history of i wor kuen

7/31/2019 History of I Wor Kuen

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In the absence of a genuine communist party, organizations like IWK played a leading role

in reconstructing a revolutionary movement in the U.S. They were the first steps in breaking

the chains of revisionism which had bound the working class movement.

1969-late 1971

IWK first formed as a revolutionary collective in New York City in late 1969. During that

same year, the Red Guard Party in San Francisco also formed. Later, during the summer of

1971, IWK became a national organization as a product of the merger of these two groups.

IWK and the Red Guards played a vanguard role in the Asian national movements during

the years between 1969 and 1971. Both organizations recognized that only revolution could

solve the contradictions in capitalist society. They set out to build a genuine revolutionary

movement in this country, to boldly challenge the oppressing forces, and to show that the

everyday oppression and injustices that the masses face come from the system of imperialism.

The IWK collective in N.Y. was formed by Asian-American revolutionaries from diverse

backgrounds, including students, workers and working class youth. During its first year and a

half, IWK waged a number of mass campaigns against poor living conditions in the

community as well as struggles against harassment and repression of the masses by the state.

The organization also conducted a number of serve the people community programs, and

conducted broad political agitation and educational work among the masses. IWK published

Getting Together in Chinese and English, and used it to educate and organize, and to put

forward the organizations revolutionary views.

IWK took up problems such as the horrible health care facilities in Chinatown as a way of

organizing the masses in the community to take up collective political struggle against those

conditions. In March 1970, IWK launched an extensive campaign of door-to-door TB testing

in Chinatown. The organization realized that Chinatown had the highest TB rate in the

country because of the extremely overcrowded, decaying living conditions caused by

capitalism and bad health care services. In New York Chinatown, there were no hospital

facilities, TB clinics or hospital staff who spoke Chinese. The door-to-door campaign helped

arouse the community to fight for better services and to join with Puerto Ricans, Blacks and

working class whites in the Lower East Side community of New York to fight for the new

Gouverneur Hospital, and to force the city government to provide a TB X-ray and testing

center.

The struggle around Gouverneur Hospital continues to be a focal point of health struggles

to the present day. In 1972, IWK helped wage a mass struggle and held several important


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demonstrations resulting in the hiring of more Chinese-speaking workers at the new

Gouverneur Hospital.

Simultaneous to the health campaign, IWK initiated Chinatowns first draft counseling

service. Many young Asians were being drafted to fight against the Indochinese people. In

Chinatown, many young men did not want to go, but they had no organization to fight for

them and no way to find out about possible draft exemptions. IWK took the service right into

the streets of Chinatown to seek out youth facing the draft and convince them to resist the

draft. It was an important part of revolutionary work among the youth sector.

Another basic serve the people program was the childcare school program, which was a

way of organizing Chinese working mothers and taking up their concerns for their childrens

education. Besides trying to deal with the critical lack of childcare services, the program was

important because it was conducted bilingually, upholding the equality of languages and the

importance of teaching Chinese to the children. It was important in developing progressive

educational materials which mothers supported. Many progressive community women

despised and worried about the education their children received in the Chinese after-school

programs which had long been monopolized by the KMT reactionaries.

The same attitude of serving the people, of promoting revolution, and of waging mass

struggle was the basis for the active and often leading role that IWK played in many

community struggles. In early 1970, IWK played a major role in the We Wont Move

campaign in New York Chinatown, in which residents and community organizations united to

defend housing which the Bell Telephone Co. wanted to tear down to build a telephoneswitching station. IWK helped to physically move many Chinese families some recently

arrived immigrants into abandoned apartments on the block, to strengthen the tenants

forces and show the seriousness of the struggle. The block of housing still stands today

because of this mass resistance.

In late 1970, IWK waged a militant struggle against the governments attempts to close

down small Chinese grocery stores selling Chinese produce and roasted and preserved meats.

The government branded these traditional Chinese foods as violating health codes. IWK

was approached by Chinese store owners to help fight this government attack because IWK had become known as an organization that stood on the side of the masses. Through taking

direct action and confronting the government inspectors right inside the stores, the states

attempt to wipe out small Chinese-owned grocery stores was halted. The government health

ordinances on Chinese produce were changed as a result of this successful struggle.

IWK also joined with many youths to directly confront the Chinatown reactionaries in the

Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), demanding access of city youth to the


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CCBA gym facilities. The CCBA reactionaries used the money from the pockets of

community people to build their offices and the gym, but didnt even allow the young people

to play in it after it was built. Demonstrations were held in protest. These were the first

demonstrations ever to publicly challenge the CCBA in New York Chinatown.

IWK was also the first organization since the early 1950s to openly declare its support

within the Chinese community for the Peoples Republic of China. For twenty years no one

had openly campaigned in support of socialist China. The reactionaries had brutally

persecuted and even murdered progressives who had supported China. IWK showed films

from China which drew thousands of people. IWK worked with a broad range of forces and

individuals to organize October 1st mass programs, annually celebrating the founding of the

Peoples Republic of China. IWK played a leading role in organizing demonstrations at the

United Nations to fight for Chinas rightful seat in the U.N. and for the ousting of the illegal

Taiwan KMT clique from the U.N.

IWKs bold stand infuriated the KMT fascist reactionaries and anti-communists. They tried

to intimidate the masses by firebombing IWKs storefront several times, slandering IWK in

their Chinese language newspapers and physically assaulting IWK members and street

vendors selling Getting Together . The FBI and police kept IWK programs under surveillance

and frequently tried to frighten the masses by posting special FBI notices against communists

and revolutionaries.

The reactionaries attempts to separate IWK from the masses and stop the organizations

work were not successful. More and more people came out in support of the programs andmass campaigns led by IWK. Because of IWKs consistent stands in the interests of the

masses, the organization gained widespread respect and support in the community. Thousands

of people from the Chinese community attended IWK sponsored or initiated programs.

Getting Together was an important part of the organizations work. The newspaper was

used in a mass way to get the views of IWK out in a broad way Getting Together was sold

openly in the streets, an act which itself challenged the reactionaries. From its very beginning,

Getting Together carried extensive coverage on the struggles of Asians in the U.S. There were

many articles exposing the exploitation and oppression of the Asian nationalities. Getting Together was the first revolutionary newspaper regularly published in the contemporary Asian

national movement.

At the same time, the newspaper wrote about the conditions and struggles of other

oppressed peoples in the U.S. The coverage of international events and developments in

China were also an important part of the newspaper. Overall, the newspaper played an

important role in propagating revolutionary ideas among the masses of people.


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The Red Guard Party

The Red Guard Party started doing revolutionary work in San Francisco Chinatown in the

Spring of 1969. It was formed primarily by Asian-American youth who had been active in

fighting against police harassment in Chinatown, in various community struggles against

national oppression and in the San Francisco State College Third World student strike of 1968.

The Red Guards opened a storefront office in the community. They began to conduct serve

the people programs and weekly showing of films from China and other third world struggles.

They also took up a number of mass struggles in the community. They were the first political

force in San Francisco Chinatown which came out openly to challenge the local reactionary

forces of the KMT. They took the lead in advocating a forthright revolutionary stand against

the imperialist system as the source of the oppression Chinese have faced in the U.S. for over

a century.

One of the most important struggles was to stop the destruction of the San Francisco

Chinese community by redevelopment.

The Red Guards played an active role in the struggle to save the International Hotel. The

Hotel occupies the last remaining block of the San Francisco Manilatown community. The

other nine blocks have been destroyed and replaced with office buildings and luxury hotels.

