Attack Against the RCWP

Northstar Compass, August 2001

After getting acquainted with the article by Lisa Taylor in the newspaper Globe & Mail published in Toronto, Canada, I must say that there is no need to go into details because the material is put together very carelessly and full of forgery and a muddled opinion bordering on fraud, which any conscientious author would never allow himself to make.

Lisa Taylor wrote that the Russian Communist Workers Party (RCWP) received only 1% of votes during the last election in Russia. In reality the RCWP received 2.23% of the votes, that meant 1,530,000 votes. If we look into the costs in finances for the last election, we worked 10 times harder than the CPRF, and 50 times more effectively than the LDPR. For example the CPRF got 22% but having spent 42.1 million rubles while we spent 0.34 million rubles but gained 2.23% of the votes.

We gave these figures in order to answer the allegations that RCWP is led by big business.

The author wrote that among the founders of the RCWP were politicians who are now leading nationalist organizations and are known for their anti-Semitic statements. For example V. Miloserdov (chairman of the Russian Party), V. llyukhin (deputy of DUMA from CPRF and head of the movement to support the Russian Amy). They never were members of the RCWP!

The reference to Anpilov and Malyanov who were expelled from the RCWP due to differences in ideological concepts of work and program and Lisa Taylor ascribes view to these people which is not characteristic of them.

• The author often quotes as authority some oral sources which is not serious for any journalist. Lisa never refers to any RCWP documents, program, resolutions of the congresses held by our party or any official documents.
• Having looked at one document (October dedaration-80) she picked out the words “International Zionism” and she draws the conclusion that the RCWP is a pro-fascist nationalist organization, such as the Russian National Unity Party, Cossack movement, Ku Klux Klan and others, the reason being that the word Zionism is being used. Such logic shows the pre-conceived ideas and opinion of the author.
• The article goes on to say that the RCWP is proud of its collaboration with the newspaper “Zavtra” and the activity of the Editor Prolkhanov, an anti-communist and nationalist. The list of such type can be quoted endlessly, but let us dwell on the ideology and understanding of this author.

1. The author does not mention our high opinion of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union during his time and the outstanding achievements during that time. RCWP admits that there were some mistakes made at that time, but those mistakes during Socialism were made because of the hard struggles under hardest of conditions, but it was not a betrayal of Socialism and ideals of Communism, what we saw later under Gorbachev.

2. The author ascribes to the RCWP negative attitudes towards minorities and sexual minorities and is quite morbid about this question, to be sure.

The RCWP does not feel that it is necessary to express our views in the party documents or as it was not mentioned in the Communist Manifesto. In our press, our party is on the same track and tradition as our Russian people, the majority have the family as opposed to individualism.

Critical articles in our press are not aimed at gays and lesbians but against the propaganda of the correspondent pseudo-culture and the way of life of sheer individualism which, according to our scientists, has a class base, and is being used by the capitalist ideology to distort the apprehension of such incontestable moral categories as kindness, beauty, truth. We can make this information available to you, Lisa!

3. Lisa Taylor's position about the tragedy of the Holocaust is also very specific. On this question we get to know the real face of Lisa and her actual aims.

The author reproaches the RCWP that we underestimate the horror of the victims of the Holocaust. She calls comparing the number of victims of the Holocaust with the Soviet 27,000,000 victims as cynical. At the same time Lisa tries to use as an argument quantity proportional analysis of the national composition of the victims of Auschwitz concentration camp. By using this argument she tries to accuse the RCWP of anti-Semitism and of underestimating the Holocaust victims. Such methods and such reasoning show a very nationalistic, anti-Marxist and a provocative position of the author against the left and the anti-fascist movement.

In reality RCWP relates with great respect and deep sorrow to all victims of fascist barbarians. But we also have to emphasize again:

• Underestimating and neglecting the victims of other peoples is inadmissible, since World War II cost the lives of 50 million people!
• Mourning of all victims of the anti-human fascist policy, we as Marxists should make a distinction between the victims and the fighters against fascism. First of all we must cite as an example the image of a hero (a soldier and a partisan) who consciously gave their life to liberate humanity, the people of all nationalities, from the “brown plague.”

The Soviet Union lost in the Great Patriotic War over 27,000,000 people. The USSR made a decisive contribution to the cause of eliminating fascism and at the front line of this death struggle over 3.5 million Communists headed by Stalin lost their lives. We mourn for the victims, but the role of heroes is more important for us because they saved the world. They deserve no less respect and memory. The ancient and wise Jewish people to our mind must be grateful to the All Union Communist Party (b) which was the main centre of the anti-fascist struggle of not only Soviet people, but of all the peoples of the world.

That is the class truth of history. The hostility of Lisa Taylor, the author to the truth shows her anti-proletarian, anti-internationalist and bourgeois position.

Is it a conscious effort or an honest effort of an inexperienced person? — this is another question

This is my answer, dear Editor of NSC, to Lisa Taylor and her attack against the Russian Communist Workers Party.

With respect and best wishes in our common struggles.

Victor Tiulkin
First Secretary of CC RCWP