People's Democracy

The world at the beginning of the 20th century, before the advent of the October revolution was an age of empires. The world was carved up and dominated by the British, French, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Japanese empires. There were lesser empires too of the Italians, the Portuguese and so on. The October revolution marked the end of this old-style colonialism. It began the chain of national liberation struggles which overthrew colonial rule.

The October Revolution was a product of the successful application of Lenin’s thesis that the weakest link in the chain of imperialism can be broken. It was Lenin who first pointed out that the Czarist Russia represented the weakest link after the advent of the First World War, created by inter-imperialist rivalries. The struggle against imperialism reached a higher plane with the success of the first socialist revolution.

The emancipatory content of the October revolution had a universal application. It was not only freedom from the colonial grip of imperialism but the path it showed for liberating vast millions of people from the shackles of feudal and class exploitation. The October revolution was based on the revolutionary strategy of the worker-peasant alliance. The agrarian programme advocated by the October revolution set out the basic slogan of abolishing landlordism. It is the strategy of the worker-peasant alliance which was used subsequently to mobilise the vast mass of the peasantry in the colonial countries. The successful revolutions of China, Vietnam and Korea underline this fact.

The early decades of the Soviet Union showed the immense potential of developing a socially just system. Whether it be mass education, provision of food, health and full employment or the rights accorded to women, this record could not be matched by centuries of capitalism. For instance, it was the new Soviet State which legislated total equality for men and women. It was the first country in the world to establish equal voting rights for men and women above eighteen years. The oldest capitalist democracy, Britain, provided this right only in 1928.

Because of the leadership of the working class in the October Revolution, it was possible to complete the democratic tasks and embark upon building socialism, After the Paris Commune of 1871, this was the first full-fledged experiment in building socialism. Because of the encirclement of capitalism and the rise of fascism, the Soviet Union had to make enormous sacrifices for building the framework of a socialist system. The defeat of the greatest evil faced by the 20th century, fascism, was mainly due to the existence and struggle by the Soviet Union. Today, with the dismantling of the Soviet Union, false and distorted lessons of the historical experience of the 20th century are being foisted on the people and their consciousness.

The heroic struggle against colonialism, imperialism and fascism is sought to be obliterated and history written as a triumphant march of world capitalism. At the beginning of the 21st century, imperialism has become more aggressive utilising the temporary setbacks suffered by the socialist system. The new predatory form of imperialist globalisation and a ferocious neo-liberal capitalism is being imposed all round the world.

The world is once again experiencing recolonisation by aggressive imperialism headed by the United States. The series of military adventures launched by the US and its allies from the 1990s, the Gulf war, the attack on Iraq in 1991, the attack on Yugoslavia, the war on Afghanistan, the war and occupation of Iraq in 2003 have brought to the fore the resurgence and consolidation of US imperialist hegemony. All the countries which refuse to accept the imperialist dictates are threatened whether it be Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, Syria or Iran.

While this is one side of the picture, the other side is the growing resistance to imperialist hegemony. As the political resolution of the 18th congress of the CPI(M) pointed out, the centerpiece of the current resistance to the imperialist offensive is the struggle against US occupation of Iraq where popular resistance has grown in intensity and scope. The other important centre of resistance is the Palestinian movement for independence and statehood which has been heroically fighting the Israeli-US axis for more than five decades. Most significantly, Latin America has become the site for the most vigorous struggles against imperialism and neo-liberal policies. It is exemplified by the rise of Left and popular regimes in Brazil, Venezuela and Uruguay. The defeat of successive attempts by the United States to topple Chavez in Venezuela and the close ties developed between Venezuela and Cuba are notable events.

Working class struggles against the attacks on jobs, social security and livelihood are taking place in capitalist countries and working class resistance constitute the core of the movement against imperialist driven globalisation. Even the ruling classes of the developing countries are compelled at times by the popular struggles to cooperate amongst themselves to resist the onerous conditions being imposed under the WTO and other international forums.

It is in this background that we must note the role of the socialist countries. Chief among them being China’s steady development as a major power with 9 per cent growth of GDP annually for over two decades. The United States sees a potential threat from China challenging its supremacy by the middle of this century. The strategic doctrine of the United States is geared towards meeting this challenge.

In the coming days, the struggles against US imperialist hegemony, the aggressive efforts at recolonisation and capture of world resources and the brute use of military force will draw sustenance from the beacon light which emanated from the world’s first socialist revolution in October 1917, 88 years ago. The message of October 1917 is immortal in the sense that it will continue to inspire successive generations to struggle for social emancipation.