Chapter 26 Conversation with Sharkey, General Secretary of the Australian Communist Party

(October 26, 1959) The material you wrote raises the issue of how to transition to socialism, saying that you agree with the views of Chinese comrades on this issue.This is a major problem.There are two issues here, one is strategic and the other is tactical.As a matter of strategy, in the long run, it is unthinkable that the bourgeois regime can be eliminated by peaceful means.How can the bourgeoisie allow the working class to use peaceful means to overthrow the bourgeois regime, eliminate classes, and build socialism and communism! From a strategic point of view, first of all, it can be said that the proletariat is willing to use peaceful means to gain power, which shows that we are not belligerent .But if the bourgeoisie uses violence, the proletariat is compelled to use violence.Do not spread illusions and do not disarm yourself mentally.Without mental preparation, the people cannot be educated, and the proletariat itself has no revolutionary drive.There is also a struggle to use peaceful means.In fact, much of the day-to-day work of the revolution is carried out by peaceful means.But as a revolutionist, while using peaceful means to carry out daily work, what should we do when the time for revolution comes? Don't talk about this issue every day.This question is only raised at an important time, and two points must be mentioned: first, the proletariat is willing to use peaceful means to gain power; second, if the bourgeoisie uses violence, the proletariat is forced to use violence.

Marxists know that class struggle cannot finally solve problems without war.It has been like this since ancient times.Knowing this, why mention peaceful means? Because the broad masses of the people are not yet awakened, the bourgeoisie takes advantage of this to intimidate the masses, saying that the Communist Party only talks about violence and war. For a period of time after February 1917, Lenin pointed out the possibility of seizing power in Russia by peaceful means.In Russia at that time two powers existed side by side, and Lenin, in accordance with the conditions peculiar to that time, envisaged that the Bolsheviks[1] would seize power by obtaining a majority in the Soviets.Later, in July, the bourgeois government used force to suppress the revolutionary movement of the masses, so Lenin and the Bolsheviks decided to prepare for an armed uprising and seize power by violence.

Before the October Revolution, Lenin made it very clear to the whole party and wrote many articles, explaining that the revolution cannot establish the dictatorship of the proletariat without violence.He vehemently opposed the Menshevik[2] arguments for revolution through parliamentary struggle. We discussed this issue with Pollitt of the British Communist Party in 1955, and he did not agree with our opinion.He wanted to revise the writings of the Chinese comrades, and he wanted to delete two passages from the English version of my anthology saying that revolution must use violence. [4] We do not agree with his opinion, but in the end he dug out those two paragraphs.

The Declaration of the Moscow Conference in November 1957[5] mentioned this issue again, and also mentioned two points: the proletariat is willing to use peaceful means to gain power; but if the bourgeoisie uses violence, the proletariat is forced to use violence .This is a matter of principle.The Communist Party of France and the Communist Party of Italy raised two points on this question, the Communist Party of Japan and the Communist Party of Indonesia also raised two points, and most parties raised two points.Clarifying two points can make the bourgeoisie passive.We're not advocating force, we're just saying you use force and we use force.

But when discussing a problem theoretically, it is necessary to explain this problem clearly and thoroughly.The state is an organ of violence, whether it is a state of slavery, a state of feudalism or a state of capitalism.A socialist country under the dictatorship of the proletariat is no exception.What is a country without violence?Some people also use China's policy of peaceful transformation of capitalist industry and commerce as an example of peaceful transition. In fact, after decades of war, we overthrew the Kuomintang government and established a powerful people's regime led by the proletariat, which has grown to several million troops. , this is the possibility of peaceful transformation.

The revolution also walks on two legs when using means of war and means of peace.In fact, a lot of work is carried out through daily work by peaceful means, and the war time is not long, but the final solution to the problem still depends on the war.You cannot seize power without walking on two legs. We also worked hard for domestic peace in 1945 and participated in the Political Consultative Conference held by the Kuomintang.At the same time, we prepared the other side, developed the armed forces, and prepared for a year.After the fighting broke out in the summer of 1946, we did not say that peace should never be avoided.In the spring of 1949 the Kuomintang proposed "peace".At that time they were only south of the Yangtze River, and their main force north of the Yangtze River had been wiped out.The United States persuaded them to negotiate in order to keep Jiangnan and prepare their forces to attack us again.

