In an article published by the Russian Communist Workers’ Party in the theoretical journal “Soviet Union” No. 32. in July
Socialism did not die after the collapse of the USSR and the Eastern European socialist camp. The viability of socialism is manifested in the fact that even at the most unfavorable time for itself it sprouts everywhere, is present in hidden forms in any capitalist state and even used by bourgeoisie as a competitive advantage. The article also analyzes fascism and other types of capitalist reaction to socialism. The forces of reaction cannot extinguish the formation breaking through the thorns; it will win all over the planet.
“No matter how beautiful the horse is, if the rider does not have riding skills, he will most likely fall when faced with difficulties and obstacles.”
A Korean folk saying given in the speech of Chief Kim Il Sung at the meeting of the Communist and Workers’ Parties in Pyongyang in 1992 and the signing of the Pyongyang Declaration.
When in the late 80s – early 90s of the last century there was a collapse of socialism in the countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR, the only dominant interpretation of these disasters was the recognition of “communism” (as we used to call socialism in the West) as unsolvent. The layman was sure: Marxism was wrong, only capitalism has a future. Few people bothered to analyze what was happening. It was not fashionable to be distracted by the idea of the non-linearity of the development of complex processes then. And what is there to think about? The triumph of “democracy” (bourgeois, of course) – here it is, outside the window. Well, where is the communist prosperity (understood vulgarly – as a bottomless troush with all kinds of consumer goods)? Where is the rotting of capitalism promised by the deposed communists? Talkov, a fashionable singer at that time, expressed the mood that reigned at that time with a line of his song: “That’s how America and Europe live, well, we have everything through the ass.” It was implied that the standard of living of the general masses achieved in the West demonstrates the obvious superiority of capitalism. And the entire branched and advanced socialist economy is fading compared to the abundance of American supermarkets shown in movies.
The theoretical provisions of the abandoned Leninism in the new conditions were perceived as a chimera. Only a few were confused that capitalism still contains the same contradictions that have already led to global crises, world wars, revolutions – and has anything fundamentally changed here? After all, the contradiction between labor and capital has not disappeared anywhere (which has turned into increased exploitation when the organized class struggle was abandoned). Or maybe the contradiction between different financial groups and imperialist powers in their struggle for sources of raw materials, for foreign territories (constant re-distribution of spheres of influence, wars in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria) has vanished somewhere? Doesn’t the contradiction between a handful of dominant “civilized” nations and hundreds of millions of colonial and dependent peoples of the world, revealed by the classics more than a hundred years ago, continue to pulsate?
Nevertheless, the rising practice of rejecting “communism” neglected the former theory as something insignificant. Most had no doubts: in 1917, Russia turned “wrong” from the “pillar road of civilization”, that is, from the path that the West offers, and now it’s time to return to the true direction of development, to capitalist relations.
All subsequent events swept through the interests of workers and labor intelligentsia as a steam rink, after which many were convinced on personal experience that love of capitalism leads to tragedy. Socialism is gaining popularity among the people again, but so far only as a general idea and nostalgia for Soviet life – not so much as to want to return to the path of building socialism and take organized and sufficient actions for this purpose. But such a shift is also important. To come to this, people needed to survive the mass impoverishment of the 90s, feel the refusal of the new authorities from the previous social policy, survive in the conditions of banditry and predatory privatization, observe the collapse of industry and a clear decrease in the status of “workers” compared to the position of thieves, prostitutes, fraudsters and bourgeois. And some have gone through death, genocide and loss of everything. This is the price of abandoning the class approach.
Capitalism without embellishment
The reasons for the restoration of capitalism in the USSR and Eastern Europe have been studied in great detail. But if you look at the process of death of the first mature fruits of the October Revolution from the outside, you can see the overall picture: in a number of socialist countries, once saved by the revolution from bourgeois terror and fascism, and then rebuilt and well-equipped, the most active part of the population stood out, which decided that all the advantages of socialism arose by themselves and have no value. And capitalism, in the representation of these groups, can give more benefits and comfort – if not to all, then to the most worthy (each anti-Soviet in these ranks saw himself). These were the illusions of many liquidators of socialism.
However, capitalism itself (both world and its specific embodiment in Russia) has entered a new stage of its development over the past 35 years. And this segment of the path of the global economy can be characterized as follows: the transition through a systemic crisis to the collapse of the entire bourgeois system.
