The Maoist Communist Party of Italy is Founded!

Announcement by the Maoist Communist Party

On this shining, victorious, extraordinary 1st May, the Italian communists announce to the proletarians and peoples of the world, to the parties and organisations of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and to the international communist movement, the foundation, amidst the fire of class struggle and in close connection with the masses, of the Maoist Communist Party, so as to hoist again the banner of socialist revolution in Italy, uniting all the advanced proletarians under the banner of Maoism, applying the strategy of people's war to the conditions of this country, and putting this new beginning into practice so as to seize power and march triumphantly to socialism and communism.

1st May 2000 - Long Live the Maoist Communist Party of Italy!

A new great wave of the world proletarian revolution is approaching in the world today, with its most advanced points being the People's Wars led by Maoists in Peru and Nepal, but also in India, the Philippines and Turkey. In many other countries, the masses are rising up, guns in hand, even when the leadership of these struggles is not in the hands of proletarians led by genuine communist parties. Crisis is deepening in the heart of the imperialist system, a crisis for which this system has no solution. Though protected by all their armed might, the imperialist governments cannot even hold their world summit in peace. More and more the proletarians, the unemployed, women and youth feel the need to put an end to a system based on exploitation, oppression, repression, racism and war by making revolution, in the universal form of people's war, which is the only way to lead the proletariat and masses to seize power and free themselves.

From the Andes to the Himalayas, from Washington to Berlin, from Istanbul to Bombay, from Bogota to Rome:
Long Live 1st May under the Banner of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!
Long Live the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement!
People's War until Communism!

It is within the core of the working class in our country, amongst the exploited proletarians and immigrants, the unemployed and the impoverished, that we communists organise the struggle, raising consciousness and building up the leadership and cadre in order to expand and intensify the class struggle and turn it into mass political struggle to overthrow the bourgeois government, combating reformism, electoralism, pacifism and opportunism. We work to organise the rebellion of women as a mighty force of revolutionary struggle and transformation. We call on rebel youth to fight state repression and everyday oppression. We defend the revolutionary political prisoners, and build the revolutionary united front.


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1 May 2000
Salute from the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement

We proudly and enthusiastically hail the founding of the Maoist Communist Party (PCm) in Italy as a party united in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, a party whose task is to lead the proletariat and revolutionary masses in that country to overthrow their imperialist ruling class as part of the single world-wide process of proletarian revolution and to wholeheartedly support this effort in every country.

This event represents a great and daring leap after two decades of difficult political and ideological struggle and revolutionary practice, in which comrades who began as local circles linked up both with each other and, from its beginning, with RIM, and fought to uphold the banner of proletarian revolution in that country and to take responsibility for leading it. Through the course of this, the comrades in Italy have sought to apply the universal principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the particularities of that peninsula, to unite all who can be united to make this line a material force, and to begin to sink roots among the masses, especially the proletariat.

As we all know, in every country the formation of the party is only the beginning of a process. Even after the party is formed it must continue to grow and develop through arduous efforts for its influence among the masses to deepen and for its grasp of the correct line to become stronger. This is an on-going process that will exist throughout the whole life of the party. The party must be built in the course of class struggle, including the two-line struggle, both inside the party and against revisionism in all its manifestations.

As our Movement declared in the document Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! when it adopted this ideology, "Mao Tsetung's theory of people's war is universally applicable in all countries, although this must be applied to the concrete conditions in each country and, in particular, take into account the revolutionary paths in the two general types of countries – imperialist countries and oppressed countries – that exist in the world today." Our Movement's understanding of the universality of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism's teachings on people's war is one important feature that demarcates us from other trends in the international communist movement. In the imperialist countries, as in the oppressed countries, the work of communists prior to the outbreak of revolutionary war is to prepare for the violent seizure of power. The formation and strengthening of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party is the key aspect of leading the revolutionary struggle forward amidst the inevitable twists and turns, complexities and diverse "pulls" that accompany any revolutionary process.

There is a rich experience in Italy of waging different kinds of struggle, and even armed struggle, against the reactionary state. But these struggles could not succeed in developing into a revolutionary war of the masses. This experience needs to be summed up and appropriate lessons learn. Marxism-Leninism-Maoism must be creatively applied to the concrete situation in each country. In so doing, as our Declaration affirms, the October Revolution remains the basic point of reference for Marxist-Leninist-Maoist strategy and tactics in the imperialist countries. The party must steer clear of the rocks of revisionism in all its forms, both right and "left", while raising the political consciousness of the masses and leading them in revolutionary struggle, so as to prepare and launch the armed struggle for the seizure of power when a revolutionary situation appears that makes the development of a genuine people's war possible.

As Lenin said, the communist ideal is not a trade union secretary but a tribune of the people, striving to provide both ideological and practical leadership to those sections of society who are already clamouring for it and beyond, going lower and deeper among old and new sections of the proletariat and more broadly as well. One task the party faces is to attract and train new forces, in particular young revolutionaries who have been coming forward in Italy in a period in which confusion reigns. Bringing forward a new generation of communists will require vigorously combating other ideologies that are competing to influence this generation. A particular strength of your party is the importance you have given to unleashing the fury of women as a mighty force for revolution, a force which could spell victory or defeat for the seizure of power in Italy and the continuing transformation of society, leading to the triumph of classless society all over the world.

You have upheld and supported the world's revolutionary movements and people's wars, such as in Peru and Nepal, which has been of vital importance to the revolution in Italy and the world revolution. Your participation in RIM is also a favourable factor to enable your party to assimilate the rich experience our Movement is gaining in many countries throughout the world.

Today, the whole world is full of contradictions and volatility. The storm centres of the world proletarian revolution are in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, where, for deep-rooted reasons, a revolutionary situation generally exists, although with ebbs and flows. However, the other major contradictions in the world are also sharpening. This intensification has led to the eruption of reactionary warfare in the Balkans, right on Italy's doorstep. Certainly Italy itself is not immune from the future possibility of violent upheaval and dislocation and the accompanying revolutionary openings – in short, as our Declaration says, "revolutionary situations which appear infrequently in these countries but which concentrate the fundamental contradictions of capitalism". Italian imperialism's increasingly direct and enthusiastic involvement in bloody adventures to expand its sphere of influence and grab its share of the imperialist re-division of the world has greatly stepped up the popular outcry against these criminals, sharpened the struggle and built up the pressure driving a host of contradictions. You comrades have pointed out the factors of political and social crisis threatening to break through the surface in Italy.

The foundation of the Maoist Communist Party in Italy is most timely. The objective circumstances under which the PCm has been born and the conditions for carrying out its work are propitious, as is the growing maturity of our Movement on an international level as the embryonic political centre of the world's Maoists.

We are overjoyed that your Party is determined to seize the hour and assume its responsibilities – this is an urgent necessity for the revolution in Italy and the world revolution. Great victories crown great efforts, and we wish you every success in this heroic endeavour.

Long Live the Maoist Communist Party in Italy!
Long Live the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement!