People's Democracy

 RELEVANCE OF THE GREAT OCTOBER REVOLUTION

 Harkishan Singh Surjeet

THE success of the Great October Revolution in 1917 was the first scientific attestation of the correctness of Marxist-Leninist theory. A doctrine till then, it required the strength of the revolution led by the Bolshevik Party to disprove its critics and establish before the world the validity of the theory of scientific socialism. 

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, initiators and the finest exponents of scientific socialism, outlined the course that the history of human development would follow --- from capitalism to socialism and then to communism. While the general direction and the forces that would bring about this change were known, the concrete ways and means to achieve it were to vary from country to country, depending both on the international situation and the objective situation in any given country.

A NEW COURSE CHARTED OUT

Lenin said in 1917:

"We do not claim that Marx knew or Marxists know the road to socialism down to the last detail. It would be nonsense to claim anything of the kind. What we know is the direction of this road, and the class forces that follow it; the specific, practical details will come to light only through the experience of the millions when they take things into their own hands."

Lenin had also pointed out that

"The Marxian doctrine arose away from the high road of development of world civilisation. On the contrary, the genius of Marx consists precisely in his having furnished answers to questions already raised by the foremost minds of mankind. His doctrine emerged as the direct and immediate continuation of the teachings of the greatest representatives of philosophy, political economy and socialism.”

Making his unique contribution to enriching the Marxist doctrine, Lenin analysed imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. Evaluating the revolution in the imperialist stage, Lenin concluded that the socialist revolution could succeed not only in capitalist countries but even in a relatively backward country where the imperialist chain is the weakest.

It was this understanding of the new period and the concrete application of the theory to the concrete conditions prevailing in Russia, that enabled the Bolshevik Party under Lenin to successfully carry out the revolution. The revolution succeeded on October 25, 1917 (as per the old Russian calendar), and therefore it is more popularly known as the October revolution.

REVOLUTION’S CONTRIBUTIONS

The first decrees that the socialist state promulgated were on peace and land. The party headed by Lenin was thus able to realise the task of rallying the peasantry behind the working class in defence of the revolution. The strength thus gained saw the infant socialist state successfully withstand and thwart the imperialist intervention and put down the civil war. 

The success of the this revolution concretely demonstrates that we can end class rule and the different forms of exploitation that characterise it and create a form of society in which everyone contributes to production according to ability and receives payment according to his or her work. This is a step forward towards a society in which everyone contributes to production according to his or her ability and receives the return according to his or her needs.

It is this concept which gave rise to so many institutions we find even in class society today, especially the idea of the welfare state. The creation of free schools, colleges and universities as part of the process of bringing about free and compulsory education and the goal of the elimination of illiteracy owe its spread in our times to the lessons learned from the Soviet Russia.

In the more than seven decades of its existence, the Soviet Union was able to provide its citizens hitherto unheard of rights and guarantees. The right to work, to education, to health, to shelter and the innumerable other rights and privileges that the people of the first socialist state enjoyed undoubtedly influenced the peoples in other countries. The inspiration that this provided to the struggles for better living conditions in other countries, compelled the capitalists in these countries to give some concessions to the underprivileged in their countries and thus arose the concept of the "welfare state."

The emergence of economic planning as a response to both market anarchy as well as the takeover of the market by monopolies that extract super profits from the consumer leaving him no other alternative, is also something we owe to this revolution. In the same way, the elimination of unemployment as a result of the evolution of socialist economic planning to meet the needs of people and not to extract the maximum profit from them, owes its origin to the Russian revolution. 

Institutions like free public healthcare, state owned industry, cooperatives, old age pension, old people’s homes and broad-based local government institutions like those of Panchayati Raj, that unite different sections of the workers and peasants all over the world, all owe their birth to the success of this revolution. It is because of this success that they were implemented on a large scale in many countries. Otherwise, they would have been no more than experiments conducted by small groups and the like.

For us, the revolution created new opportunities for global cooperation in contrast to the global competition of monopolies and empires. This opened up the door to a world without colonies and a world without wars. The treaty of Brest Litovsk after the Russian revolution helped bring World War I to an end. And without the active resistance of the Soviet Union that defeated 75 per cent of Hitler’s forces on its soil, World War II could not have been won nor fascism defeated. Since the end of that war, it was the presence of the Soviet Union that prevented the outbreak of World War III, and the signing of treaties like SALT I and SALT II were a move to end the nuclear menace. In 1985, the USSR unilaterally announced the end of nuclear testing.

IMPETUS TO LIBERATION PROCESS

For us in India, it was the impetus the Soviet Union gave to national liberation movements that affected us most. Before the emergence of the Soviet Union as a force to reckon with, colonies, even if they overthrew one colonial power, were parceled out to others. The Arabs who successfully fought the Ottoman Empire during World War I found themselves parceled between the British and the French, and were forced to fight for their independence again. The present struggle for an independent Palestinian state is a part of that unfinished anti-imperialist agenda, now further complicated by the US occupation of Iraq and its support to the Zionist state of Israel.

