7. DECLINE OF U.S. IMPERIALISM AND ADVANCE OF THE WORLD REVOLUTION

The Philippine Revolution, particularly our people's war, is greatly advantaged today by the decline of U.S. imperialism in Asia and throughout the world and corollarily by the advance of the world revolution. The main trend of revolution keeps on advancing because of the ever-worsening crisis of U.S. imperialism and the entire capitalist system.

The United States was in its initial vigor as an imperialist power when it was able to thwart the old national-democratic revolution in the Philippines at the beginning of the century. The Filipino revolutionaries at that time were not ideologically, politically and organizationally prepared to defeat a modern imperialist power, though they had already defeated Spanish colonialism. There were not even the objective conditions nationally and internationally to give rise immediately to the subjective forces that could successfully lead a people's war against the U.S. aggressors in the Philippines.

World War I shook and weakened the entire capitalist system to the extent that it created the conditions for the victory of the October Revolution and the establishment of the first socialist state in one-sixth of the world. The character of the world revolution changed from bourgeois-democratic to proletarian socialist. But the particular imperialist power holding on to the Philippines was the one among the imperialist powers that took the most advantage of the interimperialist war. Besides, the imperialists and colonialists could still manage to hold on to their colonies and semicolonies, through the instability of their rule here started to become more evident than before.

U.S. imperialism maintained a firm grip on its Philippine colony. It continued to cultivate a retinue of reactionary politicians under its orders and further used the country as a forward base for its expansion in Asia. Only in 1930 was the Communist Party of the Philippines founded under conditions of world depression and local social unrest.

The world capitalist system continued to undergo a general crisis even as the first interimperialist war had just ended. Subsequently, fascist regimes emerged in a number of Western European countries and in Japan. The struggle for the redivision of the world among the imperialist powers further intensified. Inevitably World War II broke out. As it did in connection with the first interimperialist war, the United States made profits on loans and war production before and throughout the war and provided supplies to both warring sides until it was ready to join the war on the winning side and pick up the spoils.

The United States emerged from the war as the Number One imperialist power, having gained hegemony over the entire capitalist system and assuming the principal responsibility for retaining the colonies and semicolonies throughout the world. It was in a strong position to reconquer the Philippines from the Japanese fascist and quell the revolutionary forces here. Moreover, it was helped in a big way by the series of grave errors perpetrated by the Lava and Taruc revisionist cliques which consistently took the line of subordinating the revolutionary movement to the U.S. scheme of granting fake independence to the Philippines. The gains made by the revolutionary forces in the course of the war, when the U.S. forces temporarily retreated form the country, were squandered and lost. Recovering the Philippines, U.S. imperialism proceeded to expand in Asia and oppose every anti-imperialist struggle in the region.

But beneath the surface of overwhelming U.S. imperialist strength, the entire capitalist system had been profoundly weakened more than ever before. People's democracies under the leadership of communist and workers' parties emerged over a large area of the world, in Asia and Eastern Europe. In Asia, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China emerged. The socialist countries encompassed one-third of humanity. National liberation movements surged ahead with unprecedented vigor in colonies and semicolonies. Thus, the economic territory of the entire capitalist system receded and could not but further recede.

The victory of the Chinese Revolution and the establishment of the People's Republic of China came as the hardest blow to the imperialist powers soon after World War II. They lost their spheres of influence in this large country with a large population, comprising one-fourth of humanity, notwithstanding the massive military and economic aid by the U.S. imperialists to the Kuomintang reactionaries. The imperialist front in the East was irreparably breached. The world significance of this great victory was incalculable. The impact of the Chinese Revolution in Asia alone terrified U.S. imperialism. The oppressed peoples and nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America started to look up to China for revolutionary inspiration.

Soon after China's liberation, U.S. imperialism launched a war of aggression against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and failed to accomplish its objective of conquering the whole of Korea. Then, it formed the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and violated the Geneva Agreements on Indochina. Failing to learn its lessons from the Korean War, it once more launched a war of aggression in Vietnam and tried to defeat the people of South Vietnam, ruin the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and subjugate the whole of Indochina. At the height of the Vietnam War, 700 thousand U.S. aggressor troops and 1.5 million puppet troops were used against the people's armed forces. About $150 billion were spent by the U.S. imperialists to carry out their war. But they were forced to withdraw in defeat. The Vietnam War accelerated the decline of U.S. imperialism not only in Asia but also throughout the world.