The Red Guards and other community youth and Asian-American students mobilized mass

support and actions against the first attempts to evict the I-Hotel tenants in 1968-69. Thetenants resistance and these mass actions won the tenants a lease in 1969. Although the

landlord set fire to the Hotel the night before the lease was to be signed, killing 3 tenants and

destroying a wing of the Hotel, continuous mass organizing and community outrage forced

the landlord to sign a lease. Over the next year, the Red Guards and hundreds of people from

the community and Bay Area college campuses worked to rebuild the fire-damaged portions

of the Hotel. This mass collective effort brought the Hotel up to code and defeated the

landlords attempts to evict the tenants by using housing code violations.

Throughout these first years of the I-Hotel struggle, the Red Guards played an instrumentalrole in the struggle against various liberal-reformist elements in the community. These

reformists preached reliance on legal tactics and the good graces of city politicians, red-baited

the revolutionaries, and discouraged any militant mass struggle.

Throughout this work and struggle, many people became involved in the revolutionary and

progressive movement in the Chinatown-Manilatown area. The I-Hotel became a center for

this growing movement, housing community organizations and revolutionary groups which


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took up a broad range of activity including serve the people programs, struggles against

national oppression, U.S.-China peoples friendship work and anti-war activity.

The Red Guards also took up a struggle to stop one of the few public playgrounds in

Chinatown from being torn down by big business to build a garage. The organization did

massive leafletting to build community support for this struggle, organized picket lines at the

site of the playground, and worked directly with other progressive forces to hold a

demonstration confronting the city government. The struggle was successful, and the Chinese

playground still stands today in the community.

Another mass struggle the Red Guards took up was to prevent the federal government from

closing a vital TB treatment and testing center in Chinatown. The Red Guards initiated a

struggle encompassing a broad range of forces in the community to petition against the

closing of the center, and to demand federal funds and a Chinese-speaking staff for the center.

The Red Guards, together with other community groups, succeeded in maintaining the

program.

The Red Guards conducted various serve the people programs, including a free lunch

program and a draft help center. The free lunch program was directed particularly at elderly

Chinese residents of the community who are forced to live in dilapidated apartments with no

facilities for cooking. The organization tried to serve the needs of these elderly Chinese and in

the course of carrying out this work, expose the injustices of the system, and why it was

necessary to wage a revolutionary struggle against the system.

A draft help center was opened in 1969 and was the only such center in the community. Its

purpose was the same as the draft center opened by IWK in New York, and it provided draft

counseling services and education around the Vietnam war.

The Red Guards also led in the rebirth of a mass movement to build U.S.-China peoples

friendship and learn from the Peoples Republic of China. The local KMT had suppressed this

movement for 20 years. In May, 1969, the Red Guards played the leadership role in uniting

with other forces to sponsor an open rally in Chinatown to commemorate the 50th anniversary

of Chinas May 4th Movement, a great anti-imperialist movement which directly preceded the

formation of the Chinese Communist Party. During this rally, they took the unprecedented

step of unfurling Chinas five-star flag and playing revolutionary music in defiance of the

local KMT reactionaries. On October 1, 1969, the Red Guards organized the first mass

celebration of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in twenty years in San

Franciscos Chinatown. Simultaneous to the demonstrations which IWK helped to organize in

New York, the Red Guards held a mass demonstration in San Francisco Chinatown drawing

800 people and demanding the restoration of Chinas seat in the U.N.


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In addition to this work in the Asian national movements, both IWK and the Red Guards

played a leading role in the anti-imperialist movement and worked to unite with other

revolutionary forces in the U.S.

The Red Guards and IWK fought for the anti-war movement to take a firm stand of support

for the liberation forces in Indochina, and this stand brought them into sharp battle with the

revisionist Communist Party, U.S.A. (CPUSA) and Trotskyite Progressive Labor Party (PLP).

The Red Guards and IWK mobilized the masses into concrete action against the war, initiating

many militant mass protests, participating in and helping lead major anti-war demonstrations

on the East and West Coasts. They conducted extensive education among the masses to show

how the national liberation movements are at the forefront of the worldwide struggle against

imperialism and how they are an ally of the working and oppressed masses in the U.S.

The two groups also rallied support for revolutionary struggles taking place in the U.S.,

including the Black liberation movement and the national movements of Puerto Ricans,

Chicanos, and other oppressed peoples. IWK worked together with revolutionary

organizations such as the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords Party around struggles

against national oppression and for the independence of Puerto Rico. In San Francisco, the

Red Guards worked with the Black Panther Party in struggles against police repression. The

Red Guards also worked closely with Los Siete de la Raza around anti-police repression

struggles and in other community struggles and serve the people programs.

In the course of carrying out all of this work, the Red Guards and IWK had to combat

social-reformist, cultural nationalist and narrow nationalist tendencies within the Asianmovement.

One of the major struggles was against a reformist tendency that consolidated into an

organization called Wei Min She. This organization linked up with the RU in 1971 and

afterwards was promoted by the RU as their model of a so-called mass anti-imperialist

organization in the national movements. The Wei Min She consistently opposed raising

political issues in the Chinese community, claiming the masses were too backward to take

up political struggle. For example, they opposed organizing demonstrations in Chinatown

against the Viet Nam War, saying the masses could not support the Vietnamese people, butcould only grasp issues which affected their pocketbook; they opposed doing mass agitation

and propaganda around the revolutionary significance of the Black liberation movement,

claiming that Chinese were too racist to support the Black movement; and they opposed

public rallies and celebrations of October 1st.

There were also struggles against petty-bourgeois tendencies in the Asian movement, such

as those which equated the revolution to finding ones identity and advocated that this should


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be done through culture devoid of politics. Another incorrect tendency was a narrow

nationalist view which opposed Asians working with other nationalities. [1] IWK and the Red

Guards consistently upheld the principle of uniting all working and oppressed people and

seeing the struggles of Asian peoples not as separate, but as an integral part of the

revolutionary movement as a whole.

These first few years of the histories of IWK and the Red Guards histories were also

marked by sharp internal struggles against incorrect political views and tendencies. The two

groups were young and inexperienced in revolutionary work, and had not taken up Marxism-

Leninism as a guiding ideology. Nevertheless, they struggled to develop a correct political

orientation and line for their work, and this process of internal struggle pushed forward their

development towards Marxism.

As soon as the IWK collective formed in New York, a struggle broke out over the basic

orientation of the collective. One line, which was the more correct line, emphasized the

importance of the collective taking up mass work, carrying out political agitation and

propaganda work among the masses and striving to lead and organize the masses. The other

line was a terrorist line, similar to that of the Weathermen terrorist organization. It saw the

revolution occurring through the actions of a small handful of revolutionaries who would take

terrorist actions to excite the masses. This line negated the fact that it is the masses who

make history and the revolution, not just a few individuals.

The correct tendency advocated building a revolutionary political organization to help lead

the mass movement and work to unite with other revolutionary groups. The terrorist tendency,on the other hand, called for IWK to create an apparatus to carry out terrorist activity

alongside of mass work in a two tier approach which objectively advocated a retreat from

doing mass revolutionary work. It even went to the extreme of attacking all who opposed this

line as being afraid to die.

Those who adhered to the terrorist line left the collective soon after its formation for

various reasons, as it became clear that the majority of members of IWK could not be

consolidated around a terrorist line. Although this terrorist view was not thoroughly exposed

and defeated due to the immaturity of the collective at that time, it was rejected and thecorrect line became the dominant one guiding the collectives work.

Starting in 1970, IWK and the Red Guards began to have discussions to share experiences

and lessons from their work and seek unity between the two groups. In the Red Guards, a line

was present similar to the terrorist tendency which had existed in IWK. It took the form of an

ultra-militarist line. Through these discussions, both groups were able to draw lessons from

the earlier struggle that had taken place in IWK, and a struggle began to sharpen within the


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Red Guards against the ultra-militarist line.

Within the Red Guards, the ultra-militarist line promoted an incorrect view on the question

of armed revolutionary struggle, placing military questions primary over politics. It called for

building the Red Guards as a revolutionary army, and mass work was seen only as a means

of building support for this army. While upholding correctly that it was necessary to wage

an armed struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie, this line failed to see that the masses must be

won ideologically and politically to the side of the revolution and organized to carry out the

revolution. Thus, it downplayed the importance of the organization participating in and

leading mass struggles.

The ultra-militarist line had a strong influence in the Red Guards. As a result, while the Red

Guards played a vanguard role in the Asian movement, it did not always carry out its mass

work in a sustained and systematic way with clear political objectives in mind. It did not

develop as deep roots among the masses as it should have.

In both IWK and the Red Guards the struggle against the terrorist and ultra-militarist lines

were closely interconnected with a struggle around the role of women in the revolutionary

movement. The same individuals who advocated terrorism and an ultra-military line also

promoted blatant chauvinist views toward women and denied the role women must play in the

revolutionary struggle.

The terrorist tendency in IWK, for example, advocated sexual degeneracy along the same

lines that the Weathermen organization did. The Weathermen and this tendency in IWK

argued that breaking up monogamy would develop collective relations and liberate

relations between men and women. It was actually a cover for degeneracy and the most

blatant forms of male supremacy and the oppression of women.

In the Red Guards, there was also struggle against the view that womens worth is only in

the home and in producing children. Certain individuals advocated that women should stay

home, have babies and raise the children while the men went out and took part in political

struggle. In certain cases, the individuals promoting the ultra-militarist views felt the role of

women was to produce their children since they thought they were going to die tomorrow.

The women also had to struggle against their own thinking, influenced by capitalist society,

that having children and being mothers was the center of their lives and their only function.

Around family relationships, struggle also took place for men to take up equal and shared

responsibilities for raising children and household work. Women had to go through struggle to

understand that they could raise their children and also remain active in revolutionary work.

It was through these struggles against male supremacist tendencies and incorrect ideas on


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the role of women in the revolution that many women broke with previous oppressive

relationships. They broke with old ways of thinking that had prevented them from

contributing their fullest to the organization and the revolution. Out of these struggles, many

women came forth as active and leading members of IWK and made many contributions to

the organization.

In the spring of 1971, IWK and the Red Guards intensified their discussions towards

unifying the two groups. IWK played an important role in helping defeat the ultra-militarist

tendencies in the Red Guards. In June 1971, a decisive victory was won against the ultra-

militarist line in the Red Guards, and along with this, the ideological and political

understanding of both groups was advanced. This helped to lay the basis for the two groups to

merge in July 1971 to form the national IWK.

National IWK formed

The national IWK united firmly around the need to build a disciplined revolutionary

organization that would unite with other forces to lead and organize the masses in a

revolutionary struggle to overthrow the ruling class. IWK affirmed both the necessity for a

violent overthrow of the capitalist class and also the importance of placing politics in

command of the military question.

The merger of IWK in New York and the Red Guards in San Francisco brought together

two leading forces which played a pioneering role in the development of the Asian national

struggles in the U.S. The national IWK emerged as the largest revolutionary organization in

the Asian movement and a major force within the U.S. revolutionary movement.

Towards the latter part of 1971, this first period in IWKs history began to come to a close.

IWK, as well as the other revolutionary organizations that had arisen in the late 1960s, began

to face new demands and many pressing theoretical and practical questions. The objective

conditions in the mass movement demanded that the organization acquire a scientific and

broader overview of the direction and tasks of the U.S. revolution. The bourgeoisie was

stepping up its attempt to destroy the young revolutionary forces, both through violent

suppression and through promoting reformism as an alternative to revolution. They were

conducting an all-out campaign of terror and murder against revolutionary forces. At the same

time, they were stepping up funding of anti-poverty programs and promoting the growth of a

stratum of reformist forces to try to keep the masses from following a revolutionary path.

Many revolutionary organizations throughout the country, including IWK, were struggling to

understand how to lead and sustain a mass movement under these conditions.


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These and other questions came to the fore at the end of 1971. IWK began to take up more

study of Marxist-Leninist theoretical works to analyze the international and domestic

situation, and to take up struggle around the general questions facing the revolutionary

movement.

In December 1971, the first major national meeting of the leadership was held. At this

meeting, the organization made its first attempt to systematically analyze from a Marxist stand

the objective conditions in the world and the U.S., as well as the state of the revolutionary

movement and some of the key questions facing it.

This meeting was a major step forward for the organization. IWK adopted Marxism-

Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as its guiding ideology. In a position paper written at this

meeting, IWK affirmed the role of the working class as the most revolutionary class, whose

historic mission is to overthrow the system of capitalism and establish the dictatorship of the

proletariat.

At this national meeting, the organization summarized its history up until that time and the

tremendously positive role that the young revolutionary forces had played during the previous

years. At the same time, the national meeting summarized certain weaknesses and errors in

the organizations thinking and work. While IWK had consistently advocated revolution, it

had not put forward the leading role of the working class. For example, in Getting Together ,

various incorrect concepts had appeared such as the youth as the vanguard and other

theories which denied the leading role of the working class. While they were not consolidated

views, they reflected that the organization lacked a scientific ideology to guide itsrevolutionary work. At the meeting, the organization united around the view that Marxism-

Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is the only truly revolutionary ideology and theory in this

era, and that it must struggle to grasp Marxism-Leninism Mao Tsetung and make it a guide to

all of its work.

The organization also analyzed the international situation, identifying the U.S. and the

Soviet Union as the two main enemies of the worlds peoples. It also put forward the

importance of building a broad united front against the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and

recognized the correctness of the slogan, Countries Want Independence, Nations Wantliberation, People Want Revolution. The paper analyzed the national question in the U.S. in a

revolutionary way. Finally, it recognized the need to build a genuine communist party in the

U.S. and criticized the revisionist and Trotskyite forces in the U.S.

There were shortcomings in the paper, the most important being an incorrect view of how a

vanguard party would be formed. It belittled the need to wage ideological struggle in the

communist movement to unite Marxist-Leninists. Despite this and other shortcomings which


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stemmed from the organizations immaturity and weak understanding of Marxism, the

December 1971 conference laid the basis for the organization to move in a consistent Marxist-

Leninist direction during the next few years. It opened up a new period in IWKs history.

1972-1975

The period from early 1972 to late 1975 is the second general period in IWKs history.

This period was one of great upheaval in the world. Internationally, the U.S. was suffering

big setbacks in its war of aggression in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos; and by 1975, the last

U.S. forces were driven out. The defeat in Indochina signalled the decline of U.S. imperialism

from its position as overlord of the capitalist world. At the same time, another imperialist

superpower, the Soviet Union, was rising to try to take the place of the U.S. wherever the

latter suffered defeat. Since the 1960s, the alignment of world forces had changed, and now

the worlds peoples were faced with two imperialist superpowers contending with each other

for world domination.

Within the U.S., there was also great turmoil. Starting in 1973, the U.S. entered one of the

worst economic crises in its history. The U.S. bourgeoisie faced great economic and political

troubles, as evidenced by deep recession and the Watergate affair. The crisis intensified

national oppression and class exploitation of the masses. This gave rise to increasing struggles

by the working and oppressed peoples.

The anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist movement was in its formative stage in the early1970s. It was just emerging from the revolutionary upsurge of the late 1960s. It drew the

great majority of its fighters from these mass movements, who were still very young,

inexperienced and untrained in Marxism. Despite the immaturity of the communist forces, the

questions and tasks before them were extremely complicated.