An essential feature linked to the success of the Russian revolution is the end of colonial rule in over 60 states and the spurt of national liberation movements that emerged after World War II. Small countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and Cuba were able to counter the stranglehold not only of the defeated axis powers like Germany, Italy and Japan, but also of the victorious allies like Britain, France and the USA.

This momentous event inspired the working class movement the world over and strengthened the anti-colonial struggle. It is the emergence of the socialist state and the formation of the USSR that liberated the various suppressed and oppressed nationalities that inhabited the prison house of the Czar.

The whole world is compelled to acknowledge the role the Soviet Union played in shaping contemporary history.

ESSENTIALS OF THE THEORY

The Russian revolution was the first successful application of the theory of Marx and Engels to the concrete conditions of a state. The success of this revolution had a massive impact on the consciousness of revolutionary movements all over the world, notably in China, Vietnam, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, and Cuba. After World War II a number of East European states like Poland, East Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, formed a powerful socialist bloc, which tilted the balance of forces in the world to the advantage of socialism. It is true they were unable to last out the struggle against imperialist penetration of the socialist camp. Obviously, mistakes were committed. But mistakes do not negate the correctness of the scientific theory that we know today as dialectical and historical materialism.

Its essential feature is that all forms of matter and the relations that come into being around them are subject to change. There are opposing forces of growth and decay in them that work themselves out by coming up as contradictions that must be resolved with the element of the decaying being overthrown by the new, creating a new contradiction in its time to be resolved.

In the sphere of society it is the forces of production based on the new developments in the material world and the labour of human beings, with technological development and skills as the instrument, that create new conditions. At the same time they divide society into different classes that struggle with each other to appropriate this production. This fact of appropriation leads to class struggle and to revolutionary changes.

History is the process through which, based on the constant development of the forces of production, new relations of exploitation and classes linked to them, come into being and are overthrown in keeping with the necessities of development. In this process we observe the emergence of more and more efficient forms of technology and skills as also of struggle. This continues through four major stages of development of society: slavery, feudalism, capitalism and communism. The transition to socialism, characterised by the dictatorship of the proletariat, comes with the overthrow of the dictatorship of capital. This process unwinds itself with the overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class, which finally appropriates the means of production. The class has produced wealth for others over centuries. Once the master of its production, it puts an end to exploitation and to the related class struggle.

With this an era of planned production to meet the needs of humanity is launched. And its success has been the success not only of Soviet Russia, but also of socialist China, Cuba and other socialist states in achieving growth of material production and all round development, including human development, which far richer capitalist states have neither achieved nor wish to provide their people with. The USA, the sole superpower in existence today, prefers to seek resources and places for investment outside its territory rather than provide its people better education, health and infrastructural facilities. It prefers to invest in and profit from the arms race and the destruction it breeds rather than invest in production that strengthens a higher standard of living for all of humanity in a climate of peace and progress. In this lie the seeds of its downfall.

The greatest contribution of the October revolution was that it was a practical demonstration that a single state in the hands of the working class can create conditions that can transform the situation in the world qualitatively. It is the existence of the Soviet Union that ensured that the process of decolonisation could come into its own after World War II. Indeed, it was because of it that newly independent countries could acquire advanced technology which imperialist states were unwilling to give them. The same goes for the concept of the welfare state and the institutions to ensure world peace.

AN IMMORTAL REVOLUTION

The existence of the Soviet Union, its success in development and its role in the world exposed the idea that war was necessary to develop one’s country. On the contrary, it was counter-productive and destructive. In fact, the first declaration of the Soviet Union in the sphere of international relations was its decree on peace, announcing that a new era of international relations had begun.

The most important thing, however, that the Russian revolution contributed to our understanding of history was that there are no “chosen people” in the world and it is the task of all people everywhere to organise forces at home and in solidarity with others to further the progress towards classless society. To ensure success in this, the Russian revolution directs us to study our concrete conditions in relation to changing world developments and organise conscious action to further the cause of the working class taking control of the means of production on a global level.

Today, while the Soviet Union has ceased to exist, one cannot wish away its contributions. They made a worldwide and significant impact and therefore will remain etched in memory.

The unfortunate events that led to restoration of capitalism in the former socialist countries of East Europe and the Soviet Union’s disintegration were due to the distortions and deviations that had crept in the application of Marxism-Leninism to the concrete prevailing conditions, to the serious errors and mistakes committed during socialist construction. An erroneous understanding crept in and realities on the ground were sought to be ignored. While rightly paying attention to achieving parity in weaponry to meet any imperialist challenge, equal emphasis on industrial development was lagging and proper attention was not paid to the immense advances made in the field of science and technology. While these issues in the realm of economy were ignored, the task of ensuring the people’s participation in decision making bodies and making these truly representative in character was given a go by. No distinction was drawn between the party and the state, and the principles of democratic centralism were increasingly violated with more emphasis on centralism. The leadership came to replace the party and a coterie replaced the leadership. These shortcomings, errors and mistakes contributed to the setbacks and reverses.