The Chinese, Korean and Indochinese peoples are all neighbors and brothers of the Filipino people. Their victories are a great inspiration to the Filipino people and have objective effects favorable to the growth and advance of the Philippine Revolution. Aside from these victories, there is one outstanding phenomenon in Asia which brightens the prospects of people's war in the Philippines. This is the persistence of revolutionary armed struggles in Southeast Asia in general since World War II. Even at the height of its power, U.S. imperialism could not suppress these; it found no effective use for its rift-ridden Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. The revolutionary armed struggle in Indochina has so far been the most outstanding and the most victorious among these. But all other persistent armed struggles in Southeast Asia, of which our people's war is one, promise to eventually grow in significance and effectiveness as the turmoil of the capitalist system worsens and U.S. imperialism declines further.

The revolutionary armed struggles in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos have served to stress the fact that since after World War II it has become possible for the peoples of colonial and semicolonial countries in the East to develop over a long period of time big and small revolutionary base areas, wage long-term revolutionary wars in which the cities are encircled from the countryside, and then gradually to advance on the cities and win nationwide victory. Chairman Mao correctly pointed out at the opening of this decade, "Innumerable facts prove that a just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds little support. A weak nation can defeat a strong, a small nation can defeat a big. The people of a small country can certainly defeat aggression by a big country, if only they dare to rise in struggle, take up arms and grasp in their own hands the destiny of their country. This is a law of history."

The revolutionary armed struggle in the Philippines, even as it was resumed only a few years ago with so many glaring disadvantages resumed from practically nothing in a small archipelagic country under the sway of one imperialist power and without the condition of either an open war among the reactionaries or an interimperialist war), has been able to persist. One important explanation for this phenomenon is the ever-worsening crisis of U.S. imperialism and the entire capitalist system and the irrepressible advance of the world proletarian revolution. These external conditions have profound effects within the country.

The crisis of U.S. imperialism and the entire capitalist system cannot but take a more bitter form in a semicolonial and semifeudal Philippines than in the United States or any other capitalist country. This is because an imperialist country makes it a point to extract a higher rate of profit wherever it can do so, especially when it is making up for losses elsewhere. Increased exploitation entails increased oppression. Thus, the political crisis has found expression in the fascist martial rule and its intolerable abuses, the worst since the end of the Japanese fascist occupation. The economic crisis features the foreign monopolies, chiefly American, remitting superprofit with abandon on direct investments and loans, abetting a rate of and unemployment several times higher than in the capitalist countries and depressing the price of the country's raw material exports. The inevitable result is that the people hate U.S. imperialism and the Marcos fascist gang and they are readily moved to support and participate in armed revolution. They are confident of winning victory in the long run because they are aware of the defeats and general decline of U.S. imperialism as well as the victories of revolutionary peoples abroad.

The world capitalist system is wracked today by a crisis unprecedented in gravity and turbulence since the end of World War II. The root cause of this is that U.S. imperialism, while playing the role of main pillar and policeman of world capitalism for some time, has overprinted its money and overborrowed internally and externally; overconsumed and wasted the world's resources; overexpended for its military establishment, particularly for its armaments, foreign military bases and wars of aggression; and suffered tremendous losses in the hands of the people. Because the economic territory available for imperialist exploitation has shrunk, the areas for intercapitalist accommodation have also shrunk and intercapitalist contradictions have had no course but to intensify. As a result, the class struggle between the proletariat and the big bourgeoisie comes to the fore in every capitalist country.

The struggle for world hegemony and arms supremacy between the two superpowers, U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism, is intensifying. They are fighting without letup for markets, fields of investment, sources of raw materials and strategic positions and they keep on bumping into each other. They covet each other's spheres of influence. They make trouble in several areas of the world and try to manipulate the situation to their own advantage. They keep on trying to reverse the irresistible trend of history - countries want independence, nations want liberation and the people want revolution. Bullying, aggression, intervention, subversion and control characterize the two superpowers' behavior in international affairs. But instead of succeeding all the way, they incur the condemnation and resistance of the peoples of the world.