The upheaval in the international and domestic situation placed great demands upon them

to develop their understanding of Marxism-Leninism, grasp the changing conditions and

sharpening contradictions in the world and in the U.S., and determine a correct general path

for the revolutionary movement. In addition, the Marxist-Leninists had to deal with complex

questions in their mass work. These included how to deal with the influences of reformism in

the mass movement, the increased attacks coming down upon the masses in all spheres, how

to relate to different class forces, and how to define the concrete strategy and tactics of waging

mass struggles. Under these circumstances it was inevitable that mistakes were made, some

serious, and that the young communist movement would only advance in the course of

struggle and learning from its experiences.


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The Marxist-Leninists also had to wage sharp battles against the opportunists hiding within

the communist movement itself. A number of opportunists put on a Leninist and

anti-revisionist mask in order to push their opportunist lines. Thus, it was necessary to

struggle to distinguish a correct line from all sorts of deviations and distortions of Marxism-

Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. The major opportunist forces also tried to systematically

attack and destroy the genuine Marxist-Leninist organizations. In some cases the opportunistsmade temporary gains and grew. On the whole, although significant gains were made during

these years in exposing the opportunists, the struggle to defeat their influence was by no

means thorough or complete.

It was in the course of building the revolutionary forces step by step, fighting for a correct

line against opportunism, studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and learning

from practical experience and the masses, that the genuine Marxist-Leninist forces grew and

matured during these years.

IWK developed steadily along a Marxist-Leninist path during this period of its history. The

organization made many contributions to the revolutionary movement and emerged as one of

the major communist organizations in the U.S. At the same time, there were serious

shortcomings and errors which IWK had to identify and overcome.

IWK took up the struggle to develop its grasp of Marxism-Leninism and develop a Marxist-

Leninist line on the questions facing the revolutionary movement. At first, the organizations

theoretical understanding was not developed and its understanding of the actual concrete

conditions within the U.S. was limited. IWK took a generally correct approach of basing itself on the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism, and strived to integrate them with the

actual practice of making proletarian revolution in the U.S. This struggle to integrate theory

and practice was particularly important. The organization had to summarize lessons from its

practice, integrate among the masses, and test its line through practice. IWK based its line on

dialectical and historical materialism, and the interests of the revolution and the masses.

It was through this struggle that the basic features of the organizations line were defined

during these years. The organization developed a Marxist-Leninist line on the international

and domestic situation, the nature and role of a vanguard party, the national question, labor work, the woman question and other basic points. IWK upheld and defended the principles of

Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and developed a correct general view of the

proletarian revolution in the U.S.

IWK also made significant advances in developing its mass ties and was able to draw

valuable lessons from its mass work. These in turn deepened and enriched the organizations

line. IWK expanded its ties in the national movements, particularly among the Asian


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nationalities, in the multinational working class, among students, in the anti-imperialist

movement, and in other progressive movements and sectors of the population.

The organization greatly developed its ties and influence in the Asian national movements.

This included building ties with activists and progressive Asian organizations throughout the

U.S.

Beginning in 1972, IWK helped in the formation of many progressive mass organizations

in the Chinese community. These mass organizations were to become a significant force in the

struggles of the Chinese-American national minority, taking up many struggles against

national oppression. These mass organizations based their work among the working masses of

the Chinese national minority, and strived to unite a broad sector of the masses.

IWK also helped lead a number of mass struggles in the Chinese American national

minority during these years. One of the most significant was the defense of Harry Wong, a

progressive news vendor in San Francisco Chinatown. He openly defied the KMTreactionaries and police by selling literature from China and the U.S. revolutionary movement

on his street newsstand. Over a period of a couple of years, the reactionaries constantly

harassed him, arrested him, and even sent goons to brutalize him. But he could not be

terrorized and continued to sell this literature. IWK took the lead in defending and protecting

Harry Wong and successfully made the reactionaries and police back down. Harry Wong

became a symbol of the left-wing movement in the Chinese community through his struggle.

IWK also conducted a number of other struggles against the national oppression of the

Chinese people in the U.S. For example, the organization helped to lead the fight against the

confession cases which the Immigration Department had set up to try to get Chinese to

confess past immigration law infractions in order to get legal status. Of course, the

Immigration Department used this just to find more ways to deport and suppress the Chinese.

IWK helped to lead the mass campaign to expose the Immigration Departments fraud and to

help Chinese obtain legal status.

IWK also waged a number of other mass campaigns, including struggles against poor

health and housing conditions in the Chinese community. In New York, the organization

helped organize and lead a rent strike. The organization also continued to be active in the

campaign to demand full and decent health services at Gouverneur Hospital in New York. In

San Francisco, IWK helped build similar struggles. Through all this, there was also a

continuous battle against police harassment and KMT terrorism in the community.

In these struggles, IWK learned that to carry out a struggle in a way that was genuinely in

the interests of the masses, opportunists also had to be exposed and combatted. The


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opportunists in the national movements, sometimes under the guise of being revolutionaries

or leaders of the masses, tried to channel the mass struggles into reformism by promoting

the government social service agencies or relying on politicians to solve problems. The

opportunists at the same time covered for the class enemy and attacked and tried to smash the

revolutionary forces.

Opportunist forces like Wei Min She, connected to the RU, called themselves Marxists

and revolutionaries but promoted working through the government poverty agencies. Wei

Min viciously attacked the revolutionary forces. In work supporting China, Wei Min opposed

uniting all who could be united and attacked those who wanted to bring out political lessons

from China.

The struggle against the opportunist forces was necessary in order for the mass movement

to advance and for the organization to develop its ties with the masses. The attempts of the

opportunists to get rid of the organization did not succeed, but rather the organization

deepened its ties with the masses.

The organization was able to draw many theoretical and practical lessons from its work in

the Chinese national minority.

During this period, IWK conducted theoretical study on many of the key questions of the

U.S. revolution, including the national question. By applying its study of Marxism-

Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought to the concrete conditions, and drawing upon the

organizations experiences and investigation, IWK developed a relatively advanced and

comprehensive understanding of the Chinese-American national question in the U.S. The

organization also developed a concrete and practical understanding of the tasks facing

Marxist-Leninists in the national movement. This included a class analysis and a strategy of

basing work primarily among the working masses while also working with other strata and

classes to unite all who could be united in the struggle against national oppression. The

organization also developed its understanding of how communists must wage a class struggle

against reactionary and opportunist forces within the national movement. Another important

lesson the organization drew was on the building of mass forms of organization and their role

in the national movement.

In 1973, IWK began to expand its work in the Japanese-American national movement.

IWK helped to build mass support for the struggle against the destruction and dispersal of the

Japanese community in San Francisco by the citys urban renewal plan.

The organization participated in struggles to defend several buildings, which housed

residents and small shopkeepers, to keep them from being auctioned off or torn down to turn


17/36

the Japanese community into a high rent and commercial tourist center. Picket lines, mass

demonstrations, sit-ins at the offices of the city government and other actions were organized

to stop these attacks and demand that the government provide low-cost housing at these sites.

Through the collective and organized resistance of the masses, some of these buildings were

saved from a number of eviction attempts.

IWK also helped wage a struggle to demand reparations for the injustices Japanese-

Americans suffered during World War II. One of these was around the Salvation Army

building in San Franciscos Japantown. In the 1930s, thousands of Japanese immigrants had

donated money to construct this building as a social service center. But due to the Alien Land

Laws, Japanese could not own the building, so it was entrusted to the Salvation Army. In

1942, when 110,000 Japanese-Americans were forced into concentration camps and their

property was confiscated, the Salvation Army took away the building. After the war, it shut

the door on returning Japanese who asked to use the building. Massive education was done

about this issue, linking up the demand for community services in the building to the longhistory of struggle by Japanese people in the U.S. against national oppression. IWKs work in

the Japanese national movement continues to this day.

