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

The Iraqi Communist Party was closely aligned with the Soviet Union. However, early in 1968 there was a serious split in the party’s ranks, led by Aziz al-Haj Ali Haydar. The dissident group objected to the party’s efforts to negotiate a position in the Baath regime, and was reported as having launched an attempted guerrilla campaign in the marshy area of southern Iraq. According to a U.S. Trotskyist source., Aziz al-Haj’s faction, in the beginning at least, had the support of a majority of the party’s membership.[783] However, in 1964, Aziz al-Haj was captured and made a “public recantation,” a move that was officially condemned by his group.[784]

The ideological complexion of the Aziz al-Haj group was somewhat unclear. The Trotskyist source mentioned above said, “On the international level, Al-Haj’s organization (although it still tries to win the support of Moscow against the other faction) believes in independence from Moscow and in ‘neutrality’ in the Sino-Soviet dispute. … This new group also has a lot of respect and admiration for the Cuban revolution and its leaders.”[785] A U.S. State Department source described the Aziz al-Haj group as a “Guevarist splinter.”[786]

However, that same State Department source, in reporting on a violent anticommunist campaign of the Baath regime in 1969, seemed to regard the dissidents as being pro-Chinese. It noted that “Particularly affected by the 1969 arrests, whether by design of the authorities or not is not clear, was the dissident, pro-Peking Communist faction.” This 1972 report went on, “The deep dissension between the orthodox and radical wings had already split the Iraqi Communist movement badly enough to render it ineffectual. The splinter party has been almost completely inactive for the past year.”[787]

The U.S. Trotskyist periodical Intercontinental Press noted in 1972 that the dissident Iraqi Communist group, “which politically supports the declarations of the 1972 OLAS conference, has consistently opposed the rightist policies of the Baath rulers in Iraqi. It has consequently suffered hundreds of arrests, assassinations and tortures.”[788]

Thus, it is clear that the dissident element in Iraqi Communism disagreed to a greater or lesser degree with Moscow-line orthodoxy. However, that group appears to have been torn between adherence to the Castro heterodoxy of the 1960s and the Chinese position. It cannot be clearly classified as a Maoist group.

The only certainly Maoist group in Iraq was the Iraqi Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), the Secretary-General of which was Baha-Eddin Muri. It was founded sometime in the late 1960s, and in late 1967 or early 1968 merged with another schismatic group that had broken with the Iraqi Communist Party early in 1967.[789] No further information is available on this group.

Israeli Maoism

The Communist movement in pre-1948 Palestine, and subsequently in Israel, was traditionally anti-Zionist. It has also been subject to schism. Since 1965, the ranks of the Israel Communists have been divided into two major groups, both calling themselves the Communist Party of Israel.

At least two factors were involved in the 1965 division. One was reflected in an open letter that one faction, led by S. Mikunis, directed to the “Central Committee of the Communist and Workers’ Parties.” That letter said, “It is true that most members of the C.P. of Israel are Jews, but there are also Arab members, as in the Vilmer-Toubi group the great majority are Arab members and the Jewish members are but few.”[790]

Another distinction between the two groups was noted by the New York Trotskyist publication Intercontinental Press. It said that the Mikunis group, known also as the Communist Party (Interior) “has taken a stance of relative independence from the Kremlin, and is allied with the Italian, Yugoslav and Romanian CPs.” In contrast, the “CP (Exterior)… closely follows the Moscow line.”[791]

Although “relatively independent of the CPSU, the CP (Interior) did not gravitate towards Maoism. That role was played by the Revolutionary Communist Alliance (RCA), which in 1976 was described as “a tiny Maoist group with Marius Schneider one of its articulate exponents. The group’s organ is Ma’avak (Struggle) published sporadically in Jerusalem.”[792]

In April 1973 several leaders of the Revolutionary Communist Alliance, including both Jews and Arabs, were put on trial by the Israeli government, accused of “spying for Syria.” The erstwhile Maoist newspaper Challenge (New York) published a statement by the RCA, according to which, “Once in court… our Comrades gave political declarations in which they explained their Marxist-Leninist views as well as the circumstances and conditions within which they led their revolutionary activities.”[793]

There is no indication that the Revolutionary Communist Alliance offered any significant competition to the other factions of Israeli Communism, either in the electoral field or within the organized labor movement. However, at least as late as 1982, the Revolutionary Communist Alliance was still publishing its periodical, Ma’avak (Struggle).[794] We have no information about the Israeli Maoists subsequent to that date.

Maoism in Lebanon

Maoism, when it existed in Lebanon, was always a fringe of a fringe in Lebanese politics. In 1964, a small group headed by Jamil Shatila broke away from the Communist Party of Lebanon, to establish the pro-Maoist Party of the Socialist Evolution. For some years it maintained a monthly periodical, Al-Shararah (The Spark). Subsequently, this group changed its name to Lebanese Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist).[795]

However, in 1974. Patricia Nabti reported concerning this group, “The Lebanese Marxist Communist Party, also called the Union of Marxist-Leninist Cells, was given wide newspaper coverage in mid-March 1973 when its secretary general, Jamil Shatila, published a disavowal of Maoist principles and announced the dissolution of his party. … Shatila attributed his recent action to Chinese international policy.”[796] A U.S. State Department source, reporting on this same event, said, “The Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Lebanon (MLCPL), always minuscule, has recently broken in two and is now virtually extinct.”[797]

At least two other reportedly Maoist groups received some notice. One of these was the Lebanese Revolutionary Guard, of which it was said, “Many of its members formerly were members of the LCP. It has engaged in bank robberies and bomb throwings.”[798]

The other group was the Organization of Communist Action of Lebanon (OCAL), the Secretary General of which was Muhsin Ibrahim. It held its first congress in 1971. It was reported in 1980 that “The OCAL has consistently supported the Palestinian resistance and maintains close ties with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. … Since its first congress, the OCAL has moderated its strong support for China in the Sino-Soviet conflict.”[799]