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Marxist-Leninist Currents Posts

How the Berlin museums acquired the Benin Bronzes and battles against colonial culture of museums in the West

Hari Kumar, January 2022 Note: Below is an excerpt of the full article. View/download the full document as a PDF via this link A short version of this article will be at Berlin Left blog in January 2022 __________ After much bluster the Berlin Humbold Forum finally agreed to return to Nigeria its collection of the ‘Benin Bronzes’. What role do the self-dubbed, ‘great’ museums of the Western world play in colonialism? What are these Bronzes, how did many end up in Berlin? What do we know about their return and the role of anti-colonial activists? World museums gloss over…

Founding Document of the Communist Party of Bolivia: An English Translation

English Preface by translators and producers of this translated version When trying to understand current events in the ferment of South America today, the struggles and movements that have galvanised the peoples of Bolivia are important.  The character of Evo Morales from outside of Bolivia, was difficult for us to understand without the guide of this document. It contains a class-based history of Bolivia up to the time of its publication in  March 2020. This Founding Document of the Partido Comunista Revolucionario De Bolivia (PCR Bolivia) was extremely useful to us. We felt it may also prove of use to…

Alliance-ML: An Open Letter to Ludo Martens (2021 Republication)

Photo: Ludo Martens, founder of the Workers’ Party of Belgium. Date unknown. ALLIANCE Marxist-Leninist  (North America); July 2000 “UPON THE CURRENT SITUATION, UNITY, AND IDEOLOGY – AN OPEN LETTER  TO  LUDO MARTENS; “PARTI DU TRAVAIL” BELGIUM; Hari Kumar (Editor) and for Alliance-ML (North America); W.B. Bland for Communist League (Britain); G. Altinoglu for Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (Turkey); March 1996; Great Britain Preface to 2021 republication This pamphlet was put out as a moment of realignment of Marxist-Leninist forces was taking place world-wide. It had been hoped that a dialogue between those in the Hoxhaite wing and those in the Maoist wing, would…

Elections 2021 and Peruvian reformist politicians – Promises, promises…

Recent Presidents of Peru were a lousy lot: Alberto Fujimori (jailed 25 years for terror); Alan García (committed suicide charged with bribery from Brazilian firm Odebrecht); Alejandro Toledo (fugitive from Obdebrecht); Pedro Pablo Kuczinski (house arrest Obdebrecht); Martin Vizcarra (impeached twice, banned from office for jumping lines for COVID vaccination). Who comes next? After much delay, Pedro Castillo was declared to have won Presidential elections against Keiko Fujimori (Alberto’s daughter). What can workers and peasants of Peru expect of Castillo? Capitalists aim to simply gull Peruvian toilers yet again. More false promises of fighting imperialism without revolution. Previously, this dead-end…

On the Death of Abimael Guzmán a.k.a. Chairman Gonzalo (1934-2021)

Hari Kumar with Mike B. and Alfonso Casal October 2021 On October 11th 2021, the revisionist, guerrilla leader – Abimael Guzmán or Chairman Gonzalo – of the ‘Shining Path’ died in prison. Partido Communista del Perú (‘Sendero Luminoso’) was founded in 1970, in a split from the Peruvian Communist Party Red Flag (PCP-Red Flag). Shortly after the ‘Shining Path’ was a co-founder of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). After his capture by the Peruvian state in 1992 Abimael Guzmán was jailed and imprisoned for life. He died in prison on September 11, 2021. Generally, his followers deny that with Guzmán’s…

W.B. Bland: The Pakistani Revolution, c. 1969

Previously placed on the web by Alliance-ML, 2001. INTRODUCTION Marxism-Leninism is the scientific outlook of the working class, the science of socialism, and of its construction by the working people, the science of socialist revolution. The temporary victory of revisionism in the international communist movement has given rise to the widespread circulation of perversions of “Marxism -Leninism” shorn, in the interests of world imperialism, of its revolutionary content. Before dealing with the specific revolutionary process in Pakistan, it seems desirable to us therefore, to restate very briefly the essential principles of Marxism-Leninism in relation to colonial-type countries in general, as…

The Afghanistan War of 2002: Legacy of USA Imperialism and Social Imperialism

ALLIANCE 45: Originally February 2, 2002 Web republication at Marxist-Leninist Currents today 21 August 2021. Introduction The Afghanistan war of 2001-2002 has been the prelude to the coming Third World War. In this world war the force of the USA will be likely pitched against that of China. We anticipate that some of the key points of the war will involve the Central Asian Republics and their strategic positions, and their reserves of oil. The tragedy of the Afghan people can be traced to the absence of a Marxist-Leninist party in the country. But, it must be openly admitted that the objective circumstances facing the revolution…

Book Review: “Stalinist Terror, New Perspectives.”

Written by Hari Kumar, 1993. Previously posted to Alliance-ML. A BRIEF BOOK REVIEW : “Stalinist Terror, New Perspectives.” Edited by J. Arch Getty and Roberta T. Manning. Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-521-44125-0 Hardback or 0-521-44670-8 Paperback. Cost : $24.15 paperback in Canada. This book has considerable interest. It presents rare data of interest, and also shows a changing wind in academia. The usual wind is: Stalin was nasty and cruel; alternatively stupid, or bright and devious; who was not responsible for good things like the Soviet conduct of the War; who …etc. Ultimately the truth will out. The mythology…

A Case History of Vaccine Nationalism – Deconstructing the AstraZeneca Story

Also published via The Left Berlin, April 2021 In the wake of the COVID pandemic broke out a search was rightly unleashed for a vaccine. But this has been far from an impeccable victory for science. This article makes three points: First an evident series of scientific errors made by Astra-Zeneca. Secondly a myriad of potential for conflicts of interest exists between prominent scientists, giant drug companies, regulatory agencies meant to monitor safety and government. Thirdly, scientists are vulnerable to pressures of fame, greed and nationalism – just like anybody else. This case history of Astra-Zeneca again exposes why private…

Douma

Introduction The chlorine bombing in Douma Syria, by the Assad forces during the Syrian Civil War was another horrifying episode of Assadite fascism. But several sources of mis-information (In an older time this was known as lies) have tried hard to obscure the underlying truth. The events at Douma did not take place in an abstract isolation. The Syrian army committed innumerable massacres on behalf of Assad. Russian imperialist agencies were complicit in this. In the face of this, the smaller particular incident in Douma should be of far less concern to the left. But the April 2018 bombing in…