During this period, the organizations student work also expanded. IWK played a leading

role in the formation of several Asian Student Unions on various college campuses. These

mass student organizations were also forged in the heat of class struggle against the

Trotskyites who opposed their stand of support for the national liberation struggles around the

world. They were also forged in struggle against forces like Workers Viewpoint Organization

and the Revolutionary Union who held that mass student organizations based on a particular nationality were narrow nationalist. The ASUs were to play a significant and leading role

in the progressive student movement, focusing on the struggles of Asian students against

national oppression and supporting the struggles of workers and all oppressed people. They

were to draw many progressive students into active political struggle. Many students became

revolutionaries and Marxist-Leninists in the course of these struggles.

IWK helped to lead several of the major student struggles which occurred during this

period. These struggles were mainly around the development and protection of Ethnic Studies,

such as at UC Berkeley, Laney College in Oakland, and at the City College of New York. Theorganization played a key role in these struggles, bringing out the connection of the student

fight with the overall battle against national oppression.

IWK also continued to play a leading role in the anti-war movement during this period,

fighting for a correct line on the anti-war movement against the revisionists and Trotskyites,

and other opportunists. For example, in New York and San Francisco, IWK struggled

vigorously against the Trotskyites who slandered the Vietnamese people and refused to give


18/36

support for the Vietnamese 7 Point Peace Plan. IWK also continued to struggle against the

social pacifist line of the CPUSA and other forces. IWK played a leading role in various

coalitions, such as the Bay Area Asian Coalition Against the War, and the November 4th

Coalition in New York.

The organization organized and helped lead mass demonstrations such as the April 22,

1972 march in San Francisco, the May 12, 1972 march of 5,000 people in San Francisco, and

the November 4, 1972 march in New York of 6,500 people. In these and other anti-imperialist

demonstrations against U.S. aggression in Indochina and other countries like the Philippines,

IWK militantly expressed its internationalism and won the respect of many activists in the

anti-imperialist movement.

During this period, IWK continued to play an active role in the movement to build

friendship between the Peoples Republic of China and the people of the United States, which

was growing throughout the country. IWK played a leading role in building the movement to

demand normalized relations between the U.S. and China, to build friendship between the

peoples of the two countries, and to promote education about life in China and the progress of

socialist China. IWK helped organize mass educational and film programs, and organized

broadly for the masses to attend the cultural performances and sports activities of visiting

Chinese delegations. IWK also played a leading role in helping to unite many people from all

sectors of society through its work in broad coalitions formed around China friendship

activities. These activities included Friendship Fairs and yearly October First Celebration

Committees which sponsored mass celebrations on Chinas national day.

In 1973, the organization began to take up the task of labor organizing in certain industries,

focusing on the garment and culinary industries, hospitals, and other service industries, as

well as postal and transportation. As the organization moved to expand its work in the

proletariat, a right opportunist line within the organization was raised to oppose this decision,

and it was necessary to wage a sharp struggle to defeat this line.

The opportunists advocated that instead of moving to base the organization in the

proletariat, that the organizations work should be focused exclusively on student organizing

and anti-imperialist struggles. They tried to support this rightist line by distorting Marxism.For example, they said that the entire working class in the U.S. was bought off by the

bourgeoisie, and that it was useless to try to organize the proletariat. Furthermore, the

opportunists tried to prove that U.S. imperialism was growing stronger, in spite of its

tremendous defeat in Indochina. They vehemently opposed the organizations move to do

labor work and tried to appear left by advocating militarism and adventurism in

demonstrations. Although they were not able to win over anyone to their line, the struggle

against this line helped to consolidate the organization on the importance of rooting itself in


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the proletariat. It also sharpened the organizations understanding of imperialism, the labor

aristocracy and the tasks of communists in imperialist countries. The defeat of the line of this

clique led to the expansion of the organizations labor work.

After the struggle against the rightist line, the organization deepened its study of the

questions of labor work. The struggle against the rightist line as well as the struggle against

the RUs rightist and economist line on labor work, were key struggles in the development of

the organizations line and work in the working class.

As a result of these struggles, and the general struggle to develop labor work, the

organization began to play a key role in some labor struggles, such as in a number of

restaurant workers struggles in the Chinese community during this period. These included the

Asia Garden and Nam Yuen struggles. In 1974, the organization began to be actively involved

in the Mandarin Restaurant unionizing drive, which continues to this day.

The organization also started to do work in the garment industry, where large numbers of Chinese women are concentrated. Several struggles broke out in the garment factories and

sweat shops in San Francisco and New York, in which the organization became involved.

These included San Francisco Gold, the Triumph Curing Company in San Francisco, several

sweat shops in New York, and then at the Jung Sai strike in San Francisco.

The Jung Sai strike was an important garment workers struggle. It was a unionizing drive

involving some 135 workers, mainly Chinese women workers. The campaign lasted nine

months and involved a pitched battle not just against the Esprit de Corp Co., but also against

the labor bureaucrats and the RU, which tried to sabotage the struggle.

IWK drew many important lessons from the Jung Sai strike. The organization pointed out

that it was correct to bring out the significance of the national question to this unionizing

struggle, and that the struggle against national oppression strengthened the unity of the

multinational working class. The strike was of significance since it was a struggle of mainly

Chinese working women, which brought out the triple oppression that minority women

suffered.

The struggle pointed out how the bourgeoisie superexploits minority working women in themost tedious, lowest paying jobs. In addition, the organization also further developed its line

on the trade unions and tactics of labor organizing. It also developed its understanding of the

task of raising the political consciousness of the workers in the course of the struggle. All this

was in distinction from the RU which promoted a national chauvinist and economist line in

the strike. IWK summed up that the RU pitted the interests of the workers movement against

the interests of the national movements. The RU belittled the task of bringing political ideas to


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the workers, liquidated the national question, and bowed in worship of the spontaneous

economic struggle. Because of the work which IWK did in this strike, the RU line was

exposed as bankrupt to many workers and supporters.

IWK was also involved in several labor struggles not directly connected to the Asian

nationalities. This included organizing at Gouverneur Hospital in New York and support for

strikes of workers at Sears in San Francisco, the San Francisco city service workers, and along

with the August Twenty-ninth Movement, Farah strike support work and the Dasco struggle in

Oakland, California. Later, beginning in 1974, the organization became active in organizing at

Pacific Telephone, among the San Francisco bus drivers, and in the hotel and restaurant

industry in San Francisco.

The organization deepened its understanding of labor work through summarizing its

practice in workplace organizing, intensifying its theoretical study, conducting discussions

with other Marxist-Leninist groups, and evaluating the lessons from the struggle against the

economist line of the RU. For example, the organization developed a more comprehensive

line on the tasks of communists in labor work, including the role that communists must play

in striving to lead the day-to-day struggles of the workers, raising their revolutionary class

consciousness and organized power in the course of these struggles. The organization also

developed its understanding of the tasks of building factory nuclei in the workplaces, and its

line on trade unions, including the view of the trade unions as the basic organizations of the

working class and the necessity of winning the trade unions to the side of the proletarian

revolution. IWK also deepened its understanding of the role of the labor aristocracy and the

necessity of the working class to wage a vigorous struggle against this arm of the bourgeoisiein the working class.

In summary, IWKs mass work developed steadily during these years. One of the strengths

of the organization was that it always recognized the importance of rooting itself firmly

among the masses. The organization strived to participate in and lead mass struggles in a

revolutionary direction, raise the revolutionary consciousness of the masses, and win the

revolutionary elements to communism in the course of these struggles.

On organizational matters, there was a continuous struggle throughout this period to weldtogether a stable, efficient, unified organization based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung

Thought, capable of giving revolutionary leadership to the mass struggles and also capable of

fighting under different conditions. Especially during the first two years after adopting

Marxism-Leninism, the organization did not have a developed understanding of democratic

centralism, the role of a national center, how to build a smoothly functioning organization,

and other organizational matters.