It cannot be said that even before that time in the economy of capitalist countries everything was cloudless (if you look not through rose-colored glasses). The First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the collapse of the colonial system, the wars of the new time (Korea, Vietnam, etc.), the oil crisis of the 70s – the bourgeois world order shook often, with short interruptions for stabilization. The notorious “level of living” of Western commoners was based on three factors:
1) imperialist regimes developed a multi-level scheme for pumping resources from dependent countries and could redistribute part of the loot within themselves in favor of the population;
2) the interests of the “elites” ruling in the West demanded to knock down the revolutionary potential of the working strata of the powers of the imperialist center (the United States, Western Europe and several of their allies in other regions of the world). After 1917, and especially after 1945, the working class of those regions began to be bribed by social support within the framework of capitalism;
3) the need to compete with the USSR required imperialist countries to invest in the real economy (and these are jobs, the development of education and health care systems).
Paragraphs 2 and 3 ceased to prevail over the ruling classes of the West immediately after 1991 – it was believed that socialism and revolutions no longer threatened the triumph of capitalism. Paragraph 1 is still relevant, but resistance to imperialist exploitation is growing in many regions of the world. In these new circumstances, sad processes began to occur with the “standard of living”, and the well-being of the broad masses in the West has fallen downhill.
Obviously, the collapse of early European socialism and the collapse of the USSR gave a group of predatory imperialist countries led by the United States several years of crisis-free development. These years flew by unnoticed, although at first it seemed that they would last forever (the so-called “end of history”). Capitalism needs constant expansion of markets, and the thieving elites of the new states that emerged on the territory of the former social camp have provided their markets and all kinds of cheap resources into the hands of the imperialists. The effect of the “mastering” of new territories quickly ended and already in 1995 the crisis of “dotcoms” broke out – a wave of bankruptcies, the collapse of prices and stock indices. It is important here that this disaster (still local) broke out in the countries of the first world and was associated with the insufficient efficiency of Internet companies – the very industry that propaganda means paint as the embodiment of the hopes of all mankind for development. In July 1997, in parallel with the dotcom crisis, an Asian crisis struck, which affected the entire brood of “Asian tigers”: South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong. Companies went borde, currencies depreciated, workers and employees massively lost the size of their earnings or replenished the army of the unemployed.
But it was only a prelude to the global crisis that started in 2008, which is still deepening. His march began with a sle of mortgage defaults in the United States and quickly covered the entire planet and most industries. Since then, bankruptcy, unemployment, lack of growth and reduction of social support for the population have become commonplace. Capitalism has finally lost the potential for development. Agony can last for decades. But one thing is for sure: the process of dying of the last socio-economic formation associated with the exploitation of man by man will not last forever.
Russia, which abandoned socialism in 1991, initially fell into the category of semi-colonial and dependent on the West. The newly formed class of owners for a number of years destroyed the production capacities of the national economy and withdrew capital abroad. In fact, the new “elites” (in Russia they were called that – “new Russians”) enthusiastically followed all the advice and direct instructions of Western curators and, without doubting their actions, exchanged economic development for preferences from the West and the promised entry of the chosen ones into the club. “Accept us, we are ours now, bourgeois!” – this was the message of Russian capitalists and officials to the “aboreas”. However, they were deceived – the existing imperialist center does not need partners in the robbery of the planet, it needs sacrifices. Therefore, bourgeois Russia was forced to leave the former voluntary semi-colonial state.
Now the general crisis of capitalism continues to grow. New wars, lack of economic growth, sanctions policy – these are the realities of our days, and everything is only getting worse. The so-called financial bubbles are inflating in the economy, educational and demographic crises are spreading, someone is forced to migrate, and someone accepts migration waves – problems are superimposed on one.
Undoubtedly, capitalism has brought the peoples of the planet to the threshold of a catastrophe, the scale of which is becoming more and more global. The speed of development of events increases, which turns the general fall into the abyss into the work of the near future. And you have to get out of this abyss.
Socialism as a factor of development
There is one reason why Western ideologues constantly repeat the economic inefficiency of socialism. And this reason is the amazing economic efficiency of socialism. What do the facts say here?
The Russian Empire, which lags behind developed countries by 1913 in all sectoral indicators, becoming dependent on the capital of France, Britain, Belgium, etc., was forced to nero its potential on the fronts of the First World War. The October Revolution and the victory of the Soviet government in the Civil War brought liberation from the expansion of foreign capital, the young republic embarked on the path of socialist construction. But the start was very low: to the factors of backward were added the destruction from the hostilities of 1918-1922 and the results of terrible epidemics (typhus, cholera, etc.). It is with the listed reasons that the effect of “long swing” is associated: most of the economic indicators of the Russian Empire were achieved only by 1927. But further development was increasingly intense. Industrialization followed, i.e. the construction of new cities, thousands of modern factories and the emergence of promising sectors of the economy. Collectivization was carried out throughout the country – a technological transition from traditional (medieval) agriculture to industrial methods of land cultivation and the development of animal husbandry. The Soviet authorities paid great attention to mass education, the purpose of which was to train quality personnel. The republic needed millions of skilled workers and engineers, so thousands of schools, colleges, institutes grew in cities and villages. Mass health care was introduced on the same scale.
