The validity and Current Relevance of the October Revolution of 1917 for the 21st century
Brussels, 4-6 May 2007
www.icsbrussels.org , ics[at]icsbrussels.org
Theses to the 90th anniversary of the Great Socialist October Revolution
Oleg Semionovitch Shenin
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
I.
1.1. The Program of CPSU adopted by its XXXIII Congress in February 2004, states that "the world capitalist system which by the beginning of XX century had achieved its highest, imperialist stage, already in the first quarter of that century has reached its natural qualitative limits of development and maximized its own internal contradictions. To solve these contradictions within the frame of a social system based on private appropriation, through bourgeois methods of parliamentary democracy, became impossible. It was natural that the awesome wave of revolutions passed through the world- democratic, national-liberation and socialist ones. The most important was the Great October Socialist revolution that has ended the capitalist development in Russia and for the first time in human history has led towards the creation of the world socialist system",
1.2 On the 25th of October (7th of November) 1917 the capitalist government was deposed, and the very next day the II All-Russia Congress of Soviets of workers and soldiers' deputies, expressing the will of the majority of the population, legitimatised the transition of power in Russia into the hands of the working people. The Soviet government was formed - Council of People's Commissars, headed by V.Lenin, with participation of communists-Bolsheviks and left social-revolutionaries (SR). The heroic deed of the Parisian Communards of 1871 was repeated, the statement of Marx and Engels that "Russia constitutes the vanguard of the revolutionary movement in Europe" was confirmed in practice. The dictatorship of the capital that was beforehand in power all around the world, was decisively replaced with the dictatorship of the working class. The beneficial influence of October was very important for many nations in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
1.3 The importance of the October Revolution is in the fact that for the first time in human history the working mass have come to ruling the state, that it began the liquidation of the exploitation based on private property and nationalisation of the main means of production, that it has opened the way to the new type of civilization - the one without exploitation of a human by a human, without political, social and national inequality, without wars, terror and other manifestations of the organized violation - towards a society that satisfies the most important material, spiritual and intellectual needs of the citizens, the society of humanist collectivism and social justice. This signified the realization of the many centuries-long aspirations not just of the working people of Russia, but also of their class brothers all around the world. That is why the Great October received planet-wide recognition and response. As the herald of a new era, it was greeted by the most important humanists of the XX century, by the tens of millions of workers on all continents. The transition from capitalism towards socialism as a global process starts with October 1917. Under its mighty influence more than 50 socialist, people democratic and national liberation revolutions took place, they all were aimed against imperialism. As a result of this, the world socialist system (1/3 of the humankind) was formed and colonial system of imperialism has collapsed.
1.4 After October 1917 the objective law of history discovered by Marx, according to which the volume of the humankind involved into social actions grows together with the growth of the scale and depth of these social action, was especially visible in Russia and in other countries. This period highlighted the ideological and political relevance and strength of will of many nations, classes and parties. Russian Social Democratic party (of Bolsheviks) - Russian Communist party (of Bolsheviks)- ALL-Russian Communist party (of Bolsheviks) - Communist Party of the Soviet Union takes special place among these forces. Brought up by the genius of the revolutionary ideas and revolutionary practice, Lenin, this party proved itself worth its vocation - as long as it was following the teaching of Marx, as long as it was able to maintain the strong unity of the progressive scientific theory and the liberation social practice.
CPSU today is, as in October 1917, a party of Marxist-Leninist type, party of communists-Bolsheviks. Its task is to be revolutionary fighting vanguard of the working class, of the working farmers and people's intelligentsia who are fighting for the restoration of the Soviet power as organized form of the dictatorship of the proletariat (of both physical and mental labour), for the return into the path of socialist development that leads towards communism.
The party fully understands that these goals can only be achieved as a result of a new socialist revolution, the inevitability of which, despite any setbacks, in peaceful or non-peaceful form - is determined by the whole development of the modern society.
Today CPSU has purged itself of treachery, has learnt from its defeat and is determined to achieve again the trust of the majority of the people, to do everything possible in order to help the people to get back the Soviet power that was taken away from him, the socialist, co-operative and personal property gained by personal work, high democratic culture, understanding of own historical dignity and national pride, his multinational Motherland - Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics.
In all its actions the CPSU is ruled by the principles of the Marxist dialectics, by its Program based on these principles, in which the most important strategic party's tasks are defined.
The CPSU decisively fights any signs of revisionism, right and left opportunism, bourgeois nationalism and cosmopolitism that are deeply alien to the interests of the working people.
The party supports international communist and workers' movement by its participation, it stands firmly on the platform of Marxist Leninist principles of proletarian internationalism and socialist patriotism, it supports actively the strengthening of friendship and brotherhood of peoples of the former USSR, it shows solidarity with the nations who fight for social and national liberation, against imperialism and its globalist demands, for peace in the world.
1.5. The most important condition of the success of the October Revolution was in the fact that its participants and its leaders have found the effective forms and means, methods and techniques of realisation of the motto of the Communist Manifesto - "Workers of the world, unite!". Ideological and psychological, political and moral, organisational and informational, cultural and military unity - that all are the sides of consolidation of the masses into a powerful "army of the socialist revolution". To find the precise formula of such unification, of consolidation of labour as a counterpart of the capital, taking into account the spontaneous and the conscious factors of today's moment is the duty and the task for all active progressive social groups.
II.
II.1. The October Revolution was the most bloodless of all major qualitative social changes that ever took place in the world. The Peace and the Land Decrees adopted by the II Congress of Soviets were leading the country out of the imperialist war and solving the centuries old land question in the interests of the working peasants.
But Russia was not allowed to use this peace break by its imperialist ex allies, in the first instance England and France. After Russia has signed Brest peace Treaty with Germany the governments of Entente states started deliberately fuelling the fire of the Russian contra-revolution. Weak, divided and cowardly by itself, internal reactionaries in Russia raised their heads with the beginning of the foreign intervention: Anglo-French in the North and South, Japanese-American in the Far East, the rebellion of 50.000 corps of Czech prisoners of war in Volga region and Siberia that was provoked by the "allies". Just as the German emperor Wilhelm II would like "to have as a neighbour Russia divided into 4-5 groups", the Western countries that were at war with him, also had their plans in relation to breaking up of our country. Only under these conditions were they collaborating with the White movement that, regardless of the motives of its participants, objectively became anti-patriotic.