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One serious mistake was made in Spring 1972, soon after IWK had adopted Marxism-

Leninism. A national leadership had been formed but it was not clear on its role and became

immersed in the work of the San Francisco area. A decision was made to temporarily dissolve

the democratic centralist structure of the organization, largely because the national leadership

did not feel capable of giving national and overall leadership. Although the formal dissolution

of democratic centralism lasted only a brief period of a few months, it was a serious righterror stemming from both liberalism and failure to understand the key role of centralized

leadership. Throughout 1973-1975, the organization struggled to correct this weakness and

strengthen the national leadership, and place itself on a firm organizational footing.

An important part of IWKs history during this period was the struggle it waged within the

communist movement to build unity with other Marxist-Leninist groups and demarcate a

correct Marxist-Leninist line from opportunism.

IWK worked to unite the various revolutionary forces in the Asian national movements

which were scattered in different local collectives around the country. The organization also

worked to build unity with other communist groups such as ATM, East Wind, the October

League and others to help further the task of party building.

In the course of developing its line and mass work and as it tried to find ways to build unity

with other Marxist-Leninists, the organization had to wage sharp struggles with a number of

opportunist forces. Some forces like the Revolutionary Union, Communist League, and

Workers Viewpoint Organization were pushing various opportunist lines and trying to

establish their own parties. IWKs line developed in sharp opposition to these forces, and inmany cases IWK became one of the main targets of their attacks because of the deep

differences over line.

One of the first attempts IWK made to build unity with other Marxist-Leninist groups was

the National Liaison Committee (NLC). The NLC was proposed at the Young Lords Party

Congress in 1972, and was supposed to be a means to promote more struggle among the

Revolutionary Union, Black Workers Congress, Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers

Organization and I Wor Kuen. It was not formed as a party building process, but to promote

more discussion and coordination of work. It was initially not formed as an exclusive body,and while secret, it was not supposed to prevent or replace open struggle within the

communist movement. Soon after joining the NLC, however, IWK began to see that the RU

had no interest in promoting principled struggle and relations among the groups. The RU

wanted to use the NLC to squash struggle within the communist movement for a correct line;

turn the NLC into an unprincipled alliance by excluding other forces who could agree with the

principles; and use it to simply strengthen the RUs forces while trying to split, factionalize,

and smash the organizations in the NLC if they would not accept the RU as the center. IWK


22/36

struggled against the unprincipled actions of the RU, including the exclusion of other groups

and the blatant sectarianism, opportunism and careerism of the other NLC representatives.

IWK itself became the first target of the RUs attacks, when it attempted to struggle against

the RUs moves to form an unprincipled alliance, and when it raised struggle against the RUs

line. IWK sharply criticized RUs line, particularly around the national question, and its right

opportunist line in the Asian national movement.

The representatives of the PRRWO and BWC united with the RUs line and practice and

joined with the RUs attempts to factionalize within their organizations. They even engaged in

loose, opportunist talk in the NLC about how different parts of the country would be the

kingdoms of the various NLC representatives once the party was formed.

When the RUs plans became evident, IWK left the NLC. IWK had maintained a firm stand

opposing the RUs opportunism and attempted to struggle against it, but was unable to raise

the differences to a general theoretical level and thus draw lessons for the communist

movement as a whole. The criticisms of the RU at the time were correct and hit at the core of

the RUs rightism. For example, IWK criticized the RUs rightism and chauvinism on the

national question and their lack of principle and sectarianism on party building. IWK

struggled against their rightism of refusing to raise political issues, such as their limiting of

mass agitation and propaganda around the Vietnam War to how it affected ones

pocketbook. But IWK did not pinpoint clearly the roots of these deviations, and did not

develop a general exposure of their line.

These weaknesses stemmed from the organizations relatively weak grasp of Marxist-Leninist theory at the time, and also an underestimation of the importance of waging an active

and vigorous struggle in the communist movement for a correct line to unite Marxist-

Leninists.

The struggle against the RUs line continued throughout 1974 and 1975. In early 1974,

IWK began to place more attention on its theoretical tasks, after summarizing its weaknesses

in the struggle with the RU in the NLC.

After the break-up of the NLC, there was another attempt to form a party based on

opportunism, this time by the Trotskyite-revisionist Communist League (CL). IWK opposed

the CLs National Continuations Committee (NCC) because of the CLs revisionist line which

called the Soviet Union socialist, denied the dictatorship of the proletariat, attacked the

national liberation struggles and the third world, openly promoted Hegelian idealism and

advocated uniting with a section of the liberal bourgeoisie. Although IWK had little actual

contact with the CL, it recognized that the CL was not a genuine Marxist-Leninist force

because of the revisionist stands it took.


23/36

This period was also marked by sharp struggles against the opportunist line of the Workers

Viewpoint Organization. IWK was the first communist organization to oppose the WVOs

ultra-rightist line and try to expose its phony leftist posturing. During WVOs rise in New

York between 1973 and 1974 as the Asian Study Group, IWK attempted to struggle against

their opportunist line and practice. The ASG advocated following a road of capitulation to the

bourgeoisie and uniting with the most reactionary elements within the Chinese nationalminority. It opposed any form of open communist work in the Chinese community, using the

revisionist argument that such work would invite police attacks and give fuel to the

bourgeoisies charge of Chinese in the U.S. being Chinas fifth column. They openly

declared opposition to revolutionary work among the masses of Chinese in the U.S.

Because of IWKs opposition to WVOs line, IWK became the first target of WVOs

attacks. Although the organization understood the ultra-rightist nature of WVO, it did not

struggle hard enough against WVO when it launched a vicious campaign of anti-communist

slander, red-baiting and wrecking tactics against the organization. In 1973, WVO disruptedand blocked IWKs attempt to form a progressive mass organization in New York Chinatown

from a core of community activists who worked in mass programs through the IWK

storefront. These attacks by WVO and other difficulties led IWK in late 1973 to make an

erroneous decision to close the IWK storefront and halt plans to continue trying to build the

mass organization. This was a right error of adopting a defensive posture in the struggle

against WVO. Furthermore, it was damaging to the organizations work, since after closing

the storefront, IWK was unable to maintain a strong presence in the community. In late 1975,

IWK summarized its errors as not waging a vigorous enough fight against WVO, both

theoretically and practically. During this time, steps were also taken to strengthen the national

leadership of the organization so that it could correct weaknesses in being able to give

leadership to the work in New York and nationally for the entire organization. Soon after this,

the organization was able to deal significant blows to WVO and reestablish its work on a firm

footing in New York Chinatown.

In late 1975, WVO, PRRWO, ATM and some elements from the split of the BWC came

together to form a bloc which called itself the Revolutionary Wing. The Wing united on

certain metaphysical and idealist formulations, and engaged in frenzied attempts to proclaim

themselves the new center of the communist movement. IWK struggled against the

sectarianism, metaphysics and idealism of the Wing, and against WVOs ultra-rightism

posing under a left guise as well as against PRRWOs left dogmatism.

IWK learned many important lessons in the course of these struggles in the communist

movement. The struggles against the right opportunism of the RU and WVO, as well as left

opportunist lines and deviations helped to raise the organizations ideological and political


24/36

understanding. IWKs line developed and deepened in the course of struggles against these

lines, and during this period, lines of distinction were drawn between IWKs line and the

opportunism of these forces.

But IWKs contributions were seriously limited by weaknesses of narrowness in its scope

and approach to the tasks of party building. When IWK first took up Marxism-Leninism as its

guiding ideology in early 1972, it had a naive and idealist conception of how the party would

form. In the position paper passed at the December, 1971 national meeting, there was an

underlying assumption that the revolutionary forces from the diverse sectors of the movement

would develop in common, and then at some unspecified time in the future would come

together to form the party. It confused the struggle to unite various mass movements and the

struggle to unite Marxist-Leninists. This weakness laid the basis for an incorrect view of party

building which was to develop later during the period roughly between 1972-1973.

