THE PROCESS, PRACTICE, AND THE REVOLUTIONARY LINE
We live in a country where the tactics
of the oligarchy, the situation of the peoples' masses, the international
conditions and our own struggle, can develop
and change radically at any moment. In such a country, we
drive the revolution forwards and we lead
on the strategy of the revolution. Neither for the
counter-revolution, nor for the revolution,
is a new day like the one before, there are no repetitions. That's
why our work, our energy and our attention
must always be directed to orientate at the vision of the Party
and Front to achieve new progress. It
is obvious that we can not achieve anything by repeating the past, if
we approach the changing conditions merely
with the forms of struggle, tactics, and forms of organisation of
the past.
The history of the revolutionary movement
starts at the end of the '60. In those years the THKP-C began to
take shape. This history of adapting the
Marxist-Leninist theory to the concrete conditions in our country, is
a rich history. Until today the work at
this is done from different directions. And of course, the different
forms of organizing and struggle were
no repetitions of the past. Without understanding these processes, the
tactics we proposed and used, these forms
of organisations we used, it is impossible to comprehend our
history and the characteristics of our
revolutionary movement. It is important to know them.
But not to repeat them in a rough manner
which does not adapt to the changing conditions. It is not possible
to use ready- made sjabloons in a revolutionary
strategy, not even in the most common matters. This is the
case in regional work, the work in the
neighbourhoods, as well as in actual tactics. A responsible person
who tries to use tactics and politics
in his unit as if it were a recipe, is condemned to failure. From this
viewpoint, learning from our history,
comprehending of its richness, and evaluating the differences between
past and present are still important tasks.
Furthermore, we have to pay attention
to concrete things. We should always ask what it needed at present,
and we should develop new forms, ways
and methods to meet the needs of the actual situation. This
process, going from the THKP-C to Devrimci
Sol, and from there to the DHKP-C, is a ideal base for this
strategy and a rich source of experience.
The founding date of our Party is March
30, 1995. But our Party is not "new" in the political arena. It is the
continuation of the struggle and the follow-up
to the tradition of 16 years Devrimci Sol. In it, the traditions
and experiences of Devrimci Sol are carried
to a new level. The history of Devrimci Sol, founded in 1978, is
in itself the heritage of the Party- Front
and the struggle for the re-creation of the Party.
Of course, at the beginning of this process
was the THKP-C. Despite organisational interruptions this
process stretches from Mahir, from the
THKP-C until the present in political continuity. In this history there
is continuity, but no repetition. Our
history was not written in the abstract, separate from life, on the
contrary, it was the result from a theory
which was discussed in practice, measured by this practice.
That's why every ideological, organisational
and military step which was taken in our country, made the road
to revolution clearer and pushed the revolution
forward. One of the most important conclusions of Mahir
Cayan in describing our road to revolution
is the assessment that Marxism-Leninism is not a dogma, but a
strategy. This is one of the most important
points to distinguish our road from revisionist traditions. In 1973
the followers of Mahir, the followers
of the THKP-C, also followed this line. They tried to apply
Marxism-Leninism and the ideology and
strategy of the THKP-C for the benefit of the revolution, learning
in the revolution. Our line has since
1973 always orientated itself at the practice, measured itself by it, and
planned it. That's the difference with
the other leftists.
What the THKP-C is, what she is not, how
she must be defended and how she must be interpreted, that is
one of the basic points in the ideological
dispute in the process between 1974 and 1980. From the different
views in this dispute, the great number
of groups resulted which claimed for themselves to represent the
THKP-C. Nowadays, this large number does
no longer exist.
qApart from the revolutionary movement,
there is almost no group left which claims to represent the
THKP- C, and the groups who are left,
do not have any relation with practice. Some of them have
subjected themselves to the existing rule
so far, that they have removed the name of the THKP-C out of
their history and many have ceased to
exist in the course of the years. The way in which they interpreted
the history of the THKP-C his played a
big role in their failure. The interpreters of the THKP-C who have
to be judged as right-wing, rather tried
to adapt the ideology of the THKP-C in retrospect to their ideology
and they tried to take over the strategy
of the THKP-C schematically. The interpreters who can be judged
as left-wing, reduced the THKP-C to an
abstract ideology of struggle on the level of the word and they
made a caricature of its proper strategies.
