surjeet


	Continuing Validity of the October Revolution HKS Surjeet has emphasised the relevance and validity of Marxism & Leninism. Communal Agenda is on with a Vengeance This Vajpayee-led government appears to have begun, in right earnest, the task of undermining the secular democratic character of the Republic of India. Help Orissa in this Time of Distress Prakash karat call upon the people to extend all out co-operation for Orissa. Sharp Contrasts An overview

THE last observance of the anniversary, in this millennium, of the October Revolution, is taking place when the product of the revolution, the Soviet Union, itself has got dismembered. It is in this background of setbacks to socialism that we were repeatedly told that socialism had collapsed and that capitalism is eternal. This massive propaganda by the imperialist media, that accompanied the cataclysmic events of 1991, proclaiming the demise of socialism and the death of communism, are no longer sustainable. Simultaneously, there is a growing realisation that opting for the capitalist path is no answer to the basic problems the people are facing. People in the republics of the erstwhile Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe, by their own experience, are learning this lesson the hard way. Growing disparities, increasing unemployment, insecurity and destitution are inevitably leading them to this conclusion.
It is against this background that the observance of the anniversary of October Revolution assumes significance.

The success of the Great October Revolution proved the correctness and scientific validity of the Marxist-Leninist theory. This earth-shaking event ushered in a new era in history. Lenin had rightly pointed out that "The Marxian doctrine arose 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." This quote from Lenin aptly acts as a backgrounder to the development of the Marxist ideology.

Dwelling on historical materialism in the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels stated: "The history of hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle." Further, the "modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old." From this it follows that "our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature; it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two hostile camps, into two classes directly facing each other -- bourgeoisie and the proletariat."

Marx and Engels had judged that socialist revolutions can take place only in advanced capitalist countries when the contradiction between capital and labour comes to the fore as the central contradiction and whose resolution puts an end to the system itself. The first experience, the Paris Commune, failed because of the inability of the workers leading the struggle to comprehend the might of the bourgeoisie as a class which made all-out efforts to protect the capitalist system. Despite the failure, the Commune did prove the fact that the working class could lead the revolution for socialism.

After the death of Marx, Lenin made his own contributions to enrich the theory of Marxism. When capitalism reached a new stage, that of imperialism, Lenin characterised it as the highest stage of capitalism. Lenin analysed that, with the emergence of imperialism, the contradiction between the working class and capitalism, contradiction between the colonial countries and imperialism and the contradiction between the imperialist countries themselves for sharing the loot from the colonial countries, were getting aggravated.

Analysing the problems of revolution in the imperialist stage, Lenin came to the conclusion that a socialist revolution can succeed not only in capitalist countries but even in a relatively backward country where the imperialist chain was the weakest.

In the Second International, Lenin played a significant role in rallying the socialist parties and making them accept the platform of Marxism. However, during the years of the war, the International collapsed as many social democratic parties rallied behind the bourgeoisie of their respective countries in their war efforts. A bitter struggle also ensued inside the RSDLP. It got divided between the Bolsheviks (majority) and the Mensheviks (minority). Lenin was able to rally the majority behind his analysis of the situation.

It was this scientific understanding of the new period and the concrete application of the theory to the concrete conditions then 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.

This, however, alarmed imperialism and the capitalist world. They made all-out efforts to throttle the infant socialist state. The first decree that the socialist state promulgated was 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 withstanding and thwarting the imperialist intervention and putting down the civil war.

This earth-shaking event inspired the working class movement the world over and strengthened the struggle for independence in a large number of colonies and semi-colonies. The emergence of the socialist state, the formation of the USSR that liberated the various suppressed and oppressed nationalities that inhabited the prison house of the Tsar, and the slogan of unity of the socialist state with the international working class movement and the people fighting for national liberation, saw a new upsurge in the international working class movement and the movements for national freedom. The national liberation movements the world over also saw in the Soviet Union a pillar of strength and support, on which they could rely. The USSR stood with these movements against imperialism, as a firm ally.

After the October Revolution, when Lenin was asked where the next socialist revolution would take place, he replied that it could be in China or it could be in India. He had based his analysis on certain events that had taken place then. In China it was the May 4 movement where the working class came out in action. In the case of India, even before the October Revolution had taken place, the textile workers' strike in Bombay against the arrest of Bal Gangadhar Tilak has already showed the maturity of the working class which had rallied on a purely political issue. Many Indian revolutionaries had the opportunity of meeting Lenin.

In a short period, however, as against the wishes of imperialism, the socialist state consolidated itself.

