On behalf of CARC Party I salute the participants in this meeting and thank the Greek comrades who promoted and organized it and for their hospitality. To be here today as representative of the communist movement, the working class, and the popular masses of our country is a great honor.
We are honored to participate in this event together with other comrades, representative of the international communist movement and protagonist of its rebirth. This event itself is a sign of the rebirth of the communist movement, together with the other celebrations of the Great October Revolution that are being held everywhere in the world. Each one of this celebration is a defense of the heritage the communist movement hands on to us, and each celebration is the more meaningful, rich and advanced, the more it makes this patrimony useful to face the future challenges and get new victories. Given the way it faces the issue and the quality of the participants, this meeting is one of these meaningful and advanced events and we are committed to be up to it.
This first contribution we give to the seminar is a synthesized excerpt from a document written by the comrades of the (new) Italian Communist Party. It describes in the most advanced form the analytical work carried out also by our party during the latest years about the topic on debate, this is why we propose it and thank the comrades who have elaborated it
The life of socialist countries created during the first wave of proletarian revolution goes from 1917 to now. Despite the great differences among them, fundamentally the first socialist countries passed through three phases. The first phase began when the working class and its communist party seized the power. The socialist countries moved from capitalism and pre-capitalist modes of production towards Communism. It is the phase of “construction of socialism”. In Soviet Union this phase lasted almost 40 years (1917-1956), in Eastern Europe popular democracies it lasted about 10 years (1945-1956), in People’s Republic of China less than 30 years (1950-1976). The second phase began when modern revisionists conquered the direction of communist parties and reversed the sense of transformation. They attempted to establish or gradually and peacefully restore capitalism. No more steps were done towards communism. Seeds of communism were suffocated. Still existing capitalist relations were favoured and there were attempts to revive the disappeared ones. In USSR and Eastern and Central European popular democracies this phase roughly opened in 1956 and lasted till the end of the Eighties. In Chinese Popular Republic it opened in 1976 and it is still ongoing.
The third phase is that of “the attempt of restoration of capitalism at any rate”. It is the phase of restoration of private property of means of production on a large scale and of integration at any rate in world imperialist system. It is the phase of a new violent clash between the two classes and ways: restoration of capitalism or renewal of the transition towards communism. In USSR and Central and Eastern Europe popular democracies roughly opened in 1989 and it is still ongoing.
In general the socialist countries in the first phase of their existence made great steps on in the transformation of the property of means of production, the first of the three aspects of relations of production.
“We have essentially completed the socialist transformation of property”, Mao told in the Sixties. However, the individual property continued to subsist in little measure and the group property of workers still existed on a large scale. Besides, it was largely unsolved the problem of eliminating the private property of everyone’s labour-force, also of most qualified labour-force: technicians, intellectuals, scientist, etc. So it is as regards the first aspect of relations of productions.
In socialist countries, at the end of the first phase the mass of workers was still far from being able to direct itself. It was still far from the condition, as Lenin told, in which “also a cook can direct State business”, also if they had made steps on towards this direction and, on historical plan, the material premises for realizing thus condition were fully set by capitalism itself. Until the members of population are not in this condition en masse, who directs is not a simple delegate to carry out a socially necessary function, replaceable with thousands of other people as much able as him at any moment. He disposes of a personal power that the great majority of other individuals are not able to exercise and that, however, is socially necessary: it cannot be simply suppressed in words as anarchists uphold. So it is as regards the second aspect of relation of production and superstructural relations.
At the end of the first phase, the socialist countries were still far from being able to realize a distribution “to everyone according to his needs”, even if they made some steps on towards this direction and, on historical level, already the capitalism itself fully set the material premises to realize this condition. As much this condition is not carried out, in order to accomplish his duties who directs has at his disposal life and work conditions the other members of population do not have en masse. The distribution “to everybody according to quantity and quality of its work” creates by itself great differences among individuals, tends to re-establish relation of exploitation and besides opens thousand small openings to violations of the principle itself. So it is as regards the third aspect of relations of production and the superstructural relations.
