples. In this mutual support, all countries, large or small, strong or weak, should firmly guard against and resist great-power chauvinism and narrow national egoism. Supporting others means supporting oneself, and therefore no one has the right to assume the airs of a benefactor or liberator. Whether or not a country which has won victory dares to serve as a base area for the world revolution and to support and aid the people's revolution in other countries is the touchstone of whether or not it is really for revolution and whether or not it really opposes imperialism.
Finally, the historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War teaches us that although a war imposed on us by imperialism will cause sacrifices, losses and destruction, it will also educate the people, and that the people will win the war as well as peace and progress.
The German fascists killed countless people and destroyed thousands of cities and villages in the Soviet Union, but the War resulted in victory for the Soviet Union, in the liberation of East Europe and the spread of socialism from one country to a whole camp of countries. The Soviet Union achieved further growth in its socialist construction. It did not become weaker because of the destruction in the War; on the contrary,¬
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it grew stronger. After we rose in resistance, fought and won, the war imposed on us by imperialism turned from a bad thing into a good thing, accelerating historical progress and social development. This lesson was confirmed by the Soviet anti-fascist Patriotic War and the revolutionary wars the Chinese people were compelled to fight over decades. It has been further confirmed by the Korean people's war of resistance against U.S. aggression, by the Vietnamese people's war of resistance against French aggression, by the Cuban people's revolutionary war and by Algeria's war of liberation. And there is no doubt that it will be borne out by the wars of liberation being waged at this very moment by the peoples of South Viet Nam, Laos and the Congo (Leopoldville), and by the people's revolutionary wars in other countries.
We are against the launching of wars by the imperialists, but we should not be afraid of war, still less should we oppose revolutionary wars out of fear of war. Of what avail is fear when the imperialists insist on imposing war on us? Can such fear prevent them from launching wars? Can fear eliminate wars? No. History has taught us that fear cannot prevent wars, to say nothing of eliminating them. In order to eliminate wars it is necessary to wage wars of resistance. In order to eliminate counter-revolutionary wars it is necessary to wage revolutionary wars. In order to do away with guns it is necessary to take up guns. It is under compulsion that we have taken up guns; we have waged revolutionary wars not only for the purpose of delivering ourselves from enslavement and oppression, but also for the purpose of eliminating the source of war — imperialism.
The rich historical experience of the Anti-Fascist War was gained at the cost of the blood of the revolutionary¬
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people in all countries. It is the common asset of the people of the world and is of immense practical importance for the current struggle against U.S. imperialism.
Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini and the other fascist brigands met their doom long ago. But U.S. imperialism, which since the War has replaced German, Japanese and Italian fascism as the arch-enemy of the people of the world, is now following in these brigands' footsteps, madly pressing ahead with the counter-revolutionary cause which they tried in vain to further and imposing one war of aggression after another on the people of different countries.
Modern revisionists such as Khrushchov say that Hitler would not have attacked the Soviet Union if he had foreseen the outcome of the War. These revisionists say that the chieftains of U.S. imperialism today are quite different from Hitler, that having recognized the strength of socialism they are able to learn the lessons of history, that they have become "sensible" and "peace-loving" and will not run the risk of launching a war as Hitler did. The modern revisionists have woven a fancy fairy tale in a perverse attempt to make people believe that imperialism and socialism can advance hand in hand towards what they call a world "without weapons, without armed forces, without wars".
How can Communists spout such contemptible lies and such nonsense? Everybody knows it was the class nature of German monopoly capital that made Hitler unleash the war. Similarly, it is the class nature of U.S. monopoly capital that makes the U.S. imperialists launch wars today. Even before capitalism developed to the stage of monopoly capitalism, Marx cited the following passage in a footnote in Capital:¬
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. . . 100 per cent. [profit] will make it [capital] ready to trample on all human laws; 300 per cent., and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged.1
The class interests of the monopoly capitalists impel them to embark on mad war adventures in the quest for profit. They are so obsessed with the idea of profit-making that they lose any sense of reality. They invariably underestimate the strength of the people and overestimate their own, and so again and again they fight "the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy".2 Aren't there plenty of examples in the history books? Napoleon's plan to conquer Europe and the world failed, and Kaiser Wilhelm II followed in his footsteps. Wilhelm failed, and Hitler tried again. Hitler failed, and now U.S. imperialism is following in Hitler's footsteps. They can never learn from the failure of their predecessors. They can only follow each other to the grave until the complete collapse of the imperialist system.
