This is the final of seven installments in UNITY’S study series on Chairman Mao’s theory of the three worlds. We hope the series has helped our readers to better understand this invaluable theory and the international situation today.
Many of our readers have studied the columns on their own or in groups. We encourage readers to send in questions, feedback, and lessons drawn from studying and applying the theory of the three worlds. We will print some of these readers’ feedback and questions in future issues of UNITY.
We plan to reprint the entire study series in pamphlet form. We will also send back issues containing study column installments upon request, at a cost of 25 cents per issue. Correspondence or requests may be sent to UNITY, P.O. Box 26229, San Francisco, California 94126.
* * *
We have devoted seven study columns to Mao Tsetung’s theory of the three worlds because of the guidance it gives for the international revolutionary movement. The three worlds theory is significant basically because it tells the truth – it is a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. The theory points out what we believe to be undeniable truths: the U.S. and U.S.S.R. are the two reactionary strongholds in the world today; there is a distinction between the lesser capitalist countries and the two superpowers; the oppressed countries and nations of the world constitute a great revolutionary force; of the two superpowers, the social-imperialists are the more dangerous as they are on the rise; and the contention of the superpowers is leading towards war.
The three worlds theory is correct, in other words, because it is in accordance with objective reality.
Comrade Mao’s analysis of the world is a masterful application of Marxist dialectical materialism. It indicates the principal target in the world struggle and assesses how all the various contradictions in the world should be utilized to help defeat the main enemy. The theory makes use of the contradictions among the capitalist countries, between the two superpowers themselves, between the superpowers and the oppressed countries, among others. The theory helps the international proletariat build the broadest possible united front against the main enemy.
The three worlds theory is a living application of Comrade Mao’s policy of “uniting ail who can be united.”
The three worlds theory understands the world in motion, and not as static concepts. Mao pointed out the motion of the second world countries – once imperialist overlords who are now themselves threatened. The two superpowers, too, are in motion – the U.S. was once the world’s policeman but now is declining in power, while the Soviet Union is on the rise. The third world also is in motion – it is increasingly playing an independent role in the international arena.
Because the theory of the three worlds helps us to understand things in the process of development, it provides us great insight, helping us to anticipate the future. We can sort out the complex events in the world.
Most importantly, the theory of the three worlds is a guide to action. It illuminates the path for struggle; it provides the international proletariat with the power of a correct orientation for its struggle; and it provides the international proletariat with tremendous confidence, for it shows how to forge the broadest possible united front to isolate and defeat the main enemies at this stage in the world revolution.
Because the theory of the three worlds provides a correct view of the international arena, the two superpowers and their agents work overtime to slander and distort the theory. The revisionists in the U.S. connected to the Soviet social-imperialists constantly attack this theory. Their reaction shows that the theory of the three worlds hits home, for what the revisionists hate most is the clear stand the theory takes against the Soviet social-imperialists.
The revisionist press produces all sorts of attacks on the Marxist-Leninists, and particularly China, for upholding the theory of the three worlds. The revisionists try to cast doubts or spread confusions about events in the world in order to cover up or even promote social-imperialism. Some people do become misled by the revisionists’ propaganda, but what they are most unclear about generally is the social-imperialist nature of the Soviet Union itself.
But the revisionists are not the only ones who have slandered the theory of the three worlds. Other forces with a more “left” veil also attack the theory as “class collaborationist.”
But are not these slanders similar to those which Lenin’s critics threw at him when he supported the right of oppressed nations to self-determination? Were not similar slanders hurled at Stalin when he encouraged united resistance to fascism in the 1930’s and the Second World War? And were not similar charges raised by the Trotskyites in China when Mao Tsetung advocated forging a united front to defeat imperialism in China?
But life itself proved Lenin correct, and not his critics. Lenin’s revolutionary practice successfully helped unleash the revolutionary potential of the oppressed nations. Life itself proved Stalin correct, and not his critics, who eventually wound up on the same side as the fascists. And life itself proved Mao Tsetung correct, and not his critics, as Mao successfully led the united front to win victory.
The three worlds theory opposes metaphysics – of not seeing the world as composed of contradictions and in motion. It opposes phrase-mongering, of just talking about “class struggle” but not making a scientific analysis of the actual forces in the world today.
The theory of the three worlds should guide the work of communists of ail lands, including those of the U.S., one of the two superpowers. It is not a theory just for the third world or the second world or the socialist countries, but for the international proletariat. This is because it correctly defines who are our friends and enemies on a world scale.
Here in the U.S., the theory shows how the U.S. proletariat has allies all around the world. It shows that the objective of our struggle, the overthrow of the imperialist bourgeoisie, is assisted by the struggles of people, nations and countries all over the globe. Although we live right in the land of a superpower, the three worlds theory shows how it is the enemy who is isolated, not ourselves.
At the same time the theory brings out clearly the dangers that lie on the horizon. One cannot deny the growing signs of war. The theory therefore impresses upon us the need to do more and better communist work. We need to expand our influence among the masses and strive to forge communist unity.
Comrade Mao has passed away, but his legacy is immortal. The theory of the three worlds is one of his great contributions to Marxism-Leninism. The struggles of the world’s people and the daily development of world events are the greatest testimony confirming the correctness of his theory.
Mao Tsetung, On Contradiction
1. In what way is the theory of the three worlds an application of dialectical materialism?
2. How do the revisionists attack the theory and how should we win people away from the influence of the revisionists?
3. How do the “left” critics attack the theory and how should we win people away from their influence?