Capitalism and the Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the October Revolution

1 – In this year 2017 we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in a world that is dominated by a crisis-ridden capitalism. This capitalism today is in a phase of decadence and dissolution on account of its internal contradictions and its insurmountable structural crises; it has nothing more to offer the peoples than, on the one hand, ever greater accumulation, centralization and concentration of wealth and, on the other hand, growing exploitation, ever greater social inequality and injustice, attacks on social rights and worker rights, refusal of democratic rights and freedoms, plundering and destruction of resources, intervention and attacks on national sovereignty, militarism and wars, which in the present imperialist stage are waged on all continents.

2 – Capitalism by its very nature is incapable of overcoming its ineradicable contradictions – in particular between capital and labor, between the social character of production and its private appropriation; it launches into a relentless concentration of capital, which entails a chaos of production. Millions of workers are thrust into unemployment, into a precarious existence, into the most violent forms of exploitation.

3 – The assumption of office by Donald Trump in the USA characterizes this aspect of the crisis and the transition to a new phase of the general crisis-proneness of imperialism with ever new and more devastating crises, distinguished by growing aggressiveness and militarization of the imperialist world system.

4 – Among the masses the search for a societal alternative is growing and they show a growing interest in a socialist alternative. Since the start of 2017 more than ten million people worldwide have demonstrated or gone on strike in the context of great mass protests. In Europe, the USA and many countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia, new mass youth movements have emerged and developed. From the ashes of the crises of global imperialism the era of a revolutionary crisis is beginning to develop in this year of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. This year will be an extraordinary year for humanity, because the October Revolution reminds us that it ushered in a new period in the history of humanity, the era of the transition from capitalism to socialism.

5 – The commemoration of this anniversary will clearly highlight the correctness and validity of socialism and confirm the necessity and possibility of a revolutionary triumph over capitalism by socialism and communism. The capitalist system with its exploitative, oppressive, aggressive and rapacious character and the tragic consequences it entails suffers from a structural crisis which is irresistibly worsening; and it is becoming more and more evident that capitalism is responsible for the growing problems and the dangers confronting humanity.

6 – The October Revolution and the historic experience of socialist construction are a source of important lessons and an example of the transformation and the achievements that can manifest themselves in our epoch, that lend relevance to the revolutionary practice of today and simultaneously aim it at the future. This revolution underscores as ever before that the future does not belong to capitalism but to socialism and communism.

7 – On 7 November 1917 (the 25th of October according to the old Russian calendar), the Russian proletariat took the future into its own hands, with the Bolshevik Party in the role of vanguard, guided by a revolutionary theory and the vital contributions of Lenin. The proletariat gained power and in a victorious revolution laid the foundations for a new society, and that in a country that was devastated by an imperialist war (the First World War) and with a people who suffered at that time from exploitation, oppression, hunger and illiteracy.

8 – The October Revolution embodied the aspirations of the millennia-old struggle of the exploited and oppressed, from the slave revolts of ancient times to the peasant revolts of the Middle Ages and the French Revolution of 1789 – an integral part of the defeat of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism – to the workers' uprisings of the 19th century.

9 – The October Revolution was an inspiring revolutionary achievement that overcame complex situations and defied many difficulties. Boycotts, sabotage, the intervention of imperialist powers, civil war, economic blockade, betrayal, and despite all this, in this erratic and turbulent process it realized the aspirations and dreams of the working people, the exploited, oppressed and victims of discrimination, and opened up the way to the building of a society unknown to humankind until then.

10 – The socialist revolution transformed the old, backward Russia of the tsars into a highly developed country that for decades was able to keep imperialism with its goal of global dominance in check. Within a historically short period the USSR experienced significant industrial and agricultural development, eradicated illiteracy, made education and sports accessible to all, eliminated unemployment, instituted a health system and protective social measures and guaranteed and promoted the rights of women, children, young and old. The influence of avant-garde art movements, creative cultural forms and achievements also was extended, the scientific and technological level raised, and forms of democratic participation of the working people and the masses implemented; it tackled the solution of the complex issue of the oppressed nations and enhanced the values of friendship, solidarity, peace and cooperation between peoples.

11 – Influenced by the victory of the October Revolution, numerous Communist Parties were founded everywhere in the world. The international communist movement emerged. The working-class movement and its ideals became stronger. The ideals of Marxism-Leninism were propagated among the masses.

12 – The disappearance of the USSR and the defeats of socialism in Eastern Europe had an undeniably negative and deep influence on the worldwide balance of forces, on the consciousness of the masses and the development of the struggle for socialism.

13 – Marxism-Leninism must seize the initiative in every country, must stand up against the offensive of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, reformist, revisionist, Trotskyist and liquidationist ideology against socialism and communism.

14 – With the values of the October Revolution Marxism-Leninism uplifts the role of the working class, the toilers and peoples for the transformation of society under a new, socialist/communist paradigm. This underscores the strength that grows from their unity, their organization and their struggle.

Abou Tarik

29-05-2017

Download  as PDF