Commemorating Comrade Lenin on his birth anniversary

April is a significant month for all Marxist-Leninists. Firstly, because Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, popularly known as Comrade Lenin, was born this month in 1870. And secondly, because his April Theses were published this month.

Marx and Engels, of course, played a vital role in creating the international workers’ movement. They were the greatest theoreticians of the world socialist movement. But Lenin, along with his intellect, was also a dedicated builder of the revolutionary party. It was Lenin, after all, who made a socialist revolution possible in Russia.

Lenin in 1917 (Source: Marxists Internet Archive)

A Socialist Revolutionary

In early 1917, while a majority of the Bolshevik leaders, in Lenin’s words, “the Old Bolsheviks”, were in favour of the provisional government led by Kerensky, Lenin’s appeal was to overthrow it. Although Russia was at that time a backward country, it was never Lenin’s opinion that the revolution had to be led by the bourgeoisie. Following Marx and Engels, Lenin recognised the proletariat as the genuinely revolutionary class. He appealed to the people of Russia and the Bolsheviks several times to overthrow this Provisional Government. He expressed his ideas in his Letters from Afar. Out of the five letters written by him, only the first was published by Pravda. The second, third and fourth were not published. And the fifth letter was left unfinished by Lenin himself. The basic ideas that Lenin wanted to express through these letters were later written in his Letters on Tactics, April Theses and The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution.

What Lenin talked about in these letters was that another revolution was needed to overthrow the Provisional Government enthroned by the February Revolution. And the revolution that Lenin and Trotsky were planning now was a socialist one. This contrasts with the Menshevik idea of a two-stage revolution, which was later adopted by Stalin.

Lenin writes in his The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky:

“Things have turned out just as we said they would. The course taken by the revolution has confirmed the correctness of our reasoning. First, with the “whole” of the peasantry against the monarchy, against the landlords, against the medieval regime (and to that extent, the revolution remains bourgeois, bourgeois-democratic). Then, with the poor peasants, with the semi-proletarians, with all the exploited, against capitalism, including the rural rich, the kulaks, the profiteers, and to that extent the revolution becomes a socialist one. To attempt to raise an artificial Chinese Wall between the first and second, to separate them by anything else than the degree of preparedness of the proletariat and the degree of its unity with the poor peasants, means monstrously to distort Marxism, to vulgarize it, to substitute liberalism in its place.”

Lenin’s words are strictly in opposition to the two-stage theory that was later adopted by the Third International after Lenin and under Stalin. The two-stage theory, contrary to Leninism, says that at first there has to be a bourgeois revolution in alliance with the bourgeoisie, and then, a socialist revolution (if possible). The Stalinist two-stage theory thus brings a “Chinese Wall” between the bourgeois and socialist revolutions which Lenin had warned us against. But revolutionary Leninism says that the unfinished tasks of the bourgeois revolution must be completed by the socialist revolution alone.

Lenin in November 1918 (Source: Marxists Internet Archive)

The Significance of his April Theses

It was Lenin’s April Theses that changed the course of the Russian Revolution. Initially, the Bolsheviks were in support of the Provisional Government. However, after Lenin arrived in Russia from exile and his announcement of his April Theses, the Bolsheviks were forced to withdraw their support from the government. In his Theses, Lenin raised 10 points:

1. That “without overthrowing capital it is impossible to end the war [World War I] by a truly democratic peace”. Lenin had said the same thing in his lecture War and Revolution: “Until there is a workers’ revolution in several countries the war cannot be stopped, because the people who want that war are still in power.”

2. That Russia is “passing from the first stage of the revolution—which, owing to the insufficient class-consciousness and organisation of the proletariat, placed power in the hands of the bourgeoisie—to its second stage, which must place power in the hands of the proletariat and the poorest sections of the peasants.” Here, Lenin emphasises the point that the first stage of the revolution, i.e. placing the power in the hands of the bourgeoisie, was only a result of “insufficient class-consciousness and organisation of the proletariat”, and hence, not a compulsory stage of the revolution.

3. “No support for the Provisional Government.”

4. That instead of tailing the bourgeois Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks, being in the minority, should “carry on the work of criticising and exposing errors” of the government, and “preach the necessity of transferring the entire state power to the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies”.