The two superpowers collude in trying to terrify the people with their nuclear arms, in demanding that the destiny of mankind be placed in their hands, in making disarmament agreements, in lulling the people with talks about detente and in making certain temporary settlements here and there so long as each stands to gain more than before at the expense of others or at least so long as one does not lose in the bargain though the other gains. But between rival imperialist powers in a capitalist world about to burst asunder, there is no course but for collusion to serve contention from the beginning, at every step and in the end. Each superpower is bent on ruling the world and eventually pushing the other out. Thus, both are feverishly engaged in arms expansion and war preparations. Here lies the danger to world peace and the possibility of a world war.

There is not a region in the world where the two superpowers are not in contention. Eastern Europe is far from the United States and in a Soviet sphere of influence but U.S. imperialism covets it. Latin American is far from the Soviet Union and is a U.S. sphere of influence but Soviet social-imperialism covets it. But even in these regions, not all the incentive belongs to the superpowers. There are countries wanting independence, nations wanting liberation and peoples wanting revolution as elsewhere in the world.

Western Europe and the whole Mediterranean area are being contested by two superpowers. U.S. imperialism banks on its old alliance with Western Europe, particularly on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and is concerned about the fact that its foreign investments are most concentrated in this region. Soviet social-imperialism banks on its being the dominant power in Eastern Europe through the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact and on the revisionist parties within Western Europe. Despite the U.S. Soviet duet about detente and the Soviet proposal to set up a "European security system," the reality stands out that U.S. and Soviet military bases and naval fleets daily confront each other. But in the meantime, the countries of Western Europe singly and jointly and within or outside their Common Markets are becoming more and more at odds with the two superpowers; and the proletariat in every country is becoming more and more militant in a class struggle that the revisionist parties cannot lead to a revolutionary victory over the big bourgeoisie.

In the Middle East, a region that links Europe to Africa and Asia, U.S. imperialism uses Zionist Israel as a lever for enlarging its privileges and profits in oil; and at the same time Soviet social-imperialism uses its arms supplies to extort its own privileges and make profits on the oil income of the Arab countries. The October War is still indecisive. But even as the two superpowers have their own selfish interests and manipulate the situation to their advantage, the Arab and Palestinian people remain firm in their struggle for their sovereign rights and for the return of the occupied lands and are vigilantly opposed to the U.S.-Israeli combination as well as to the other superpower. The countries of Western Europe, adversely affected by the shenanigans of the two superpowers, are being compelled to deal directly and independently with the Arab countries and refuse to be herded by some superpower into any rash action.

In Africa, the two superpowers incessantly maneuver to take the place of the old colonial rulers. Both pretend to be in sympathy with the people's struggles against old-style colonialism and for national independence. U.S. imperialism exposes its own hypocrisy by its close links with the old colonial rulers and by its own rapacious schemes and activities. While being more deceptive, because it uses "revolutionary" language and uses the prestige of the revolutionary past of the Soviet Union, Soviet social-imperialism exposes its own hypocrisy by doing essentially what the other superpower does. The struggle against imperialism, colonialism and racism continues to rage. Africa is a major part of the third world. Its countries, nations and peoples, like those of Asia and Latin America, are in the mainstream of the struggle against the superpowers.

In South Asia, Soviet social-imperialism has made use of the ruling Indian reactionaries to promote its hegemonic ambitions and to make trouble like threatening China and dismembering Pakistan. As a result of the Indo-Pakistani War, which it masterminded, it has secured several bases for its naval fleet in the Indian Ocean. It is so inebriated by its aggressive acts that it continues to dream of putting up an "Asian collective security system" under its control. U.S. imperialism is more than ever concerned with maintaining its own foothold in this region and in launching a series of countermeasures. But the peoples of South Asia, including the peoples of India and Bangladesh, and a number of countries like Pakistan and Ceylon are opposing the two superpowers and their puppets.

In Southeast Asia,. U.S. imperialism wants to retain its hegemony over Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines. These countries do not only serve as a "second line of defense" in the U.S. military strategy for Asia but also are expected to be a great alternative source of petroleum. But the situation for U.S. imperialism is becoming more and more complex and difficult, especially after its resounding defeats in Indochina. Soviet social-imperialism wants to take advantage of U.S. decline and weaknesses in the region. Japanese capitalism has to be accommodated here because otherwise the China-Japan relations would develop beyond U.S.-Japan relations. China has its own policy of friendliness towards all her neighboring countries. The peoples of Southeast Asia are engaged in revolutionary armed struggle under Marxist-Leninist parties. Should there be another world war, Southeast Asia is one region that is almost certain to become completely Red.

