Proletarians of all countries unite!

Speech of the Editorial Staff, Klassenstandpunkt Magazine at a Political-Cultural Activity to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Hamburg Insurrection:

On the conclusions we must draw from the lessons of the Hamburg Insurrection to serve the struggle for the reconstitution of the Communist Party of Germany more and better

„They stood for three days and three nights. They attacked, they fell, they retreated, but they did not surrender. They saved the honor of the Communist Party of Germany. They were the prize fighters of the German working class.“

- Ernst Thälmann

Esteemed comrades,

It is with great proletarian joy that we salute you today at this internationalist celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the Hamburg Insurrection. Without a doubt this Political-Cultural Activity, together with the march that will take place tomorrow, as a culmination of a campaign that has been developed in different forms during the whole year, is a dignified celebration of an event in the history of the struggle of our class in this country which importance for our current revolutionary practice should not be underestimated.

The brave and fearless uprising of the best sons and daughters of the proletariat in Hamburg 100 years ago is a monument in praise of the armed struggle as the only way for our class to conquer political power, to overthrow the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and to establish the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Hence it is a monument for the socialist revolution and the glorious struggle for Communism. The courageous proletarians of Hamburg who arose in arms on the 23^rd of October 1923 did so under the leadership of their Party, the Communist Party of Germany, the section of the Communist International in this country, fully and thoroughly conscious and convinced that they were part of the international army of their class and thus that their combative actions was carried out as an inseparable part of the world wide confrontation between the international proletariat and the oppressed Nations on one hand and the imperialists and all their reactionary and revisionist lackeys on the other. There was not a trace of doubt in the minds of the Red Fighters of Hamburg that their enterprise was a part of, and developed in service of, the world proletarian revolution. Hence it is a monument for the Communist Party, the Communist International and proletarian internationalism.

The leaders of the Hamburg Insurrection, among them most notoriously comrade Ernst Thälmann, fulfilled a Party directive to spearhead the initiation of the general Insurrection of the proletariat in Germany, as to initiate the revolutionary nation-wide civil war. They were betrayed by the revisionists and opportunists inside the Communist Party, false leaders and traitors, but they did not waver and maintained the Blood-red banner with the Hammer and the Sickle flying high, even in the moment of the retreat. The comrades did not lost their faith in the Party and the Masses and guided by the Communist International, under the leadership of comrade Stalin, they later drew the Pharisees out of the Party and comrade Thälmann, the faithful soldier of the Communist International, became the chairman of the Communist Party of Germany. Hence the Hamburg Insurrection is also a monument for the struggle of the Red Line against revisionism and opportunism, for the correct method of the Left to handle the two-line-struggle inside the Party.

Comrades,

When we to today celebrate the anniversary of the Hamburg Insurrection, we celebrate the armed struggle for socialism and communism, the Communist Party, the Communist International, proletarian internationalism and the merciless struggle against revisionism and opportunism.

Glory to the Red Fighters of Hamburg who raised a monument with blood and lead!

Even if we rejoice celebrating this monument, we are neither Idol-worshipers nor sentimental nostalgic ones. Our attitude towards our history must be mainly to learn from it so to understand more, deeper and better the laws of development of society, the laws of class-struggle, in order to handle these wiser and more efficacious, so to advance on the route of proletarian revolution. Said in another way: we learn from the past to be better armed to solve the problems of the present and the future.

The Communist Party of Germany and the Communist International made an important analysis of the Hamburg Insurrection, precisely in this sense. These documents, particularly the document written by comrade Thälmann published on the second anniversary of the heroic Uprising, “The lessons of the Hamburg Insurrection”, should be studied and read by every communist in formation and revolutionary in this country. Today, we can say that the main lesson, the lack of a Communist Party fit to lead the struggle, was correctly defined: “All the conditions for the victory of the working class were there, except only one: the existence of a clear, iron-clad communist party, inextricably united with the broadest masses, determined and capable of organizing the spontaneous struggle of the working masses, of leading it … Our party as a whole was still far too immature to prevent these mistakes by the leadership. Thus, in the fall of 1923, the revolution failed because of the lack of one of its most important prerequisites: the existence of a Bolshevik party.“¹

The problem of the “immaturity” of the Party is essential to understand, particularly for those, as we, who struggle for its reconstitution. Every Communist Party, as an expression of the ever present Law of Contradiction, must pass through a process of ruptures (with the old and outdated) and leaps (to the new and more advanced) and thus encounters different stages, or moments, of its development. Without correctly defining the stage, or moment, in which the Party, or the process of its reconstitution, finds itself, there can be no correct understanding of the tasks concerning it ideological, political and organizational construction and hence no correct handling of the two-line-struggle. In short: if the stage, or moment, in which the Party finds itself, is not correctly understood, there can be no correct leadership work. The main “immaturity” of the KPD in 1923 was that it was infested with revisionists and opportunists, Brandler being the most prominent of these sinister elements, the very chairman of the Party at the time. This came from the process of how the Party was founded, including the limitations of the founders themselves, and the “unification” of different organizational structures – on another occasion we will deal upon this issue much more.