5. That the Bolsheviks should fight for “a republic of Soviets of Workers’, Agricultural Labourers’ and Peasants’ Deputies throughout the country”, and that “to return to a parliamentary republic from the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies would be a retrograde step”. Lenin also called for the abolition of the police, the army and the bureaucracy, and demanded that the salaries of all officials should not exceed the average wage of a competent worker. At the same time, he also mentioned that these officials are elective and displaceable at any time.

6. “Nationalisation of all lands in the country, the land to be disposed of by the local Soviets of Agricultural Labourers’ and Peasants’ Deputies.”

7. “The immediate union of all banks in the country into a single national bank, and the institution of control over it by the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies.”

8. That socialism could not be introduced immediately, but social production and the distribution of products should be brought under the control of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies.

9. Then he emphasises some of the party tasks: (A) Immediate convocation of a Party congress; (B) Alteration of the Party Programme, mainly: (i) On the question of imperialism and the imperialist war, (ii) On the attitude towards the state and the demand for a “commune state”; (iii) Amendment of our out-of-date minimum programme; (C) Change of the Party’s name, resulting in the change of the party name from “Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks)” to “Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)” in 1918.

10. A new International. This led to the foundation of the Communist International in March 1919, which was disbanded by Stalin in 1943 to impress his bourgeois allies.

Lenin in August 1922 (Source: Marxists Internet Archive)

A World-Socialist Revolutionary: An Avowed Internationalist

Never could Lenin imagine that socialism can be built or survive in one country. Several times did he emphasise the need for a world socialist revolution to strengthen the socialist revolution of Russia. The October Revolution was nothing but the beginning of the world socialist revolution, according to Lenin.

On  July 23, 1918, Lenin said: “Aware of the isolation of its revolution, the Russian proletariat clearly realises that an essential condition and prime requisite for its victory is the united action of the workers of the whole world, or of several capitalistically advanced countries.” (Report Delivered at a Moscow Gubernia Conference of Factory Committees, July 23, 1918)

On November 8, 1918, he said: “The complete victory of the socialist revolution in one country alone is inconceivable and demands the most active co-operation of at least several advanced countries, which do not include Russia.” (Speech On The International Situation at the Extraordinary Sixth All-Russia Congress Of Soviets Of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’and Red Army Deputies, November 6-9, 1918)

In late February 1922, Lenin wrote: “[W]e have always urged and reiterated the elementary truth of Marxism—that the joint efforts of the workers of several advanced countries are needed for the victory of socialism.” (Notes of a Publicist)

Lenin could never recognise the possibility of the socialist revolution in Russia without the joint efforts of the workers of the advanced countries. This is why he emphasised the world socialist revolution several times. Socialism is something that cannot be confined to one single country, particularly in a country like Russia.

Of course, Marxism is nothing without internationalism. Marx and Engels urged the workers of the world—not those of some selected countries—to unite. Lenin, therefore, could not give up the idea of emancipation of the workers of the world. This is why he founded the Third International or the Communist International. By founding the new international, he wanted to spread the revolution of Russia throughout the world. He said on the foundation of the new International: “[T]he world revolution is beginning and growing in intensity everywhere.”

Just because Lenin had recognised the need for the internationalisation of the socialist revolution, he was expecting a revolution in Germany. Emphasising the importance of a socialist revolution in Germany, Lenin said in March 1918, “[W]ithout a German revolution we are doomed. ... [I]f the German revolution does not come, we are doomed.” It was of course not Lenin’s underestimation of the proletariat of Russia, but a practical outlook to safeguard the socialist revolution in Russia. Such was Lenin’s internationalism. He never had high expectations from the country where he made a revolution. Rather he analysed the situation dialectically.

He had previously talked about sacrificing even the revolution of Russia for the German revolution: “If we believe that the German movement can develop immediately, in the event of an interruption of the peace negotiations, then we must sacrifice ourselves, for the German revolution will have a force much greater than ours.” Such was the internationalism of Comrade Lenin.

On this 151st birth anniversary of Comrade V.I. Lenin, we, the revolutionary communists, commemorate his revolutionary legacy. May his revolutionary ideas inspire the people to revolutionise the world.

Commemorating Friedrich Engels on his 200th Birth Anniversary

    Friedrich Engels, the person who with Karl Marx revolutionised human thought, completes 200 years today. He was, in the words of Lenin, “the finest scholar and teacher of the modern proletariat” after Marx. Engels, along with Marx, devoted his entire life for a common cause and gifted the world proletariat a tool to establish a classless society, free from exploitation of man by man.

