Читать онлайн "International Maoism in the Developing World" - Alexander Robert Jackson - RuLit

In Senegal there was also some Maoist activity. In the early 1970s, the Parti Africain de l’Indépendence, the pro-Moscow Communist party, was said to have “met with some competition from what it calls ‘pro-Chinese factionalists.’… They seceded from the PAI in 1965 and have carried on active work at lower party levels.”[605] The Senegalese Maoists called themselves the Parti Communiste Sénégalais, and it was outlawed soon after its appearance.[606] In 1980 a faction calling itself Groupe Marxiste-Leniniste du Sénégal signed a call for formation of an international grouping of orthodox Maoist supporters of the Gang of Four.[607] However, it was not listed in 1992 as one of the members of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement formed as a result of that call.[608]

In the middle 1960s, there existed on Madagascar, the island nation off the Indian Ocean coast of Africa, the Malagasy Communist Party, which was said to “remain a minor Maoist splinter group.”[609] By the 1970s it was not considered of sufficient significance—if it still existed—to be dealt with by the Yearbook on International Communist Affairs.[610]

In Zaire (Congo), the former Belgian colony, there were at least three Maoist groups. The Group of Marxist Leninists of Zaire supported the Chinese leadership after Mao’s death; the Revolutionary Marxist Party of the Kongo was said to be pro-Albanian; the Revolutionary People’s Party, established in 1967, was said by the East German Communists to have been “radical Left Maoist” a decade later.[611]

The East German Communists identified several other small Maoist groups in various Black African countries, without giving many details about them. These included the Parti Communiste du Togo, founded in the early 1980s, said to be pro-Albanian; the Uganda National Liberation Front/Anti-Dictatorship, said to be “radical Left Maoist”[612]; and Ethiopian Revolutionary People’s Party.[613]

The East Germans also noted the existence in Dahomey (which became Benin) of the Parti Communiste du Dahomey, founded in the 1970s, with Bernhard Toujou as its principal figure and La Flame as its periodical. It was said to be pro-Albanian.[614] In 1991, Michael Radu reported a “surprising rise” in this party, then led by Professor Pascal Fatondji, which he said had been “long the only significant opposition” to the Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin, of longtime military dictator Mathieu Kerekou. The Maoist group was calling for a “truly Communist regime” in Dahomey (Benin).

The Communist Party of Dahomey was the only party to boycott the national convention in February 1990 that forced President Kerekou to hold the first democratic election.[615] That election was won by forces, led by Nicéphore Soglo, favoring free-market reforms. In the subsequent election, Kerekou was returned to power. We have no indication of what role, if any, the Communist Party of Dahomey played in either of these elections.[616]

In Angola there was the pro-Chinese Angola Communist Organization (OAC), which published a periodical, Poder Popular.[617] The East German Communists also noted the existence of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), and the General Organization of Students of Gabon, with headquarters in France, both of which supported the Chinese leadership after the death of Mao.[618] In Réunion, the island department of France off the African coast, there existed the Marxist-Leninist Organization of Réunion, which sent the Chinese party condolences on the death of Mao.[619]

Finally, note should be taken of the fact that one of the smaller Black groups in South Africa, competing with the African National Congress (which was closely associated with the pro-Moscow South African Communist Party), proclaimed itself sympathetic to Maoism in the later 1960s and 1970s. Lewis H. Gann wrote in 1970, “There is no recognized Maoist party in South Africa, but the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania… favors the Chinese cause. A statement… praised China’s new hydrogen bomb test as ‘a glorious victory for the Thought of Mao Tsetung’ and for the cause of the proletariat. The test, ‘a sorrowful defeat for the imperialists and modern revisionists,’ was said to demonstrate the ‘correctness of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party headed by the greatest Marxist-Leninist of our time, Chairman Mao Tse-tung.’”[620]

Burmese Maoism

Almost from its inception, Communism in Burma was divided into two factions, the Burma Communist Party (White Flag) and the Communist Party of Burma (Red Flag). The former has been by far the more important of the two and has been closely associated with the Chinese Communist Party. Ever since independence in 1948, or even before, both factions were engaged in guerrilla war against successive governments.

The Burma Communist Party (BCP) was founded on August 15, 1939, with “probably 13 members. Thakin Soe was its Secretary General, and he worked until 1946 with the Antifascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL), headed by U Aung San, organized during World War II first to fight the British, and then after Japanese conquest of Burma, to fight the Japanese. However, in March 1946 Thakin Soe led a split in the BCP, which was then headed by Thakin Than Tun, and organized the Communist Party of Burma (Red Flag).[621]

The Red Flag Communists of Thakin Soe were sometimes accused of being Trotskyists. However, this was not the case. When the Sino-Soviet split occurred, Thakin Soe attacked both the Russian and the Chinese parties.[622]

For some time after the Red Flag split away, the BCP (White Flag) continued to function as part of the AFPFL. However, in July 1948, the White Flag “seceded from the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League and went underground in the Prome, Syriam and Kayan districts.” At that point, it was said that “Observers… believe that only alertness of police and loyal troops kept Rangoon from falling into Communist hands. The Insurgents blockaded the capital for four days.”[623] However, the White Flag was not formally declared illegal until October 1953. The Red Flag group had been outlawed in January 1947.[624]

The guerrilla war of the Burmese White Flag Communists continued for more than four decades. In its early phases it enjoyed considerable success. According to M. C. Tun, writing in the Far Eastern Economic Review, “the BCP captured a string of large lower-Burma towns a few months after the country gained independence in 1948. But in 1950, Government troops began retaking the BCP’s ‘liberated areas’ and the communists retreated into the Pegu Hills.”[625]

U On Sein, a leader of the Burmese Socialist Party, and onetime Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, admitted in 1955 that during 1949 the Communist revolt had been exceedingly serious and the Communists, with allies from the Karen ethnic group, had occupied “virtually all of Central Burma.”[626]