Written by Klaus Riis, Editor of Kommunistisk Politik
From Kommunistisk Politik, No. 23, November 23, 2002
"The International Character of the October Revolution", written
by Stalin on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution,
is a wonderful article. It is a pearl filled with strong logic and depth, making
it present, relevant and inspiring despite the 75 years that have passed and
doomed the writings of most political leaders to gather dust or revealed them
as having been rubbish from the start.
Stalin's article is one of the shortest articles in the treasury of Marxism-Leninism,
but among the weighty ones.
Stalin's eminent ability of bringing to light the essential lines of history
and the future relevance of the contradictions of the present, his unshakable
proletarian class position, his unqualified belief in the working class and
the oppressed peoples, and his confidence in the future global victory of socialism,
all this is expressed in a few pages in Pravda in 1927, masterly briefly and
concisely formulated.
The article also illustrates another characteristic of Stalin that contributed
to make him the most prominent statesman of the last century: his non-illusionist
realism concerning the imperialists and the ruling bourgeoisie, the enemies
of the revolution and socialism.
At that time, there was not any doubt about the October Revolution being an exceptional event. But the imperialist bourgeoisie, who during the first period of the revolution sent armies into Russia for putting it down during, underestimated the revolution by considering it a putsch made by a bunch of fanatics. When the imperialists stopped believing that the revolution would collapse because of inner contractions, they invented the thesis claiming that the Soviet Union were only surviving because of massive repression, being a dark dictatorship against the population. This continues to be a common official explanation given by bourgeois historiography and propaganda. But the October Revolution was something completely different; it was the first example of the future arrangement, of the system which will replace the present war-ridden capitalism, the first example of the ability of the working class of organizing society and making it work without the capitalists and their attendants. It was the support from a whole class, from the vast majority of the Soviet people, which made socialism under Lenin and Stalin so prosperous and invincible. Hitler's armies - the most advanced and well-equipped armies until then - attacked the land of socialism and experienced the truth of that.
The lessons, which Stalin draws from the October Revolution, have stood the
test in the 75 years that have passed since he wrote the article. His conclusions
were simply correct, being science in politics, a field where most official
science - the bourgeois science - is lie and propaganda.
Stalin says that the victory of the October Revolution meant a radical turn
in the history of mankind, a turn of capitalism, a turn for the revolutionary
movements. It has been proved by history, and it continues to be a living fact.
The October Revolution meant, in fact, the beginning of a new era, the era of
the proletarian revolutions in the imperialist countries. Today, the socialist
revolution is on the agenda in every single imperialist country, in every single
developed capitalist country. The October Revolution meant, in fact, the beginning
of the era of the anti-colonial, anti-imperialist revolutions, "which are
being carried out in the oppressed countries of the world in alliance with the
proletariat and under the leadership of the proletariat".
As early as in the last years of Stalin's life time, after the Second World
War and the victory over Hitler fascism, the colonial system collapsed and a
new bigger bloc which had broken away from global capitalism was created: the
people's democratic and socialist camp.
And Stalin shows how the October Revolution caused the questioning of the very
existence of capitalism, that the capitalist system passed to a phase of general
crisis in which it is shaken not only by returning economic crises, but also
by revolutions and struggles in the imperialist core countries and in the "periphery"
of oppressed nations. With the October Revolution, the era of the "stability"
of capitalism was gone forever. "The era of the collapse of capitalism
has begun," Stalin concludes, and nobody has been able to refute that,
neither has the propaganda of a whole bourgeois world.
From the first world historic break through of socialism, Stalin, the Leninist,
draws deep strategic principles and directions, conclusions which are still
valid, and on which every Marxist-Leninist and every Marxist-Leninist party
must base itself.
The Soviet Union of Lenin and Stalin was a base for the world revolution. After
the death of Stalin, the revisionist cliques that followed him destroyed this
role of the socialist Soviet Union. And over the world there was, as Stalin
foresaw, "for a long time cast the gloom of unbridled, black reaction",
which today is called the "New World Order" headed by US imperialism,
this new age of war and barbarity, of aggressive imperialism, of counter-revolution
and neo-colonialism, which can only be overcome by "a united revolutionary
front of the proletarians and of the oppressed peoples of all countries against
imperialism", lead by genuine Leninist parties with the spirit of Stalin.
"The International Character of the October Revolution (On the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the October Revolution)" by J.V. Stalin is republished worldwide on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the October Revolution on the decision of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations of which the APK is a member. The preface above is the preface of the Danish edition.