Friedrich Engels, 1840

    Engels was in service of his father’s firm, based in Manchester. There, he observed the condition of the working class. The condition of the working class tempted Engels, not towards greed, as an heir of his father’s firm, but towards hatred for capitalism, and his quest of a system that would replace it. It led to his authoring of The Condition of the Working Class in England, his first book, which was, as Lenin puts it, “a terrible indictment of capitalism and the bourgeoisie”. In this book, Engels mentions a prolonged period of wage-stagnation of the workers. It is the period that is referred to as “Engels’ Pause” by the economic historian Robert C. Allen. Engels also describes the health condition of the working class. Compared to the countryside, the working class living in the highly developed cities like Manchester and Liverpool were worse affected by diseases. Such conditions of the working class made him determined to find an alternative to the capitalist system. He became convinced that the salvation of the working class lies only in scientific socialism or communism.

    What would a communist society look like? What are the class forces that would fight to establish such a society? What will happen to the other existing classes? And what will happen to the state? Engels attempts to answer all these questions.

    In June, 1847, Engels wrote his Draft of the Communist Confession of Faith for the Communist League. Later, in October-November 1847, he wrote Principles of Communism. A comparison between these draft programmes of the Communist League shows the development of the ideas of Engels.

    On 23-34 November, 1847, Engels wrote to Marx: 

“Give a little thought to the Confession of Faith. I think we would do best to abandon the catechetical form and call the thing Communist Manifesto. Since a certain amount of history has to be narrated in it, the form hitherto adopted is quite unsuitable. I shall be bringing with me the one from here, which I did [in Principles of Communism]; it is in simple narrative form, but wretchedly worded, in a tearing hurry. I start off by asking: What is communism? and then straight on to the proletariat – the history of its origins, how it differs from earlier workers, development of the antithesis between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, crises, conclusions.”

    It was the beginning of Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto, that cut the ground under the feet of the exploiters. They published the Manifesto in late February 1848. Engels and Marx wanted a new system, i.e. communism. One thing is clear: Engels was always ready to amend his ideas for the sake of the emancipation of mankind. It suggests that he had a flexible mind, in the sense that he did not hesitate to revisit his own ideas, and a fixed purpose, i.e. to establish a society free from exploitation.

    Dialectics of Nature is one of his greatest gifts to the Marxist philosophy. His essay The Part played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man analyses the evolution of human beings from a dialectical materialist perspective. It shows how materialist conditions have contributed to the evolution of human beings from apes. Engels claimed, as it reflects in the title, that labour played a role in the transition from ape to human. It is labour that forced the apes to use their forelimbs. This led to the development of hands. The human hand, in the words of Engels, “has been highly perfected by hundreds of thousands of years of labour.” He said, “the hand is not only the organ of labour, it is also the product of labour.” With the development of hands, our ancestors engaged in communal labour, which further necessitated language. With labour, they developed tools and learnt how to use them. Labour and language, thus, influenced the brain of the ape in developing into what it is today.

    However, at the same time, it is labour that paved the way for exploitation. The increase of production demanded labour. It gave rise to the origin of private property and opened the possibility of slavery. Engels, in his The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, showed how the human society had developed through the ages, how the family had originated, how private property had originated and paved the way for the first forms of exploitation, from a materialist perspective. This book was written after the demise of Karl Marx. It provided “a slight substitute” for what Marx “no longer had the time to do”. The Origin also deals with the state, which was created by the first exploiters to keep the slaves bounded. According to Engels: 

“The state ... is a product of society at a certain stage of development; it is the admission that this society has become entangled in an insoluble contradiction with itself, that it has split into irreconcilable antagonisms which it is powerless to dispel. But in order that these antagonisms, these classes with conflicting economic interests, might not consume themselves and society in fruitless struggle, it became necessary to have a power, seemingly standing above society, that would alleviate the conflict and keep it within the bounds of ‘order’; and this power, arisen out of society but placing itself above it, and alienating itself more and more from it, is the state.”

    Marx and Engels concluded that all forms of exploitation will disappear with the disappearance of classes. It can happen only if the means of production are possessed communally. It will be a classless society, where no exploiter will exist. This is what is called communism. Since the state was created in favour of the exploiters, with their disappearance, the state will disappear too. Engels, in a letter to August Bebel, writes about the disappearance of the state: “with the introduction of the socialist order of society, the state will dissolve of itself and disappear.” The confiscation of state power by the proletariat makes the state an organisation of the proletariat. Capital and the means of production within the state will no longer remain a private property, but will belong to the state, which will be in the hands of the proletariat. As Marx and Engels write in Communist Manifesto:

“The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralise all instruments of production in the hands of the state, i.e., of the proletariat organised as the ruling class.”