II.2. If today, in the light of the history lessons, we will look back at the zigzags of the internal developments of Russia at that time and re-evaluate them, we have to note that:
a) the process of transition of the anti-monarchist, bourgeois revolution (February 1917) into workers and peasants, socialist Revolution (November 1917) was mainly bloodless, without violence (except the shooting of workers manifestation in July by the bourgeois authorities and Kornilov's revolt in August) UNTIL the intervention from outside there was no potential for a nationwide armed conflict there.
b) the Civil war of 1918-1922 in the territory of Soviet state was ignited by the imperialist states. Apart from some calculations of the German imperialism, France and England already on the 23rd of December 1917 have signed a convention about breaking up of Russia into their influence zones. That is why the military actions, deliberately aimed by internal and international reactionary forces at becoming the most fierce fratricide, in reality meant the fight either for or against our country's independence, either for or against the tearing to pieces of our Motherland. Official slogan of the White movement - "united and unbreakable Russia" - was through and through false. In reality, it was a cover up for comprador political course, for their obligations of territorial concessions in exchange for military help. The Red Army was fighting for the salvation, unity and freedom of our Motherland and precisely that has guaranteed for her the support of the majority of the population and thus, her final triumph. This war was civil in form, but patriotic by its substance.
c) today the reactionary forces too are trying to scare the peoples of Russia by the so-called inevitability of anew Civil war if the society turns into the path of socialism again. But nobody can deny 2 simple truths: a civil war is not inevitable after socialist revolution; the class struggle in modern Russian society, just as in 1918, can grow into a civil war only under condition of open unification of internal and external contra-revolution. To allege, based on that, that Russia so-called "has reached the limit of revolutions", because of possible dangers, means to try to forbid the dialectics of evolution and revolution in human history, to deprive your own country of any perspectives of further development.
III.
III.1. The October Revolution has founded a new, unknown previously historical type of the state - state of the working people, not of the private proprietors-exploiters. Soviets as organs of self-rule of the working people were aimed to serve as a tool of direct expression of the will of the masses, which was guaranteed already by the very way they were created: on one hand, by the working collectives, on the other hand - by people who lived in a certain area. That was the main base of the dictatorship of the proletariat (working class in union with the peasants) - system of a broad people's power, for the majority of the population that lives off their own work.
III.2 Bourgeoisie and its ideologists in order to maintain its own dictatorship try by all possible means to turn ordinary people away from the dictatorship of the proletariat as something supposedly "incompatible with democracy and human rights". But this is a shameless lie. The workers' power expressed and defends the interests of all working people, that means of the majority of the population. Naturally and inevitably, as Lenin had explained, in the beginning after the proletarian Revolution the main task remains to overcome the capitalist resistance, not allowing the exploiters' comeback. But we are speaking not just of such short use of violence, and even not so much about violence. After this task inevitably - and the further, the more urgent it will become - a new, far more important task arises: the task of construction of communism, of creating new economic forms, "positive or creative work of tuning an extremely complicated and developed net of new organisational relations, including planned production and distribution of products, necessary for the very existence of the tens of millions of people". Proletariat represents and realizes new, higher type of social organisation of labour in comparison with capitalism. That is the main thing about it. Otherwise it's useless even to dream about the upcoming victory of communism.
III.3. The centuries long practice convinces us that states outside of class relations, above class relations or without class relations do not exist. Naturally, every state - from the ancient time up until these days - won't be able not to fulfil certain all-nation and general administration tasks. But in any case, until a significant inequality of property remains existing, the state will always remain an organization of the ruling class, defending its property and power, suppressing any resistance to its will and representing its interests internationally. That was proven by the destiny of Khrushchevian myth of "the state of all people", that is also being proven by the regimes of Yeltsin and Putin.
Endlessly far from reality are the assumptions that the Russian state of today is not a capitalist one and is just a creation of "collaboration" of the right, left-centrist and criminal forces. People who spread such views are taking on themselves the sin of falsely cheering up of the humiliated and robbed masses who do not have any rights anymore, of covering up their removal from politics and the plundering of the country.
III.4. Obviously, to use the theses about the state that were valid for the first years of the Soviet power for the situation of the beginning of the XXI century should be done with care. The society has undergone qualitative changes - and not one, but many. Complicated and fast changes have affected and changed the face of all classes and social layers, all social, group and even personal relations.
III.5. The state of private proprietors as a rule has 2 main functions - internal (suppressing of the dissidents in the country, tax collection in order to maintain itself) and external (defence from foreign attackers and its own expansionist policy). In comparison with a capitalist state, a proletarian state makes historically progressive step forward. As organization of the majority of the people - of the working population - it tries to minimize the internal function of repression, reserving it only for the prevention of crimes. The danger of imperialist aggression has forced this state to maintain and to reinforce the function of defence, but its core new quality was in something different: in appearance and development of economic and organizing function and cultural and educative function, both of which were unimportant in the state practice until October 1917. As we see, a movement towards dying-out of the state as repressive apparatus of class oppression and towards changing of the nature of the state - into apparatus of social self-organizing. Unfortunately, this process was not protected in practice, it was not even fully and seriously analysed.
III.6. According to the first Marxist Leninist projects, the state of dictatorship of the proletariat was created in order to provide a broad scale of personal rights and freedoms, unknown under any capitalist regime. But "any freedom is an illusion", - said Lenin, -" if this freedom contradicts the interests of liberation of labour from the oppression of the capital". A fierce ideological and psychological struggle takes place around this limitation. Anarchist petty bourgeois have declared that deeply democratic unity of the right to work and the duty to be working, introduced by the Soviet power, is "totalitarian." But this is just a reasonable norm of harmonized and balanced human society.
IV.
IV.1 October Revolution has founded the ground for the first phase of the communist society - socialism, that Marx has defined as "comradely way of production" or, in other words, political and economic power of the people.
IV.2. The foundations of the socialist system are in organic unity of property on the main means of production and participation in labour for the benefit of the whole society, unification of workers that excludes exploitation of a human by a human and social parasitism, confirming the movement towards social equality through guarantee of equality and equal reward for equal work. The building of that foundation, especially in a country that barely managed to escape the break-up and becoming a colony in the post-October era, was ruined by the 8 years long war and had suffered enormous losses of population, economic and cultural losses, demanded enormous efforts and grandiose volume of work. The working class of our country, and in the first place, Russian working class, the vanguard of Soviet workers, peasantry and intelligentsia, all multinational Soviet people have with honour completed this work.
IV.3. The difficulties of building the socialism that are inevitable in any country, were made even bigger in Russia by many peculiarities of her historical development. The most important of them are 2 things. Firstly, social reality of the country that in the beginning of the XX century was already one of the main imperialist states, was obviously uneven, consisted of various different social and economic forms. Secondly, the October Revolution took place in the conditions of total political isolation when one had to remember constantly that "we are always just one step away from any sort of invasion" (Lenin).
