Workers of the world unite!
Two
generations have passed since the November (Western calendar)
revolution in Russia of 1917. Two generations which have seen two world
wars, the rise and decline of Fascism in Western Europe, the Great
Slump of 1929, the uprising of the colonial people against the old
Empires, and the new technological revolution in the highly
industrialised countries since the end of the Second World War. All
these factors have increased immensely the contradictions within
capitalism, and between capitalism and the third of the world where
capitalism and landlordism have been overthrown.
Hovering
menacingly over mankind is the capacity to destroy itself, with the
development of nuclear and other frightful weapons of war. On the other
side is the possibility of immense abundance and a fruitful and
creative life for all the peoples of the world.
The Russian
Revolution is recognised now by even capitalist sociologists and
economists as the greatest event of this century. In fact it marked the
greatest event in world history. It cannot [be understood] and was not
understood by its real leaders, Lenin and Trotsky, as a purely Russian,
event, but as the beginning of the Socialist revolution on a European
and world scale. Be-ginning in one of the most backward countries in
the world it looked forward eagerly to being joined by the working
class of the West. The working class of Western Europe, the advanced
layers of the working class in all countries, looked towards Russia as
a beacon of advancement in the movement towards a better society and
towards Socialism.
International capital joined together with
the defeated Russian capitalists and landlords in a war of
intervention, involving all the great capitalist powers. They were
forced to withdraw by the protest movements of the working class and
mutinies of the armies and navies of intervention.
The aims of
the revolution were simple and clear. They had been worked out
theoretically by Marx. Rule by the working class, as a step towards
Socialism. From the beginning, a higher form of democracy than under
capitalism. They involved the rule of the Soviets, spontaneously set up
the workers during the course of the revolution. These Soviets were
committees of factory workers, peasants, housewives, democratically and
freely elected. This was to replace the capitalists' state machine. No
official was to receive higher pay than that of a skilled worker. In
place of a standing army was to come the armed people. Instead of a
bureaucratic hierarchy, gradually all jobs in the administration of the
state, were to be done by everyone in turn. Thus when everyone was a
"bureaucrat" no one could be a bureaucrat. In Lenin's aphorism "every
cook should be able to be Prime Minister". These aims were [present at]
the beginning of the revolution
However the revolution in
Germany and the revolutionary situation in Western Europe did not reach
fruition, for many reasons [for] which there is no space in this
article to explain. The revolution remained isolated in a backward
country. Gradually power was usurped out of the hands of the workers
and peasants, by the millions of officials, by the bureaucracy. This
was expressed in the rise to power of Stalin with the "theory" of
Socialism in one country.
Just before his death Lenin had
formed a bloc with Trotsky to fight the growing power of the
bureaucracy in the State and the Party. The Left Opposition was formed
with a programme of internationalism and industrialisation on the basis
of Five Year Plans. It was no accident that Stalin and the bureaucracy
opposed the plan as Utopian. They reflected the blind forces of the
reaction against the revolution. Later after the defeat of the
Opposition, in caricature form the plan was to be adopted.
On
the basis of State ownership and the planning of production, dazzling
results were achieved, despite the dead hand of the bureaucracy. But
with the growth of production grew the appetites of the ruling clique.
They defended the new form of production, of planning and the
nationalisation of industry and the collectivisation of agriculture.
But the original aims of the revolution were abandoned. Not one of the
conditions worked out by Lenin remains in existence today. A bloody
purge was begun against the Old Bolsheviks who had carried out the
revolution. Hundreds of thousands were murdered and millions exiled to
Siberia. Stalin carried out a political counter-revolution, but on the
basis of the economic gains of the revolution.
The Communist
International was transformed into an instrument of Russian foreign
policy. The policy of the leaders of the Communist Party in Germany,
aided by the Social-Democratic leaders led to the victory of Hitler,
the defeats of the Spanish Revolution and the movement of the French
working class. Thus the way was prepared for the outbreak of the Second
World War.
In Russia itself, the purges wiped out the
overwhelming majority of the officer cadres of the Red Army and Stalin
tried to placate Hitler. Despite warnings of an attack by trustworthy
agents and despite the movement of German troops towards the frontiers
of Russia, Stalin refused to act. At the beginning of the war the
fire-power of the Russian army was greater than that of the German
army, but in the first attack 95 % of Russia's planes were destroyed on
the ground. Timoshenko, Voroshilov and Budyenny were creatures of
Stalin but incapable generals. After the first defeats, they had to be
replaced. Hitler seized the most industrialised areas of the Soviet
Union. The war in Europe was largely a struggle between Russia and Nazi
Germany. Russia established factories behind the Urals concentrated on
arms production, and outproduced Hitler who had almost the entire
resources of Europe at his disposal. This was due to the superiority of
State ownership and planning. Russia emerged victorious from the war,
through the self-sacrifice of the masses and at a cost of 20 million
lives.