The history of the USSR is well known. The striking pace of industrialization, the education of millions of competent specialists and the creation of a modern army ensured the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, where the economy of the USSR opposed the economy of almost all of Europe. After the war, shock construction continued, and according to many indicators, the Soviet Union took the first places in the world. The country built nuclear power plants, became a pioneer of space exploration, developed aircraft construction, electronics and other technological industries. The main problems hanging over the people have been solved, the basic needs of the population have been closed.
Thus, as a result of the revolutionary transition to the construction of socialism, the USSR appeared from the lagging behind and increasingly falling into dependence on the Western capitals of the Russian Empire, a powerful, completely independent union of peoples, provided with everything necessary – and by its own forces – and having influence on the rest of the world.
We must not forget that all this transformation took place in not the most favorable foreign policy conditions. As already mentioned, the pressure from the outside did not weaken. It was necessary to spend a lot of energy either on the fight against foreign intervention, then on repelling the invasion of fascist hordes, then on the “cold war” (political, economic and sometimes open military confrontation with the imperialist center).
The question arises: at the expense of what could such an incredible development of the USSR take place? The imperialist West has always been enriched by redistributing resources in its favor: it entangled the whole planet with military bases, seized markets, organized non-equivalent exchange with dependent countries and introduced other methods of robbing its zones of influence.
The Soviet Union moved in a completely different paradigm: it fed on its internal potential, helped other peoples to free themselves from Western influence and become economically independent.
Capitalist propaganda accuses the USSR of all crimes: allegedly, only internal terror allowed the socialist economy to stay afloat. The unreleason of these accusations is obvious. The modern economy requires a liberated and educated population. From under the stick you can do only simple routine work, and then without enthusiasm. Take-off and development need initiative, inspiration, flight of thought. It was these features that were inherent in the Soviet people, the worker and the creator.
If we look at socialism as a way of organizing the economy, there are several special features:
- Centralization. Combining all potentials and scarce resources into a single national economic organism that works according to the plan and in the interests of the entire population.
- Elimination of private property for means of production and introduction of public property. This removes the clash of private interests, the waste of public resources on competition and bankruptcy, eliminates the need to ensure the safe existence of parasitic classes.
- The class division of society is aging. The fight against inequality is being implemented, as a result of which the people become more and more homogeneous. Education of younger generations, education, health care, employment, professional retraining, the fight against crime and social vices – all this becomes a common cause. No segments of the population remain left to themselves. The socialist system allows you to reveal the maximum of talents in the people. Waves of enthusiasm, ingenuity, innovation and creative attitude to work contribute to the constant modernization of the national economy.
- The celebration of a scientific approach to all areas of development and the possibility of long-term planning. Hundreds of research institutes, tens of thousands of scientists, introducing the population to science from an early age. This approach gave maximum efficiency in choosing ways of development and solving specific problems.
Obviously, such organizational opportunities are not available to capitalist countries. Centralization and planning are applicable there only to a certain extent, until they intersect with the interests of large capital. When working with the population, the bourgeoisie cultivates inequality, so creativity to work and induction to science, full-fledged education and health care are not available to all strata of society. In such conditions, people’s potentials are revealed only partially. It is impossible to talk about long-term planning under capitalism at all: spontaneous development associated with economic crises, the clash of private interests of many players and the constant change of the political vector are just some of the reasons for this limitation. Profits “here and now” are always more important than possible improvement in the uncertain future.
It turns out that socialism has a number of decisive advantages over capitalism. And this was proven by the whole story after 1917. Even the crisis of early socialism has clearly shown: the return to the level of capitalist formation, despite the risy bourgeois stereotypes, leads peoples to lagging spontaneous development, deprives workers of a large number of prospects, plunges nations into dependence on predators, creates monstrous inequality.
Historically, socialism was introduced not only in the USSR. A variety of peoples embarked on this path. Currently, the DPRK and Cuba are fully socialist countries (but it is under very heavy imperialist pressure). Strong elements of socialist development remain in China, Vietnam and several other countries.
China is especially interesting nowadays. A hundred years ago, he was considered extremely backward and hopeless. Britain, Japan and other imperialist predators were engaged in systematic robbery of China, divided it into spheres of influence, bribed rulers, exported resources and used the population as the cheapest and most disenfranchised labor. The revolutionary liberation and civil war led China to the path of socialist construction (here we must not forget about the help from the USSR). But the fact that China’s start as a socialist country was much lower than Russia’s is an obvious fact.
