On the Dissolution of the Communist Third International
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of On the Dissolution of the Communist Third International has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following edition: Report on the Question of the Dissolution of the Communist International, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 8, Routledge, New York and London, 2015.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is a report delivered by Comrade Mao Zedong at a meeting of high-ranking cadres in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China in the evening of the 26th of May, 1943. It was first published in the Jiefang Ribao (28th of May, 1943).
The meeting was convened by the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to transmit the document Dissolution of the Communist International of the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist Third International and the Resolution on the Dissolution of the Communist International of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. After Comrade Ren Bishi explained the reason for convening the meeting, and Comrade Li Fuchun read the two documents out loud, Comrade Mao Zedong delivered the following report.
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE COMMUNIST THIRD INTERNATIONAL
#REPORT TO A MEETING OF HIGH-RANKING CADRES IN YAN'AN
#Mao Zedong
#26th of May, 1943
#★
The dissolution of the Communist International is, precisely as the US press agencies have reported, «an epoch-making great event». This judgement has been confirmed by the fact that, during the past four days, the greatest attention has been paid to this event by everyone, regardless of whether they belong to the Anti-Fascist or the Fascist camp, regardless of political party or faction.
Why should the Communist International be disbanded? Did it not devote all its efforts to the emancipation of the international working class and to the Anti-Fascist War?
It is true that the Communist International was created by Lenin himself. Throughout its entire existence, it has rendered the greatest services in helping each country to organize a truly revolutionary proletarian political party, and it has also contributed enormously to the great cause of organizing the Anti-Fascist War. It has also rendered great services to the cause of the Chinese revolution.
The influence of the Communist International on the Chinese people is very great. The reason for this is that, although China is an economically backward country, during the past 22 years, it has gone through three great revolutionary movements in succession, and the Communist International gave great assistance in all three of these movements: the Northern Expedition, the Agrarian Revolutionary War, and the War of Resistance Against Japan.
On the eve of the Northern Expedition, the Communist International aided Dr. Sun Yixian and the Nationalist Party of China under his leadership; in 1924, a reorganization was carried out, and cooperation was established between the two political parties, the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party. At that time, Jiang Jieshi, on instructions from Dr. Sun Yixian, visited Moscow, and a representative of the Nationalist Party participated in meetings of the Communist International. This suffices to demonstrate that the support of the Communist International for the Chinese revolution and its influence among the Chinese people has always been very great, even without mentioning the subsequent Agrarian Revolutionary War and the present War of Resistance Against Japan.
Revolutionary movements can be neither exported nor imported. Even with help from the Communist International, the birth and development of the Communist Party of China resulted from the fact that China itself had a class-conscious proletariat, and the Chinese proletariat created its own political party — the Communist Party of China. The Communist Party of China, although it has a history of only 22 years, has already undertaken three great revolutionary movements.
Since the Communist International has rendered such great services to China and to various other countries, why should it be necessary to proclaim its dissolution?
It is a principle of Marxism-Leninism that the forms of revolutionary organizations must conform to the necessities of the revolutionary struggle. If an organizational form no longer suits the necessities of the struggle, then this organizational form must be abolished.
At present, the form of revolutionary organization known as the Communist International is no longer suited to the necessities of the struggle. To continue this organizational form would, on the contrary, hinder the development of the revolutionary struggle in each country. What is needed now is the strengthening of the national Communist Party in each country, and we no longer need this international leading centre. There are three main reasons for this:
- First, the internal situation in each country and the relations between the different countries are more complicated than they were in the past, and they are changing more rapidly. It is no longer possible for a unified international organization to adapt itself to these extremely complicated and rapidly changing circumstances. Correct leadership must grow out of a detailed analysis of these conditions, and this makes it even more necessary for the Communist Party of each country to undertake this itself. The Communist International, which is far removed from the concrete struggle in each country, was adapted to the relatively simple conditions of the past, when changes took place rather slowly, but now it is no longer a suitable instrument.
- Second, there is a wide gulf between the Fascist bandit cliques and the Anti-Fascist organizations in the various countries. The Anti-Fascist States are of all kinds: socialist, capitalist, colonial, and semi-colonial. Among the Fascist States and their vassals, there are also great differences. In addition, there are also the neutral countries that find themselves in varying circumstances. For some time, it has been felt that a centralized organization of an international character is not very appropriate for organizing the Anti-Fascists of these States rapidly and efficiently, and this has become particularly obvious recently.
