(Comrades from MLPD participated in the Revolutionary Communist Party of Nepal’s(RCPN’s) party congress . Thomas and Gabi B., delegation of the MLPD (Marxist-Leninist Party Gemany) are at the Party Congress of RCPN . During Party congress Bargadristi Media asked them the following questions through email and the written reply we received are as follows:Editor)
- Comrade, you accepted the invitation of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Nepal and attended the opening ceremony of the Unity Congress and gave a congratulatory speech and now you are closely watching the closed session as well. How are you feeling?
-Our party was pleased to receive the invitation to attend the RCPN’s party congress and gladly accepted it. A unity congress is always of special significance when it is held on a principled basis. The opening ceremony was a beautiful, culturally rich event. We were pleased to see how many other Nepalese parties were invited and spoke. This is a sign of mutual respect. That is very important. We feel very comfortable among the comrades and are a little sad that the language barriers make it difficult for us to talk to the many comrades.
- Please, tell us something about the fraternal relationship between MLPD and RCPN.
-The relations between today’s RCPN and its predecessor organization have existed for a very long time. There are regular visits and exchanges on political and ideological issues. We are very pleased that in the ICOR (International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations) and in the UF (International Anti-Imperialist United Front against Fascism, War and Environmental Destruction) we are working together to unite the international Marxist-Leninist movement more and more closely and make an important contribution to the necessary ideological-political clarification of still open questions. Respectful cooperation and a proletarian culture of debate are required for this. In these organizations we also jointly promote practical solidarity and the coordination of the struggles. A current example is the international solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle agreed by the ICOR.
- If you don’t mind please briefly give some information about MLPD How many communist parties are there in Germany? Why is MLPD different from others?
The MLPD was founded over 40 years ago and has very close ties with the working class in Germany. We have made it our task to help the working class prepare and carry out struggles for its social situation and in the course of this to develop and revolutionize the class consciousness of the workers. We are a genuine workers’ party that stands for the struggle of the workers for their interests. Our membership consists mainly of workers, and our party chairwoman, too, is a worker. We are a party that stands for genuine socialism. It is a hallmark of the MLPD that it always combines theory and practice and highly values comrades who think and act independently. Accordingly, we set great store on theoretical work and its application in practice, and on the training of our comrades. We have a very comprehensive ideological-political line, which in the meantime comprises 39 books. We have made theoretical elaborations on all current political developments. With the doctrine of the mode of thinking, the MLPD has drawn the conclusions from the revisionist betrayal of socialism. The struggle to establish the superiority of the proletarian mode of thinking in the struggle against the petty-bourgeois mode of thinking is also the guarantee that the MLPD has not experienced any split since its founding. The many petty-bourgeois ML organizations of the 1970s, on the other hand, perished or merged with bourgeois parties such as the Greens. The MLPD stands for the liberation of women in a socialist society, attaches great importance to the development of the militant women’s movement, and actively promotes women within the party itself. The best example of this is our party chairwoman Gabi Fechtner, who at the age of 46 has now been party leader for seven years. We are also a party of society-changing environmental struggle.
We have analyzed that a global environmental catastrophe has begun that endangers the existence of humanity. It is our view that the unity of humanity and nature can only be achieved in a socialist society. That is why we actively support the development of an international, society-changing environmental movement that must be broader than just Communist Parties, even though the Communist Parties must take on the leading role with the international industrial proletariat. None of this will be possible without the youth. With the youth league Rebell and the children’s organization Red Foxes we do revolutionary work among the youth.
Besides the MLPD there is the DKP (German Communist Party), a revisionist party that today even openly supports the imperialist states China and Russia. “Die Linke” (The Left) is not a communist party but a reformist, social-democratic party. Other than that, there are smaller groups that do not do any real work among the industrial proletariat, however, and are mostly of petty-bourgeois composition
- What do you see as the challenges of the world communist revolution? What do you see as the main reason for the world communist movement to be on the defensive?
Today we have to deal with three existential crises of the imperialist world system which challenge the whole of humanity. These are the danger of a (nuclear) Third World War, the environmental catastrophe that has begun, and the worldwide danger of fascist systems. It is the task of the Marxist-Leninists of the world to lead the international working class and the oppressed masses in this struggle for survival and to win them over to the socialist alternative. Only in this way can these crises really be resolved. We share the revolutionary optimism that the masses do not want to perish. We must help them to gain clarity and develop their class consciousness.
We do not think that the world communist movement is on the defensive. It has had to deal with many setbacks, such as the betrayal of socialism in the USSR and China. Seen worldwide, the communist movement is still small, but with the ICOR it is on the right path to increasingly better ideological-political unification and also practical cooperation. This is a positive development that must be strengthened with all our might.
- How do you take the revolutionary communist movement of Nepal? What are your expectations from this unity convention of RCPN?
Among the masses in Nepal there is great sympathy for the socialist idea, and this must not be squandered. It is a priority task for the communists in Nepal to clarify the ideological-political differences patiently, on a principled basis, and create a large Marxist-Leninist party that is recognized among the masses. The masses must be able to understand what issues need to be resolved, but also which parties have betrayed the interests of the masses.
We are still in the middle of the party congress. It is certainly something special for Nepal that three parties have united. We hope that through a good proletarian culture of debate they will jointly solve the questions that may still be open. It will also be important to evaluate the process of unification well in order to learn from it for the further necessary unification. Everything that is necessary to then be able to lead the fight for a socialist world from a stronger position.
- Do you see a revolution possible only in one country in today’s era of globalized imperialism?
Of course, the working class and the oppressed masses in each country can and must find and follow their own path to revolution. But without international support this will not be successful in the long run. No liberation struggle, no revolution can remain without international support. We have commented in detail on the – under today’s conditions – international strategy and tactics in the book, Dawn of the International Socialist Revolution.
- What kind of collaborations can MLPD do with RCPN in the future?
MLPD and RCPN are already working together in the ICOR and the UF. It is their joint task, as well as that of all other ICOR and UF members, to advance the international unity of revolutionary organizations and parties and also to advance the coordination of the struggles in central questions of the international class struggle. And so both parties today already are implementing the international support of the Palestinian liberation struggle agreed upon by the ICOR; they are organizing the agreed environmental days of action in their countries, to name just a few things. In the coming year, both parties will certainly do their best to support the International Automotive Workers’ Conference in India and the theoretical seminar of the World Women’s Conference on the liberation of women in Kathmandu.
- At last, what message do you want to give to the revolutionary communists of Nepal?
It is not for us to prescribe anything to the Nepalese communists. Together let us carry revolutionary optimism into the masses, trusting they are willing and able to take up the fight for their liberation with the support of Marxist-Leninist parties. As revolutionary parties, let us do everything necessary for this. We have a world to win.
