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March 10, 1970

Report about an Internal Consultation of the Representatives of the International Departments of the Central Committees of the CPSU, BKP, SED, MPRP, PZPR, MSZMP, and the CP Czech in Warsaw

This document was made possible with support from Leon Levy Foundation

Report

about an internal consultation of the representatives of the International Departments of the Central Committees of the CPSU, BKP, SED, MPRP, PZPR, MSZMP, and the CP Czech in Warsaw.

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At the invitation of the Central Committee of the PZPR [Polish United Workers' Party], the third internal consultation of the representatives of the International Departments of the Central Committees of the above-named brother parties took place from March 10 to 13, 1970 regarding questions related to the current situation in China and the policies of the Mao Zedong group. 

(For the composition of the delegation see annex 1). 

I.

Regarding the results of the Consultation on the China Problem

A common assessment, “The Chinese Problem after the IX. Party Conference of the CCP,” was compiled by the conference. The International Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU had relayed a draft to the participating brother parties. On the basis of this material, a common assessment was worked out. 

The following was determined in the common material:

- The IX. Party Conference of the CCP was the conclusion of a particular step in China’s development and at the same time, the beginning of a new phase. The IX. Party Conference was characterized by the relative stabilization of the power of the Mao Group and simultaneously through the lasting state of political, ideological and economic crisis. According to its nature, the IX. Party Conference was the founding congress of a new party, which is anti-Marxist and anti-Leninist in its ideology, in its organizational principles and in its politics. 

- The character of power in China was denoted as a petty bourgeois, nationalistic, military-bureaucratic regime, which in practice attempts to realize the reactionary ideas of barracks yard communism. Analysis of social-political processes in China shows that the Chinese society of the current stage is in no way capitalist, but simultaneously the socialist elements in the economy are deformed in it. To an even greater degree, they are undermined in the political system of the PR China. The process of breaking with economic socialism has particularly thrived in the sphere of ideology. 

- The foreign policy course of the Mao Group is characterized by the following new moments. While the Soviet Union is declared enemy number 1, armed provocations are carried out on the Soviet-Chinese border and a comprehensive anti-Soviet war psychosis is stirred up, the Chinese leadership conducts simultaneously a policy of cooperation with the imperialist powers, especially with the USA against socialism. They attempt to loosen the socialist countries from their alliance with the Soviet Union through a policy of differentiation and to dissuade the anti-imperialist movements from the common struggle on the side of socialism. 

- Today’s policies of the Chinese leadership are not only anti-socialist but also lose ever more of their anti-imperialist character. 

- If the current policies of the Chinese leadership are continued over a longer time, serious ramifications are to be reckoned with in relation to international balance of power. The Soviet Union is forced to make a not inconsiderable portion of its economic and military capacity ready to protect against the adventurous activities of the Mao Group. 

- The policies of the Mao Group are not a legal inevitable phenomenon due to China’s underdeveloped social-economic basis. The systematic construction of socialism under the leadership of a Marxist-Leninist party is also possible in other countries, in which, similarly to China, social-economic conditions are marked by the preponderance of the peasantry and by the furthest underdevelopment, in particular due to the existence of the global socialist system.

- Development in China has an intermittent character. The internal contradictions that are generated by the Mao regime and external factors that have an effect on China will cause changes.

Proceeding from that, the necessity of continuing the principal contestation with the politics and theory of the Mao Group is emphasized in the materials. 

Meeting minutes were produced from the consultation. In them, measures to continue the contestation with the Mao politics were recommended on the basis of common material and for an improved coordination of the activities of the brother parties with regards to propaganda. It was pointed out that it is necessary to realize the recommendations from the second consultation in Berlin 1969. It is suggested that the next such meeting be carried out at the beginning of 1971 in the PR Bulgaria (meeting minutes, attachment 2). 

In addition to the general discussion, informational presentations regarding Chinese domestic and foreign policy matters were held at the consultation. These materials were evaluated for the further theoretical and informational work on China. 

 

II.

Regarding the Behavior of Our Delegation

 

The delegation of the International Affiliations Department handled mainly questions of the social basis of the Mao politics and relations between West Germany and China. They worked out that the attitude of the leading circles of West Germany regarding China are defined above all by the long-term speculation of a conflict between the Soviet Union and China. The participants of the consultation were presented a West German TV movie entitled “Mao – Fear and Hope of the World,” which illustrated this political base line. 