With the rapid building up of production, the
differentiation between the masses on one side and the managers,
generals, party bureaucrats, and state officials, on the other, grew
greater and greater, and with it the dissatisfaction of the workers and
peasants. In 1953 Stalin prepared for a new purge, in order to
consolidate his rule. Earlier the people who had carried through the
revolution had been denounced as fascist agents, while they were
replaced in many cases by White Guards officials, such as Maisky, the
Russian Ambassador in Britain. Now a new "plot" was conceived: the
"doctors' plot" to kill Stalin. Conveniently at this moment Stalin
died. The tops of the bureaucracy feared the effects of a new purge
personally and for the economy. Thus they clearly decided to get rid of
Stalin.
In 1956 at the 20th Congress of the so-called Russian
Communist Party. which had become a tool of the bureaucracy, Khrushchev
made his revelations of the crimes of Stalin, which were declared to be
due to the "cult of personality". But dictatorial regimes must reflect
social crises, and not the whims of one man, be he a Hitler or a
Stalin! The real reason for the denunciation of Stalin was the
political crisis in the Soviet Union due to the effects of bureaucracy,
and fear of a movement of the working class. It was a reform from the
top to prevent political revolution from below!
The slave camps
in Siberia were disbanded. This was due as much to the development of
machine industry in the "Soviet" Union as to sentiment for the victims
of Stalin's crimes. Forced labour is very inefficient and expensive.
Many of the Old Bolshevik victims of the purges were rehabilitated.
Whole peoples had been denounced by Stalin, and men, women and children
exiled to Siberia. Only recently have the Tatar people of the Crimea
belatedly been exonerated from alleged collaboration with the Nazis,
and given the freedom to re-turn to the Crimea if they wish.
However,
the political dictatorship established by Stalin has been retained. The
bureaucracy, while making concessions to the masses, has further
reinforced the regime of inequality and privilege. With the growth of
production the bureaucracy has become less and less a relatively
progressive factor and more and more become a fetter on production. In
every sector, in industry, science, technique and art, the bureaucratic
stranglehold is becoming more and more incompatible with the
development of Russian society.
However, the regime
of absolutism, though moderate in comparison with the Stalin terror,
remains intact. In a highly cultured society and with the most educated
working class in the world, this becomes more and more a fetter on the
development of society. 30 to 50% of production each year is wasted!
Far from moving towards Socialism, inequality and privilege are further
reinforced.
The nationalist degeneration of an outmoded
capitalism is equaled by the nationalist degeneration of the Russian
bureaucracy. On this level the bureaucracy competes in the so called
"Socialist" world of Eastern Europe, with each national bureaucracy
standing for its own interests, with Stalinist China and Yugoslavia,
and competes with American imperialism in giving aid to the rotten tops
of the "undeveloped" world.
Just at the time when the "profit
motive" in the West is showing its bankruptcy, the bureaucrats, in
order to give an "incentive" to the bureaucratic management are
introducing the profit motive as an index for production, with an
enormous rake-off for the managers, because they can see no way out for
the economy. In time this will fail, as have the previous attempts at
decentralisation, recentralisation, and now a further decentralisation
of industry. The pace of production is increasing only by spurts, and
the crisis of the regime remains unsolved. The present five year plan
will largely be successful, but the social contradictions will be
further increased, despite the enormous increase in standards of living
in comparison with the past.
The shadow of the revolution still
menaces the ruling stratum in the Soviet Union. While paying
lip-service, they dread the genuine traditions of the revolution. The
working class is becoming more and more critical. Despite the
successes, crisis racks the society. It is a question of which will
come first, social revolution in the West, or political revolution in
the East. The tradition of October, of a movement towards equality, of
steps in the direction of Socialism and the dissolution of the State
within society, still remain, despite the filth collected in the last
decades.
On new foundations, no longer with a working class of
4 million, uneducated and illiterate in a backward country, but an
industrial society with a working class of 100 million, on the basis of
state ownership and planned production, the working masses will return
to the regime of workers' democracy established by Lenin and Trotsky.
Like the October revolution this would set up a chain reaction and
prepare the way for an international Socialist Federation of States,
for the purpose of planning production on an international scale.
Similarly, the reason why there can be a relative détente between
Russia and the West is that the bureaucracy fears the overthrow of
capitalism in any of the main capitalist nations, which could only
result in workers' democracy, because of the effect it would have on
the Russian workers. The revolution in China and Eastern Europe began
in the distorted form in which the Russian revolution ended. This
represented no direct threat to the Russian bureaucracy or to world
capitalism, except that the capitalist world had shrunk. Social
revolution in an advanced country, like the political revolution in
Hungary, represents the beginning of the end for world capitalism as
well as for the national Stalinist bureaucracies in Asia and Europe.