Whereas capitalism had an experience of over 300 years, socialism was a new concept. While it had tremendous achievements to its credit, it was the negative factors in its application that finally led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the setbacks in the East European countries.

REGROUPING CONTINUES

But faced with hunger, poverty and destitution that form the quintessence of a system of exploitation, with the reality of capitalism staring in their faces, the peoples of the countries of East Europe and the various republics that formed the Soviet Union are now fighting back. The regimes in these countries are facing mounting resistance. Parties that had surrendered in face of the concerted imperialist onslaught are regrouping to take on the new challenges. People are once again reposing faith in communist parties. In Russia today, the Communist Party of Russian Federation is the biggest organised force.

In the countries of existing socialism like China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and DPR Korea, the ruling parties are drawing lessons from the past mistakes and undertaking adequate and appropriate changes there deem fit in their respective objective conditions. Now it is universally recognised that there can be no single model for building socialism. Each country has to choose its own path, taking into consideration the objective conditions existing in each country, the level of development of productive forces and the correlation of class forces. The Chinese example has made a further contribution about socialist construction in a less developed country. While adhering to the fundamental principles, the Chinese emphasise on developing the productive forces. But three principles are common for the victory of socialism --- leadership of the communist party, worker-peasant alliance, and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Taking into consideration the experience of these countries, while everybody bases on the science of Marxism-Leninism for achieving success, they also adapt it to local conditions. While the Chinese term it Mao Zedong thought-Deng Xiaoping theory, the Koreans call it the Juche idea, the Vietnamese identify it with Ho Chi Minh, and others identify with their own models or concrete conditions.

The massive propaganda that accompanied the cataclysmic events of 1991, proclaiming the demise of socialism and the death of communism, no longer cuts any ice. People in the former Soviet republics and East European countries are realising that capitalism is no answer. In these countries there is growing disparities, increasing unemployment, insecurity and destitution.

The imperialist dream of subverting the socialist systems in other countries, however, did not succeed. One fourth of humanity continues to live in these socialist countries --- China, Vietnam, Cuba, Korea and Laos. These were some of the most backward economies. Cuba, lying just 90 miles off the US coast, is defiantly and valiantly defeating all attempts at destabilisation. The imperialist imposed blockade imposed great difficulties on the Cuban people and the infant socialist state. But despite their own difficulties, the Cubans have rendered enormous help to various liberation movements. The influence of their revolution has spread to the entire Latin America and the Caribbean.

Marxism-Leninism continues to remain valid. History has proved its validity and relevance. The ferocity of the attack by anti-communists and reactionaries fail to invalidate the continuing significance of the path-breaking event, i e the Great October Revolution and the establishment of the first socialist state.

The CPI(M)’s paper presented at the International Seminar on “Contemporary World Situation and the Validity of Marxism” in 1992 aptly said:

"The validity of Marxism as a science, a method, a guide to action and its abiding relevance is justified by the nature of the present world developments.  The entire quest of Marx during this lifetime and that of all subsequent Marxists, was to establish the basic factors necessary for complete human liberation. Capitalism, as Marx had shown and subsequent developments justify, is a system based on human exploitation. As long as exploitation of man by man and of nation by nation continues to be the basis of the capitalist system, the yearning for human liberation can never be snuffed out. The world that we know today, the rights that humanity has come to accept as a matter of course, had all been contributions of people's struggles. It is this class struggle that continues to shape the present day developments and its associated human consciousness. The imprint of Marxism on contemporary society and the intellectual development of humanity is inerasable.

“The contemporary world situation tellingly demonstrate the unjust and inhuman nature of capitalism. It is its rapacious plunder that is responsible for the terrible situation of hunger, misery, sickness, illiteracy that stalk the millions in the developing world. It is directly responsible for the dangers of nuclear holocaust and worsening major ecological imbalances. The increasing moral and ethical degeneration of capitalist societies, drug abuse, violence, gender and racial discrimination are continuously debasing the finer qualities of human beings. Despite the perennial propaganda, intensified following these reverses to socialism, that `capitalism is eternal,’ it today, as in the past, proves itself as a system incapable of solving the major problems confronting humanity.”

As opposed to this

"Marxism-Leninism is inherently materialistic, creative and intrinsically dialectical. It is hence supremely anti-dogmatic. It is a world-view that embraces the vision of liberation and expresses emancipatory ideals. It is a tool for understanding and analysing the multitude of phenomena that constitute changing historical situations. It is a guide to action that defines programmatic objectives for the people's struggle for liberation, subject to the necessary adaptations as required by changing historical situations" (Resolution on Certain Ideological Issues, adopted by the 14th CPI(M) Congress, 1992).