Hitler seemed invincible in his time but he failed in the end. Is U.S. imperialism today more formidable than Hitler was then? Will its fate be any better than Hitler's? Compare the present with the past and you will find a clear answer.
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Today, U.S. imperialism is greatly over-extended. The contradiction between its high ambitions, its far-flung battle fronts and remote rear, on the one hand, and its shortage of troops, on the other, is far more serious than in Hitler's case. It is aspiring to destroy the socialist camp, which is a vast expanse of contiguous territories with a total population of one thousand million and many times stronger than the Soviet Union was in Hitler's time. Unlike Hitler, U.S. imperialism is confronted by the solid resistance of unprecedentedly broad national liberation movements when it wages wars of aggression against the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Its army has frequently been defeated in its wars to suppress the people's revolutions and carry out aggression in other countries. It is an army of pampered soldiers far inferior to Hitler's fascist army. Moreover, U.S. imperialism is facing the disintegration of the aggressive blocs it has so painstakingly pieced together, a situation Hitler did not have to face. In all these respects, it is in a vastly inferior position to that of its predecessor. Comrade Mao Tse-tung pointed out many years ago that U.S. imperialism is only a paper tiger:
The strength of the United States of America is only superficial and transient. Irreconcilable domestic and international contradictions, like a volcano, menace U.S. imperialism every day. U.S. imperialism is sitting on this volcano.1
Since Hitler met with utter defeat in his attack on the Soviet Union when the situation and balance of forces was¬
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much more favourable, what can the United States achieve except to hasten its own destruction when waging wars of aggression everywhere under such unfavourable conditions?
Some people may say: After all, U.S. imperialism has the atom bomb and therefore it is more powerful than Hitler. It is true that U.S. imperialism has the atom bomb and Hitler did not, and it is also true that the atom bomb is a weapon of mass destruction. But, as pointed out by Comrade Mao Tse-tung, the atom bomb cannot decide the outcome of war because, "without the struggles waged by the people, atom bombs by themselves would be of no avail",1 and "the atom bomb is a paper tiger which the U.S. reactionaries use to scare people".2 What is more, the United States' monopoly of the atom bomb was broken many years ago. Now other countries have the atom bomb, as well as the United States. For the past twenty years, the United States has spent tens of billions of dollars on the mass production of atom and hydrogen bombs, but what use have its atom bombs been, except to frighten those with weak nerves? Its atom bombs could not and did not prevent the great victory of the Chinese people's revolutionary war. They could not and did not prevent the great victory of the Korean people's revolutionary war. They could not and did not prevent the great victory of the Vietnamese people's revolutionary war. They could not and did not prevent the great victory of the Cuban people's revolu-¬
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tionary war. They could not and did not prevent the great victory of the Algerian people's revolutionary war. They have not prevented and will never be able to prevent the growth and triumph of the revolutionary struggles of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America. They have not prevented and will never be able to prevent the growth and triumph of the revolutionary struggles of the peoples of West Europe, Oceania and North America, including the United States.
Although it brandishes atom bombs and shouts about nuclear retaliation, U.S. imperialism is completely helpless before the miracles wrought by rifles, hand-grenades and even such primitive weapons as bows and arrows and knives in the hands of the revolutionary people. This decade is witnessing atomic imperialism playing a superb farce. Isn't it being performed beautifully at this very moment in South Viet Nam? What is there for U.S. imperialism to brag about when this reputed Number One world power, possessing innumerable nuclear missiles, is being battered out of its senses by the fourteen million South Vietnamese people, and cannot even protect its own embassy?
The history of the twenty years since the War has fully demonstrated that, with all its nuclear weapons, U.S. imperialism is like a big, hollow, worm-eaten tree. The day is drawing nigh when this tree will be uprooted by the world-wide storm of the people's revolution.