IV.4. In the beginning of the 1920s there were 2 social economic systems existing in Russia simultaneously: socialist, state capitalism, private capitalism, petty economy and patriarchal - while all of them, except the newly born first one, were in need of deep reforms. State capitalism and somewhat private capitalism were similar to the socialist system by its technology and organizing and technical forms. In order to use their positive potential while at the same time limiting their predatory nature, a strong workers power was needed - the one that would own "command heights" in the state, control big industry, banks, foreign trade, mass media, armed forces etc. Without this, the multi-structured economy could not develop in the direction of socialism, meaning that it would have been impossible to get out of the frames of the capitalist way of production. This task was given to the New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced (after first experiments in 1918) in 1921. It main meaning was, according to Lenin, "in connecting of vanguard of proletariat with the wide field of peasants". While agreeing that it was "serious and long term", in no way was Lenin planning to preserve the given situation. Just a year later, for the XI party Congress, he already gave the task of "re-grouping the forces: preparation (economic) of an offence (aimed at private economic capital)"
IV.5 Unfortunately, many years in research literature the main task of NEP was seeing as simply "opening of a "free" market". But NEP also included industrialisation of the country, electrification of the whole national economy, co-operation for the farmers, whole wide cultural revolution. Narrow understanding of NEP rejects by Lenin's decisions about planning based in the first place on real needs of the population of the country in provision of food and energy, about the participation of State Planning Committee (Gosplan) in law-making process. Finally, closing the gap between the working classes was seen as the maximal task in NEP policy. "What does it mean to rule the peasants?"- thought Lenin, - "That means.... to aim for the liquidation of the classes, not of the small producer. If we were to lose the way to this aim, our main and basic one, then we would cease to be socialists..." Precisely that dissolving of this main and basic line aimed at the building of a classless socialist society in many unsuccessful experiments, including those with the small producer, has led firstly to stagnation of socialism and later on to its destruction.
IV.6. In such a multiethnic country as Russia, under conditions of sharp differences of level of development of the centre and other parts of the country, one of the most important and necessary to solve was the national question. The Communist party and the Soviet state have found the only possible key to its solution: strengthening of international brotherhood of working people of all ethnic groups, equality for all nationalities in a strong federative union that would lead to stamping out of all sorts of inequality in practice. The working people of all ethnic groups together were struggling for the socialist revolution and for the establishment of the Soviet power, for creation of the socialist base and the industrial and agricultural might of the Union state of workers and peasants; they were together defending their united Motherland from attempts to destroy it by internal and external contra-revolution, from fascist slavery, together have multiplied its economic and defence strength, together developed its culture and mutual wealth. While this policy was honestly followed, until the local, selfish clan interests were not allowed to flourish, the multiculturalism was the factor of strength, not the weakness of our society, the process of formation of a single, Soviet people was taking place- as a new historical, social and international unity of humans.
IV.7 During the period of its establishment (1920-1930s) socialist system has shown unique social economic dynamics. The level of industrial production of 1913 - the highest what the tsarist Russia had achieved - was achieved after all the wars already by 1926, and by 1939 was 9 times that level. And that all - at the time when similar data in France was 93,2%, in England- 113,3 %, in USA - 120%, in Germany - 131,6%.
IV.8. Nationalisation and planned economy of the socialist industry (if the pricing policies were right) were guaranteeing a)systematic lowering of the self-costs of industrial products; b) systematic lowering of the retail prices. That was easy to understand for millions of people course aimed at the final cheapness of the consumers' products, at continuous rising of the level of wealth for all the working people.
IV.9. Such enormous social economic project as collectivisation of the agriculture was naturally quite complicated and full of contradictions. It cannot be described just by praises to the farmers working only for themselves or by constantly stressing the forceful aspect in the process of kolkhoz organizing. In the first place, the collectivisation was a mass movement of the poorest and middle layers of the peasantry towards the co-operative forms of agricultural work. And that's what is most important.
At the same time the contra-revolutionary forces in disguise sometimes managed to cause damage to the process of forming the collective agriculture, through using the centuries long longing of peasants to owe their own land. They managed to undermine the trust of peasants towards the Soviet power, up to organizing uprisings and contra-revolutionary actions. Plus the collectivisation sometimes was forced into high tempo and there were other issues that had to be solved as the process went along.
At the same time the new agricultural socialist system that was founded then , has shown a unique strength in the most dramatic moments of Soviet history, during the Great Patriotic war and the fascist occupation, during the years of direct attacks on kolkhozes and sovkhozes and the blackening of socialism under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. The majority of the Russian farmers today are still trying to remain faithful to the collectivist way of production, to defend its right to exist as a socialist class.
IV.10 Fantastic results were achieved in the socialist culture. Russia whole population was before the Revolution for 3/4 illiterate, in the shortest possible time in history became the most reading country in the world. Soviet Union created the best on the planet educational system, guaranteed the flourishing of the national science and culture.
V.
V.1 The Great Patriotic war (1941-1945) became the overall test of the strength of the achievements of the October revolution, of the Soviet socialist system.
V.2. By the beginning of the 1940s Second World war has already began in the Eastern hemisphere. Two imperialist blocks have collided with each other: fascist states of Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies on one hand and, and on the other hand, - the Western "democracies" of England, France and their supporter, the USA.
The Soviet Union in 1939 was in negotiations about Defence Treaty with England and France, but because of their non-co-operation on this matter USSR was forced to sign the Non-Aggression Pact with Hitler's Germany, even though the Soviet leaders understood that the fascist aggression was inevitable. The strategic line of the Soviet leadership was aimed at: a) total strengthening of defensive capacity of the USSR as well as b) not allowing the unification of world's imperialist forces against our country. As the further events have later shown, the first task was not fully completed towards the actual beginning of the war, but the second task was completed by the Soviet leadership splendidly. "As a result of the historic circumstances of that time and, of course, in the first place as a result of correct policy of the party and the government,"- said I.V. Stalin in January 1944, - "we timely managed to prevent the formation of the military alliance of imperialist states aimed against USSR, to neutralize in the current war Japan, Turkey, Bulgaria, and such states as England and the USA have appeared not in our enemy camp, as it could have happened, but are nw in the military alliance with us, against the German imperialism".
V.3. Early in the morning on the 22nd of June 1941 German troops as bandits, without warning have crossed the Soviet Western border. What followed, was a number of big tactical defeats of the Red Army as well as the German occupation of well-populated parts of the country with highly developed industry, agriculture and culture and the tireless work of all the people in order to organize the effective resistance. At the frontline in desperate battles the character and the military experience of the Soviet soldiers was formed during this period (the subjective factor of our victory), while at the home front provisions and weapons were being made for them (the objective factor of the victory). If the first factor has demonstrated itself already in the battle of Moscow (December 1941), the 2nd factor was finally formed only a year later. After unsuccessful for the Soviet troops, very hard campaign of spring-summer 1942, on the 19th of November that year they passed to their splendid offensive from Stalingrad onwards that was to continue until the very end of the war.
V.4 When Hitler attacked the USSR, he was counting on a new civil war in our country, on class, social and nationalist conflicts, on the Red Army being unprepared and on weakness of the Soviet home front. But his plans collapsed. The fascist troops soon began to feel the unity and strength of our army and our home front, the unity of the working class, kolkhoz peasants, people's intelligentsia, all nations of USSR, all generations of the Soviet people; ideological, moral and organizing power of the Leninist party, the unshaken authority of the Soviet power created by October revolution, of the political leadership of the country, headed by Stalin. Enormous inspirational and unifying role during the war was played by the amalgamation between the loyalty to the Soviet socialist system and the centuries-long patriotic traditions of Russian people and other peoples of our Motherland. The lessons of war have shown that the Soviet system is not just the best way of economic and cultural development during the peaceful construction years, but also is the best form of mobilizing all the forces of the society against the enemy at war time.
