POSITION
ROME -- On his way to Moscow, Eduardo Gallegos Mancera, a member of the Political Bureau of the Venezuelan Communist party and head of its International Office, granted an interview to ltunita, daily newspaper of..the Italian Communist party [PCr].
Gallegos stated that his party has abstained from taking a. public position on the problems of the international Communist movement in order "not to give the enemy the opportunity to take advantage of the discussion to weaken the party's rank and file, This does not mean, however, that the Venezuelan. Communists are standing at the fringe of the discussion or favor an empty, straddling position. We hold precise opinions on the various aspects of the discussion and we have stated. them frankly in talks we have had in Moscow, Peking and» other capitals," a ;
Gallegos stated that "We deplore. the - fact that - the discussion has degenerated into a quarrel and we deplore the forms taken by the quarrel, We believe it would have been more useful to keep it on an ideological level; and, in this sense, our position coincides with that of the PCI on the necessity to deepen the debate, using fair terms and on a fraternal basis, In Venezuela we have done our best to give the widest” possible circulation to Togliatti's memorandum, which, aside from:any reservations one may have concerning it, is considered by. us to be an exceptional contribution to the. unity of the international Communist movement," .
Gallegos believes that the best way to preserve the unity of the international Communist movement is to preserve unity in each party and to condenin factionalism,
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Referring to the question of national roads to socialism, he said that “every party should choose its own revolutionary road by . itself. Faced with the regime of terrorist tyranny that in one form or another has dominated Venezuela, we have chosen armed struggle as the main form. This is our own line, and not the Chinese, Soviet, o -Cuban line, and we want it to be respected, just as we respect the | line chosen by other parties; i.e., the Chilean party. And I must say that it has been met everywhere with respect and understanding, beginning with the. PCI. " _ [Smphasis added, |