We said, you send a delegation to Beijing for talks.A delegation came, an agreement was made, and the agreement was sent to Nanking for signature, but they would not sign.That's fine, the onus for refusing peace rests entirely on them.They refused on the first day, and we crossed the Yangtze River on the second day. A million troops crossed the Yangtze River overnight. By September, the mainland was basically liberated, and the People’s Republic of China was established on October 1. Chiang Kai-shek went to Taiwan.We have not yet given up peaceful means. We have put forward the slogan of the peaceful liberation of Taiwan and advocate formal negotiations with them.But they are afraid of negotiations, and the United States is even more afraid of Chiang Kai-shek's negotiations with us.In this case, peace slogans can be useful.

Now in some capitalist countries, the struggle is usually bloodless, but when things are about to change qualitatively, there will be bloodshed.After a long period of quantitative change, it will develop into a qualitative change.Without this qualitative change, the old superstructure would remain unchanged.The superstructure mainly refers to the regime and state apparatuses such as the military, police, and courts, and also includes ideological aspects.The superstructure is to protect the economic base.Therefore, first of all, we must use violence to seize and smash the main superstructure of the state apparatus.As for the ideological superstructure, it cannot be resolved by force, but must undergo long-term transformation.

The superstructure is built on the economic base and is used to protect the economic base. When the economic base loses protection, we can change the production relations, that is, the old ownership system, etc.Of course, this will also go through struggle, but not necessarily through war. Now let's talk about our views on the international situation. International tensions were created by imperialism, but turned against it.Some or most of the tension makes them feel that it is against them, against their purpose of preserving capitalism and destroying socialism.What Dulles [6] did was not good for what they wanted to achieve. They wanted to get out of this very narrow road.It is inconceivable that they would change if the tension favored their goal of preserving capitalism and destroying socialism.It seems that they understand this disadvantage, something needs to be changed, and they are afraid of war.Everyone knows that the two world wars were bad for them, and the third world war will be even more bad for them.For a country like the United States, a war is not good for it.

Détente is beneficial to the people of both socialist countries and capitalist countries, and it is the result of struggles between socialist countries, fraternal parties in various countries, and world peace forces.It would be great to have another ten years of peace, and it would be great if China and the Soviet Union could engage in a few more five-year plans. But there is another side to be seen, imperialism needs a certain degree of tension in order to maintain the arms industry and seize foreign interests.For example, after Khrushchev's visit to the United States[7], the United States established rocket bases in some countries and yelled at the United Nations about the Tibet issue, which shows that they still want to create tension.So we have to be vigilant.

Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Bolshevik refers to the Bolshevik Party, the predecessor of the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which was formally established in 1912. [2] The Mensheviks were an opportunist faction formed in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1903 that opposed the Bolsheviks. [3] Pollett (1890-1960), then Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of England. [4] On March 29, 1954, Pollett sent a letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, suggesting that when they were translating the second volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", they planned to transfer the first two paragraphs of the article "Problems of War and Strategy" from the English translation. delete.In these two paragraphs, Mao Zedong pointed out: "The central task and highest form of the revolution is to seize power by force, and to solve problems by war. This Marxist-Leninist revolutionary principle is universally correct, whether in China or abroad, it is absolutely correct. "But under the same principle, as far as the proletarian party implements this principle under various conditions, it is inconsistent because of the different conditions." On August 23 of the same year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China replied to Pollett , clearly stated: We cannot agree to the proposal to delete the first two paragraphs of "Problems of War and Strategy" in the English translation of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", "because the principles mentioned by Comrade Mao Zedong in this document are the universal principles of Marxism-Leninism. The truth does not need to be revised due to changes in the international situation. Moreover, "Mao Zedong's Selected Works" has been published in Russian and other foreign language editions, and no revisions have been made." [5] Refers to the "Manifesto of the Congress of Communist Party and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries" adopted by the Congress of Communist Party and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries held in Moscow from November 14 to 16, 1957 (commonly known as "Moscow declaration").The Manifesto summed up the experience of the international communist movement, put forward the struggle tasks of the communist parties of all countries for peace and socialism, stipulated the norms for the relationship between socialist countries and political parties, and required the communist parties of all countries to creatively apply Marxism-Leninism. [6] Dulles, see note [5] on page 24 of this volume. [7] From September 15 to 27, 1959, Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, visited the United States. Discussions were held on issues, disarmament, nuclear testing, and bilateral relations.