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	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

This year's observance by progressive mankind of the anniversary of the great October socialist Revolution will be the last one of the 20^th century. It is an unquestionable fact that in terms of historic importance, the October Revolution was the greatest event of the century. The significance of the Revolution was that it heralded the beginning of a new epoch in world history, wherein for the first time, the working class leading the toiling and oppressed masses seized political power from the exploited classes and established first stable socialist State in world history. No doubt, the impress of this event will be experienced in a dynamic manner in the coming centuries too. The unfortunate fact that the same century also saw the collapse and disintegration of the USSR does not, in any way, affect the historic significance of the Revolution.

In fact, the contrast between the condition of the world, as a result of the October Revolution and the disastrous consequences of the counter revolution, could provide a valuable lesson for mankind.

The very establishment of a working class State was of great historical importance. The fact that under the leadership of the working class, a mighty union of various nationalities united to form the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR) provides valuable lessons for all mankind. A relatively backward country, Russia, and other very backward countries which constituted the USSR was transformed into a mighty modern highly advanced industrial society, in the course of a very short period of three to four decades, by following the path of planned socialist development. In this historically short period, the gigantic advance of the first socialist State in all spheres -- industry, agriculture, science and technology etc -- to attain the position of a mighty world power was an unprecedented event. And, when it is remembered that this great advance took place under conditions of total capitalist encirclement and vicious and continuous attacks by imperialist forces emphasises the importance of this achievement. The transformation was such that by the end of the second world war, the USSR came to be recognised as a superpower on par with the USA which had obtained the position in the course of more than three centuries of development.

The tremendous advance of science and technology essentially following the path of self-reliance was highlighted by the events like the mastering of space technology, by the launching of satellites for the first time in human history. The mastering of the secrets of atomic and nuclear energy by such a young entrant to the world of science revealed the full potential of a socialist State. The advances in various other fields, including even the fields of theoretical sciences also constituted a testimony to the inherent capabilities of socialism.

The historic success of the USSR in the second world war in smashing the ruthless fascist powers led by Nazi Germany was a mighty achievement unparalleled in history.

While following the difficult and painful path of rapid industrial development, the first socialist State established an unchallenged record in the matter of improving the quality of life of the people. The problem of unemployment was substantially solved, full security was guaranteed for the working people and the basic social needs like medical aid, housing, pension benefits, children's care and equal opportunities for women were guaranteed. It was in the field of education that really fantastic achievements could be noted. The entire population had free opportunities for every level of educational advancement upto the highest levels and an entirely new generation of brilliant scientists, technicians, medical doctors, research fellows and academicians emerged on a mass scale in this vast country. Under these conditions of the flowering of a new socialist society, art, literature and culture flourished in a stupendous manner.

By doing away with the domination of political and social life by the exploiting classes, socialist society developed real democracy based on the political power of the toiling masses.

On the world arena, the emergence of USSR, as a world power, left its impress on every field of international life. The nations and the peoples struggling for freedom for imperialist domination drew in inspiration from the spiritual and material help from the first socialist State. The very existence of a mighty power supporting the struggle for freedom combined with their own determined and ruthless struggles against imperialist exploiters enable the oppressed peoples to end colonial exploitation and begin a new life under conditions of political independence, in the course of half a century after the formation of the USSR.

With the people of the world constantly facing the aggressive drive for domination by the United States and other imperialist powers, the very existence of the Soviet Union and its direct role in combating imperialist aggression enabled the people and the countries of the world to stand upto the threats by the self appointed gendarmes of the world led by the USA. The prompt response of the socialist States to every threat of imperialist aggression as seen in the Suez crisis of 1956, the aggression in Vietnam in 1960s and 70s, the blatant US intervention in the Middle East etc acted as powerful deterrents to imperialism's drive towards war and aggression. In India, we had the experience of the Soviet Union's role in checkmating US intervention at the time of the Bangladesh war.

While reminding ourselves of the glorious achievements of the first socialist State, we also realise that all these positive features were accompanied by serious defects, major errors and very many negative features. While, in no way ignoring these, we also remember that these occurred in the context of the first socialist State struggling under the conditions of total capitalist encirclement and imperialist intervention. The innumerable problems connected with fundamental social changes, in practical terms and even ideologically, were due to the socialist forces having to struggle to advance along the unchartered path of social change. These mistakes and grave errors can, in no manner, be considered the main features of this period. Instead, they should provide valuable lessons for all those entering the path of socialism.