Still, as Maoists, we can say that to point out this fact is not enough. The Party must not only be “clear”, it must have a profound understanding of the ideology of the international proletariat, today Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, with the contributions of universal validity of Chairman Gonzalo, that is Gonzalo Thought, and, most importantly, being able to apply it creatively to the specific conditions of the concrete reality in which the revolution it leads unfolds. We can definitely say that there was an important lack of this in our Party in the 20’s and 30’s of the last century. Furthermore, the complete Military Theory of the international proletariat, the People’s War, was just to start to be developed by Chairman Mao in China, so, naturally, the communists in Germany could not use it. Hence, the lack in the creative application of our ideology and the lack of a complete military theory, must be added to the reasons why the Hamburg Insurrection was defeated.

So for us, today, the three main aspects that lead to the defeat of the Hamburg Insurrection can be summed up as follows: 1) the lack of a Communist Party “mature” (that is: enough developed in the 6 aspects of the party construction) to lead the revolution; 2) the presence of revisionists and opportunists at leadership level of the Party, and; 3) the lack of creative application of the universal ideology of the international proletariat to the concrete conditions of the revolution.

Comrades,

We must never forget these lessons, because, as comrade Thälmann said: “The cruel price we paid for them was the death and incarceration of our best. And yet, these sacrifices will be worthwhile a hundredfold. They were made not only for the construction of a party of Bolsheviks in Germany, but for the future of the whole working class.”²

Comrades,

To learn from the lessons means to draw conclusions (the leap from practice to theory) and to put them into effect, transforming reality (the leap from theory to practice). From the three lessons we thus draw the following three conclusions to guide our current practice.

- We need to develop the struggle for the reconstitution of the Communist Party of Germany from the very initial phase with the clear-cut strategic orientation that what we need is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, principally Maoist, Communist Party, that upholds, defends and applies Chairman Gonzalos contributions to the development of this our universal ideology. A militarized Communist Party, capable of leading the revolutionary war of the proletariat, applying the complete military theory of our class, the People’s War³, to the concrete conditions of the revolution in this country. We must firmly grasp the strategic directive launched by Chairman Mao that before the initiation of the revolutionary war, all struggles must aim at preparing the war, and after its initiation all struggles must serve the development of the war until the Conquest of Power. This is the only type of Party that matches the realities of the current stage of historical and political development of the struggle between revolution and counterrevolution in the world – the only Party that can lead us to victory.

Today we are far away from having such a, militarized, Party and the militarization can only occur in the midst of the armed struggle, and will only be completed as a result of the initiation of the People’s War and first then the reconstitution of the Party will be possible to be fully concluded. But, since Marx will not step down from the heavens and fix everything himself, we, the communists in formation, will have to take up the task ourselves. Thus, we must have a Strategic Plan of Construction, which covers all the 6 aspects of party construction, that correspond to the current stage, or moment, of the struggle for the reconstitution, with clear objectives to be fulfilled. amateurism, circle mentality and primitiveness, that always end up in opportunism by sacrificing the long-term, vital, interests of the class for the immediate results, must be purged by fire from our ranks. Those who spread illusions about a peaceful, legal, phase of “Party-Construction” are nothing but crooks and charlatans and must be denounced and fought as such. The sole fact that the Communist Party of Germany is a “prohibited organization” (by the imperialist State) should be enough to prove for everyone that the struggle for its reconstitution can not be a legal undertaking and anyone who has the slightest idea of the history of the class-struggle in Germany during the last decades, knows that even the smallest radical opposition to the ruling order, if the State gets its eyes on it, becomes “prohibited”, legally persecuted and the leaders thrown into prison or even extrajudicial executed. If the Communist Party in this country is not built for war from the very beginning – as said, always taking into account the different stages, or moments, of its development – it is doomed to absolute impotence, irrelevance or physical extinction. This, comrades, is the first conclusion we can draw from the lessons of Red Hamburg.