V.5. The sacrifices of the Soviet people in this war were enormous. Over 8,5 million of soldiers and officers have lost their lives in the battlefields, almost 20 million of prisoners of war and civilians were murdered by the Nazis. 3 million of communist party members have lost their lives. In fact, our country practically lost an entire generation of people born after the October revolution, raised by the Soviet power, the generation that has shown the examples of consciousness and selflessness, bravery and hard work in their struggle for socialism, and this loss had very big negative consequences. The material damage caused by the aggression, was approximately 1/3 pf the national economy of USSR.
But the geo-strategical gains were also significant. For the first time in history USSR made safe its borders in the North, the South, the West and the East. It rightly took place among the dominating states of the Eurasia that by its presence alone was already inspiring the processes of anti-colonial, social and national liberation, anti-imperialist struggle.
V.6 The Second World War was the result of the sharpening of the internal imperialist contradictions, but after the attack of the fascist Reich on USSR its social and political character has changed. The decisive participation of the first socialist country in military actions and in international relations has strengthened the general democratic tendencies in the afterwar world system. The Yalta- Potsdam model of the peace treaty that has existed over 40 years will foreverl take place in history as the system of realistic balance of forces between socialism and capitalism, of the equal, mutually useful co-operation without wars and discrimination of anybody. The destruction of this system in the late 1980s immediately had a strong negative impact on the whole world climate; Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon already feel on themselves the threat of new colonial conquests, imperialist repartition; the peoples of Palestine, Syria, Iran, DPRK and several other countries are already facing the possibility of cruel ,unpredictable in many ways confects.
V.7. The victory of USSR in the Great Patriotic war was the worthy continuation of the October's task. Under its direct influence a signifanct number of countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America became socialist. And even though the neo-conservative, contra-revolutionary processes of the 1980s-1990s have damaged their positions, the world socialist system represented by Cuba, China, DPRK, Vietnam remains the important worldwide historical factor. It confirms the progressiveness and the abilities of the new anti-capitalist way of life, the longing for which is becoming stronger and stronger already in the XXI century, as the peoples of Venezuela and Bolivia are showing us today, - in contrast to contra-revolution in Eurasia. That strengthens the confidence that the people's liberation struggle is unstoppable.
V.8. In the light of the lessons of the Civil and Great Patriotic wars, reactionary coups in 1991-1993 in USSR and Russia the words of Lenin that "any revolution is only worth something if it can defend itself" are especially important. The Red (Soviet) Army that was born as the creation of the working people, was surrounded by his constant love and care, and to belong to this army was a great honour. The Soviet state did not spare the energy or investments for the maintenance and development of its truly people's army, in accordance with the latest developments of the military science and techniques. The reality proved that there is a very important link between the high morality and alertness of the Armed Forces and the political health of the country. Not for nothing the treacherous revision of the achievements of our Revolution and our Victory, the destruction of our new system began with the malicious slandering of communists and soldiers and officers, from the so-called "de-politisation" which in reality meant changing of political orientation of the Army and Navy towards the bourgeois market way of life . Only the society that will learn from this lessons can have a secure future.
VI.
VI.1 The post-war economic reconstruction of the people's economy of USSR was a true economic "miracle". Already by 1948 the pre-war industrial production level was surpassed. By the beginning of the 1950s the starting base was prepared for the transition of the whole economy into qualitatively new technological level. The first role was given to science, in comparison with 1940 in 1950 there were 50% more students, 40% more of research institutes, by 1953 the number of scientists has doubled. The important ground was created for nuclear science and development of missile systems, for preparation of space flights and automatisation of the production processes, for development of first computers and mass production of the consumers apparels.
VI.2 The first post-war party Congress, the XIXth (October 1952) has clearly defined the main economic law of socialism: provision for maximum satisfaction of the constantly growing material and cultural needs of the whole society by way of continuous growth and perfection of the social production based on the most modern technical developments. It was in sharp contrast with the main economic law of capitalism, the law of getting the biggest possible profit through exploitation of the majority of the population of a country, through enslavement and systematic plundering of other nations' wealth, especially of the weak ones, through wars and miniaturisation of the economy. The Congress approved the orientation of the party of the whole Soviet people towards the completion of the socialist construction, the realization of the main preliminary conditions of the transition from socialism towards communism. We think that the XIXth Congress was also correct in appealing towards the communist and workers and other left parties around the world to pick up the principle of the equality of nations and humans that was thrown overboard by the modern bourgeoisie, to raise the flag of the bourgeois democratic freedoms and the flag of national liberation and to carry them on further.
VI.3 But realization of these and other ideas of the post-war time, of the Lenin's teachings as a whole in practice suffered from inconsistency and contradictions. The Soviet leadership of the 1950s- 1980s did not succeed in using the enormous social political, scientific and cultural and moral potential of our state that was accumulated as a result of the pre-war 5 years plans of economic development, of the victory over the fascism and post war reconstruction, and, as a end result, this has led to bureaucratic stagnation and crisis of the new, Socialist system. Precious time in history has been wasted.
VII.
VII.1 The Soviet people who has been through so much suffering during the war years and directly afterwards, had high bright hopes for the 1950s. A number of urgent issues had to be resolved. In the first place, it was necessary to get rid of old military commanding style of management, to democratise the Soviet political system, to reform the management of economic development taking into consideration realistic balance between the abilities and the needs of the society; especially agriculture needs speedy development in order to catch up with the rest of the economy.
VII.2. As was demonstrated by the XXst (1956), the XXIst (1959) and the XXIInd (1961) party Congresses, the ideas of constructive way of transition of the Soviet society towards new level of social and economic progress were becoming ripe in the party fast. But at the same time the other tendencies appeared too - the ones that at the end made that transition impossible. In the first place we are talking here about the denouncement of Stalin (so-called "cult of personality"), generally very subjective revaluation of his role, his work and his testament, and that often led to malicious slander on all post October way of the party and the state, and this, in turn, led to demoralisation, to ideological disarmament and undermining of position of communists in other countries of the world.
In the 1980s-1990s all of this served as the main instrument in numerous antisocialist campaigns that were following one another and in a destructive attack on Lenin and Leninism, Marx and Marxism, on any revolutionary teaching that followed these campaigns.
Already on the 15th of July 2001 the Extraordinary XXXII Congress of SKP-CPSU has reversed the decisions of the XX and the XXII Congresses about Stalin.