In socialist countries, in the first phase of their life there were made great steps on in putting culture, art and science at workers’ service, so as the cultural, artistic, scientific patrimony could serve to workers for understanding and solving the problems of their spiritual and material life. However culture, art and science still were sectors where the bourgeois conception largely predominated. Intellectual, artists and scientists considered themselves special people and from many points of view lived a secluded and privileged life. The mass of population still benefited little of cultural, artistic and scientific patrimony of society.
In every one of the fields above indicated there was a cutthroat struggle between bourgeoisie and working class. In socialist countries bourgeoisie is essentially constituted by that part of leaders of the new society (of party, State, mass organizations, public administration and other social institutions) that opposed that transformation and follow the way of capitalism. Their presence makes grow trends and dreams of restoration, which unavoidably lead to attempts of restoration. This is an objective datum that will continue to exist during all socialist era and in all socialist countries.
What does it makes this possibility real? The mistakes of the left wing. Those mistakes accumulated and weren’t corrected, and so became systematic till they constituted a line of establishment or restoration and suffocation of germs of communism and allowed promoters and supporters of restoration to take the direction.
Mistake is possible in every new and unprecedented experience. The deep study of the experience of socialist countries and the fraternal collaboration with the communists of the first socialist countries will give the communists the possibility of avoiding the mistakes done in first socialist countries and generally of doing less mistakes. The two lines struggle in the communist party, the consciousness of class struggle, the knowledge of bourgeoisie in socialist countries, the practice of criticism and self-criticism and, in general, the teachings about class struggle within socialist society, outlined in Maoism, will allow the future socialist countries to go further on.
The main reason why the revisionist regimes collapsed at the end of the Eighties is the general crisis of capitalist world. It did no more allow to continue the slow and gradual erosion of socialism. The bourgeoisie that ruled socialist countries was no more able to face the debt contracted with the banks and international financial institutions. It was not able to mobilize the masses of socialist countries for facing the consequences of annulling foreign debts and ended with selling out commodities and resources of socialist countries in the imperialist market, so making plunge the internal economical crisis that transformed in political crisis. The bourgeoisie of imperialist countries needed new fields of investment, new revenues and markets. Besides, it faced with growing difficulty to the action of disturb the socialist countries were bringing in their relations with the masses of imperialist countries themselves and with semi-colonies and in the relations among the imperialist groups themselves. So, the bourgeoisie had to go for broke. It has been a painful match for the masses, but very risky for the bourgeoisie. It threw the mask and now the struggle between the two classes and the two ways is again open in all socialist countries.
The experience of class struggle we resumed teaches us that communism has become not only possible but also economically necessary.
That is to say, it is economically possible and necessary that the working class seizes the power. Because of economical reasons that the bourgeoisie cannot eliminate, the bourgeois societies’ political movement is such as periodically there occur long periods of crisis and political unsteadiness (long lasting revolutionary situations). For starting the transition it needs that the working class solves the cultural and political problems of its transformation in ruling class, that is, to say, essentially, that it provides itself a “true” communist party, so that it could take advantage of those revolutionary situation for accumulating forces till arriving in favourable condition to the decisive clash with imperialist bourgeoisie and establish its own power as the only political power in the whole country.
What has changed as regards the communists who carried out their duty in the first wave of proletarian revolution?
1. In our favour, we have the experience of the first general crisis, of the first wave of proletarian revolution and the experience of the first socialist countries; these experiences are synthesized in Maoism, third higher stage of communist thought, after Marxism and Leninism.
2. The failure of modern revisionism as proletarian politics is evident today to all world and every its pretension of truth and scientific nature has been unmasked by practice.
For a long period, in socialist countries the modern revisionists tried to restore capitalism peacefully corroding and corrupting step by step institutions and structures of socialist society, making them no more able to work, making rot and gangrene contradictions, making room for all backward elements and practices inherited by old bourgeois or feudal society in economical, political and cultural field.
However, the project of peaceful restoration of capitalism failed thanks to masses’ resistance. The modern revisionists succeeded only in throwing socialist countries in chaos and driving the situation to such a point that an open clash has become unavoidable. The modern revisionists are gone head-over-heels. Their place has been taken by the open supporters of restoration determined to carry it out at price of any violence and coercion, at price of any sacrifice and suffering for the masses.
