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Peet. cOPPORMUTTSI - ; in brother an anne . 2 ae ers * tho Progro Ssivo Labor ‘Party, -protending tefapnold tho Cultural foveluc 7 thon “ond tho Thought of Maco, has com forth with a sorics of positions and > °-l) earricd thom out in practicc, which in fact run countor to ail tho sain lossons ’ ef tho Chinoso and Viotnamesc rovelutions as woll as the struggle for Black __Idberation in Amrica. “Superficially it sooms absurd to contend that a group “whose rnotorie sounds so militent and whose preetiss eften involves considerable ... personal sacrifice on tho part of its nombors and who, in vords, oppose the ety. egunterrevelutionsry revisionist trond in the ‘gorld revoluticniry movcuont and uphold the world-historic Groat Prolotaptan Cultural Revolvtion, could, itsolf,- bocune &h obstacles to revolution, © ; Tho dotorioration of the Progrossive Labor Party is a groat disappoint~ niont to all gonuino revolutionzrios, In tho oarly stages of tho Party's dovelop- mont 4t mado a number of significant contri butions: it took s orincinled stand se before the Howso Unamsrican Committco; it raised anti- imperialist eonsciousnoss . through its support of the Cuben poople!s strugglo against the United Statos' . wwling class; it supported tho Bleck Liberation movement «nd contributed totha ' defoat ofpacifist idoas in that struggle.and in tho anti-war novenont; it played a key role in the anti-war movoment, through tho organizetion of the Kay 2 . movement which it launched and hel pod practically and ideologically. Its most - dmportant contribution during that pericd was its seperaticn from und opposi- tion to tho revisionist Communist Party and the whole intornational revisionist ~ trend, Cem -Thoso promising oarly beginnings have turned into thair opposite, * Today tho Leadership of the PLP nas has eenplotely ombraced “loft™ opportunisn, » beth theoratically and practically, Tho chiof charectoristicof "left" oppor- eo . + tunism (and why "left" 4s onclosed in quotes) is the uso of revolutionary phraso~ olegy and rhetoric in order to opposa in prectico tho strugsios of tho Fooplo. In othcr words, because a “loft® line undermines the struggic, an objoctive _wnity is created with right revisionists who sock to water down tho struggle and stripit of its revolutionary sovl, In so doing, "left" opportunists scivo an any tie inperislists objoctively, accomplishing for thon within the ranks of the = -+ay ' people vbat opon (surporters ef itrerialism are unable te acconpiish. Honco while "loft" an f forn thoy aro rig htin assonca, It is for this rcason thet wo refor te 4t ag rovisionism's tiin brother, ; "loft" opportunism manifests itself in a varicty of ways and, eas Jenin _ Says, crops up in tho mest unexpectad Placos. It cfton takes tho form of ad- : “yenturisn, or "fighting whan you cannot win." (It mcy becontrasted with conser- vatism, or "not fighting -hen you can trin.") In the important sphoro of revol- _ tionary strategy, At dipholds a misteken viow of the necessary stazo ef struggle that tho revolution must go through, "Left" cpportunists put forward tho slogans = for a mera advancod stago of strugglo in order to oppesc struggies at tho premaut i: stage, attompting thoreby to"skip" nceessary stagos. In contrast "loft" Opper- twiism assumes tho posture of “ali strugglo and no allicnco,” whereas right ¢ Opportunisa upholds ‘ali alliancecand no strnigglo, 7 thoraby submorzing itself undor tho loadorship of anothor class and abandoning its independent rolo. Foth . bronds have no real confidcnee in the massos and fail to apply thf nass lins. ..- oft" opportunism rofusas to loarn from the peoplo, systematize thoir idoas,. _ meot their immodiate nosds and point the way forward, Organi: tionally 4 it sub~ ale Ea At the awrene ~ ‘ae se FF em, beat > FELMICGS "sorvang woo organization"™ for "sorving tho Feorec. .. Ko party or revolutionary movement ean evor bo froo from the sa errors, ; In fact it is tho struggle against these errors within the revolutionary ranks - ; and within the mass movement that stecls our fortes and onablos| us to advanec, . As Mao says, without such idoologieal struggle our renks will bo swanped “xith “bocoake ies literalism and wo vill easoomplish nothing, Navertholess, theso orrers ariso in varying degrees of soriousnass. Whon thoysystamatizc thomselvos, and erys- ae co tallica organizationally into a dofinite trend, they Feccmo problons of a dif. ‘forent stripe. For oxemple,vhen Ienin polowicized against “left-sing commmnisn, up la tha nowy Tormed partics ef the Third? Tatarnationsal wes a problem of , - youth, of honest mistakes arising from ignoranco, excessive zeal, or undor- ' developed thoory. . The important thing was net that people vora making soricus _oyrors butthat thoso orrors could be corrected through timely and sharp eriti - eisn. Tho riss of Trotskyism presented the opposite propicn. iskyisn bagen | with « series of "loft" errors byt persisted in thom, systomatizecthon, pieced Aatseif in opposition te overy hoslthy trend in tho fntornationsl communist — comont.,- ‘opposed socialion wherovor At was. established and finely becans ote ight cgcnts of the ruling class. t . - who class roots of these vicus aro in the rotit bourgesosts and the rast. er ‘Yabor aristocats within tho working class. Gun oo. 1- ism, the rysteustic fostoring of the eon n of raci si : or.) infantile disordor,*™ he rocognized that this "leftist" discase which cropred