However, throughout history all dying reactionary forces have invariably put up final desperate struggles against the forces of revolution. Look at Chiang Kai-shek. He fought the Communists for dozens of years. He lost everything except a handful of bedraggled soldiers with whom he fled to Taiwan, and yet he is daily calling¬
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for a counter-offensive against the mainland. Is it conceivable that an imperialist power as big as the United States will lightly leave the stage of history without pitched battles, without repeated trials of strength and without life-and-death struggles? U.S. monopoly capital is still very large. It has a strong industrial base. In twenty years of arms expansion and war preparations since the War, its troops have increased eightfold. Its military bases are to be found in every corner of the world. Out of its armed forces of 2,700,000 men, more than 1,000,000 are stationed abroad for unceasing aggression against the revolutionary people of every country. Clearly, it will never abandon its counter-revolutionary war plans or admit defeat until its counter-revolutionary forces have been destroyed and its last stakes lost. As Comrade Mao Tse-tung pointed out:
Make trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again . . . till their doom; that is the logic of the imperialists and all reactionaries the world over in dealing with the people's cause, and they will never go against this logic. This is a Marxist law.1
A striking instance of the struggle put up by U.S. imperialism to save itself from defeat is its adventurist expansion of the war of aggression in Viet Nam. Its "special warfare" in South Viet Nam having shamefully failed, it has now invented the theory of the "escalation of the war". It divides the war into several stages and each stage into several steps. In its sequence of steps, it is gradually intensifying and expanding its threat and use of force. A characteristic feature is that, every time¬
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it adds a faggot to the fire of its war of aggression, it says a prayer for peace. It is trying to save itself from defeat by a better synchronization of its counter-revolutionary dual tactics of threats and blandishments. In accordance with the theory of "escalation", the United States is leading its war of aggression in South Viet Nam in the direction of a local war of the Korean type. It has already spread the flames of war to North Viet Nam and is preparing to spread them further to China. This is a serious challenge U.S. imperialism has flung down to all the peace-loving countries and peoples.
Today, the heroic Vietnamese people are united as one man under the leadership of the Viet Nam Workers' Party and President Ho Chi Minh and by the vow to "resist U.S. aggression, save the nation, liberate the South, defend the North and re-unify the fatherland!" and they are now fighting in the forefront of the struggle against U.S. imperialism. By their courageous actions against the U.S. and puppet forces, the South Vietnamese people have already liberated four-fifths of the territory and over two-thirds of the population of South Viet Nam, and are daily approaching final victory in their war of liberation. The North Vietnamese people, who are determined to fight and win, are waging a heroic battle against the U.S. imperialist bombing raids and have dealt one heavy blow after another to the aggressors. The valiant fight of the Vietnamese people is tying down more and more of the armed forces of U.S. imperialism, upsetting its counter-revolutionary global strategy, supporting the revolutionary struggles of the people of all other countries, giving a brilliant example to the people the world over and making a great contribution to the defence of peace in Asia and the whole world.
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All revolutionary people rejoice at the great victories of the Vietnamese people, and a tremendous mass campaign to aid Viet Nam in resisting U.S. aggression is mounting throughout the world. The revolutionary people of all countries are dealing blows to U.S. imperialism and its lackeys in various ways. The heroic peoples of the Congo (Leopoldville), Laos, Korea, Indonesia, Cambodia, Japan, Cuba, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and the Arab countries, and all other countries and peoples who are combating U.S. imperialism and its lackeys, have each made their contribution to the frustration of the U.S. imperialist policies of aggression and war and to the sacred cause of defending world peace.
The Chinese people resolutely support the Vietnamese people's struggle to resist U.S. aggression and save the nation and the struggle of the people of all other countries against U.S. imperialism. We not only fully support these struggles politically and morally and help them materially to the limit of our capabilities, but are also prepared to send our men to fight together with the people of Viet Nam when they need us. This attitude of ours is firm and unshakable. We will go on supporting and aiding the Vietnamese people, whether or not U.S. imperialism bombs our country and whether or not it enlarges the war. We are not frightened by the U.S. imperialists' bombing threats or their clamour for enlarging the war. Our opposition to U.S. imperialism has always been clear-cut. Our principle is: We will not attack unless we are attacked; if we are attacked, we will certainly counter-attack. We shall wipe out anybody who dares to attack us. On whatever scale the United States attacks us, we will reply on the same scale. We always mean what we say. We are fully prepared for¬
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war. The Chinese people and the Chinese People's Liberation Army are fully prepared. If U.S. imperialism should insist on imposing war on us, together with the people of the whole world we will resolutely crush its counter-revolutionary war by a revolutionary war and do our part in thoroughly destroying U.S. imperialism, the arch-criminal of contemporary aggression and war!
In commemorating the great victory over German fascism and the great victory of the war against fascism as a whole, we pay high tribute to and express our full confidence in the great Soviet people and the great Soviet army, who grew up nurtured by the brilliant thinking of Lenin and Stalin, who have a glorious revolutionary tradition, who stood the test of the war against fascism and triumphed. We are deeply confident that we will be united on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, will fight shoulder to shoulder against our common enemy, U.S. imperialism, and advance together with the people of the world towards final victory in wars against aggression and towards the new era of lasting peace for mankind!