- Our second conclusion is that the Communist Party must have an unequivocal ideological foundation, it must base it self on the Eleven Basic Principles of Marxism, uphold, defend and apply Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, and Chairman Gonzalos contributions to the development of our universal ideology, and guided by these, establish correct lines for its ideological, political and organizational construction. In short, the Party, and in our current stage, or moment, of the struggle for its reconstitution, the communists in formation taking up this task, must be led by the Red Line. The Communist Party is not an amalgam of the “most radical leftists”, a federation of local groups or a “unification” of equal parts (which by the way is the theory of “Yin and Yang” and incompatible with dialectical materialism). The possibility for such sinister figures as Brandler or Ruth Fischer to raise to top leading functionaries of the KPD only existed since the Party was not founded on an unequivocal Marxist-Leninist foundation and that it, in effect, was the result of a “unification” of different organic structures. The Party in this period was ideologically “diverse” and the Red Line could not hold the leadership in a firm grip.

When we today struggle for the reconstitution of the Communist Party it would be a crime to allow the same situation to be repeated. When comrades from other structures approach the proletarian vanguard in formation with desire for unity, it is a good thing, but the corrected handling is not to negotiate a “unification”. Those groupings, regardless of size or other particularities, who want to become part of the proletarian vanguard in formation must dissolve, centralize all their work to the leadership and their members apply individually to become incorporated in the work, passing through the candidate period just as any other new militant. Of course many “proven and distinguished LEADERS” do not approve of such a method and prefer to come up with any possible pretext to keep their “own group” intact, that is under their personal leadership, but those who put up such an attitude against the proletarian vanguard in formation, precisely in this manner give the most evident proof that they are not guided by the wish to serve the people wholeheartedly, but on the contrary chieftains, condottiere, whose only interest is their own petty interest for personal power – hence this method is very appropriate to separate the wheat from the chaff, impeding the entrance of bad elements in the Party. If one has confidence in the proletarian vanguard in formation and wants be a communist, what can stand in the way to apply for the militancy and let the leadership put you in the position where you can serve the Party and the Revolution at best? For any sincere revolutionary, the answer can only be: nothing!

All “unifications” of different groups into one Party have always resulted in a series of problems. Even the most recent well known examples indicate the same: high-level speakers of the same Party, basing themselves on the same formal unity basis, presenting totally different stands on life and death issues of the proletarian world revolution, much eclecticism and pragmatism, and so on, problems that at decisive junctures will cause the revolution much damage.

The Red Line, the most advanced one in serving the strategic interest of the proletariat, strictly subjected to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, and applying the contributions of Chairman Gonzalo, must hold the Party leadership in an iron grip, never should revisionist and opportunist elements be allowed in the Communist Party. This, comrades, is the second conclusion we can draw from the lessons of Red Hamburg.

- A creative application of the universal ideology of the international proletariat to the concrete conditions of the revolution in this country is an indispensable necessity for the triumph of the proletarian cause. Marxism is the proletarian standpoint, worldview and method. It defines the Laws that govern the class-struggle, in the world as a whole and in every particular country. Chairman Gonzalo has – developing the fundamental thesis established by Chairman Mao, who in turn of course based himself on the Classics preceding him – established the three moments of the world proletarian revolution, based on a profound understanding of the historical experience of restoration and counter-restoration and showed how these have been expressed and which expressions they take today, and defined, with immense foresight, that we are living in the moment of its Strategic Offensive. This has profound implications on how we must relate ourselves to the historical practice of the communists in this country. Marxism has never been truly applied creatively in Germany in the conditions of the Strategic Offensive of the world revolution. There is no historical application of Maoism and the contributions of Chairman Gonzalo by the Communist Party of Germany on which we can base ourselves. Except for some minor experiences that may exist, currently unknown to us, the only experience is the one we have achieved on our own so far, and this experience is, to say the least, very limited. This means we have a huge amount of work to do, a work upon which the progress and, in perspective, the successful culmination of the socialist revolution depends. So it must be done and the communists in this country must and will do it. The creative application of our universal ideology to our concrete conditions will not be born out the head of some predestined illuminated Paladin, but out of the work of many “small theoreticians”, as Chairman Gonzalo puts it, that is, the work of the Party as such, as proletarian vanguard, and this will generate the theoretical and practical leaders the revolution needs, and among them, after a prolonged process of struggle, most importantly in leading the revolutionary war, the main leader of the Party and the Revolution will surge (once again the Law of Contradiction), based on a guiding thought. First then a fully correct General Political Line of the Communist Party of Germany can be established, proven in theory and practice. This is the future, but a future that must be conquered through the extended and arduous struggle which we just begun. All comrades, the communists in formation in particular, must strive to develop themselves as “small theoreticians”, so that from all the little streams of truth a mighty thunderous river of proletarian truth can unfold. For this we all must enhance our study, our grasp of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, and Chairman Gonzalos contributions to the development of our universal ideology, and without fear of making mistakes – but of course trying to avoid them – put a great effort to apply it in all situations in fulfillment of the established plans. The central issue to focus upon in this is how to solve all problems, keeping in mind that the questions of military line, currently primarily expressed in what we conceive the ideological, political and organizational construction in function of the initiation of the armed struggle, must be the center of our attention, being the central question of the revolution, the conquest of power through arms by the proletariat. This way we will learn how to apply correctly the military theory of the international proletariat, the People’s War, to our concrete conditions.