- Third, the leaders of the Communist Parties of the various countries have already grown up and attained political maturity. For example, the Communist Party of China has been through three revolutionary movements. These revolutionary movements have been continuous, uninterrupted, and extraordinarily complex, even more complex than the Russian revolution. In the course of these revolutionary movements, the Communist Party of China has already acquired its own excellent cadres endowed with rich personal experience. Since the Seventh World Congress of the Communist International in 1935, the Communist International has not intervened in the internal affairs of the Communist Party of China. And yet the Communist Party of China has done its work very well throughout the whole war of national liberation against Japan.
As to public opinion in various countries regarding the dissolution of the Communist International during the past four days, all upright people in the various countries belonging to the Anti-Fascist alliance unanimously acclaim this action. But the case is not at all the same in the Fascist countries. All the bloodstained aggressors, who in the past established the Agreement Against the Communist International, now apparently do not want the Communist International to be dissolved. How strange! They are all in an awkward position, desperately denouncing the dissolution of the Communist International For example, the Right-wing Social-Democrats in Stockholm and London in the past forbade Communists to join their political parties on the grounds that they «received orders from the Communist International», and now they are also displeased by the dissolution of the Communist International. This is a rather odd thing.
At present, the mission of all those throughout the world who oppose the Fascist countries is to bring about the unity of the working class, so that we can more easily and more quickly defeat Fascism. Right-wingers of this type within the labour movement are very much displeased, because the dissolution of the Communist International has deprived them of their pretexts, to the point where they even say that the Communist Parties in the various countries should be abolished. This strange opinion may turn up in China, too. Let us see. But I am convinced that the vast majority of upright people throughout China will not echo such views, because such arguments are entirely lacking in common sense.
The dissolution of the Communist International is not for the purpose of weakening the Communist Parties of the various countries, but for the purpose of strengthening them, increasing still further the national character of the Communist Parties in all countries, and rendering them even more capable of responding to the needs of the Anti-Fascist War. The Rectification Movement carried out this year by our Party, and our struggle against such unhealthy tendencies as subjectivism, sectarianism, and stereotyped Party writing, are precisely for the purpose of increasing the national character of our Communist Party of China, so as to adapt it to the needs of armed resistance and national reconstruction.
Now, the Communist International is no more, and this increases our own responsibilities. Every comrade must understand that they bear great responsibility. Starting from this sense of responsibility, we must display the creativity of the Communists. We find ourselves in the midst of an arduous war of national liberation. The Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies are fighting behind Japanese lines against an extremely powerful enemy, our circumstances are very difficult, and the war remains very protracted. But such a long and difficult struggle is precisely what we need to discipline ourselves, to make us think carefully, and absolutely to avoid being crude and careless or imagining that we are always right. It will make us earnestly rid ourselves of subjectivism, sectarianism, and stereotyped Party writing and achieve a fully responsible attitude and a high level of creativity.
We absolutely need two types of unity. One of these is unity within the Party, and the other is unity between the Party and the people. These are priceless weapons for overcoming difficult circumstances, and all Party comrades must value these two priceless weapons. First, all Party comrades must unite around the Central Committee. Any action which disrupts unity is a crime. Provided only that Communists unite closely and are of one heart and one mind, any powerful enemy and any difficult situation must yield to us. Second, all Party comrades must be good at uniting with the masses of the people. In this respect, I think we should ask comrades to study the examples of Comrades Chen Zongyao and Zuo Qi, as reported recently in the Jiefang Ribao [Liberation Daily]. Comrade Chen Zongyao is a regimental commander in the Eighth Route Army. He led his whole regiment on foot for several hundred li to carry rice. He did not ride on horseback, he carried rice himself, and his horse carried rice. All the officers and soldiers of the regiment were moved by his example, morale was excellent, and not a single person deserted. Comrade Zuo Qi was the political commissar of this regiment. He lost a hand in combat, and when clearing wasteland, he could not hold the hoe, so he instead prepared food for the fighters in camp and carried it up the mountains to give it to them to eat. The fighters were inexpressibly moved. Let cadres throughout the Party imitate the spirit of these two comrades, become one with the broad masses, any overcome any form of bureaucracy that divorces us from the masses!
Our Communist Party members must not act like officials, they must act like revolutionaries. All of us must have a thoroughly revolutionary spirit, and we must never for a moment divorce ourselves from the masses. Provided only that we do not divorce ourselves from the masses, we will surely be victorious.