The breaches of the revolutionary law, the miscalculations of the first period of the Great Patriotic war , Stalin's personal strict style of management were declared to be the biggest mistakes of the Soviet policies between the 1920s and the beginning of the 1950s. All the negative facts, of course, demanded strictly objective analysis in the context of the real situation of the time in question and balanced conclusions. But it was not meant to be. With knowledge of N. Khrushchev campaign of total rehabilitation of all who were punished during Stalin's years ha began - including the innocent and the real criminals. Instead of trying to find out what really happened in the course of the class struggle that was taking sometimes open, sometimes hidden forms, the creators of the so-called "thaw" by generalizing in their conclusions have caused a wave of emotional and total blackening of the Soviet history, and that was immediately used by the enemies of socialism abroad. Not only has it caused a nervous, uncertain feeling of a total revision of all and everything on our country - the strike was aimed at the international communist movement at the moment when it was at its highest point, after that this movement began declining.
VII.3 Throughout the whole wave of the dubious, in reality anti-Soviet propaganda, from Khrushchev to Gorbachev, the theme of "repressions" was used. This propaganda in reality led not just to the rehabilitation of all anti-Leninist groups and fractions in the party in the 1920s-1930s who at the end have turned from the methods of ideological struggle towards the use of terror. It also rehabilitated many inspirers of the white terror that began shortly after the Revolution. These "critics" did not care that the white terror in comparison with the red terror have caused 17 times as much victims between 1918-1921, according to just official documents. They even went as far as to maintain that in USSR where the whole population was 170 million the number of repressed was around 100 million of more (by including into this number all killed by the whites, interventionists, nationalists, German fascists, Japanese, bandits and also those who died of hunger and diseases, emigrants etc). Well known for a long time facts were hidden from the general public: that the number of convicted between 1921 and 1954 was 3,8 million, the number of convicted to death penalty between 1917 and 1990(!) - approximately 828.000. And that's in a country that has been through 3 revolutions in 50 years time, 2 world wars, 1 civil war and several local wars! Instead of learning these facts the whole 2 generations of Soviet people were being frightened deliberately by GULAG. And very often special efforts here were made by the relatives of those who himself were acting against the law on a mass scale.
VII.4. Lenin back in 1919 has named 5 new forms of class struggle in the epoch of the dictatorship of the proletariat: suppression of resistance of the exploiters, civil war, "neutralisation" of the petty bourgeois, use of the bourgeois specialists and education of a new discipline. By the time of formation of foundations of socialism (mid 1930s) only the last one of these remain relevant. But that did not mean that all class struggle was finished.
Many events of the past cannot be understood without understanding the continuation of the class struggle in its those new forms that were not yet analysed theoretically. In 1930s that were a) penetration of the alien (white guard, criminal etc) elements into the law-enforcement agencies, in 1960s - 1980s- b) the penetration of the revisionists-anticommunists into the "brain" structures of the party, its Central Committee, other important leading organs, ministries, Academy of Science of USSR. If the first ones were guilty of many repressions, the second ones were guilty of false theoretical and political recommendations, of deformation of the development of our society. At the same time all this time continued the ideological struggle against the socialism on an international scale that was becoming more and more total. absolute, and constantly modernized its weapons of the psychological war.
VIII.
VIII.1 The biggest theoretical and political mistake during many Soviet years was the unrealistic over-estimation of the level of development of the new social system. For example, made during Stalin years correct conclusion about the full victory of socialist forms of organisation of economy from the point of view of just internal conditions of our country, was incorrectly applied by Khrushchev who during the XXI party Congress in 1959 announced that the victory of socialism was full and irreversible, as if there were already guarantees in place that the capitalism could not be restored from outside. The arguments used were about liquidation of the capitalist surrounding of USSR and qualitative changes of balance of forces between socialism and capitalism in the world. But not a word was mentioned about the fact that this balance is not static, it is changeable. While the very following years already have shown that the balance of forces was becoming not in our favour, among other things, because of the initiated by Khrushchev self conflict with China.
VIII.2. It would have been more realistic scientifically and more correct politically to say that from the point of view of the deep economic and social preconditions, despite all its achievements, the Soviet Union up until 1991 has never gone further that the early stage of socialism, thus has not completed yet the tasks of the transitional period.
Firstly, the difference in quality of technology in economy was kept unjustifiably long, a large sector of hard and unqualified physical labour was continuing to exist (up to 40% in industry, 60% in construction work and even more in agriculture), and because of that the real level of socialization of the means of production was growing very slow. Engels ironically said: "What kind of socialism would it be if it were to perpetuate the professional wheelbarrow carriers?"
Secondly, the significant differences between the 2 sectors of the socialist economy: the all-nation and the kolkhoz--cooperative one - remained unchanged and untouched for many years. And the existence of the third sector - the so-called "shadow economy" (criminal, in accordance with the Soviet legislation) - was ignored. This was the capitalist sector that was growing spontaneously, but was not taken into consideration in statistics.
Finally, the social structure of the society was practically frozen: just as in the mid-30s, it was explained superficially: working class, kolkhoz peasantry and working intelligentsia. The obvious evolution of these classes and groups was ignored, as well as the task of the carefully prepared and targeted overcoming of the class differentiation. According to Lenin, back in 1921, "if there was no end to the kingdom of workers and farmers, that would mean that there will never be socialism, because socialism means the end of classes, and as long as the workers and the farmers still exist, there are still different classes, and that means, there is no full socialism". But this Leninist criterion of full socialist character of the society was disregarded for decennia; instead there was a semi-official conception of "class socialism" that at the end gave a very doubtful result.
VIII.3. The time that is called "Great Decennium" in the literature, in reality is divided into 2 periods: 1953-1958 and 1958-1964. During the first period the social and spiritual dynamism typical for the Soviet society, was in place, first of all - serious changes in development of agriculture, the lancing of the first satellite into space (1957) and the beginning of the space research, creation of the strategic missile troops. The second period is categorized by the contradictory, in many ways regressive processes caused by decision making that was not thought-through. By the mid 1960s the distortion of the class socialist stability of the Soviet society was already obvious, that could be seen, for example, in cut-and-dried solutions of decentralisation of industrial management, in break-up of the technological link between the industrial and the agrarian sectors of production (in the first place, after the liquidation of the machine and tractors stations (MTS), and because of that - the degradation of the production forces of the latter, in repressions against the additional personal agricultural piece of land and work on it for the agricultural workers in wasting of the forces and investments aimed at the work on the virgin soils, in adoption of the utopian Program of the CPSU in 1961 - program of construction of the material and technic base of communism within 2 decennia, in rigid regulations in relations to the artistic intelligentsia, in the tragedy of Novocherkassk, finally, in the attempt to divide the party committees into 2: city and countryside (1962) and by doing that practically to split party. Emergency anti-crisis measures were needed. The party and the state leadership of that time has managed to do that just partially , by rejecting the subjectivism of Khrushchev.
IX
IX.1, 20 years period between the mid 1960s and mid 1980s has been labelled as "the period of stagnation" in the "Perestroika-democratic" media. Such valuation allowed the makers of "perestroika" to begin their undermining practices, under the false flag of "concept of acceleration", to make the turn towards the "market". In reality, despite all the shortcomings of the economic management of that time, the Soviet planned economy has never known full stagnation.