During this year, IWK held certain incorrect views which belittled the organizations

theoretical tasks and did not recognize the need to wage an active and aggressive struggle in

the communist movement for a correct line to unite Marxist-Leninists. For example, IWK

tended to place the struggle for communist unity on only the immediate questions which arose

in specific situations, which was a manifestation of narrowness. IWK did not establish party

building as its central task. These were right errors.

Especially after summarizing the weaknesses of not being able to raise its differences with

the RU to a theoretical level in the NLC, IWK began to raise its ideological understanding and

saw the need to develop its views on party building. However, the organization still did nottake up in an active and thoroughgoing way the struggles in the communist movement and did

not publish its stands on the important debates going on. For example, while IWK was the

first organization to recognize the essence of WVOs ultra-rightist line, it did not publish a

theoretical critique of WVO. In mid-1974, IWK began to publish a theoretical journal to try to

contribute more to the communist movement, and this was a significant advance. But still the

organization did not develop a correct understanding of party building.

IWKs incorrect views on party building stemmed from a tendency of narrowness, or a

tendency to look at only the most immediate mass work and tasks and not place primary thedemands of the whole communist movement to unite Marxist-Leninists and to build the party.

Another manifestation of narrowness was that in late 1973, Getting Together ceased to be

the national political organ of IWK and became a local anti-imperialist newspaper. This was

a step backwards, which showed a narrowness of scope and outlook and belittling of the role

of communist leadership. It reflected a right deviation of localism and proceeding just from

the organizations immediate work and experiences. The paper also limited its main thrust to


25/36

the Asian national struggles. This was an error. It was correct to continue to promote the

revolutionary significance of the Asian national struggles and deepen the organizations work

in this area, but the organization should have expanded its newspaper work beyond the Asian-

American movement and begin to take up the full scope of questions facing the entire

revolutionary movement. During 1975, Getting Together suspended publication to do an

evaluation of its history and future role and struggle to correct these weaknesses.

During late 1975, IWK began to recognize the urgency of waging a more active struggle for

Marxist-Leninist unity based on principle and the necessity to develop its views on party

building more quickly.

During these years, IWKs strengths were that it stood consistently on the principles of

Marxism-Leninism, developed revolutionary ties among the masses and waged a continuous

battle against the major opportunist lines in the movement. IWK stood firm against attempts

by the opportunists to revise and replace Marxism-Leninism with their own opportunism and

stood up against their intrigues, schemes, and maneuvers to declare themselves the new

center or party of the working class.

Another strength of the organization was that it learned to view its own history and role

from a dialectical materialist standpoint, rejecting metaphysics and idealism as well as

attempts of the opportunists to slander the history of the young Marxist-Leninist movement

and its origins in the revolutionary movement of the 1960s. IWK criticized and learned from

its shortcomings, while building upon its strong points. Because of this, the organization was

able in the next period of its history to make many advances in correcting its errors.

1975-1978

The last period in IWKs history has been one of rapid development. In these years the

organization built upon its positive work, corrected some of its weaknesses and advanced to

become a major national Marxist-Leninist organization in the U.S.

A critical time in this development were the months between mid-1975 and early 1976

when IWK consolidated its views around party building, the communist movement and other

important matters. IWK identified and criticized certain right errors that had prevented the

organization from contributing more to the revolutionary movement in the past. These

self-criticisms, along with the development of IWKs general line and work, formed the

foundations for the significant advances the organization has made from late 1976 to the

present.


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Mid-1975-1976

During the spring of 1975, the organization struggled to summarize its experiences in the

communist and mass movements, intensely studied Marxist-Leninist theory, and assessed the

situation in the U.S. revolutionary movement to develop its position on party building.

At this time, within the communist movement, there was sharp ideological struggle taking

place against various opportunist forces, such as the RU, WVO and the Revolutionary

Wing, which were all promoting various incorrect views and practice on party building.

Within the Asian movement, IWK was also waging struggle against incorrect tendencies

influenced by WVO, such as a tendency which pushed metaphysical and idealist ideas of

self-cultivation and various rightist deviations under a revolutionary guise. [2] IWKs

position on party building developed in part through summarizing the lessons from the

organizations struggle against opportunism.

In August 1975, IWK held a National Conference to push forward the development of the

organizations line, further strengthen and consolidate the organizations ranks, and lay out the

tasks for the coming period.

IWK united around the view that party building had been the central task of Marxist-

Leninists since the degeneration of the CPUSA into revisionism in the 1950s. The basic task

in party building is to develop a correct ideological and political line around which genuine

Marxist-Leninists can unite. Lines of demarcation must be drawn with opportunism. IWK putforth that party building was fundamentally an ideological task to integrate Marxism-

Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought with the concrete conditions of the revolution theory and

practice had to be linked, not separated as the Wing and other forces had advocated.

IWK also put forward correct views on matters such as the advanced worker. The

organization pointed out that winning over the advanced workers was an important part of the

party building task. These advanced workers are revolutionary-minded elements who come

forth through the course of struggle. Communists must unite with the advanced workers and

win them to communism. This view was in opposition to the opportunist view of the RUwhich had put forth that advanced workers were trade union militants, who might even be

anti-communist. IWK also opposed PRRWO and other left opportunist forces who insisted

that advanced workers were already Marxist-Leninists. The definition of an advanced worker

was a major issue as it had a direct connection to the overall orientation and practice of the

work of communist organizations.

An important part of passing on the party building position was the evaluation of IWKs


27/36

past views on party building. IWK criticized itself for not earlier having put forth party

building as the central task. This error was linked to the failure to recognize the key role of

theoretical tasks in the pre-party period. IWK had belittled the necessity to conduct

ideological struggle to forge unity in the communist movement. This had been a right

deviation.

IWK criticized the narrow scope of its work in the past and pledged to take up wider tasks

and struggle in the revolutionary movement. The organization pointed out that it had

contributed to the struggle against opportunism, such as the RU, and that it had made some

recent advances in correcting its weaknesses, such as the publication of the IWK theoretical

journal. However, the organization agreed that it still had to further develop its theoretical

work, expand its activities, and participate more vigorously in the struggle to forge a new

communist party.

The national meeting in 1975 also passed on other important matters, including the

reaffirmation and development of its view of the national question. The organization

reaffirmed its view that the national question was a revolutionary question and that national

oppression could only be eliminated through proletarian revolution. The working class and the

national movements formed the basic core of the revolution. IWK also reiterated its view that

revolutionary working class leadership was necessary to lead the national movements to

achieve full liberation. The organization soon united around upholding the right of

self-determination for the Afro-American nation in the Black belt South and the right of equal

status of the oppressed national minorities.

The national meeting also decided to strengthen the national leadership and democratic

centralism of IWK and made plans to republish Getting Together . IWK also decided to

expand its work among all nationalities.

After the national meeting, the organization continued to evaluate its past work and

developed further criticism of certain errors. The Central Committee recognized that the

organizations narrow scope had resulted in not expanding and broadening its work beyond

the Asian national movements when it had been capable of doing so around 1974. This

objectively resulted in nationalist errors, for the organization had not quickly or adequatelyenough taken up work among advanced elements of all nationalities nor developed labor work

in the industrial working class. IWK made plans to accelerate the development of this work.

At the same time, IWK rejected the charge that IWK had been narrow nationalist, as had

been raised by the RCP, WVO and the Wing. The organization upheld its line and practice

on the national question as being a Marxist-Leninist one and that the RCP, WVO and the

Wing had lines on the national question characterized by reformism and chauvinism.


28/36

The development in 1975 of IWKs general line and the identification, criticism and

campaign to rectify past errors were an important step in having the organization contribute

more to the revolutionary movement.