    Thus, capturing of the state will be the beginning of the world proletarian revolution. The state in the hands of the proletariat, in the words of Marx, will be “the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat”.

    Another of the most valuable gifts by Engels to the world proletariat is his Herr Eugen Dühring’s Revolution in Science, popularly known as Anti-Dühring. This book has three parts, namely Philosophy, Political Economy and Socialism. This book is a detailed description of the idea of Marxism. A part of this book was later published as Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. Moreover, Engels has done a great favour to the world proletariat by publishing the second and third volumes of Marx’s Capital. There are many such writings of Engels, some of which were written collaboratively with Marx.

Engels, 1893

    Engels was a communist, not of words, but deeds. In early 1846, he, along with Marx, set up the Communist Correspondence Committee in Brussels. They joined the League of the Just in early 1847, on the condition of acceptance of their ideas. In June, Engels took part in a Congress of it, which tasked him with drafting a programme. The name of the League was changed to the Communist League. On Marx and Engels’ suggestion, the Congress also adopted the motto “Working Men of All Countries, Unite!” Engels also took part in the Elberfeld uprising in May 1849.

    In October 1870, Engels was elected to the General Council of the First International. In May 1871, Marx and Engels organised workers’ demonstrations in support of the Paris Commune, gave recommendations to the communards and campaigned in defence of the commune.

    Engels immensely helped Marx financially in publishing his writings. He also aided his family. Had Engels not agreed with Marx and supported him financially, the world would not have been introduced to the revolutionary ideas of the latter directly.

    Even today, Engels is amongst us – not physically, but in the form of his revolutionary ideas. Although it was Engels who coined the term “Marxism” after Marx, we must not forget the former’s contribution to the science. The revolutionary party must deliver the teachings of Engels to the proletariat, and guide it, so that it can struggle to achieve scientific socialism.

    Engels left the world on 5th August 1895 and left his ideas for the world proletariat. His revolutionary thought still inspires the workers of the world to achieve world socialism. Let us arm the workers and youth with the revolutionary ideas of Friedrich Engels.

The bi-centenary of Karl Marx's birthday

            The 5^th day of May, 2018 marks the bi-centenary of the birth of Karl Marx. May all the people over the world celebrate this very day. It is high time that the victims of tyranny, those of exploitation, of treachery, of inequality, in a word, the oppressed of the world, should arise against their oppressors.

            The man, who was born two hundred years ago in Germany, is being discussed all over the world even today, in the 21^st century. It suggests the greatness of his teachings. The horrors of capitalism have been experienced by the people of every generation since its introduction. Sometimes it reaches the doorstep of death, but again revives, and again it sometimes needs to be admitted to the ICU. Even then, capitalism is surviving, and perhaps it has a long life. In the words of the Marxist Sociologist John Bellamy Foster, “Just as capitalism itself took numerous centuries to develop, it is now clear that the movement towards socialism is a long struggle, with historic victories, followed by heartbreaking defeats, leading to a renewal of the struggle.” We, the soldiers of the Marxist army, must go through various challenges, several defeats and victories, until the final victory of socialism is achieved. As capitalism is a destructor of the world, it too must be destroyed, with the revolutionary teachings of Karl Marx, and preparation.

            What the 21^st century capitalist world is suffering from, was predicted by Marx back in the 19^th century. At that time, capitalism was just like a young child. It was just emerging out of feudalism. Karl Marx gave us the correct prediction of capitalism and the world under it. He also taught us how this destructing system can be destroyed. On this bi-centenary of the birth of this great man, let us, the new generation of the 21^st century, take oath to bring a revolutionary change to this world of inequality.

            Why is Marx still popular? Thousands of people of the world visit the tomb of Karl Marx that is in the Highgate Cemetery of London even today. This proves nothing but the correctness of his predictions of the future world under capitalism, and the people’s awareness of him and his revolutionary teachings. Capitalism must be replaced with scientific socialism as a result of the revolutionary union of the working people of the world along with the other oppressed of the world. This destructive system must be replaced with a new one, through a revolution under the leadership of the truly revolutionary class—the proletariat.

Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution.

The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.

They have a world to win.