We are publishing the General Secretary of MLCP Kerim Gökdeniz's interview in which he commented on a wide spectrum of their work and understanding ranging from his party's politic-military front to rural guerrilla, from Rojava to mass movement and from the situation of laboring left to confrontation efforts.

June uprising (Gezi uprising), Rojava revolution, 6-8 October Kobanê serhıldan (rebellion) and self-governance resistances as main parts of them, your party's political presence in a wide range of struggle fronts distinctively draws attention. A rise of interest towards your party is also apparent. What are the dynamics of developments of MLCP in recent years? How did these pushing forces take in action?
Our party's views about the unique way of the development of revolution, political leadership and political struggle style, unified revolution aspect are the basis that this development sits on. Determination to apply party line on such basis, whereat political leadership and organizational leadership, prepared and shaped this development. Our party's political leadership understanding turns its face towards masses and their problems, demands, desires and its political struggle style understanding uses all tools and forms of struggle. Party mechanism based on collectivism, this mechanism's finding a response in the organized party life and determination on applying party line have taken these emerging dynamics into action. Among these, especially association with Kobanê revolution as well as orientation and will for the confrontation in laboring left movement put forth our party's position, its relationship with revolution and its politic determination. And this, naturally, brings out a practice that cannot be ignored.
This development drew attention of laborers, women, youth, oppressed communities, people whose hearts beat for revolution, who want a new life. And that attention, at the same time, is a product of our party's history, a result of expectations from it. This is because MLCP is a party that succeeded Unity Revolution; shaped its political struggle understanding, style and revolution strategy in a new mentality; created itself with the vanguarding and leading practices towards enemy on various fronts of countless struggles, from Gazi Riot to the campaign for the disappearances under police custody; challenging death and panzers, walking under fire. There has always been expectations from this party. There has been hope awaited from it, even when it experienced a political fall-back, organizational narrowing and ideological bleeding problem. Party's body is a body united with revolutionary purposes. Under determined leadership conditions, it has always developed big struggles, prepared leaps, presented many distinct examples of sacrifice spirit. All these elements form the dynamics of the development.
At the 20th foundation anniversary, you announced that your party is ready to take the leadership of the revolution. Was this confirmed by the later developments? In which direction will your party move forward in terms of taking the leadership of the revolution?
Our party's comprehension of class struggle dynamics, understanding of confrontation, vanguarding and leadership perspective have progressed more in these last two years. And again, our party's taking the revolution as its own identity, total detachment from "making itself its own aim" attitude which is very common in laboring left movement have come out once more, and more clearly in the last two years. MLCP is a party which knows how to learn; digests what it learns; seeks for new ways and does not hesitate to handle the theoretical-political-organizational issues of revolution over and over again and to confront its views with life and practice. All things happened throughout the time after our 20th anniversary proved the clarity of all these approaches, perspectives and viewpoints once more. In this period, party leadership, party's cadre frame and again wide party forces have performed consciousness and practice which show that they are totally dedicated to revolution and determined to take any kind of measure for the revolution, which approach all problems with revolutionary responsibility and revolutionary claim. From the perspective of "Everything in favor of working class and peoples are in favor of our party", the actions were taken. Revolution's various type of hard questions or newly emerged questions were tried to be enlightened theoretically, their politics were created and their practice were leaned on.
Looking from these aspects, the period after 20th anniversary has proved the correctness of our opinion which states we are ready to take the leadership of the revolution. However, revolution is an enormous action. And for the success of this enormous action, our party must especially strengthen its capacity in the struggle of politic-military front and of course enlarge its organizational frame to organize the largest masses of our people. Today, we are facing the responsibility of moving forward in this direction to solidify our claims on a more powerful basis.
You said you are aiming bigger successes on the politic-military front. Moving on from here... At the end of 2015, two woman fighters of your party, Yeliz Erbay and Şirin Öter became immortal resisting against police siege. Start of total war in July in the same year, on the other hand, pointed out that revolutionary violence will enter the agenda of the political class struggle in Turkey more. The expectations from your party, predictions about your development were also in this direction. In this regard, what is your evaluation of your last one-year development?
Fascist dictatorship of bourgeoisie, fascist politic-islamist Erdoğan and AKP as the new ruling of the regime execute the politics mainly with the military tools. Last one year exhibited this most nakedly. They use bullet, gas bomb, gun stock, cannon, air strike against the demands of working class, Kurdish people, women, youth, the oppressed, the poor. Choking their voices, discouraging from their demands, giant ideological devices for enslaving, developed fascist psychological war methods, using religion are not enough for them. The need tanks, weapons, planes. They need torture, arrest and prison instruments. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to carry on political struggle with only peaceful methods, unarmed formats, legal formats. Otherwise, it will lead to a result consuming our peoples' hopes, pushing them into despair against the counter-revolution's armed force and systematic terror. With the Suruç-Pirsus massacre, Erdoğan and its party set to a big fascist, colonialist war. Since that day until today, armed styles are ahead in the class struggle.