1976

The year began for IWK with the publication of Journal 3 which contained IWKs views

on party building. The Journal also included a major polemic on WVO and comments on the

party building views of other organizations.

The article on WVO was the first major exposure in the communist movement of WVOs

metaphysical and idealist line. It showed that WVOs veil of theoretical profundity actually

tried to hide its own version of revisionism. WVO tried to replace dialectical materialism with

idealism, rewriting sections from Lenins and Chairman Maos writings to try to deny that

theory comes from practice and must be verified by the criterion of practice.

IWKs article also showed how WVO aimed to turn the history of the entire communist

movement upside down by claiming that everything prior to WVO had been spontaneous,

eclectic and pragmatist. It did this to negate the victories the young revolutionary

movement had scored against the CPUSA and the Trotskyist PLP and in this way make it

seem that WVO had the leading line and was the theory trend. WVO had also promoted a

mechanical and metaphysical view of party building as going through stages of first

formulating ideological line, then political line and then organizational line, denying the inter-

connection of these aspects of communist work. The purpose in all this was to cover the

similarity of WVOs line with its predecessor, the PLP, and elevate WVO as the

self-proclaimed center of the communist movement.

WVO actually had been able to unite much of the Revolutionary Wing around its

opportunist views, and the critique of WVOs line by IWK contributed to the exposure and

subsequent disintegration of the Wing.

IWKs Journal 3 also carried an exposure of the RUs party building line and practice. This

article was a continuation of IWKs view that the RU bowed in worship of spontaneity. The

article linked the RUs line on party building to its general right opportunism.

Following its decisions on party building, IWK stepped up its work in the revolutionary

movement. After ATM split with the Wing, IWK began to have more systematic meetings

with ATM to discuss its history, in particular to discuss its experience with the Wing and to

discuss questions of political line. The two organizations began to systematize their relations


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in 1976.

IWK also struggled to resolve differences and build principled unity with other Marxist-

Leninst organizations, including the October League. At this time, the OL was engaged in

work around the Organizing Committee (OC). Talks were conducted with the OL to attempt

to resolve some outstanding differences. Agreement could not be reached at that time on these

questions.

IWK also took a leading role in combatting the centrists who were attacking the Marxist-

Leninist view of the international situation. The centrists during 1976, in the Soviet and

Cuban intervention in Angola, apologized and propagandized for the social-imperialists. The

centrists attacked the revolutionary forces, including Peoples China, which upheld the

demand for the self-determination of the Angolan people and opposed the two superpowers.

But the most important development for IWK in 1976 was the republication of Getting

Together in May. The newspaper was reestablished with the clear purpose of helping tointegrate Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought with the concrete conditions of the U.S.

revolution and to contribute to the building of a new communist party. The newspaper

correctly set its objective to become a collective propagandist, agitator, and organizer.

Through the newspaper, which came out monthly, IWK put forth systematically its views

on the key questions of the communist movement. These included views on the nature of the

Soviet Union and the contemporary international situation, the danger of a new world war, the

U.S. economic crisis, the labor aristocracy and workers movement, the struggle against the

gang of four in China and other matters. The newspaper also published articles on specific

issues in the mass movement in order to help give guidance to those struggles.

The newspaper was published in English and Chinese on the principle of trying to uphold

the equality of languages and to continue the links with the positive work Getting Together

had established in the Chinese-American nationality.

The newspaper was used throughout the entire organization to raise the political level of the

membership and as a tool to help in the mass work. The local areas of the organization helped

to support the paper financially; they also submitted articles, distributed the paper, and beganto build a scaffolding around the newspaper. The paper became a major focus of attention for

the organization.

At the same time, the organization struggled to develop and expand its mass work. The

organization began work in two new cities. It continued to play an active role in the

movement demanding normalization of relations between the U.S. and the Peoples Republic

of China. Work in the national movements also advanced. IWK continued to play a leading


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role in various struggles against the destruction of minority communities by redevelopment,

such as in the I-Hotel battle in San Francisco. IWK also continued to help build the Asian

Student Unions. IWK had long been involved in helping to build the student movement,

recognizing the active role students played in the mass movement. Many communists have

come forth from the student movement. Within the Asian national struggles, the students have

been an important force in struggling for demands such as for ethnic studies, against racisteducation, and supporting community struggles.

IWK intensified its work in the Japanese national minority. It continued to play an active

and leading role in mass community struggles against the destruction of the Japanese

community in San Francisco and later in Los Angeles. IWK helped to build mass

organizations and committees against redevelopment in San Francisco and Los Angeles which

were active in the struggle against the attacks on the Japanese community. IWK also helped

conduct various educational activities and campaigns on the history of national oppression

faced by the Japanese in the U.S., such as mass pilgrimages to Tule Lake and Manzanar,California, sites of concentration camps where the Japanese were interned during World War

II. As part of this work, the organization developed a revolutionary line and analysis of the

Japanese national question in the U.S.

The labor work of the organization also advanced. More forces were placed in basic

industries. The organization developed concentrations of work in certain industries, and began

to conduct some struggle in them. Similar work was also conducted in the hotel and service

work and in some transportation facilities. The labor work with the Chinese nationality also

continued. The organization played a leading role in trying to organize China Stationrestaurant and was active in the successful organizing of Sunley Food Distributors.

Internally, the organization continued to struggle against narrowness in scope and

conservatism. There were struggles to raise the ideological and political level of the

organization and a series of major study campaigns were launched. These included topics

such as revisionism, the Black national question, the international situation and the danger of

war, and others. Overall, the organization functioned more uniformly, efficiently and

deliberately as the leading bodies gave more consistent leadership to all areas of the

organizations internal and external work.

These developments were noted at the December 1976 National Conference. The

Conference noted that the organization was in its strongest and most developed state in its

history and that its grasp and practice of Marxism-Leninism had advanced. It noted that the

criticisms it had made of weaknesses and errors had helped to put the organization on a more

correct basis and had enabled it to make important advances over the previous year.


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The conference set out the general tasks of the organizations as: ... to conscientiously seek

to build unity based on principle with other Marxist-Leninists, shoulder greater

responsibilities and tasks towards developing a correct line to guide the American revolution,

build deeper roots among the masses of workers and oppressed peoples in the U.S., expand

and broaden the work of the organization in all spheres, train and recruit the advanced, raise

the level of the intermediate and contribute to the further development of the revolution. Theconference assessed the situation in the communist movement and resolved that IWK would

continue to struggle to draw lines of demarcation with opportunism, particularly with WVO

and struggle for unity with communist forces such as ATM and the OL.

A labor resolution was also passed which developed further the political and organizational

line of IWKs labor work. The organization resolved to vigorously move ahead in its labor

work, especially in the industrial area. The national leadership was strengthened and an

election of a Central Committee held. The editorial staff of the newspaper was also increased.

Decisions were made to expand the influence of the organization to the Midwest, the Southand Hawaii.

A number of specific goals were established including the expansion of the membership of

the organization, newspaper sales and fundraising. Overall, the conference was a turning point

in correcting the legacies of conservatism and narrowness in the organization.

Throughout 1977, the organization played a more vigorous role in the intensifying struggle

in the communist movement, especially around defense of socialist China and Chairman

Maos theory of the three worlds. Following Chairman Maos death and the defeat of thegang of four, opportunist forces such as the Revolutionary Communist Party, Workers

Viewpoint Organization and the Marxist Leninist Organizing Committee among others (who

had never really supported China in the past) began to attack China directly and indirectly in a

number of ways. The centrist forces such as those around the Guardian also stepped up their

attacks on China. IWK took a principled stand and opposed these forces and propagated a

correct view of the international situation and the developments in China. The organization

stood firm in opposing the two superpowers and particularly the danger of the Soviet Union in

launching

history of i wor kuen

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