The scheme of U.S. imperialism to use Japan as its anti-China spearhead and its fugleman in Asia is at odds with Japan's own interests and needs as a capitalist country that can no longer be accommodated in U.S. economic territory as adequately as before, especially when the Korean War and the Vietnam War were on. Likewise, the scheme of Soviet social-imperialism to entice Japan into an anti-China alignment by serving up its natural resources, especially oil and timber in Siberia, is at odds with the more economic terms of China-Japan trade and with Soviet refusal to restore the four northern islands to Japan. The peoples of China, Korea and Japan are firmly against U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism.

The desertion of the Soviet Union from the ranks of the socialist countries by becoming revisionist, social-capitalist and social-imperialist does not make for an increase in the strength of the world capitalist system but instead makes for an increase in the virulence of interimperialist and intercapitalist contradictions. By usurping the social wealth and military prowess of the Soviet proletariat and people, Soviet social-imperialism has posed itself as the most formidable rival of U.S. imperialism and also a competitor as well as prospective master-state of other capitalist countries.

On the part of revolutionaries the world over, the problem that has arisen with the emergence of Soviet social-imperialism is that here is one imperialist power with the special characteristics of being socialist in words and being imperialist in deeds and being liable to launch against socialist China a full-scale war of aggression because of new tsarist ambitions and blatant war preparations in pursuit of such ambitions. As time has proceeded, instead of being able to confuse people, Soviet social-imperialism has demonstrated its true nature not only by its own counter-revolutionary words but also by its wanton acts of aggression and counterrevolutionary deeds.

China has adopted and carried out a comprehensive program of defending and advancing its revolution, opposing the two superpowers and countering their maneuvers and the dangers of a world war posed by them, and promoting the world revolution as the antidote to the poison of imperialism and war. By undertaking the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, under Chairman Mao's theory of continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, it has thwarted the restoration of capitalism within the most populous socialist society and has become consolidated as a strong bulwark of socialism and world revolution. As it continues to win great victories in socialist revolution and socialist construction, it enhances its ability not only to defend itself against one or two superpowers but also to fulfill its internationalist obligations.

China is playing a pivotal role in developing relations of friendship, mutual assistance and cooperation among the socialist countries in accordance with the principle of proletarian internationalism. It is extending tremendous support and assistance to the revolutionary struggles of all the oppressed peoples and nations and at the same time encouraging them to be self-reliant and to maintain initiative in their own countries. Its external policy includes the Leninist policy of peaceful coexistence, specifically the Five Principles. This is an important weapon in the service of the world revolution because by it the broadest possible united front can be created against the two superpowers and contradictions even in the ranks of our enemies can be taken advantage of. It fully accords with Marxism-Leninism to make use of contradictions, win over the many, oppose the few and crush our enemies one by one.

Within the United Nations, China puts a great emphasis on promoting the struggle of the third world countries and small and medium-sized countries to assert their independence and state sovereignty against the two superpowers. The monopoly of the imperialists over international affairs is being shattered. Therefore, it becomes difficult for any single superpower to draw a following for launching a world war. As the crisis of the world capitalist system worsens, there are bound to be more and more disagreements and conflicts between the two superpowers and between one or two superpowers and the dependent countries, whether also capitalist or developing.

As disorder reigns in the affairs of the two superpowers and the world capitalist system, the revolutionary forces of the world find the situation excellent for their anti-imperialist struggles. Should a world war still break out despite all efforts to prevent it, the outcome for the imperialists shall be worse. The last two world wars have proven that a world war leads to civil wars and a revolution of wider scope against imperialism.

In the world anti-imperialist struggle against the two superpowers, it is entirely correct for China and other socialist countries to raise their levels of socialist revolution and socialist construction and rely on their own proletariat and people and upon such a basis carry out an external policy that would foster unity with Asia, Africa and Latin America and take advantage of intercapitalist contradictions as well as contradictions between the two superpowers themselves. Under these circumstances, Marxist-Leninist parties the world over can thrive in leading the people in revolutionary anti-imperialist struggles in their respective countries.

The Philippine Revolution, particularly the people's war that we are presently waging, finds abundant support not only among the broad masses of the people in the Philippines. It also finds abundant support in the peoples and proletariat of socialist countries, colonies and semicolonies and capitalist countries. Support comes in the general form of fighting in common against one or two superpowers and, in cases to increase in the future, also in the form of direct and concrete assistance to the Philippine Revolution. * * * * *