The delimitation of fronts between who supports the renewal of advancing towards Communism and who supports the restoration of capitalism, the new “white guards” and the deployment of respective forces creates the process showing itself in ongoing squabbles.
In imperialist countries the modern revisionists were able to rise and establish themselves thanks to the phase of economical expansion and development of the thirty years that followed the Second World War. They organized and managed the institutions and practices by which the project to construct a human faced capitalism was carried out, and were the prophets of the illusion that it could last and expand unlimitedly. When the bourgeoisie began to dismantle institutions and practices of human faced capitalism on after another, it failed the ground where the modern revisionists rested upon and began their unstoppable decay. Reformism has lost its real base (the economical, politic and cultural conquests) that gave it strength, has become and more and more becomes reformism without reforms, foolish ambition, adventurism, empty speech that the masses shrink from. The strength of reformist groups and parties and of their old mass organizations (trade unions, etc.) proportionally comes less and less by masses’ support and more and more by bourgeoisie’s favour.
But the bourgeoisie could less and less rely on reformists for ruling the masses and so it will less and less lavish its favours to them, even if they continue to be their last resource for dividing the masses in a measure sufficient for repressing them successfully: as a matter of fact they open the way to the masses’ reactionary mobilization, of which, however, at least part of them will become also victims.
The conciliation with imperialism has kept the great part of semi colonial countries in a condition of economical and cultural backwardness and political dependence and fragility. The imperialists called them “developing countries”, but for the greatest part of them economic and cultural growth has remained a mirage.
Day after day, the development of general crisis of capitalism relentless rips the curtain of “economical miracles” and lays bare exploitation, misery, hunger and crimes the imperialist bourgeoisie was hiding behind it. The domination of imperialism and of feudal indigenous, capitalist-bureaucratic and comprador groups destroys the condition even if primitive but necessary for the survival of large masses, it threw the greatest part of world population (that lives in these countries) in a condition of marginalization and chronic undernourishment that more and more drives them to a savage emigration in imperialist countries. However, in almost all the semi colonial countries the proletariat and the revolutionary forces are grown. The greediness and rapacity of imperialist bankers and their local servants make the revolution of new democracy the only way of survival for the large masses.
3. The contradiction between the productive forces’ collective character and the capitalist relation of production has become more open and sharper. The productive process of present societies has become even more deeply and pervasively collective work of a world organism: every part of it can work only if the others work and thanks to all others’ working. In the sixty years passed since the end of the Second World War the ambits of individual or local autonomous systems of production are been further on reduced. On economical level the world has become a single organism in a more strict sense, even if more and more lacerated by contradiction just because of the capitalist character of the relations among its constituting parts.
The world unity created by capitalism become more and more deep, but just because of it the bourgeois forms of this unity become forms of uneasiness, overpower, rebellion, wars and revolutions, havoc and plunder. In fact, the capitalists and their followers pretend to found such an organism on the individual property of the productive forces and on the theft of others’ labour time, as when working and result of productive forces depended mainly on single individual or group’s resources and energy. In bourgeois societies profiteers are become “our times heroes”. It is not possible eliminate this contradiction but eliminating capitalism itself. After all, the contrasts lacerating single imperialist societies and the world society (particularly included the destruction of environment become an universal contradiction in the latest fifty years) come from this fundamental contrast. As a matter of fact, who has money and then can have economical initiative, wants and must gain at once and very much, the maximum, while the masses must waste their energies for them, destroying themselves and the conditions of their life.
4. The bourgeoisie has no possibility to directly end the present crisis. It can only crush the world with a long period of wars and revolutions, so great as today we are not yet able to imagine. The structures presently directing the productive process of present societies (State monopolistic capitalism, financial capital, world monopolies) are superstructures, excrescences of old times capitalism, that of capitalists producers, merchants and bankers, speculators and profiteers, producers and sellers of commodities that constitutes still today the great part of bourgeois societies. Those structures lay upon the wide base of capitalist mercantile production and of capitalist individual property of productive forces. Every association of capitalists and every agreement among them are therefore temporary, functional to the profit of individual capitals and internally undermined by the contradictions among the individual fractions of capital. The States and national and international capitalists’ associations boast to be able to plan society’s economical movement, to direct it according to a preventively traced plan, to control and direct the society’s economical, political and cultural movement. They pretend to be entered in a new mode of production, the neo-capitalism that would have overcome the weak points of old capitalism. We can see how this reveals itself to be an illusion of some ones, a lie for interest of some others, and a hallucinated nightmare for some others more.