The counter revolution which led to the collapse and disintegration of the USSR was the result of many complex factors. The sustained and ferocious intrigues of imperialism over a period of time was the major factor which led to this unfortunate development. The exact manner in which these nefarious efforts to undermine and later on destroy the socialist State needs very serious study, as it provides valuable lessons and warnings to all revolutionaries. The internal factors also need thorough examination. The degeneration of socialist consciousness, the inability to find solutions to problems in a continuously changing world, the stubborn resistance to timely changes, all these are factors to be noted. The role of the Party and the State as these faced ever new situations, the failure to ensure inner party democracy and the failure to strengthen democracy at the state level -- all these need to be studied in depth.

While these in-depth analysis and studies are required for enriching the Marxist-Leninist ideological foundations, the immediate review of the experiences of the last ten years of counter revolutionary role will provide very meaningful and significant lessons to the whole world. As Mao Zedong once wrote, these constitute the source for "learning from negative experiences".

As for the countries of the Soviet Union, the experience of the last decade have now confirmed that the countries of the former USSR have now entered the path of decadence. Slowly, the country is getting caught more and more in the whirlpool of total destruction of industry, agriculture, science and technology etc. The mighty industrial structures of socialist period are getting dismantled. Agriculture is in deep crisis leading to chronic shortage of food. Even the western media provide a mass of information about the misery and suffering undergone by the people. Unemployment, homelessness and epidemics now stand out as the features of this decadent society. The social security systems and the medicare facilities guaranteed for the entire population in the socialist period are in shambles. As UN agencies report, the very quality of life has declined in an alarming manner.

We have to remember that when the counter revolution took place, the entire bourgeois world projected a great advance of Russian society in a tremendous manner following the path of rejection of socialism and acceptance of the free market economy as the keynote. The free market denoting unbridled capitalsm has now made this great power stand as beggars before the IMF and the World Bank. The domination and exploitation of Russian industry by multinationals is proceeding very rapidly. The large mass of Russian people are now beginning to go through the bitter experience of the consequences of the counter revolution of 80-90s.

A new class of super profiteers, contractors and gangsters now dominate social economic and political life of Russia. Organised crime, mafia rule, drug addiction, which are the typical characteristics of decadent capitalist society are now recognised by one and all as some of the outstanding features of the present social life. The cultural life of the country, once signifying the flowering of new humane socialist values, has now degenerated to the lowest depths. The Russian people (Soviet people) are, through life experience, coming to understand the sinister significance of the counter revolution.

The negative consequences of the disintegration of the USSR are felt in a drastic manner in the world arena. Most countries and peoples of the world, particularly of the third world, experience these consequences every day. The imperialist powers led by USA taking advantage of the disintegration of the USSR have now embarked on their hegemonistic and aggressive path in the most arrogant manner. Seizing the opportunity of the absence of any challenge, they now consider themselves free to launch aggressive actions against other countries. The United State's naked and unashamed aggression against Iraq, their ruthless moves against Iran, their belligerent actions in Serbia in the course of the Bosnian war and the recent Kosovo incidents, their cruel bombing of the hospitals, schools, and even the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, all these demonstrated their new level of belligerency. The missile attacks against Sudan and Afghanistan in the most irresponsible and brazen manner indicates that they have no sense of responsibility to the world community or to international law. Their continuous efforts to subvert all democratic movements in the Latin American countries also reveals the same outlook. Imperialism continues to build bases around the world and ever increasingly develops and expand the weapons of mass destruction. It is now clear to all countries that this aggressiveness and irresponsibility of US imperialism is directly connected with the disintegration of the USSR and weakening of socialism.

The countries of the third world earlier looked upon the USSR as a bulwark to defend themselves. In the absence of the Soviet Union, these countries feel totally helpless. For nearly four decades, the third world countries sought and secured help from the USSR to resist the economic offensive by imperialism and the international MNCs in their attempt to dominate the economy of their countries. In the absence of the USSR, these countries are stand helpless in resisting the offensives of the MNCs to grab their countries' resources. Independent national development of these countries is now seriously hampered resulting in threats to the national sovereignty and economic self-reliance.

This situation has emerged after the 90s has now led to the United Nations and its agencies which were expected to uphold genuine rights of nations getting reduced to the pathetic condition of subservience to imperialist dictates.

All told, the nations and the peoples of the world every day and every minute experience the negative consequences of the counter revolutionary disintegration of the USSR.

The sharp contrast between the mighty achievements of the first socialist revolution and the USSR and the alround grave impact inside Russia and in the world after the destruction of USSR now stand fully revealed. Surely, the people of the world will draw the correct conclusions in the course of time.