Since 1949 and to the present day, China has gone through several stages of socialist development. A whole tail of problems inherited by China from the past caused its long formation and in a new capacity. China has not completely parted with the elements of capitalism in our time. But at the same time, China is now the most developed country that is not part of the imperialist center, and in a number of indicators it already surpasses the United States. The pace of China’s development suggests that it can break out in all areas in the very near future. And, despite the fact that capitalism in China is not fully overdure (there is a class of capitalists, and therefore inequality), the presence of elements of socialism in the form of the public sector of the economy, state planning, universal quality education and health care gives China an advantage. Of course, there is also the danger of China’s counterrevolutionary rebirth, its rejection of socialism. Inside this country there is a certain balance, there is a hidden class struggle, the outcome of which will depend on much in the modern world. A sign of the victory of socialist trends in China will be the strengthening of its international policy, the movement towards support of socialist forces in other countries.
Currently, China is a unique transitional type from capitalism to socialism (transitional means it can go both forward and backward). Capitalism and socialism are present in it at the same time. It should be taken into account that socialism itself is a transitional form, the first stage of communism, retaining the signs of the society from which it came out. It turns out that China demonstrates to us the possibility of the existence of an earlier transition stage. It is important that it is the socialist side of China that makes it a dynamic and completely unattainable leader of economic development for its capitalist competitors. And this factor gives a good chance for a socialist option of China’s development.
We will also record the fact that not only state socialism (as in the USSR), but also the presence of elements of socialism adjacent to the clear manifestations of capitalism (as in China), can be a competitive advantage in the modern world, in which capitalism still dominates at the international level.
There is no way to get rid of socialism
There is a conviction among communists that socialism cannot be born within capitalism: first, the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat must be established, in which work will consciously be carried out to build a new type of society. It turns out some exception to the rules. Although, let’s remember that Lenin in “State and Revolution” cited the coherence of the German post office as an example for scaling on the territory of the entire socialist state. It turns out that the very mail can be considered a kind of rude inclusion of the socialist form inside the capitalist society.
All previous changes of formations took place in such a way that the essential elements of the new system originated inside the old one. In slavery, there were tenants of land, free people who became the main productive class of feudalism, in parallel with slaves. Both the bourgeoisie and the proletariat began to emerge in feudal society. By the time of bourgeois revolutions, capitalist relations had already developed so much that the issue of transformations had a lot of supporters.
Even counter-revolutions within socialist countries occurred because bourgeois tendencies smoldered in society for a long time.
But the transition to socialism has a slightly different nature. By and large, this is not even a change of capitalism to something more progressive. Socialism is the first stage of communism. And the transition here is more global: from all types of exploitative societies to a classless society. Therefore, the revolutionary revolution should be more difficult than the previous formations that were replaced, and perhaps longer in time.
As you know, in 1917 not only the first victorious proletarian revolution took place. As Lenin said, a whole era of proletarian revolutions has started this year. And today, no matter what, we are in it. What does it mean? Pure, without any impurities, capitalism has long since disappeared. The politics and struggle of socialist countries forced capitalism to rebuild, decorate, bribe the working layers, knocking down their revolutionary nature; introduce right-wing socialists into the governments; build mechanisms of state regulation (Keynesianism) into the economy; invent a “social state”. The second type of reaction of capitalism is associated with the complete rejection of socialism. We are talking about fascism, which was created as an extreme instrument of counteraction to the capitalists of the proletarian revolution. What we call today’s capitalism is also a transitional phenomenon, that is, capitalism that has been significantly influenced by a new emerging system, socialism. Both pricho-sashing and fascism are present in the world today as elements of the politics of bourgeois classes. Capitalism is always and everywhere deeply hostile to socialism, but the ways of combating it – adjustment, violence, or some combination of them – are always formed in specific conditions, under the influence of many factors.
Nowadays, any country, even the most capitalist one that has never allowed socialist politics, is in a world where socialism has taken deep roots, and therefore is under the influence of socialism. Once standing at the state level, socialism began to communist transform all corners of the planet. And now there is no such region that is not at one or another stage of this global restructuring (even in the initial one).
Moreover, socialism has stunned the dominant circles of imperialist states with the pace and scale of its development. Historically, from the very beginning of the existence of their class, capitalists are determined to copy someone else’s success. Follow the leader, imitate the idol – and his luck will be transferred to you. And it would be strange if individual capitalist regimes did not try to copy some of the organizational elements of socialism that showed themselves most effectively (in the opinion of capitalists, of course).
As far as we can, state regulation of economic sectors and planning elements are introduced here and there. More than once they tried to imitate the Soviet school. Why might capitalists need this? Everything is very simple here. Elements of socialism are considered either as extraordinary rescue measures in times of crisis, or as a competitive advantage, which means a very necessary matter in the bourgeois world.
Dialectics tells us that when a certain whole acquires a new part for itself, this part simultaneously gets the opportunity to influence the whole whole. And if we do not notice these processes, it does not mean that they, albeit slowly, do not unfold.