The average growth of the socialist economy per year was getting a big lower, and that was the cause for concern, but in many ways that was linked with the growth of its total volume. The volume of the end products of the socialist economy of USSR in 1970 was 2,1 of that of 1960; in 1980 - 3,5 of that of 1960; in 1988 - 4,7 times. The volume of the retail sales (usual measure of the level of wealth of the population) was growing accordingly: 1,99 times, 3,3 times and 4,8 times. Plus, at the very same time Soviet Union has reached the defence parity with the NATO.
IX.2. It would have been superficial to explain these events simply by subjective mistakes. The system of economic management that was highly successful in 1930-s-1950s, has began to show the cracks, because the productive forces of USSR have grown out of the stage of formation of separate production lines and separate branches of economy into the stage of total economy including the whole country, have formed a single socialist economic complex.
An innovative research approach was needed, a non-stop search for the new forms. Under these conditions in 1965 an original attempt took place, to put into practice the renewed analogue of the Lenin's foodstuffs tax in relation to the kolkhoz and sovkhoz production. And at the same time a very risky step was taken: during the restoration of the centralized plan economy the leadership of the country has introduced into it an alien element. The profit was announced to be the criteria of the effectiveness of the economy, instead of level of satisfaction of the needs of the society. This could only lead toward the undermining of the conditions of work of the main economic law of socialism, of the socialist nature of the Soviet economy in any near future.
IX.3. The bacteria of capitalism allowed into the socialist body was doing its work. While the scientists were searching for the "mechanism of slowing down" in a wrong place, the shadow profits' capital was enlarging its positions and becoming stronger. It has acquired and raised its very own intelligentsia, speeded up the process of regressed, returning appearance of the classes.
By the beginning of the 1980s 62% of the Soviet society was from the working class, 12% - co-operated peasantry. 1/4 of the population consisted of the intelligentsia and other social layers. An important part of it were (even though they weren't registered) the dealers of the shadow economy.
The 3rd stage of the contra-revolution (1992-1993) was marked by the growth of the frictions between the executive and the legislative powers (the Russian President and his "team" and the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation), plus a sort of the second "double power": "subjects of the Federation versus the Centre". These contradictions after several months of confrontation were solved through an openly violent way: firstly through attempts of the president to dissolve the Parliament by decrees (20/03 and 21/09 1993), then by the fusillade of the Parliament on the 4th of October. All Soviets from below up to the Supreme one were dissolved. After the pushing through of a new constitution via referendum - a constitution of private proprietors and after the elections of the Vth State Duma (December 1993) there was somewhat of stabilisation of the reanimated capitalist system. There are signs of its stagnation (obvious failure of the "reforms", sober understanding by the citizens of what has actually taken place starting from 1985, mass protest actions, more and more of left wing youth activities etc).
X.7 Large experience of the former restorations confirms that all of them, as a rule, are temporary. Unfortunately, our Russian Marxists did not understand in time that the transition period from capitalism towards socialism is full of possibilities of social economic ups and downs, and could not predict anything in this area.
But the epoch that, starting from October 1917, objectively became a transitional epoch from capitalism towards socialism worldwide, cannot change its character, despite all the ups and downs of the process.
X.8. Political revolutions of the local character are just episodes due course of the socialist Revolution as a far longer and variable process. According to Lenin, this Revolution should be seen not as one action, but as a long row and spectre of fierce political and economic shake-ups, changeable class struggle, civil conflicts, revolutions and contra-revolutions. Historical space where the Russian contra-revolution of 1980s-1990s took place, is far broader than the "democrats" realize.
Just as the world reactionary forces were celebrating new Millennium as finally the epoch "without the phantom of communism", this phantom has reappeared, this time - in the backyard of the main force of the world imperialism - in Latin America. If in the XVIII-XX centuries the centre of the world's revolutionary liberation movement was moving throughout Europe and beyond in Eastern direction, through the Netherlands and Great Britain, Italy and German states, having spent much time in France and Russia, having changed China, then by the XXI century it confirmed the past predictions and in support of the Island of Freedom (Cuba), new revolutionary wave passes through Venezuela, Bolivia, in its own way affects Mexico and Jamaica, Columbia and Grenada, Brazil and Guyana.
The trio of Castro-Chavez-Morales awaits new additions. This process already surrounds the globe. The movement continues through the mutual attraction and mutual penetration of the opposites, though the negation of negation, and it is obvious that the financial capital prematurely began thinking that it is "the boss of the history".
Of course, the world revolutionary process has not left the Eastern hemisphere. If in the Western hemisphere the radical movements today are openly resisting their Northern neighbour (having centuries long experience of struggle directly against American imperialism and becoming more and more ripe, semi-proletarian and directly proletarian), then in the East - from Indochina to the Mediterranean they are aimed against the shameless penetration of the US imperialism, against its attempts to dictate the norms of "democracy" and to "punish" for not applying these principles, to use the energy resources and cultural wealth of other nations as if they were its own.
Mainly these movements have religious form at the moment and are national democratic by character. Their future evolution cannot be predicted in details, but there are no doubts that they develop further and further and that they are amalgamating into one common multicoloured stream.
XI.
XI.1. In comparison with the general crisis of capitalism and crisis's of over-production that from time to time were shaking the capitalist countries, the Soviet Union for decennia was an example of stable economic growth. But starting from the 1960s, some new tendencies became visible. Wrongly interpreted conditions of the peaceful coexistence of 2 systems, mistaken interpretation of the Detente policy have given birth to a new sort of "activists" who were prepared to rescue their foreign capitalist partners when they came into the social difficulties, to soften the contradictions of the capitalist system for them through use of endless, as they thought, resources of our state. Placement of orders in the capitalist countries, in order to keep down the unemployment there, buying there goods of bad quality, other concessions became part of the Soviet international economic practice. Especially remarkable in this sense was export of the Soviet crude oil that was bringing in so much currency that it distracted the Brezhnev's leadership from the need to speed up the scientific and technological developments. Having unique reserves of the newest high technologies in military fields, unfortunately we had the reputation of a technologically underdeveloped state and started to take over the sicknesses of the capitalist world system. When this began, the importing of the law of uneven economic and political development that is typical for imperialism, was just a matter of time. This law acts under conditions of imperialism and gives birth to socialism, but it is categorically contra-indicated to the socialism itself.
XI.2. Instead of moving the planning of the national economy on the base of scientifically measured healthy (in physiological, moral and social way) needs of the society and subjugate it to the goals of their optimal satisfaction, our "reformers" have made an idol out of the market, tore it away from the natural base - the production, and have fooled the country.
Curtailment (dismantling) of production became state policy. In 1990s it was diminishing annually in industry by 10% on average, in agriculture - by 8%. The specialists noted the loss of half of the national income in comparison with losses of 1/3 during the Great Patriotic war.