These interpretations are not revolutionary practices, not only
seen from the perspective of the ideology
and strategy of the THKP-C, but also from the perspective of
Marxism-Leninism. In fact they are rather
the destruction of the theory. As a result these groups have
destroyed themselves more and more in
destroying the theory of the THKP-C, until they ceased to exist.
One can not assess the THKP-C by subjective
calculations and it is neither possible to do so by
literally copying. The only way to accept
the heritage from the THKP-C is by developing the
revolution. That's why the young cadres
of what was to become Devrimci Sol did not have any
problems to discover the core of the ideology
of the THKP-C.
This core has, seen from the perspective
of Devrimci Sol, always been the existing struggle and its
continuation and development.
This is the fundamental difference with
the interpreters of the THKP-C on the left and the right. The
connection between the THKP-C and Devrimci
Sol can not be explained as a simple fact of
similarities in ideology and theory. The
union of Devrimci Sol and the THKP-C is expressed in its
ideology, its practice, its politics.
And it is especially visible in the taking of the responsibility
towards our people, toward the people
in the world, in its willingness to sacrifice, its determination,
the consciousness of its own strength
and the will, when necessary, to give one's own life. (Dursun
Karatas, Congress Report of the DHKP-C,
page 3)
WHAT IS THE THKP-C? OUR ANSWER: IT IS
THE LINE
WHICH MAKES US DIffERENT FROM THE OTHERS.
The answer to this question on what the
THKP-C is, is our first characteristic. Our participation in the
political arena in '73-'74, the founding
and leading of Devrimci Sol in those days are based on the defence
and connection with the THKP- C. Our cadres
were inexperienced and they were insufficient, but from
their inside they were connected with
the tradition of the THKP-C.
In fact a general denying dominated the
political arena after the defeat in 1972. In front were those who had
attacked the ideology and practice of
the THKP-C most strongly, those who remained from the organisation
of the THKP-C. This denial was the counterpart
to their fear and discouragement. But the situation within
the people and especially among the youth
was not as they thought it was. While in the eyes of the old
cadres the THKP-C was buried with the
massacre in Kizildere, it lived on in the heart of the people. When
this became visible, the statements of
the old changed. The more open the potential became, the larger
became the number of heirs and interpreters
of the THKP-C.
There were two kind of representative
of the THKP-C. One part represented the Party-Front more or less
compulsory to bind the existing potential.
They stated their views indirectly and waited for a more
favourable point of time. The other part
consisted of the young militant cadres who represented the
THKP-C on the basis of the struggle. Between
those groups, there were many "old cadres", many
"authorities". But the standard of the
youth was simple. One the one hand the looked at the struggle of
Mahir and on the other hand they watched
the statements and the practice of the "old celebrities" and their
new deeds. The young learned from the
conduct of the deniers how the relation should be between theory
and practice. From this moment on, they
would disentangle the relation between theory and life in their own
practice. Seen from this perspective,
the first question was not a question of wether or not defending the
Party-Front. The question was how the
ideology of the Party-Front should be realized in practice in the
Turkey of 1974.
The first split after '74 occurred after
the question of wether or not representing the THKP-C. The second
factual split however, occurred with the
question of how the struggle was to be continued with the
perspective of the THKP-C. This was the
question for the proper representatives of the THKP-C. Since
1974 the revolutionary movement had its
anchor in this question. Out of this question it developed. They
worked in practice, they worked on all
kind of developments and the needs of the situation were seen and
evaluated. This was the defence of the
Party-Front in the struggle.
At this point their road and the road
of those who denied the tradition of the THKP-C for themselves, were
already separate. But also among those
who saw themselves on the side of the Front, there were
differences in judging the past, the defeat
of the THKP-C, and in assessing the actual situation. In this
situation every small or big step in the
framework of the Party-Front meant a new discussion and a new
split.
The real potential of the THKP-C lay within
the youth and this youth was unorganized. This unorganisation
was problematic, seeing the rise of organized
fascist attacks. The organizing of the youth, there answer and
the quality of their answer to the fascist
attacks developed within the process of defending the THKP-C and
within these splits.
The young representatives of the Party-Front
were no "theorists", no "Marxologists", they were neither the
"old" from the THKP-C, nor its "specialists".