And, of course, we should not forget that in most countries there are communist parties, many of which were members of the Lenin-Stalin Comintern or emerged under its influence, have considerable experience of political struggle for socialism, including armed or underground struggle. The supporters of these parties can be thousands and millions of people. All this power is now in some decline and in a waiting mode of suitable conditions – in order to gain new weight when the time comes and try again to establish first the dictatorship of the proletariat, and then socialism.
Can it happen that in order to win the competition, socialism will be deliberately allowed by capitalists into the economy and politics on a larger scale? Socialism is hostile to capitalism, the world of private property, profit, exploitation of man by man. However, during the deepening of the crisis, in some cases the question may be asked as follows: either death and absorption by competitors, or the introduction of saving socialist measures. And somewhere they will probably choose the second one.
Fascism as an extreme reaction to socialism
The first prototypes of fascist movements appeared as early as 1918: white in Russia and fraikor in Germany. Before that, there was no need for such phenomena. But as soon as the proletarian revolution in Russia happened, which threatened to sperse to other countries, the emergence of fascism was not long in coming. The most historically developed form of this phenomenon was German Nazism in 1933-1945.
If simple mimicry for socialism is a defensive measure of capitalism, then fascism has grown as an offensive measure, whose goal is the complete elimination of any socialist sentiments, the destruction of communists, control over all strata of society to maintain the domination of extremely reactionary forces. In parallel with the uprooting of the red threat, fascism solved issues of competition with other capstrans.
Initially emerging as a simple forceful solution to the problem of revolution, fascism developed into a special phenomenon. The capitalist world perceived Soviet power as a deadly threat (which is the truth). In the emerging emergency conditions, fascism acted as a fire brigade, a saving measure for the most reactionary bourgeois circles. Much was allowed to increase the efficiency of the new brainchild of capital. Acting against socialism, fascism imitated its elements: both centralization (as far as possible under capitalism) and the unification of the entire population to solve the problems at hand (the so-called “reassion of the nation against the threat of Bolshevism”). He also tried to expand long-term planning (proclaimed, for example, the “thousand-year Reich”). However, fascism remained capitalism of the country’s scale and served the interests of the national bourgeoisie (its most reactionary part). And she, at the expense of corporate slogans, rubbing into the trust of the workers, tried to solve her narrow-class problems.
Typical bourgeois demagogues draw analogies between socialism and fascism. Supporters of socialist development should always remember that the true class interest of workers in each country is the international unity of workers. Therefore, real socialist politics is always international.
Fascist regimes are ruled by groups of the most ardent predators of this nation. Their task is to ensure their domination. The exploited strata can be told that the whole people are now a big family and promise a share from the robbery of the selected victims. The whole country is turning into one corporation with zero tolerance for any dissent (that is, they eradicate not only socialists, but also everyone who criticizes the regime). In foreign policy, fascism is prone to aggression – and educates the entire population in the spirit of hatred.
One of the factors of the initial success of fascist regimes is the widespread stay of the working class (or some of its parts) at the corporate level of consciousness in developed capitalist countries. In this state, workers are good at uniting to fight for their rights within the framework of capitalism, but are wary or even hostile to communists and any socialist propaganda. The very ability to organize here acts as a competitive advantage to fight other classes of this society (not only with exploiters, but even with other groups of workers). Fascism often manages to find an approach to different strata, including such corporate-minded workers, promises them everything they want to hear. The workers themselves (who have not grown up to class consciousness) in such a situation can peck at demagogy and join the fascist movement, become its activists and even fanatical supporters. Fascist representatives of the working classes are often fiercely ready to eradicate those detachments of the proletariat that have grown to a genuine, socialist level of consciousness.
Russia: a capitalist country with a socialist past and future
A whole brood of leftists and liberals usually consider Russia a fascist country. This term is often used as a curse. But some politicians are convinced of the tendency to cut off bourgeois democracy, as well as evidence of the “fascistism” of the Russian Federation, as well as some repressions and cases of anti-communism.
Undoubtedly, many of these facts are reprehensiable. The capitalist regime that emerged in Russia established, like all other capitalist regimes, the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie class. It could not be otherwise, since the counterrevolution won. Numerous democratic institutions existing both in the Russian Federation and in other capstrans – parliaments, courts, independent lawyers and the media – are just a screen covering the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. And such a dictatorship is always implemented in the form of suppression of its class enemies, that is, the working class, and especially those layers of it that have matured to socialist class consciousness. Suppression does not necessarily occur in the toughest force method. The range of methods here is wide: difficulties with the official registration of a party or candidate in the elections, formal barriers, fines for various minor violations, obstacles to campaigning and propaganda work, point nippis of local officials, etc. Questions and methods of counting votes in elections are raised.