We must audaciously advance in applying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, and Chairman Gonzalos contributions to the development of our universal ideology, striving to lay solid foundations for the development of the correct General Political Line of the Party. This, comrades, is the third conclusion we can draw from the lessons of Red Hamburg.

Comrades,

As communists in formation we must strictly adhere to the great principle of construction and hence based on our ideological and political foundations construct our organizational structures in the midst of the class-struggle and the two-line-struggle, all in function of the armed struggle for the conquest of power of the proletariat. This has been, is and must be, our approach to how to advance in the forging of the apparatuses that serve the struggle for the reconstitution of the Communist Party of Germany as a war machine. So, when today we stand in the midst of the storm of class-struggle and fight a tit for tat merciless struggle against the revisionists and opportunists, who serve the counter-revolutionary plan of the imperialist State which aims at separating the proletarian vanguard in formation from the Masses, we are doing well. In the struggle against revisionism and opportunism we must insist on our line of going to the deepest and broadest Masses and mobilize, politicize and organize them (with the perspective of arming them), advancing in the necessary scientific organization of poverty, as Chairman Gonzalo teaches us. The revisionists and opportunists, the false leaders and traitors of the revolutionary movement, are nothing but scarecrows that will be burned to ashes by the fire of the class-hatred of the Masses.

The sharpening of all the basic contradictions in the world is undeniable, even the black heralds of the Bourgeoisie must admit that we are living in times of war. The Russian imperialist war of aggression against Ukraine, this summers Uprising of the proletariat in France and the heroic struggle of the People of Palestine against the genocidal campaign of the State of Israel, guided by the Yankee-imperialists, are three events that are having a huge impact on the struggle between revolution and counterrevolution in the world, the first and third case being mainly expressions of the sharpening of the main contradiction in the world – the one between imperialism and the oppressed nations – and the second case an expression of the sharpening of the contradiction – in the imperialist countries – between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The repercussions of these events in the class-struggle in this country are evident, most notoriously today when the German imperialists viciously attack all expressions of solidarity with the struggling Palestinian People and with this continue the onslaught on the most fundamental democratic rights – the right to assemble and the right of association – directly in line with the leap in the reactionarization that initiated with the State of Emergency (under the pretext of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic). This shows, once again, how the class-struggle in the country is inextricably linked to the international class-struggle, and this will be so even more in the future. Every perspective that does not part from an understanding that our class is an international one and that only the form of its struggle is national, is nothing but imperialist chauvinism. Proletarian internationalism is the very spirit of Communism, as Chairman Mao so exactly defined it. In this sense it is perfectly fine and good that when we tomorrow, on the same streets as the Red Fighters of October 1923, wave our red banners with the hammer and sickle at the same time the flag of the National Resistance Movement of Palestine is raised high. The communists and the revolutionary masses raised up on the 23^rd of October 1923 in the name of the Communist Party of Germany, as a section of the Communist International, serving the world revolution, full of proletarian optimism and ambition. Tomorrow, exactly 100 years later, we will do the same and the fallen heroes will march together with us.

Red hamburg is invincible!

Long live the Communist Party of Germany and the Communist International!

Long live the Proletarian vanguard in formation and the International Communist League!

Down with revisionism and opportunism!

Forward in the struggle for the reconstitution of the Communist Party of Germany!

Editorial Staff, Klassenstandpunkt Magazine

October 2023