Our party used armed styles of struggle in defense and progress of Rojava revolution. It used in different cities in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan. Lastly, it practiced this style of politic struggle in mountains of Dersim. Under state-terror conditions in Turkey and colonialist extermination war conditions in Kurdistan, which means last year, our party's fighters carried out 10 military actions in Turkey's cities. One of these was, before they became immortal, Berçem and Ekin comrades' brave action against the riot police bus in Bayrampaşa. And again that one was their determined resistance when they were sieged. Also, in Dersim, at the struggle that FESK Kurdistan rural guerrilla fighters started, during the actions within the Peoples' United Revolution Movement (HBDH) and independent activities depending on their self-power, three comrades were martyred. When considering these undying comrades, it is seen that we are moving on a consistent line; we are in the effort of developing, expanding and becoming competent in armed styles of struggle. However, this is a fact: under the new conditions of illegality, especially our fight in cities are very behind the needs of the day and the period. Despite FESK's Red Commandos' action determination, despite their ten actions against AKP, MHP and weapon production monopolies of the police and the army, our practice stayed behind the needs of class struggle. Particularly, considering the harshness of the war shaped by "crush and dissolve" policy, the cruelty and destructiveness of the enemy and the efforts to surrender our peoples by the fascist terror, we could have developed an action broadness and action effect that could be a reply to this. Our efforts on this issue has not still reached the level we desire. But like I said, the line laying from Yeliz and Şirin comrades to Veli, Ümit and Berfu comrades puts forth our direction and determination. Our party will certainly gain a level that will reply the needs by going over its insufficiencies.
By the way, what are the founding purposes and perspectives of FESK Kurdistan Rural Guerrilla Units? Rural guerrilla which is generally identified as the same with Maoist people war strategy, what is the position of it in MLCP's strategy?
Defining rural guerrilla as th same with Maoist people's war should be understood as a lack of historical consciousness. For instance, Eastern European peoples' revolutions which happened before China revolution were developed almost entirely with partisan war tactics based on rural guerrilla. Mao, who successfully led the people's war based on rural guerrilla along the unique way of China revolution, is a revolutionary leader who contributed the strategies and tactics of rural guerrilla preciously. However Mao's understanding of people's war is more of an ideological one than of military. The distinction is here. Thus it is not a distinction of rural guerrilla-urban guerrilla. It is an issue of whether proletariat can lead the revolution, whether the party can be formed within the proletariat, whether the cities can lead the revolution. Rural guerrilla or urban guerrilla is completely a matter of certain geography, moment and conditions of class struggle agenda. On this matter, MLCP has never been in such a dogmatism. It gave weight to cities and struggle in the cities, because it believed the victory of the revolution can only be organized on this basis. It brought these to its agenda; developing in the big industrial cities, using legal, illegal, peaceful, mass violence based, unarmed, armed styles of struggle there. But you also cannot find such a view that rural guerrilla is not communist or there is not an element of such kind in communists' revolutionary strategies in our party's written history. It has repeatedly been said by our party, that revolution in Turkey and Kurdistan will not be a replica of the revolution in any country, that it will certainly find its own unique way -which is also correct for other revolutions. For that reason, from the military point of view, rural guerrilla-urban guerrilla distinction is irrelevant to Maoism, but if you attribute an ideological meaning to "people's war", you can definitely think like that.
FESK Kurdistan Rural Guerrilla Unit was born from the need of joining the struggle in Kurdistan with military styles. There is revolution going on in Kurdistan and military styles are ahead there. From time to time, depending on the national liberation movement's tactics, military actions are pulled back, however military styles have always kept its importance in the whole and it has always been weighed more in the class struggle, in the struggle between oppressor and oppressed, between colonialist Turkish bourgeoisie and state and Kurdish people who are under the imperialistic yoke. As much as it is used against colonialists in Kurdistan cities, military styles will also be used in Kurdistan's rural regions. Opportunities from the whole geography will serve to the struggle's favor. Our presence in Dersim's rural areas, our presence in a small part of Kurdistan today, is actually a result of this need. It has an aspect of spreading to all rural of Kurdistan like spreading in all cities naturally. Regardless of whether it is achieved or not, the needs of struggle put this duty in front of whole revolutionary structures which claim to organize the revolution.
Let's talk about Rojava a bit. It is seen that both your military and political works are continuing inside the Rojava revolution. How do you evaluate your party's 4-years Rojava praxis? What conclusions do you draw from this experience?
Our presence in Rojava was conditioned by our perception of unified revolution, as well as our being a Kurdistani power, being peoples' party, again our internationalist character and our regional revolution and democratic Middle East federation understanding developed by our 3rd congress. Our presence in Rojava developed step by step depending on the progress in determination of applying the party line. But still, the needs of Rojava revolution accelerated our steps. There was a revolution happening in Rojava and the struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed was basically going on militarily. So we have organized our whole political positioning accordingly. Our forces in Rojava took part militarily in revolution. On the other hand, relatively fewer of our forces sweat in social and economical construction works of revolution or they switched with the comrades on these fronts time to time.
Our existence as a military organization and with military struggle styles in Rojava are still ahead. This is a positioning according to the needs of revolution. However, at the same time, we have been performing revolutionary practices among the masses in Rojava, among the masses from Kurdish people, Arabic people and people from Christian beliefs for one year. We are trying to raise socialism option in Rojava; complete the consciousness and the tendency of freedom among Rojava laborers and poor, Rojava women and youth against imperialism, against colonialist states of the region, and against their gangs like ISIS, with the socialism tendency. Besides the military organizations and struggle styles, our party develops its mass organizations and struggle practices based on revolution's legitimacy in Rojava. Our joining in Rojava revolution and praxis there was a test for our party's theoretical views, its thoughts on strategy and its unified revolution understanding. From this test, it was concluded that we are standing on a right and correct basis about all these issues. The struggle in Rojava revolution has developed our party in many ways, widened its angle of vision on different subjects, grown its action. It provided regaining various weapons back in class struggle's armory, such as a weapon like international battalion. The struggle in this revolution introduces new correspondences to the vividness of our party's thoughts, flexibility about revolutionary will-power and organizational formats and struggle types.