We know that in some “democracies” there is a direct ban on communist activities and symbols. This is the case, for example, in the Czech Republic, Poland, the Baltic States, etc. There is no such ban in the Russian Federation. But communists and representatives of the labor movement periodically feel increased pressure. Somewhere they will quietly demolish a Soviet monument. The most unseasant are sent to prison, including in violation of the law. It’s all outrageous. Repressions and pressure must be fought politically, everything must be made public. But it is important to understand that this level of pressure is common in all bourgeois democracies (i.e. bourgeois dictatorships).
Fascism always acts in a wrong way: unambiguously, radically, assertively and effectively. As soon as fascism is established at the state level, the communists and the independent labor movement are eliminated in a short time and without looking back at any formalities.
Thus, it is obvious that there is no state fascism in the Russian Federation. And there are some dangerous trends that can in the future and under a certain coincidence of circumstances lead to the establishment of a fascist regime here.
But what is modern Russia in terms of its susceptibility to socialist influence?
We have already written that after the victory of the counterrevolution on the territory of the USSR, ideological and everyday anti-communism reigned quite firmly in this territory. Part of the population, however, retained socialist beliefs. Over time, in Russia (the largest and most independent fragment of the USSR), anti-Soviet propaganda at the level of the state and the media has become less vulgar and more delicate. The voices of supporters of socialism and pro-Soviet historians found their audience (sometimes on television, but more often on the Internet), and these processes were not stopped by the authorities. A balance of social influence controlled by the regime was established, where supporters of socialism, in general, were given their own legal niche.
What is the reason for such loyalty to socialism on the part of the initially fiercely anti-Soviet regime? Obviously, the establishment and maintenance of such a balance can hardly be accidental.
The Russian authorities and their opponents, the communists, learned that the working masses were not ready to fight in 2018, when the country underwent a long-promised and long-swayed pension reform, which was clearly anti-people. If millions came out on the square and seriously demanded to prevent the deterioration of pension conditions, the regime could make concessions (adequate to the level of class struggle) and would see the dangerous ability of workers to self-organize. But the insufficient power of protests told the capitalists and senior officials of the Russian Federation something else: the people do not want to fight for their economic and political interests yet.
And now the dominant circles in the Russian Federation understand that the Russian working class is not ready for an organized struggle today. So, there is no need to suffocate the labor movement if it itself is in its infancy. Communists in these conditions will not recruit activists for their parties. And millions of passive supporters of socialism, who consume pro-Soviet and socialist content, are in no hurry to take part in either economic or political struggle – and do not pose a threat to capitalism. But they work at enterprises, fully participate in the economy, which is very suitable for the bourgeois regime.
The authorities should not undermine the existing class balance also because the SVO is underway and the state needs mass support. The people, including supporters of socialism, are mostly understanding of the ongoing war and its goals – the need to destroy Zelensky’s fascist regime, which holds power in Ukraine.
That is why mass repressions and anti-Soviet attacks in the Russian Federation would now be harmful to the ruling strata. But this is only a matter of temporary gain for supporters of capitalism. And the regime itself still remains anti-communist, exploitative and set to suppress any subjectivity of the working class.
It is also worth highlighting another important reason why the fight against socialist tendencies in Russia is dangerous for the dominant capitalism. The Russian Federation as a state came out of the socialist state in 1991, but the basis of the economy – all this mass of factories, defense enterprises, power plants, research institutes, educational institutions, etc. built within the framework of the Soviet State Plan – remained socialist, not only in its origin, but also in the most effective method of application. Only these, still colossal productive forces, allow the leadership of today’s Russia to behave independently at the international level and rely against pressure from the imperialist center. Any brick here is a load-bearing structure that cannot be removed or swayed much. If we bring immense privatization here, more market relations and carry out the disintegration of a single system of the national economy (as in the 90s under Yeltsin), then production will quickly collapse. Previously, the bourgeois authorities did not care deeply about it – let everything burn with fire, as long as the capital flows abroad. But now the situation has radically changed. Centralization and planning are what is favorable for the work of the Russian economy, which has deep roots in the socialist State Plan. And the former destroyers of the single national economic complex are forced to reckon with it, no matter how bitter it is for them. In addition, the developing demographic crisis turns all participants in the economy into a particularly valuable resource, for the retention and preservation of which it is necessary to maintain favorable conditions.
