People's Democracy

The Message Of October Revolution

Sukomal Sen

The practical fruition of the theory of proletarian revolution was witnessed in the Great October Revolution when historically it became the first successful revolution to usher in socialism and the Workers’ State in Russia in 1917.

It is worth reminding here that Karl Marx while analysing the Paris Commune of 1871 hailed the great event as ‘storming of heavens’ despite  its very short tenure and many mistakes which occurred along with the heroic acts of the Paris workers who laid down their lives in thousands.

The 90th anniversary of the Great October Revolution provides an opportunity for Marxists all over the world to make further objective and analytical investigation of the message of that historical event and its revolutionary impact even in the present situation. How Marx is more relevant in today’s world, which is ravaged by US hegemonistic military aggression and merciless exploitation and plunder of the poor by the unbridled profit hunger of world capitalism, needs to be underlined.

The emergence of Marxism marked a turning point in the history of human civilisation. All positive aspects and the best of all human contributions that were achieved during the course of the advance of civilisation till then were appropriated and synthesised by Marx and Engels. Whether one accepts or rejects the ideas of Marxism, it is impossible to deny the colossal impact which it has exercised and continues to exercise on the world. From the appearance of The Communist Manifesto, down to the present day, Marxism has been a decisive factor not only in the political arena but also in the development of human thought. And, irrespective of the present state of affairs, it is an indisputable fact that the October Revolution changed the entire course of world history. A close acquaintance with the theories of Marxism is therefore a necessary precondition for anyone who wishes to understand some of the most fundamental phenomena of our times.

Capitalism Still Mortally Afraid of Communism

After the collapse of Soviet Union in 1990-91, many in the imperialist camp and the bourgeoisie in general did not hide their uncontrolled glee, while genuine Marxist revolutionaries all over the world were shocked to the extreme. However their conviction in Marxism soon restored their confidence in the ultimate triumph of socialism.

Ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall, there has been an unprecedented ideological counter-offensive against Marxism, and the idea of socialism in general. Francis Fukuyama went so far as to proclaim the "End of History." But history continues, and with a vengeance. The real meaning of Glasnost and Perestroika in the former Soviet Union has been a frightful collapse of the Soviet system itself, the catastrophic effect of which is experienced even today. Ideological deviation is like a killer virus which ultimately destroys the system.

The admirers of the alleged virtues of capitalism are even today dedicating considerable resources to affirm that the collapse of Soviet Union proves that socialism does not work. It is alleged that the entire body of ideas worked out by Marx and Engels, and later developed by Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and other Marxists have been completely discredited. Upon closer examination, however, what is becoming increasingly obvious is the crisis of the so-called free-market economy, which currently condemns 25 million human beings to a life of enforced inactivity in the industrialised nations alone, wasting the creative potential of a whole generation. The capitalist system is in a deep crisis on a world scale. The strategists of capital look to the future with profound foreboding. And at bottom the more honest among them ask themselves the question they dare not answer: Was Karl Marx right after all?

A Period of Profound Historical Change

We are living in a period of profound historical change. After a period of more than 40 years of unprecedented economic growth the market economy is reaching its limits. At the dawn of capitalism, despite its barbarous crimes, it revolutionised the productive forces thus laying the basis for a new system of society. The First World War and the Russian Revolution signalled a decisive change in the historical role of capitalism. From a means of developing the productive forces, it transformed itself into a gigantic fetter upon economic and social development.

A social system in a state of irreversible decline expresses itself in cultural decay. This is reflected in a hundred different ways. A general mood of anxiety and pessimism as regards the future spreads, especially among the intelligentsia. Those who yesterday talked confidently about the inevitability of human progress and evolution now see only darkness and uncertainty.

The crisis of capitalism pervades all walks of life because it is not merely an economic phenomenon. The crisis is reflected in speculation and corruption, drug abuse, violence, all-pervasive egotism and indifference to the suffering of others, the breakdown of the bourgeois family, the crisis of bourgeois morality, culture and philosophy.

Marxist-Leninist Concept of Class & State

It is one of the peculiar ironies of history that there are no limits to the misunderstanding and distortion of theories, even in an age when there is unlimited access to the sources. There is no better example of this phenomenon than what has happened to the theory of Karl Marx in the last few decades. Although there is continuous reference to Marx and Marxism in the press, in the speeches of politicians, in books and articles written by respectable social scientists and philosophers; yet with few exceptions, it is mostly either distorted or lacks depth.

But Marxism teaches us that commodity is a form of alienation and will only be abolished when wealth and poverty, extravagance and misery, the power of the few to usurp the production of the many and the subjugation of the many to the silent or grandiloquent rule of the few, have ceased to confront one another and the world has become a totality when shortage is no longer the dictator: when plenty has been achieved as the fruit of labour liberated and united by science, the communal spirit and the co-determination of all.

Today we are still ruled by the commodity and its abstraction – money.

The power of things over men in a society based on commodity production is concentrated in the power of money: of gold.

…… damned earth,

O thou common whore of mankind, that putt’st odds

Among the rout of nations...

0 thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce

'Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler

Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars!                        

Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer,

Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow

That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god,..........

That solder'st close impossibilities,                  

And mak'st them kiss!

It was not a red revolutionary, but William Shakespeare who wrote those lines. Marx quoted them. adding:

Since money, as the existing and active concept of value, confounds and exchanges everything, it is the universal confusion and transportation of all things, the inverted world, the confusion and transposition of all natural and human qualities.

Much before Marx and about 500 years from today, a great poet like Shakespeare with his profound sense of humanism noted the determining power of money. Today’s extremely savage form of capitalist globalisation must be understood in this historical background and particularly in the background of Western European history. The theory of the socialist revolution was largely influenced by the experience of the three French Revolutions of 1789, 1830 and 1848. The concept of the State was largely conditioned by the analysis of the French State, on the basis of the experience of the Revolution of 1848 and the coup d'etat of Napoleon III. It seemed more than ever necessary for Marx to visualise smashing the rigidly organised State apparatus in order to leave the way free for a development that would lead via the rule of the proletariat to the abolition of all State power; and this seemed possible only in the aftermath of a civil war. Marx retained this conviction, so far as France was concerned, even at a time when he allowed for the possibility of a peaceful development in England, America, and Holland, where the State apparatus had not at that time attained the centralised power it had in France. We should recall that eight years after Marx's death, Engels regarded this possibility as conceivable for France too.

Most people take capitalism for granted just as they take the solar system for granted. The eventual passing of capitalism, which is often conceded nowadays, is thought of in much the same way as the eventual cooling of the sun, that is to say, its relevance to contemporary events is denied. From this point of  view one cannot understand and criticise what happens within the framework of the system; one can neither understand nor evaluate what happens to the system itself.

To the Marxists, on the other hand, the specific historical (i.e. transitory) character of capitalism is a major premise. It is by virtue of this fact that the Marxist is able, so to speak, to stand outside the system and criticise it as a whole. Moreover, since human action is itself responsible for the changes which the system is undergoing and will undergo, a critical attitude is not only intellectually possible, it is morally significant also.

The Political Essence

The October Socialist Revolution of 1917 in Russia is the practical application of Marxist world outlook and revolutionary theory by the Communist Party under the leadership of Comrade V I Lenin which marked a real turning point in the advance of human history. The world could realise and practically witness the fact that world capitalism was not an unbreakable permanent system. It ushered in a new era when the Revolution broke the weakest point link in the chain.

Subsequent progress of socialist construction in Soviet Union and its victory in the anti-fascist war in 1945 installed further confidence in the working people all over the world about the invincibility of Marxist-Leninist teaching that socialism is not an utopia – it is perfectly practical and possible.

In today’s world, particularly with the onset of the most inhuman phase of  rapacious capitalism, the collapse of Soviet Union in 1990-91 and the horrifying domination and hegemony of American empire, many may feel confused. They may suffer from loss of vision and revolutionary zeal. However, the latest developments in different parts of the world, particularly in Latin America, the real existence of the States declaring socialism as the goal, the position of the Left in India ... all these have once again confirmed that Imperialism or American Empire and the aggressive and rapacious capitalism might be frightening but the last word will be said by the exploited people themselves, not by anyone else, provided the mass of the working people stand united under the banner of Communist Party which believes in the revolutionary philosophy of  Marxism – Leninism.