But through their bond with the people
and the revolution, with their enthusiasm and their militant practice,
they have shown that the legacy and the
ideology of the THKP-C were not lost. They were the barricades
against the denial of the traditions of
the THKP-C, the discouragement and unsettlement. This was their
first task in their organizing and they
performed this in a highly successful manner. The basis of this
successful performance was their bond
with the people, their enthusiasm and their militant practice, despite
the "authority" of the deniers and the
waverers. This was surely what brought them closer and closer to the
ideology of the THKP-C.
In time, the developments became clear
and it became obvious what and how many the representatives of
the THKP-C from different circles defended.
The most important however, was that the
young cadres and leaders gathered experience in the struggle.
The re- foundation of the Party was the
common dream of the THKP-C sympathizers and they all declared
this to be the goal.
HOW SHOULD THE PROCESS OF THE FOUNDING
OF THE PARTY DEVELOP,
AND WHAT KIND OF PARTY SHOULD BE FOUNDED?
In the developing process, the THKP-C was
mostly judged regarding these two questions. In the most
answers the Marxist method, the dialectic
view of history, was applied in a twisted way. The different
fractions of deniers tried to twist the
history of the Party-Front, its practice, its political results caused
by the
struggle, in order to justify their own
actions. It was not their intention to learn from the reality of the
THKP-C or to draw conclusions from its
historical experience.
The interpreters of the THKP-C on the
right didn't see their task in the armed struggle, but they criticized
that the THKP- C was isolated from the
masses. Thus they tried to justify their demand to build up a mass
organisation which should work for changes
within the framework of the system.
Because they saw the reason for defeat
in the assumed lack of roots in the masses, it was in their view only
logical to regard "mass organizing" as
the most urgent task. This line, materialized in Devrimci Yol, didn't
actually see the THKP- C as a party. And
it is not really clear if they wanted to make a party of it.
Therefore the process of becoming a party
was always a unconcrete aim for Devrimci Yol.
The interpreters of the Party-Front on
the left used the same method in evaluating the past. In their opinion
the mistake which led to the defeat of
the THKP-C lay in the fact that its structures were exposed. This
military default should be cured by abstaining
from all mass work and concentrating fully on the training of
military cadres. And so arose the "Apartment
Revolutionaries". They, of course, didn't see the problem of
founding a party. In their opinion the
struggle was to be continued where it had stopped.
The interpreters on the right and the
left agreed in their rejection of a party forming process. We should look
at the tradition of the THKP-C and the
present process.
In fact the process of party-building
of the THKP-C was the clarification of the revolutionary path in
Turkey. The practical militant attacks
on the fascist should coincide with ideological forming of theory. And
the practice showed that the main point
of the struggle in that time was in legal work.
We could not go through the process of
party building in the same way. Particularly our actual problem was
no longer the clarification of the revolutionary
path in Turkey. Practice had broadened and the process had
become more complex. In all aspects of
life, the fascist terror threatened the lives of the people. The task of
building a party could not be seen apart
from the anti-fascist struggle. The process of building a party could
not take place outside the class struggle
and the practice.
The main problem in this process, going
to the years of '76-'77, was the attempt to get the problem of
becoming a party out of its indefiniteness.
The aim of building a party should be freed from its spontaneity, it
should become a clearly defined intention.
The revolutionary cadres, who carried almost the whole burden
of the process in this direction anyway,
started to push several circles in this direction in a intensified
manner.
The whole process couldn't wait any longer,
in their view there was no more time...
Different forms of organisation were established
and new relations, political attitudes, forms of struggle and
action, materialized. For example: in
that time the tradition of commemorating the fallen in the massacre of
Kizildere on March 30, 1971, arose. This
was an important step in clarifying the way ahead of the
revolution. Everywhere there was struggle
against the fascists and there was taken care for a level of
organisation which enabled revolutionary
militant actions against the fascists. In that time there was the
resistance in Kocamustafapasa/Istanbul
and with this the street fights and the revolutionary struggle got a
foothold step by step in the cities.
The old had no part in any of these developments,
most developments even had to be carried through
against their will. The new cadres, who
defended the THKP-C, who started to gather experience, didn't
repeat the old practices in almost all
of their practices. The practice and the theory of the Party-Front
showed them the way for their own materialisation
in which they used all their creative energy.
