KHRUSHCHEV!S ADVICE TO THE ALGERIANS
On the eve of Chou En-laits arrival in Algiers, two daily papers of that city, Alger Républicain end Le Peuple, published an interview with Khrushchev which took an entire page in fine print in these pub-_ lications, This was part of the ideological battle around the Sino- Soviet dispute, since it is not in the columns of a newspaper that you demonstrate she material advantages at-your dispcgal, :
In Khrushenev's remarks ars to be found a series of truths about the importance of the emancipation movement of formerly colonized people, truths that scarcely require discussion -- since they are now forced even on bourgeois politicians. Doesn't the U.S.State Department pay lip service to the Latin-American revolution?
Khrushchev also stresses the danger of neocolonialism in terms that are scarcely sensational to the Algerians. Along with these now fundamental truths, he adds some small distortions of history, particularly "the support without reservations" which he alleges his government granted the Algerians at the time of their struggle against French imperialism,
But the major interest of the interview lies in Khrushchev's conception of the stages of development in the underdeveloped coun= tries,
. He continually insists on the struggle for "the national, antifeudal and democratic liberation" of these countries, This is the | theme to which he returns the most Trequently, _ embellishing it with variations. ,
The "socialist revolution" as seen by Khrushchev is simply an internal effair for each people. But their first problem is a "demoeratic program,” and in this "the national bourgeoisie which is not rane with the foreign monopolies can likewise take part in carrying t out
=~ L2—
Thus he remains fixed in the position held by Stalin. Never does he advance, as do the Chinese, the leading role of the proletar~_ iat in the struggle for this program, We should also note that he displays rare discretion about guerrilla fighters, peasant struggles, ete -
At the same time, in developing his main theme, Khrushchev appears aware that this will not satisfy the colonial masses, above all the Algerian masses who are mobilized for the construction of socialism. That is why he sayss
"The revolutionary democratic leaders of certain liberated countries are looking for methods and forms of passage on to the noncapi-~ talist road of development. In the opinion of Marxist-Leninists, a national democratic state could well serve as the form for such a passage,"
One should savor this text of the "Marxist-Leninist" Khrushchev: a "national democratic state could well serve. .." To what concrete state of today "could" this well be applied? And if this is a tran sitional state in the stage between capitalism and socialism, how is this form different (aside from degrees: of development ) from a workers state, the dictatorship of the proletariat taken in the sociological ~ sense which Marxists give it? Really, Khrushchev should not be asked to get involved in theoretical problems.
In disguised. form his interview contains a certain criticism of . the policy now being followed by the government in Algeria:
"Socialism cannot be built by decree, one cannot jump over the stage of democratic transformations. .. , _
Against this he- stands for "involving the wide masses in creative revolutionary activity..."
That socialism is not the product of one or a good many decrees, but of a process, and even of a rather long process, no one can doubt. But why oppose tine activity of the masses" to passing decrees or laws by a revolutionary power? The decrees issued by the Algerian government in March 1963 contributed precisely to inspiring gigantic creative activity by the masses, What then should be the role of a revolutionary power if not, especially through appropriate decisions, to give impulses to the creative power of the masses? :
Khrushchev perhaps does not recall very well the history of the October Revolution -- he lent himself so thoroughly to the contortions of Stalints time -- but it is sufficient to recall that in October 1917, when the Bolsheviks took power, Lenin began his speech at the Congress of Soviets with the words, "We are going to begin the construction of socialism, . ." He likewise had this assembly adopt a decree on the question of peace and one on the question of the land,
Le
ste
bd
ale
oo
wo
+ gle
Pe
«13=:
It should also be noted that in this interview Khrushchev sought to convince those who might read it that "peaceful coexistence," as -he means it, does not signify giving up the class struggle in any country whatsoever, But he stuck to generalities and carefully refrained. from saying anything for exariple on the subject of India and the way in which the wing of the Indian Communist party which is associated politically with him views the implications of “peaceful coexistence" in domestic politics. bee bate eee we :
_.