After Lenin's death, however, a struggle ensued inside the Party. Trotsky raised the banner of "permanent revolution," meaning that socialism could not succeed in one country; it has to be taken to other countries simultaneously. However, his line was badly defeated.

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 the USSR provided to the struggles for better living conditions in other countries, compelled the capitalists in these countries to initiate reforms and to guarantee trade union rights.

As stated earlier, the first socialist state had to continuously face imperialist onslaughts. First the intervention, civil war and the encirclement when it was yet an infant and then the second world war. While the imperialist countries were unable to withstand the fascist hordes, it is the Soviet Union which delivered a crushing defeat to fascism and saved the world from its menace. It was no mean task, however. The cost that the Soviet Union had to pay to save the world from fascism was very dear indeed. Millions of its soldiers had to be sacrificed and it had to suffer a big economic loss too.

This victory over fascism was to further radically alter the correlation of class forces on the world plane. The liberation of the countries of East Europe by the Red Army saw the establishment of socialist states there. The defeat of Japan contributed to the success of the Chinese revolution. In the period immediately following the war, many countries in Asia and Africa achieved independence, India being one of them. Though deprived of direct rule, however, imperialist countries still wanted to maintain their stranglehold over the economies of these former colonies. Again, it was the Soviet Union and other socialist countries that came to the aid of these newly liberated countries. The Soviet Union extended direct support to the national liberation movements in many countries in Asia and Africa.

But the unfortunate events of the last few years have not only led to restoration of capitalism in the former socialist countries of East Europe but to the disintegration of the Soviet Union itself. These, as our Party had analysed in its 14th Congress, was on account of the distortions and deviations that had crept in during the application of Marxism-Leninism to the concrete conditions prevailing in these countries, as well as due to the serious errors and mistakes committed in the process of socialist construction. An erroneous understanding of the reality 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 was not laid on industrial development and proper attention not paid to the immense advances made in the field of science and technology. While these issues in the realm of economy were ignored, in the matter of ensuring the people's participation in decision making bodies and making them truly representative in character were 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. As our Party Congress had analysed, the leadership had come to replace the Party and a coterie had replaced the leadership. It is these shortcomings, errors and mistakes that contributed to the setbacks and reverses.

The 14th Congress of the CPI(M) said: "As a creative science, Marxism-Leninism identifies the possibilities for popular mass intervention in these developments in the pursuit of establishing an exploitation free society. For instance, the historical inevitability of the replacement of the exploitation-based capitalism by socialism is not automatic. The key factor that can affect such a social transformation is the correct ideological, political and organisational leadership of the growing struggles of the working class, the peasantry and all working people. When this class consciousness is defused or blunted, the forces of counter-revolution exploit the situation to perpetuate their class rule."

The 14th Congress reiterated Lenin's understanding that "Concrete analysis of concrete conditions is the living essence of Marxism." 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.

But faced with hunger, poverty and destitution that form the quintessence of a system of exploitation, with the realities of capitalism staring in their faces, the peoples of these countries -- the countries of East Europe as well as the various republics that broke from the Soviet Union -- are now compelled to fight back. The regimes in these countries are facing mounting resistance. Parties that had surrendered in face of the concerted imperialist onslaught are now regrouping to take on the new challenges. People are reposing faith in the former communists or the Communist Parties, wherever they exist. In Russia, the Communist Party of Russian Federation is the biggest organised force in that country.

China, Cuba, Vietnam and DPR Korea -- the countries where socialism still exists --- have drawn lessons from the past mistakes and are making such appropriate changes as the ruling parties there deem fit in their respective objective conditions. There can be no one universal model for building socialism. Each country has to chose its own path taking into consideration the objective conditions existing there, the level of development of productive forces and the correlation of class forces. The Chinese example has made a further contribution to socialist construction in a less developed country. While adhering to the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism, the Chinese have laid emphasis on developing the productive forces there. This is precisely in accordance with the Mao Zedong thought and the teachings of Deng Xiaoping which lays stress on building socialism with Chinese characteristics, that is as per the ground conditions existing in China. In a similar manner, the Ho Chi Minh thought embodies the Communist Party of Vietnam's endeavours to build socialism in Vietnam on the basis of Vietnamese realities.

Even while our adversaries claim and declare the collapse of socialism and communism, they are unable to disprove its relevance. Marxism-Leninism continues to remain valid. History has proved its validity and relevance. The ferocity of the attacks being launched by the anti-communists and reactionaries to invalidate the continuing importance and significance of the path-breaking Great October Revolution and the establishment of the first socialist state are bound to fail.