THE WORDS AND THE HEART OF THE THEORY
From a certain point onwards, it became
obvious that the aim of building the party could not be achieved
with the different circles with which
there had be a cooperation. The "secret" deniers were not the leaders
of those who went on the way to the party,
they rather were their chains. A new split was inevitable. The
revolutionary leading cadres were now
certain of how the THKP-C was to be re-founded and how this
perspective had to be realized in practice.
The centre of the line of the THKP-C was formed by the
"Political-Military Strategy of Struggle"
(PASS). This meant that a organisation which represents the
THKPC and which wanted to rebuild the
party, had to organize the armed struggle and had to view the
struggle in the process of founding the
party from the perspective of the PASS.
With the founding of Devrimci Sol in 1978,
the aim of the Party-Front took a new form and the armed
struggle grew. Now the process started
which is attached with the name Devrimci Sol. It will present our
revolution with many pages and it makes
the weapon of the Party-Front available again to our people.
The process which developed since the
seventies has a unchanged strategy of revolution. The social and
economical circumstances in our country
did not change in such a way that a change in strategy would have
been justified. But within this strategy
the tactics changed. This was necessary.
Since 1974 the civil-fascist terror has
bee a undeniable fact. This was one of the main obstacles to achieve
the organizing of the masses... And so
it was obvious what had to be done. The task of becoming a party
and building cadres can only be fulfilled
in this practice.
With the founding of Devrimci Sol, we
formed the "Armed Fighting Teams against the Fascist Terror"
(FTKSME). This didn't exist with Mahir
and the THKP-C. But should not we defend ourselves against the
fascist terror, should not we develop
the necessary means, only because Mahir didn't speak about this?
Surely the answer to this question lay
in the middle of the extremes. The left, however, was so
single-minded in their interpretation
of the THKP-C and its theory that even in this question differences of
opinion appeared.
That's why we emphasized, when we came
with our concept of the FTKSME, that we were sure that we
were going to be accused of deviation
by the "hard line" representatives of the THKP-C. And in fact we
heard: "Look, their masks have fallen,
such a form of organizing didn't exist with Mahir Cayan". (The
THKP-C and the two deviations, page 68)
A revolutionary movement must be very
open and clear at this point. Of course, the road of the revolution in
our country is lightened by the universal
theory of Marxism-Leninism, the experiences of the revolutions
throughout the world and the strategies
and tactics of the leaders of these revolutions. But at the point when
all of this is not sufficient to conquer
a concrete obstacle which appears before us, it is idle to try to adapt
life to the theory. A political movement
which wants to enhance a revolution at this point will deal with these
new conditions and will develop and realize
tactics which are needed in this process.
There is no other way. An the question
is wether or not the new tactics and forms of organizing are adapted
to the actual needs, wether they enhance
the revolution or not. The question is not wether or not they were
used by one or the other leadership in
one or the other revolution. We could also try to use one or the other
way which was used by any leader in a
revolution in whatever country. But if this chosen method is not
according to the actual circumstances
in the country and the conditions of its revolution, it will fail.
THE STRATEGIES, TACTICS, THE FORMS OF
ORGANIZING AND STRUGGLE:
EVERYTHING FOR THE REVOLUTION!
"We have gone on our way to carry out a
revolution in Turkey for thw whole world". These simple words of
Mahir are the true axis of a revolutionary
course. When this axis is changed, it will be unknown how and
what has to be done.
We have witnessed very impressive examples
of this. The legal party discussions of certain circles are an
example. We watch and we see that they
write dozens of pages of analyzing the struggle in Russia in 1905
and 1912 to justify and explain the rightness
of a legal party. And if there had not been the prefaces and
conclusions, it would not be easy to find
out wether this party worked in Russia or in Turkey. When one
reads one of their texts about the tactics
of guerrilla struggle, it is not clear wether this struggle is fought in
their country or in Peru. The tactics,
the slogans, all is copied from Peru. But whatever the brilliance of their
presentation, neither their slogans, nor
their tactics are according to the actual practice.
When one reads the analysis and proposals
of another circle of legal party founders, one reads that one
should adopt the masses, strengthening
the left against the right. All very well, but they do not answer the
question why they want to increase the
masses against the right, which line should be drawn between left
and right. They do not give an answer,
because being a revolutionary or a reformist in this question, that's
the answer.