5. The working class is more numerous and widespread all over the world and the proletarization has grown. Wide masses have had a recent, practical and direct experience of socialism.
The new general crisis generated and generates a new long lasting revolutionary situation. The objective condition drives the popular masses to mobilize themselves and also the ruling class will have to favour their mobilization for facing their problems. It will try to keep its direction upon them developing their reactionary mobilization. It has no other way out. The communists’ duty in the next years is to make prevailing working class’ direction in masses’ mobilization, so transforming it in revolutionary mobilization, in struggle for socialism.
How can we get this aim?
The popular masses mobilize themselves for resisting to the advancement of the second crisis of capitalism. The material and spiritual upheavals today ongoing among the masses are the way by which they try to face the situations they are within because of the advancement of the crisis.
The masses’ resistance to the advancement of the crisis includes both the defence of the conquests wrung (defensive aspect), and the struggle against the regime that eliminates them, and the struggle against the repression by which it tries to suffocate individuals and organizations promoter of the resistance (offensive aspect).
This is what the masses have to undertake and on this ground the two antagonist classes clash, the imperialist bourgeoisie for maintaining power and direction upon the popular masses and the working class to conquer them. This determines the communist party’s general line for the next years: “to tie ourselves closely and with no reservations to the resistance the masses are opposing and will oppose against the advancement of general crisis of capitalism, to understand and apply the laws according to which this resistance develops, to support, promote and organize it and make prevail in it the working class direction until it will be transformed it in struggle for socialism, adopting the mass line as principal method of work and direction.”
The consequent application of this general line brings the communist party to determine, on the base of balance of experience, the particular lines to be applied in every country and in every phase, the forms of struggle and the consequent forms of organization (the way to proletarian revolution in our own country).
II. Prospects and tasks of the international communist movement, and of communist parties and organizations
The October Revolution has been the most important event of the latest century, the one that more influenced the history of the century. It started the construction of the first socialist countries, it changed the history of all the rest of the world, and its effects are indelible.
The October Revolution gave the international communist movement an acceleration that, in few decades, bring it to govern a third of humanity, so rapidly as never it happened in history. The withdrawal from that condition to the present weakness of the communist movement looks great only compared with the greatness and rapidity of the advancement, as the shadow of its light.
We have to take in account the advancement, the withdrawal and their relation with the purpose to mark out the future advancement. Advance and retreat are opposites, and their relation is dialectical. The future advance is the overcoming of the contradiction between these two opposites, between these phenomena behind us that history hands on to us: on one side, the October Revolution, the construction of the first socialist countries, the advancement of working class and popular masses’ movement in the imperialist and in oppressed and colonial countries, and, on the other side, the coming of the modern revisionists starting from 1956 and their long work of corruption and corrosion of the communist movement.
In each dialectical contradiction, the opposites are divided by a limit, and to take it away means to overcome the contradiction. The communist movement behind us has a limit as well. Every communist organization and party, no matter how great or little it is, that succeeds in identifying this limit, is able to acknowledge the greatness of the October Revolution and of the progress it started, to face the retreat of the communist movement in the second half of the latest century and to begin the new way with confidence.
Our Party is an outcome of the long struggle against the modern revisionists, represented in our country by one of their main exponents on the international level, Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the strongest communist party in the imperialist countries. It has been a hard struggle, yet unfinished, and rich of teachings. The two main currents of this struggle in our country were the Marxist Leninist communist parties formed in the Sixties, and the fighting communist organizations of the Seventies, among which the main and best known on a world level were the Red Brigades. Both these currents were particularly important and meaningful, but no one of them has been able to fulfill the main duty on the agenda, the reconstruction of a new and real communist party. Therefore, they were both defeated, and their forces scattered. On this situation, in the Eighties, the area of comrades from which our Party originates devoted its best energies to analyze the Italian and international communist movement, and to understand which limits caused its withdrawal, and which was the main limit among them.