By production per head of the population Russia now takes "honourable" place almost behind Mauritius and Trinidad & Tobago. By using Russian/ Soviet resources the "civilized" West achieved realisation of the system of compensating measures that were aimed at making its position secure under the strikes of the growing general crisis of capitalism. For the first time in history a great country was thrown by its own government under the feet of the foreign corporations, was practically made to be a colony.
XI.3. In comparison with capitalism that was wiped off the face of the Russian land by the October Revolution its today's caricature has some quite specific treats.
Firstly, this capitalism is not a result of the progressive natural historical development, but is an artificially organized from above and from outside regressive movement. This degradation is being fed by united attempts of the internal anticommunist and antipatriotic elements and international imperialism. It is alien to the Russian culture, Russian way of life and soul and traditions of the peoples of Russia, and that is why it is even more damaging.
Secondly, the restoration of capitalism in Russia at the end of XX- beginning of the XXI centuries is not, as in Lenin's writings, "a process of organizing of the internal market for the large industry". Soviet internal market, including that for the large industry that has existed before "perestroika", was mainly given not to the Russian industry, but to the foreign companies - this market is alienated from Russia. That explains the most horrendous conditions of competition and breaking down of the best Russian companies and industries. That's why the middlemen flourish - the salesman- speculator and the banker-loan shark who, as a rule, are representatives of the business and moral cosmopolitism.
Thirdly, "new" capitalism is for 3/4 bank capitalism, thus a parasite one, it exists in direct, vitally important for this capitalism foreign support. That explains its inferiority and its unequal international position, its prematurity and underdevelopment internally.
XI.4. Russian multistructured economy that was formed in the last 20 years, includes 4 social economic sectors: state capitalism (former nationalized companies), private capitalism (privatised companies), petty economy (handcraft makers, farmers, businessmen in services industry, salesmen) and co-operation. Only the last one still has some socialist potential. All the others are very unstable, going through painful capitalist evolution and through the millstones of the market, and they will remain unstable - without workers taking the power again and taking certain "commanding heights" in the society. Naive and unrealistic is the dream of some of the "left" activists about so-called "Lenin's NEP of the 1990s". It is silly to hope that Russia, without change of the class nature of the power somehow can come to socialism through national state capitalism.
XI.5. Treacherous "perestroika" started in the Soviet society with degraded class barriers in the working atmosphere and with well consolidated illegal bourgeois-criminal clans, including civil servants-intelligentsia and nationalist ones. The highest leadership of the CPSU of the 2nd half of the 1980s was rotten ideologically and corrupt morally, it did not want and could not take any measures needed for the growth of consciousness and organizing of working people, because that leadership in practice became an accomplice of the criminal bourgeoisie. During the events of the 1988-1991 the local party committees were helping and protecting the so-called "people's fronts"and other products of the moral and political decay more than the real communists! The policy in relation to the working population, to workers, engineers and scientific workers of productive sphere, was aimed not at creating their unity and providing them an honest information, but at making them divided, fooling them with the democratic-market demagogy, at making them declassed and marginalized. The working class became the main target and victim of this policy. In the first place it was his fooled self-image and lowered resistance, his depravation of the real power and selfish motivation of his behaviour that made the capitalisation of the country a lot easier.
XI.6. The picture of the modern Russian capitalism cannot be correct without taking into consideration the position of the majority of the population. In the conditions of the total expropriation of the national property (and partially of the personal property as well) the population became split into antagonistic, very unequal parts. The income ratio of those who became rich overnight (10%) and the poorest 10% at the moment is approximately 15:1. Only 0,2% of the Russian population owes more than 1/2 of the national savings. These cream-skimmers annually send to foreign banks tens of billions of dollars. At the same time 70-80% of the population (workers, farmers, servants of the state institutions and companies, scientists, military) are officially classed as poorly paid, 80% of the population now has level of wealth twice lower than under the socialist system. 2/3 of the country lives below the poverty line.
XI.7. There are obviously 4 main processes taking place: a) fats and sharp class differentiation with still not fixed boundaries; b) relative and absolute proletarisation of the majority of the population; c) deliberately created dying out of the population (when the mortality constantly is higher than the birth rate), thus genocide. In the first place the generations that have built, defended and still remember the socialism well, are being pushed out of life. As a result from the beginning of the 1990s Russia has lost approximately 15 million people; And all of this - in the situation where human life has lost its value all together.
XII.
XII.1. Russia of the end of the XX century just as in the beginning of that century, became included into the system of world imperialism, but this time in a different, even more humiliating role - not a participant of colonial division of the world, but a semi-colonial supplier of natural resources, with the perspective of loss of its united territory and its state. The so-called "return to civilized world" has cots to our people very dearly. After giving to the humanity priceless creations of spirit and countless sacrifices for the sake of freedom, today our people are doomed to cultural degradation and disappearance. There is only one way to avert this final, - by pulling out again from the total imperialist dependence.
XII.2 Modern capitalist world is sharply divided into a small group of the so-called "developed" countries with population less than 1/6 of the Earth ("golden billion") and the big majority of the humanity that live in semi-slavery to that "metropolis". Even though in both groups the capitalist way of production prevails, with its main, central contradiction - of labour and capital, but in both groups this contradiction shows itself in quite a different way.
Imperialist countries, in the first place, the USA, using their old advantages as colonisators, have managed after the Second world war to maintain quite flexible non-colonial relations with countries that fell behind in their economic and cultural development - the relations equal de-jure on the world market, but giving enormous material gains to those whose productivity is higher. That allowed the first group to create high level of consumption for themselves which is unreachable for all the rest not just because of the productive capabilities of these states, but also because of the limitations of the resources on our planet. That allowed the developed countries to defuse the internal class struggle ?(of course, not to wipe it out completely), by moving "the steam" into the international relations area ("golden billion" versus "the Third World")
XII.3. Another "secret! of the wealth of the developed countries lies in the fact that from the mid 1950s their leaderships by carefully studying the pros and contras of the economic practice of the socialist camp, have taken decisive course on development of science and technology, adding one more factor of stabilisation of the capitalist system to the unequal exchange with the developing countries. The growth of percentage of the scientists and highly qualified workers among those busy in industry lead to the use of more and more "creative" forms of exploitation of the hired labour: it is a lot easier to hide this exploitation if the surplus value is being created and extracted from use of non-physical, but intellectual energy.
XII.4 The destruction of the Soviet Union, of the Council of Economic Mutual Help and Organisation of the Warsaw Treaty and movement of NATO in Eastern direction are all signs of the breakdown of the former system of balance in the world and of creation of a new, "mono-polar" system of international relations headed by the USA.
At this moment in history there is no main counter-balance (USSR) to the claims of the world domination by the American imperialism. Internal imperialist contradictions as it happened during the clash with the German fascism, have taught the Western "democracies" a lot. When the atomic bomb was thrown by the American imperialists on heads of the population of also imperialist Japan, it became obvious that the capitalist world will not hesitate to use any measures if it needs to establish "order" within its own ranks. The imperialist states after the war firstly were kept together by their dependence from the United States and general opposition to the growing socialist world, and now they are enthusiastically preparing together a new repartition of the world, at our costs. Push towards centralisation and standardisation of the worldwide plundering under the mom of "globalisation" became typical for financial capital of the end of the XX century.