The obstacles, put on the way of the revolution
by the oligarchy, and the political and military manoeuvres
which they employ, differ very much. The
task is to develop forms of tactic, struggle and organisation which
neutralize these political and military
obstacles. The target is making the revolution. In this there is no
compulsion to apply the one or other model.
On the contrary, every revolution follows its own bed and
creates its own model. This is what we
meant when we said that the struggle can not be fought withe
recipes.
"The problems of the revolution and the
struggle are so extensive and variable that they don't fit in a
scheme, in no program, and no single tactic.
Programs, organisations, statutes, tactics, new ways of
working, new politics, almost everything
serves for the speeding of the revolution, serves the
conquering of obstacles, serves the pushing
on of the revolution. An organisation which will lead the
masses of the people and bring them to
the revolution should be able to renew itself. It should, when
necessary, be able to put aside a form
of organisation as obsolete when it sees that it can not
develop new ways out of one way alleys
and queues with it, that it can not lift the struggle of the
masses with it. The basis of existence
for the forms of organisation, programs, statutes and political
tactics are the needs of the struggle
and the war". (Dursun Karatas, page 140)
Because we approached the problem in this
manner, the left could not denounce the revolutionary
movement with the usual stamps, although
they wanted to. The revolutionary movement confronted them
with a theory and a practice which they
couldn't give the name clandestine, nor reformist. They could not
present us as people who were detached
from the masses, they could not denounce us as the ones who run
behind the masses. Right wing deviators,
left wing deviators: no name fits our theory and our practice.
Of course they tried to hang different
names on us in the course of time. But always in connection with a
certain event, with one or the other action.
But in these points they could not attack our line. Because our
line could not be caught in their patterns.
We participate in the economical-democratic
struggle, as well as in the armed struggle. In legality as well as
in illegality. In the slumps, in the youth,
in the working class. The forms of organisation and struggle in these
areas changed according to the conditions,
from the economical-democratic forms of action to the military
actions and organisations they show a
big variety. The levels which the Armed Revolutionary Units (SDB)
went through, the spine of our military
organisation in the course of the process since '79, are an example of
the richness of this theory and practice,
of the ability for renewal without becoming rigid in theory and
practice.
The first SDB's were organized in a very
limited way. The required qualities were those of "cadres who are
familiar with all fields of work and who
work directly in one of these fields". In short, basically they should
be formed of leading cadres of existing
units. They became organizers of a practice which oriented on the
central political aims, independent from
their fields of work. And with these qualities, they fulfilled important
functions in '79-'80.
In the years between '87 and '90, after
the long years of the junta, the SDB's were restructured when a
assault was being prepared which mainly
based on the achieved progress in the legal field. In this time not
only "first cadres" were put in, as before,
but also supporters and members who had certain qualities.
According to the requirements, the conditions
of the time, they were not given a defined area of work.
With the founding of the DHKP-C the SDB's
were transformed in SPB's (Armed Propaganda Units),
based on the gained experiences, on the
experience of the armed struggle and the materialisation of the
perspective of building a popular army,
and based on the actual situation of the struggle. The FTKSME's
carried the anti-fascist struggle in the
years of '79 and '80. They were the organisation of several fields of
work who "wanted to stear and solve the
economical-democratic, political, ideological and military problems
on the basis of revolutionary violence".
Despite the building of different forms of organisation after 1980, we
did not use this form of organisation
anymore. In the nineties the militias formed the basis of the military
organisation of the areas of work. In
many aspects they resemble the militias of the FTKSME's, but in many
other aspects they differ as well.
In short, the actual goal is the creation
of the guerrilla army, the people's army. All future military
organisations are to be measured at two
criteria. The first is the adaptation to the actual needs of the
struggle.
The second is the taking over of functions
which benefit the struggle for the people's army and people's
power. All forms of organisation are possible
which change the situation of the masses according to these
criteria. A revolutionary movement and
its responsibles, its cadres and fighters have to develop the many
forms of organisation which reflect the
conditions of all areas of work, the different parts of the people.
When this does not succeed, the development
will slow down or be stopped.