In the 90s, the national economic complex was already being hit. The ruling class at that time was determined to destroy the socialist economy and carried out mass privatization of enterprises (usually with the subsequent liquidation and scrapping of machines). “New Russians” counted on the favor of “Western partners” and did everything that was profitable for them. However, a significant part of the industry could not be destroyed. And then it turned out that in this world, if the bourgeois “elites” of Russia can rely on anyone, it is on the production and military power of their country. And the national economic complex again, albeit poorly, but began to develop. If in the 90s turners, tractor drivers, miners, engineers, teachers, doctors, military were rapidly impoverishing, today the pressure on them has slightly weakened (although there are a lot of household problems). Skilled workers suddenly became a valuable resource that needs to be reproduced and supported. Our people honor Victory Day, love Soviet films, get upset when demolishing Soviet monuments and renaming streets – in the current conditions, the authorities are ready to play on these moods, as long as steel is cooked, fields are sown, planes fly.
The economy is working, production produces hundreds of tons of various products, and the authorities have not yet decided to disrupt the movement of well-established processes with a new mass twisting of anti-Soviet nuts (although, probably, they really want to). Repressions against communists can be cruel and indicative – for example, the trial of the “Ufa Five” – but so far they remain point, they do not turn into a total ban and harassment.
The peculiarity of today’s Russia is that along with smoldering negative trends that can lead to an increase in reaction, our fragment of the USSR has a serious material basis for returning to the socialist path of development, and this may happen in the coming decades – probably during the unfolding of the world crisis. There are powerful prerequisites of socialism in the country:
– a developed production and economic complex, which works most effectively not as a mass of disparate enterprises, but as a single centralized and developing national economy according to the plan;
– a multi-million educated and qualified working class with a natural ally – a multimillion-dollar labor intelligentsia (teachers, doctors, engineers). And they all already know what capitalism really is;
– anti-socialist sentiments do not have the same all-encompasive rampage as in the first two decades after the collapse of the USSR;
– socialist sentiments, if they do not grow, remain deeply rooted in society. The change of generations did not lead to the complete extinction of supporters of socialism. A positive attitude towards the Soviet Union, its history and achievements in Russian society is popular, including among young people. This situation is recorded by a number of public opinion polls;
– the communist movement managed to go through years of reaction, retained the core of capable personnel, continues organizational and theoretical work. There are chances for the revival of a mass and strong communist party capable of leading the workers in the process of transition from capitalism to socialism (although much is also done to discredit the communist idea by the CPRF, etc.)
By and large, the only reason why Russia remains closed in the bourgeois framework and does not move to socialist construction is that tens of millions of workers only passively participate in the political development of the country, thereby leaving the management of the national economy and the solution of the most important state issues in the hands of bourgeois circles.
With a likely rise in the activity of the working class and its allies, all existing balances will be disrupted. This is where supporters of capitalism may need to strengthen the reaction and all the tools of class repression developed by history. But the Russian bourgeois forces also have experience of interaction with the imperialist center, without the help of which the growing socialism will not be stopped. Now even fools understand well: the West, providing any support, does not accept as allies, but only as henchmen. Whether the ruling circles in Russia will want to turn into an analogue of Zelensky’s regime or decide to make concessions to the working people who are aware and fight for their true interests depends on many factors, including those that will manifest themselves during the development of the crisis.
Anti-fascist struggle as an element of the struggle for socialism
The RCRP has long studied the issue of the connection of a group of imperialist countries led by the United States and Zelensky’s fascist regime. There is no doubt that there is fascism in Ukraine now. Communists, opposition, labor movement were suppressed, communication in Russian was prohibited, a whole religious denomination was repressed. The politics and economy of the country are involved in the organization of internal and external terror for the interests of a narrow capitalist group in Kiev, but most importantly, all Western capital, which is the customer and sponsor of the current incarnation of fascism.
Obviously, fascism cannot just be established on a state scale only at the request of reactionary forces and generous foreign initiators. We also need mass support for this particular path.
The transformation of Ukraine’s independent development after 1991 led to its large-scale deindustrialization, much more catastrophic and all-evouring than in Russia. Emigration and labor tourism towards the European Union have gained wide popularity among the unemployed population. The idea of “living like in Europe” became widespread and was directly related to the loss of most normal work in production and labor qualifications. In such a people full of bourgeois illusions, it is easy to find supporters of parasitic development at the expense of other countries, such as Russia. It is noteworthy that where the industry has been preserved in its mass (Donbass), fascist sentiments could not gain positions.
After the Russian bourgeois ruling circles refused to turn their country into a devoid of production semi-colony of the imperialist center, Russia became an enemy of the West. We have already shown that the Russian ruling elite refused to give up their positions, it itself is able to exploit the wealth of the country and the people of Russia – this is its patriotism and interest in the SVO. In addition, Russia’s presence of nuclear weapons, a large army and a developed military-industrial complex makes the possibility of direct aggression against it (as against Yugoslavia or Libya) dangerous. And the West decided to use Ukraine as a power club, which was taken under full control as a result of the “Maidan” in 2014.
