Maoism in the Developed World

In January 1979, the KB “staged demonstrations against Soviet social-imperialism in Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Inssbruck and Klagenfiirt and held a mass rally in Vienna followed by a protest inarch to the Soviet embassy.”[128] In the following year the party organized demonstrations in support of foreign workers in Austria, particularly Turkish workers in Voralberg.

In 1980, the KB suffered a major split. Walter Lindner, the Secretary of the Central Committee, summoned an “Extraordinary National Delegates Conference,” attended by delegates from Vienna, Graz and Salzburg. This meeting adopted a statement to the effect that “Immediately before the extraordinary conference it had come to a split in the Central Committee and consequently to a usurpation of the entire central technical apparatus through the right-wing factions of the Central Committee and its supporters. The split of the group, the separation from the revisionist and liquidationist forces, was the only way to preserve the KB as the construction of a revolutionary party of the working class.”

However, the anti-Lindner element maintained their own organization. They issued a statement on March 8, 1980 denouncing the Lindner group as “revisionists” and “opportunists.” They summoned their own “first extraordinary National Delegates Convention.”

Both groups continued to call themselves the KB. But Frederick G. Engelmann noted that the anti-Lindner “orthodox” group, “seems to have succeeded in remaining the legitimate organization of Marxism-Leninism in Austria.”[129] We have no indication as to which side had the support of the Chinese, or even if the Chinese took interest in what was happening to the KB of Austria.

Belgian Maoism

Although the first European Maoist party was established in Belgium, under the leadership of several traditional leaders of the Communist Party, Maoism never became a very significant force in Belgian left-wing politics. The original Maoist party, which was largely concentrated in the French-speaking part of the country, was soon wracked with bitter factionalism, and split into competing groups. A new Maoist party that appeared in the Flemish-speaking part of the country in the 1970s did not succeed in getting official recognition from the Chinese.

The Communist Party Of Belgium (Marxist-Leninist)

The Communist Party of Belgium (Marxist-Leninist) or PCBML, “was established by dissident members of the Communist Party of Belgium (PCB) in 1963 under the leadership of Jacques Grippa, a secondary but important figure in the PCB. It was quickly accepted by the Chinese and “was recognized at the time of its foundation as the largest and most important Maoist organization in Europe outside of Albania.”[130] Its strength was centered in the French-speaking Borinage mining area.

The PCBMLP controlled the Belgium-China Association and established a youth group, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Youth of Belgium.[131] Its weekly organ Clarté not only carried much information on China, but also was for some time a major source of information on Maoist parties in other parts of the world.

The PCBML carried on extensive campaigns during the 1960s against the United States’ policy in Vietnam. It also participated in elections, at least in 1965, when it received 23,903 votes, or 0.5 percent of the total.[132]

However, the PCBML soon became the scene of serious internal factional fighting and in 1967 suffered serious defections. The U.S. Trotskyist publication World Outlook described what happened at that time, stating, “Last June the Grippa group suffered a debilitating split when most of the Walloon members left, charging Grippa with being a partisan of Liu Shao-chi in China. In October, another blowup occurred. Five members of the Central Committee, including Henri Glineur, former senator and one of the 1921 founders of the Belgian Communist Party, adopted a document entitled ‘Open Up Fire on the General Headquarters of the Pseudo Revolutionaries Hidden in the BCP.’ They expelled Grippa and two of his associates. The rump remaining loyal to Grippa replied tit for tat, expelling their opponents.”[133]

Apparently, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution played a significant role in this split in the Belgian Maoist ranks. Not only did Gruppa’s opponents accuse him of supporting the anti-Maoists elements in that process, but it was also noted that Grippa’s “name and that of the party are no longer mentioned in the publications of the New China news agency, having vanished from the pages of the Maoist press in China several months ago.”[134]