 

III.

Conclusions

1. The common material of the III. Internal China consultation has been brought to the attention of the members and candidates of the Central Committee of the SED. 

Responsible: Dept. International Affiliations 

 

2. The material will be given to the ground organizations of the SED as internal information after an editorial review. 

Responsible: Department International Affiliations 

          Dept. Agitation

 

3. On the basis of the material, a principled article on the China problem will be published in the magazine “Horizon” in which in particular the betrayal of Leninism by the Mao group will be discussed. 

Responsible: Chief editor, “horizon”

          Dept. International Affiliations

 

4. The recommendation of the consultation’s meeting minutes will be taken as the basis for further work in the contestation with the Mao politics as well as for propaganda and research activities regarding the China problem. 



 

Attachment II        

Translation from Russian

 

Meeting Minutes

 

From March 10 to 13, 1970, a consultation of the delegations of the international departments of the Central Committees of the Bulgarian Communist Party, Hungarian Socialist Workers Party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the Mongolian Revolutionary People’s Party, the Polish United Workers Party, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took place. 

1. As a result of an exchange of opinions and information, a common document “The Chinese Problem after the IX. Party Conference of the Chinese Communist Party” was developed, which contains an assessment of the situation in China, of the politics of the group around Mao Zedong and the international aspects of the Chinese problem in the current stage. 

2. The question of the use of the common material that was developed in public and party internal documents, in the context of contacts with representatives of other parties and in the daily propaganda activity is decided by the Central Committees at their own discretion. With international contacts, it was stated that the jointly developed material be used as a document of the respective party. 

3. The delegations established an advancement of the coordination of joint actions of the international departments of the brother parties on the subject of information exchange and common initiatives regarding the Chinese problem. The Moscow consultation of the communist and workers’ parties created particularly favorable conditions for the further struggle in closing the ranks of the revolutionary movement, against the anti-Leninist course and the activities of the Maoists. 

In the opinion of the consultation participants, in the current time period attention must be directed

- To exposing the danger of the current policies of the leadership of PR China, including their course of spreading war, for the entire socialist community and the communist world movement, 

- To strengthening the ideological and political struggle against the policies of the Maoists, which attempt to pit the countries of the socialist world system against each other, 

To unmasking of the anti-Leninist nature of the theory and practice of Maoism. This becomes more important in conjunction with the 100th birthday of V. Lenin, which can be exploited by Beijing for new ideological diversions. 

4. The consultation participants exchanged opinions about the further development of cooperation in the improvement of forms and methods of propaganda against the policies of the Maoists, in the coordination of scientific research activities. Such cooperation can be developed on the basis of bilateral and multilateral consultations. Relations between organs of the press, radio and television, press agencies and models must also be developed. The consultation participants also made efforts towards the realization of concrete recommendations from the Berlin consultation (January 1969), which have remained current. The additional suggestions regarding the implementation of a common course vis-à-vis the subversive activities of the Mao Zedong group, which were distributed in Warsaw, were considered. 

- The consultation participants from the international departments of the 7 parties unanimously emphasized its fruitful character and the objective, comradely atmosphere in which the consultation took place. The delegations decided to exchange information regarding the course of the implementation of the results of the consultation after they have reported back to their Central Committees about them. 

- It was also agreed – after consultations in the Central Committees of their parties – to hold the next consultation of the same character in Sofia at the beginning of 1971, at which the problem of lessons from the Chinese events for socialism in PR China and for the revolutionary world movement should be handled, further problems in connection with China requiring joint investigation should be discussed and an exchange of opinions regarding the Albanian question should be carried out.

 

This East German report, issued after the Interkit meeting in Warsaw, addresses the situation in China under the leadership of Mao Zedong. Among the issues discussed are the ninth congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Mao's anti-Soviet foreign policy, especially China's relations with the US and West Germany. The ninth congress of the CCP is said to have stabilized Mao's position and is seen as the founding congress of a new party. Among other topics, the delegates also discuss ways to improve anti-Maoist propaganda.


Document Information

Source

Included in the document reader for the international conference "China and the Warsaw Pact in the 1970-1980s" held by CWHIP and the Parallel History Project March 2004 in Beijing. Translated by Samuel Denney.

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Original Uploaded Date

2013-10-31

Type

Report

Language

Record ID

118510

Donors

Leon Levy Foundation and The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars