The genuine forces of revolutionary Marxism were neither demoralized nor disillusioned by the collapse of the Soviet Union. The search for an alternate to the present mayhem and drudgery of capitalism will have to rediscover the path of the most scientific of the revolutions of the past.
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This year the 94th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution falls at a time when capitalism is in the throes of its worst crisis and is facing revolts on a world scale. The rapid increase in poverty, unemployment and misery is a devastating society and has exposed capitalism as the real cause of this calamity to billions of suffering souls. The movements against this system have transcended national boundaries, religious differences and ethnic divisions. This is unprecedented in history. This might have taken many by surprise but for the Marxists this new wave of class struggle across the planet is a vindication, yet again, of the profound intellectual foundations of scientific socialism and communism - proletarian internationalism. Marxism is internationalism or it is nothing.
Whereas the current upsurge has universally rejected capitalism, the dilemma facing the movement at large is determining the real character of the revolution and the alternative socioeconomic and political system that can transform society. The din of the monotonous rhetoric of ‘revolution’ by status quo politicians is appalling. Most of them do not have a clue of what a revolution really means. As the excruciating crisis of the economy and society worsens, the mainstream intelligentsia, including the ex-leftists, draw analogies and mention precedents of the revolutions in Germany, France, China and other countries. The revolution they are reluctant to recall is the Socialist Revolution in Russia that was victorious on the night between November 6-7, 1917 (October 26th and 27th according to the orthodox Byzantine calendar prevalent in Czarist Russia at the time). The fear of this revolution reflects their capitulation to capitalism.
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The Russian Revolution transformed every sphere of society and changed the course of history. No other revolution in history apart from the brief heroic episode of the Paris Commune of 1871 brought the vast majority of the toiling masses into power. John Reed, an American communist and journalist, wrote in his brilliant book, Ten Days that Shook the World: “No matter what one thinks of Bolshevism, it is undeniable that the Russian Revolution is one of the greatest events in human history... It is fashionable to speak of Bolshevik insurrection as an 'adventure'. Adventure it was, and one of the most marvelous mankind ever embarked upon, sweeping into history at the head of the toiling masses, and taking everything on their vast and simple desires.” The salient feature of this great revolution was the conscious participation of the majority of the working class in historical events in a collective endeavor to transform society by overthrowing capitalism and feudalism. Through the medium of the ‘soviets’ of the workers, soldiers and peasants, they began to build a new order. In his introduction to Ted Grant's epic work, Russia: From Revolution to Counter-Revolution, Alan Woods writes, “The regime established by the October Revolution was neither totalitarian nor bureaucratic, but the most democratic regime yet seen on earth — a regime in which for the first time, millions of ordinary men and women took their destiny in their own hands...For the first time in history, the viability of a nationalized planned economy was demonstrated not in theory but in practice. Over one sixth of the earth’s surface, in a gigantic, unprecedented experiment, it was possible to run society without capitalists, landowners and moneylenders.”
For 70 years there were scintillating advances in the economy, industry, education, health, agriculture, science and technology. The Soviet Union produced more doctors, engineers, scientists, researchers and technicians than the US and Europe combined. No other country has ever achieved such high growth rates. More tractors, heavy mechanical complexes, cement, steel, agricultural products were produced than the most advanced capitalist economies. The USSR had a balanced budget and a surplus every year. There was hardly any inflation and no unemployment. Health, education and other collective amenities were free for society. Life expectancy more than doubled and child mortality fell by nine times. Massive advances were made to facilitate the full involvement of women in all spheres of social, economic and political life. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 there was a euphoric frenzy amongst the bourgeoisie and its media. The apologists of capitalism were in a wild chorus about the ‘failure of socialism’. They vented their spleen against Marxism and tried to deceive the masses by identifying socialism and communism with the bureaucratic totalitarian regime that arose from the isolation of the revo