THE HEART OF THE THEORY OF CREATIVITY
IS THE
REALITY IN OUR COUNTRY AND OF OUR PEOPLE
Looking at the whole process it becomes
clear that a lot, from the founding of the party and the process of
becoming a party to the used tactics and
forms of organisation and struggle, are different in the THKP-C as
they are in Devrimci Sol, and different
in Devrimci Sol as they are in the DHKP-C. Changes and
differences will also occur in the future.
But the differences have yet a common
core. All the different tactics, forms of organisation and struggle are
always according to the needs and demands
of the relevant present situation. Within the concrete situation,
they have brought us closer to the aim
on the short and long term.
The conditions in a country do not make
a difference for the use of ready made solutions. Those who use
them do not stick their heads out in the
street from within the unions under the circumstances of a growing
fascist terror, for instance. Or when
the state terror starts moving with all its horror, they still dream of
street fights of which nobody knows who
benefits from this, and how. However, they do not take the
slightest step to organize the barricades,
they only repeat their slogans, indefatigable.
Those who take the one or the other strategy
of revolution, tactic or form of struggle in another country as a
model do not want to see that their "model"
is in fact an example of creativity, a perfect example of adoption
of Marxism-Leninism to the conditions
of a country.
The revolution of the Soviets, the revolution
in China, in Cuba, Bulgaria, Albania and Peru are used as
models. But none of these revolutions
is the same. They all developed under their own circumstances, have
their own peculiarities. They all succeeded
by using Marxism-Leninism in a proper and creative way in their
relative countries. In reality the use
of models blunts the weapon of Marxism-Leninism.
About one of the revolutions which are
used as a model, the Chinese revolution, its leader Mao says: "The
greatness of the strength of Marxism-Leninism
arises from the unification of the concrete
revolutionary practice in all countries.
The problem of the Communist Party of China is to apply the
experience, the theory of Marxism-Leninism
to the concrete circumstances in China... For the
Chinese, the talk about Marxism without
looking at the circumstances in China will be a abstract
Marxism, a Marxism which will lead into
a vacuum. Mimicking should be abolished, the hollow
singing of melodies should be abandoned
and dogmatism should be rejected. In its place there
should be a vivid Chinese way, the way
of the plain people in China." (Mao, Selected Works,
volume 2, page 217)
Mao also states: "As soon as the universal
reality of Marxism-Leninism united with the concrete
practice of the Chinese Revolution, the
Chinese Revolution obtained a totally new look." (Mao, ibid,
pag 21)
This is the heart of all the discussions
about this point. This is also the case, seen from the perspective of the
revolution in Turkey. Especially at this
point, the THKP-C opened a new epoch. In the THKP-C,
Marxism-Leninism united with the concrete
reality in Turkey and a new period of the revolution began in
Turkey.
DOGMATISM AND CREATIVITY
The FTKSME's, the SDB's, the militias,
the committee of struggle and defence against fascism, the people's
councils, the people's committees, the
party cells...
The unions, the workers' committees, the
workers' councils, the revolutionary workers movement... The
student associations, the regional and
central associations, the revolutionary youth... The organisations of
civil servants, the families, the handworker,
the lawyers, architects, engineers... let's change the category...
The hungerstrikes, the protests by ironically
clapping hands, by human chains, occupations, barricades, press
statements, revolutionary violence, punishments,
boycotts... Another category...
Legal, illegal, semi-legal, in masses,
with cadres... And yet another category... The struggle for economical,
academic, and democratic rights, the fights
for reforms, the struggle for revolution, the fight against fascism,
defence, revenge, the destruction of fascist
centres.... This list is the expression of the richness of forms of
organisation and struggle and a lot of
other forms could be added to it.
Opposite to the one-sided left which operates
in legality, but not underground, which confesses to the mass
movement, but not to revolutionary violence,
which looks down at ironic clapping, but keeps away from the
barricades as well, which separates the
illegal struggle from the masses and doesn't organize it either... One
of the characteristics of the revolutionary
movement is to unify all these different forms, contrary to this left.
In unifying these forms, there is a problem:
to protect the movement against deviations, to prevent a
confusion of the target, the prevention
of splits. This must be done by not losing out of sight what is the main
issue and what is of secondary importance
in all forms of struggle and organisation.