The beginning of the XXI century has demonstrated its need for fascism. Barbarous attack on the Twin Towers in NewYork on the 11th of September 2001 has given Bush administration an excuse for establishing of total control over the thoughts and the moods of the citizens of their own country, for prosecution of any protest both in the US and abroad as "terrorism". The state terrorism of the US and NATO that has begun long before that, whose victims became Vietnam, Grenada, Libya, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, is aimed not as much against "terrorism", as against the peoples' fight for their rights, and now this state terrorism received a hypocrite "justification". At the same time in a very fascist way the peace missions of the UN were curtailed, the whole theory and practice of the international law became questionable.
XIII
XIII.1 Russia of the end of XX- beginning of the XXI centuries finds itself at the crossroads of the 3 historical roads.
1. If thinking abstractly, it is possible to imagine that the "reformed" Russia, for example, in 1990, could have become one of the biggest centres of the state monopoly capitalism. Russia had everything needed for that - except the legalizing of the private property and power of the financial capital. But such turn of events was not realistic. The US who always had ambitions to rule the world, had absolutely no need in this new competitor that was unique with its workforce, science and natural resources.
2. The second road - that is what is being tested today- transition of the first in the world socialist state into semi-dependent, falling apart and dying out territory of colonial interests of imperialism or, in other words, a market where they can get rid off surplus products that are unable to compete in the West, it is also the source of cheap and highly qualified labour, energy and other natural resources; a place where they can dump their production facilities that are bad for the environment and bury their waste. This is a road to nowhere. It is contra-indicated to the peoples of Russia.
3. The third possibility is in the renaissance of the collectivist (socialist) highly spiritual way of life that flows naturally from the nature of the Russian civilisation as well as from the global direction that is needed for the development of the mankind. This system is the only one that is capable to rescue our nation and our state.
XIII.2. Lately many those who wish to redefine "the Russian way", suddenly appeared. The Yeltsin circles were busy with this issue, and now - the circles of Putin. Some so-called patriotic movements who would like to separate Russia from her Soviet ancestry, are also formulating for Russia eclectic, national separatist, demo-Christian and patriarchal - modernist doctrines.
The end of history is the cherished dream of the international imperialism. For that goal it is prepared to lie to people that the capitalist order is the most perfect one, and that means it will stay there forever. Beside that hides the wish to abolish the laws of the social development, to stop the heartbeat of the social dialectics, to make vanish the fear of the future for the bourgeoisie. This is being supported by all means of economic and information and ideological pressure, including "the authority" of the atomic weaponry. of course, nobody can act outside of this field of pressure and threats that go along with it. But does Russia have the right to limit its historical horizons by it?
XIII.3 The first condition of rescuing our Motherland is the forming of the undefeatable mass force that would be able to unite the tasks of national ,liberation and of the socialist transition of the society.
This should be a new call for post-industrial, information technologies, for organic unity of production and restoration of the nature, for regulating of the relations between the society planned and the price forming mechanisms of stimulating of the production, of material, moral and inspirational motivation for work, for maximal development of science in order to humanize the human relations. To fulfil such range of tasks can only modern working class that works in production labour both in physical and in intellectual capacity . There is no other such force in the world. To pull it together, to bring it out of the passive state of "class in itself" that the exploiters love so much, into active,self-liberating state of "class for itself" can only be done by the revolutionary patriotic organisation that by its intellectual, moral qualities and the strength of its will is no less than the Leninist Bolsheviks were. it would be a renewed Communist party that will get rid of multi-centrism, will be united for all Russia, united for the re-created Soviet Motherland, in other words, the one that will be aimed at the future and will continuously enrich itself through experience and knowledge, will grow and get stronger - the Communist party of the Soviet Union.
XIII.4. What should the communist and other left forces do today?
Their first task is to enlighten, to educate and to unite scientific socialist ideas, constantly renewing the analysis of the changing modern reality and unite this with the mass people's protests. In spiritual area communists give their priority to the real knowledge, not to beliefs and they recognize only that belief that is based on the knowledge.
The second task is to attract young people into the movement, to strengthen its influence on young generations, to fulfil the task of bringing new energetic young forces under its banners.
The third task is to assist the development of the left, patriotic, self rule movement from below; the formation of the basic organs of people's power similar to the Soviets in working collectives and in living quarters, groups of workers control over production and distribution, to create the net of such groups as wide and as deep as possible. To work within the trade unions, to attract the allies and the supporters from the ranks of existing and newly formed political parties and movements.
The fourth task is in constantly reminding our citizens that we are a nation artificially divided. That today's separation of the human masses of those who are "born in USSR" is not only against our natural genetics, but is also created at the wishes of the neo-capitalists under support of the international forces that are highly unfriendly. That in the first place, the movement for the state re-unification of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia should be stimulated, because these societies are of the same Slavo-Russian roots, language and culture; of all the Soviet peoples who recognize their objective belonging to the same Motherland, to the same state.
The fifth task is to influence the structures of army and of the state security and police, stressing their responsibility before the people and that they should stay clear of using force against the people.
Communists and their supporters have in their disposal proven theories of progressive model of the society that should be built, innovative vision of the modern problems of transitional period from capitalism towards socialism. They have radical mood, but they are not extremists. They understand clearly the significant differences between the economic variety of Russian in 1920s and of the beginning of the XXI century, the balance of class forces that is very different today and the new quality of the foreign interference. All the constructive forces of society that care about the destiny of the Motherland and are prepared to form patriotic alliances, should take part in reforms offered by communists. In the first place it will be a union of workers, peasants and progressive intelligentsia. But it is desirable to form the union of all those who wish to stimulate the national production, including patriotic business people who are against this parasite plutocracy and treacherous capital.
Communist and their supporters also do not narrow their horizons by only parliamentary forms, methods and possibilities of struggle. Carefully listening to the wishes of masses of working people in the centre and in the provinces, they aim for a broad labour democracy of a Soviet type and connect their plans and thoughts to such a democracy.
XIII.5. The late successors of October have made many mistakes and did not secure worthy continuation of the task began by their predecessors. But the historical necessity that they were realizing into practice, did not cease to exist. To help the formation of socialism as a stage of real humanism in all its endless variety of forms is the calling of all those who does not want to be a standardized consuming robot without art, philosophy, history and who values in himself in the first place the qualities of creative human being.
XIII.6. At the dawn of discoveries that later on were summated in the theory of scientific communism Marx had defined the future of the mankind as "the mankind that has socialized itself". The end of XX - beginning of XXI centuries has signs that show the beginning of this stage.
Now everything depends on how intelligently, how flexibly, skilfully and energetically will the new generations of fighters all around the world, including the young Russia,
Pick up and pass on this baton of the Great October.