In order for Ukraine to pose any danger to Russia, the Kiev regime had to be able to use all the country’s resources. Fascism was needed for this: it was necessary to gather the population and the economy into a fist for a suicidal massacre in the interests of Western imperialists.
The SVO, which has been going on since 2022, is a war of a group of predatory countries against Russia to weaken and subjugate it. The Russian bourgeoisie seeks to survive this war, keep assets (the entire Russian economy) under its control, get rid of the dictates of the capitals of the imperialist center, get the right to pursue an independent policy in the world without looking at Western gendarmes and turn Ukraine into a neutral state, at least. The Russian working class, despite the fact that at the moment it is not ripe for action as a subject, also has its own fundamental interests in this struggle. This is, firstly, Russia’s preservation of its complex economy and the possibility of independent development; secondly, the maximum weakening of the imperialist center, which will necessarily stand in the way of any socialist development. Thirdly, the destruction of the wasp fascist nest that developed under Russia’s side, as well as the salvation of the peoples of Donbass and all of Ukraine from the fatal dictatorship of Zelensky’s regime. And fourthly, Russia’s victory will give chances to create favorable conditions for the maturation of the working class, while the possible defeat of the Russian Federation and the strengthening of Western influence will weaken our working class. As we can see, in this particular war, the interests of Russian capital and the working class partially coincide (which sometimes infuriates some left-wing dogmatists who inadequately perceive reality).
The Russian “elites” probably, especially at the beginning of the open confrontation with Ukraine, also made imperialist plans for themselves, but now it’s about whether the defensive goals of the SVO – Russia’s preservation of free economic development – will be fully fulfilled. And talking at the moment about the international expansion of Russian capital is at least ridiculous, since it is not comparable to the aggressive pressure of Western capital.
The labor movement in Russia is far from on the rise, it is difficult to say anything about the existence of the Ukrainian labor movement at all. It is premature to put the question of the proletarian revolution in the current conditions. But this does not mean that the SVO has nothing to do with the construction of socialism.
It is important to note that only capitalist countries are involved in this conflict from all sides. But socialism – as the worldview of many Russian fighters, as a memory of the past great war with fascism, as a new life of Soviet symbols – is also present in this historical clash. It is known that the first organized power resistance to Bandera’s detachments in Donbass in 2014 was given by workers – miners and tractor drivers. Donetsk and Luhansk anti-fascists often operated under the Soviet red flag. In the SVO that began in 2022, bourgeois Russia is already acting with its main forces, not under the steach. But red flags on tanks, APCs and on buildings liberated from Ukrainian nationalist formations are often raised. It must be assumed that the command does not interfere with this. In the mood of ordinary fighters, usually young men, the socialist component lives and breaks out – and this is very remarkable.
The other, opposite warring side, Bandera’s Ukraine, is fiercely anti-communist. Monuments to Lenin and the soldiers of the Red Army were demolished in all cities and villages controlled by the Zelensky regime (they did not stop there – everything Russian is destroyed, including books being burned, monuments to Pushkin and historical figures are broken). The most fanatical fighters in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are nationalists with swastikas and portraits of Hitler. Ordinary people in Ukraine are also often brought to an anti-Soviet denominator. Conscious communists or supporters of socialism act extremely carefully, otherwise they will be killed (for example, the SKU(s), which is part of our party, works underground). It is known that in the West, communists are often cornered, and there is a constant struggle with manifestations of socialism.
This difference in ideological approaches is not accidental. Bourgeois Russia, despite all the efforts of capitalizers and local anti-Soviets, still retains a huge potential for a new transition to the construction of socialism. And this construction will begin not from “zero”, not with the training of the peasants in the alphabet, but from the level that was created by the Soviet people during the years of grandiose industrial and social development – and continues to persist in modern Russia. There are workers – there will be a workers’ movement, which will restart the historical process.
The imperialist center, which is losing strength and influence, feels this danger, the most deadly for it. And his goal is not only to subjugate and plunder the largest fragment of the USSR, but also to deprive the world of such a hearth where socialism can be revived in full force. To strike at this potential hearth, the West revived the best working anti-communist tool – fascism.
The fact that this balance of power is not a fantasy at all is also evidenced by the military support of Russia by the DPRK, the most progressive and most advanced state on the way to building socialism.
Current events related to the SVO are just prerequisites for what will happen in the coming decades. The rotting of the countries of imperialism will reach the qualitative line, and the despair of the reactionaries losing power and the former power will reach the limit. The experience of anti-fascist struggle will be in demand more than once. The peoples of the world will have the opportunity to develop without Western dictates through struggle. The rise of socialist sentiments among the workers of many countries, as well as the need to master the latest means of production and eliminate the troubles brought by the crisis, will lead many nations to abandon outdated capitalism. And this world transition to socialism will take place in this century.
Vyacheslav SYCHEV,
Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCRP on ideology