When the main issue is lost out of sight,
this richness will lose its value, the situation will turn over, so one
will no longer know what is done for what
reason.
Which should insist on the main issue,
and in this we should insist on our line. In all tactics and forms of
struggle and organisation, we should point
at the richness which drives our creativity to the extreme. And
we should find out the methods which separate
the main from the secondary.
When the difference between the main and
the secondary is lost out of sight, theory and practice get mixed
up. Presently there are dozens of leftist
groups in Turkey who, while they choose a new centre for their
strategy every day, do not get tired to
reproach us for being dogmatic. It's right, one should not be dogmatic.
What we mean with "not dogmatic" is to
not let Marxist-Leninist theory become rigid, it is the application of
the Marxist-Leninist theory to the concrete
conditions in our country: an initiative which evaluates the
developments with the view of the actual
and periodical needs of the struggle.
But from numerous examples we know that
behind every attempt from them to tell us we should not be
dogmatic, there is not an example of applying
Marxism-Leninism to the concrete situation, but rather a step
to recede from Marxism- Leninism.
No, in this point we are dogmatic. In
defending the interests of the people and the revolution, the universal
thesis of Marxism-Leninism and the values
of socialism, we have to be dogmatic. When we are not
"dogmatic" in these points, what struggle
should the forms of struggle and organisation, the different tactics,
serve?
For example, the line of denial of the
members of Devrimci Yol was from the beginning also built with the
argument: "We should not be dogmatic".
Ultimately they made their denial into theory by saying: that
Devrimci Yol had "surpassed" the THKP-C.
Where they have landed with this surpassing and their
undogmaticism, is well known!
As we have said in the beginning: No organisation
can develop by copying another organisation. Also when
they copy themselves, they will inevitably
come to a standstill. And with this view it is impossible for us to
carry the form of founding and organisation
of the THKP-C in the '70's to the '80's and '90's of Turkey, and
when we would do this, this party in the
'90's in Turkey would not fulfil the functions of the THKP-C in the
'70's. For sure, a party, founded in the
'80's or '90's, would surpass the THKP-C.
At this point, the opportunism, reformism,
the right-wing orientation, shows its face. With "surpassing", they
mean denial, contradiction. "Surpassing"
the THKP-C in a revolutionary meaning however, means to take its
revolutionary core, the principal elements
of its ideology and to enrich them under the circumstances of the
developing process in its theory and practice.
At such a point the DHKP-C was founded as a party.
The THKP-C is the bond with the people,
the revolution. Devrimci Sol identified itself with this. The
THKP-C was the continuity in the armed
struggle. Devrimci Sol would became the name and continuity of
the antifascist struggle in the '80's
until the rise in the '90's, till today. The THKP-C was the resistance
against the junta. Devrimci Sol became
the symbol of the struggle and resistance against the junta. And in
the course of its development into the
DHKP-C, it enlarged this struggle and broadened it. It added new
traditions to the ones of the THKP-C.
It added new tactics to the numerous tactics of the THKP-C in its
short period of struggle which it could
not realize, and so enriched the revolution. It enlarged the struggle of
the THKP-C against opportunism, revisionism
and the bourgeoisie. This is what we mean when we talk
about "surpassing" and the DHKP-C took
its place with these characteristics as a party which "surpassed"
the THKP-C.
The adaption of Marxism-Leninism to the
concrete circumstances of the country is the key to success for a
revolutionary movement of driving on concrete
aims in a certain country which make the aim of revolution
attainable.
Those who could not do this have because
of their wavering tactics turned away from the aims of the
revolution and people's power. In the
struggle for revolution and people's power, the ready made models,
strategically speaking, and the recipes,
tactically speaking, have no place.
International
Conference about
Revolution
and Power in the Neo-Colonies
Held in the Spring of 1998
Participating organisations
Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Front (DHKC); Turkey
Communist Action Group (CAG); UK
Communist Party of the Philipines (CPP); Philippines
Frente Patriotico Manuel Rodriges (FPMR); Chile
Partido Mapu; Chile
Movimento Revolucionario Tupac Amaro (MRTA); Peru
Iranian People's Fedayee Guerillas (IPFG); Iran
All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)(AUCPB); Former Soviet Union
Parti du Travail de Belgique (PTB); Belgium
Peoples' Democatic Party (PRD); Indonesia