Inspired by the successes of socialism and faced with the deep and insoluble crisis of capi­talism, millions of workers in capitalist countries are w… - Kaysone Phomvihane

When raising the banner of national democ­racy, one must be able to differentiate between strategy and tactics, between the fundamental and the immediate questions. But most impor­tant of all is that one should never, in no cir­cumstances, forget the class essence of the revolution and of its final aims. In some cases, therefore, for tactical reasons at this or that stage, we did not emphasise the leading role of the Party, did not talk about socialism, but instead focussed attention on peace, neutrality, national concord, coalition government, and the like.

In our time, a time marking the transition from capitalism to socialism, a time in which a powerful offensive is being launched by the three revolutionary streams of today, the world is constantly witnessing changes of truly histo­rical significance, which highly favour the devel­opment of revolutionary movements in different countries. But could we take advantage of the favourable situation to raise the revolution in our country to a new height? This depended pri­marily on the efforts of our people, and also on the resoluteness and ability of the Party to act speedily and effectively in such situations.

Revolutionary violence is the violence of the masses. The national democratic revolution in Laos was a cause espoused by all patriots and forward-looking people in the country. Thus, the revolutionary violence in Laos was necessarily that of the overwhelming majority of the population, first and foremost that of the working people, who were cruelly exploited. The masses have many ways and means to demonstrate their will and determination to struggle. Generalising the practical experience of the revolutionary struggle, one can say that the violence of the masses takes two forms, those of political and armed struggle, used together and separately. It is thus necessary to set up the means of violence to bring about a revolution, i.e., the political forces of the masses and the armed forces of the people.