The result of this research was the following: the main limit the international communist movement had in the latest century is to have not seized the power in one or more imperialist countries. This hindered the development of the process of construction begun with the October Revolution and then, when there were enough conditions, it favored the counterattack by which the bourgeoisie imposed the withdrawal.
Therefore, the step on the international communist movement of the XXI century has to do is to overcome this limit, and seize the power in one or more imperialist countries. This distinguishes the new wave of proletarian revolution from the former one, which brought the working class to seize power in countries where a third of the humanity was living. It is the quality that distinguishes us from our forerunners and at the same time unites us with them, because only advancing and overcoming the limits of their work we gave new life to their great heritance, and we are equal to it.
To celebrate the greatness of October Revolution and to defend it against the bourgeoisie who tries to besmirch it, and against the fascists and the modern revisionists who by now speak the same language, is a deserving and noble work, but it is not yet equal to the heritage the Revolution hands on to us. Without going beyond it we risk to fall in dogmatism, we are not able to face bourgeoisie's powerful propaganda, we are not able to answer at the questions put by the popular masses and to give them back the trust that drove them to conquer the power in Russia and to start the construction of socialism in that and in other countries.
Dogmatism is a persistent problem in the international communist movement. Also thanks to it the modern revisionist have been able to do their dirty work in the easiest way. To free ourselves from dogmatism is fundamental, so as it is fundamental to free ourselves from the other deviations that prevent us from advancing, that is, mainly, sectarianism and economism. The struggle against these deviations is the two lines struggle, in every single organization and party and in the international communist movement.
Only the two lines struggle enables to contrast the negative, to advance and to find a line more adequate and corresponding to reality.
We recognize the struggle between two lines within the party as one of the great contributions that Maoism gave to the international communist movement. The new international communist movement must adopt and develop this instrument in a scientific way, both regarding our future duties and regarding the balance of the past.
As regards the past, we recognize as contribution of Maoism also its analysis according to which, in the socialist countries, the bourgeoisie persists and it is constituted by the leaders of the party, of the State and the other social institutions that support the way toward capitalism. This internal contradiction of the party involves the risk of its corruption, as in fact it happened when the modern revisionists took the power in socialist countries and in the communist parties of imperialist countries. This contradiction exists and will exist forever, at least since the bourgeois class will be eliminated, and therefore for all the socialist phase. Therefore, it has to be recognized and faced openly as struggle between two lines, in a more and more careful and scientific way, from now to when the communist movement will have finally solved this problem.
Maoism gave another great contribution to the international communist movement defining the protracted revolutionary people's war as universal strategy for seizing power. This concerns our balance of the past and our future work as well.
As regards the balance of the past, all the communist parties of the imperialist countries failed facing an obstacle, that is to say the threat or the real carrying out of the civil war against them by the imperialist bourgeoisie. Facing this obstacle, some parties did not accept the challenge and withdrew. Some others threw themselves only on the field of armed fight, thinking that victory was possible thanks to a sudden attack, and were rapidly defeated.
Every instance history hand on to us demonstrates it. At the same time, history teaches us that all what the communist movement conquered in the latest century was founded on a victorious armed clash, carried out during a prolonged time.
The October Revolution itself was not an opportune and lucky insurrection done at the right time, but it was the climax of a long preceding preparation and was followed by a long period of civil war, according to a course corresponding to the model of the protracted revolutionary people's war as Mao Tse-tung scientifically expounded it firstly.
As regards our country, our communist movement was and is marked by the highest point it reached, that of the military clash between the working class and the bourgeoisie, the war of Resistance against Nazi-fascism (1943-1945).
According to us, the protracted revolutionary people’s war can be applied also in the imperialist countries, not only in oppressed and semi-colonial countries, as many communist parties and organization think. Obviously, this universal law has different and particular applications in the imperialist countries and in the oppressed and semi-colonial countries. It is a war carried out with political and military means, at the same time or in alternation, with or without weapons, according to the concrete situations of every country and according to the stages of the fight developing between the imperialist bourgeoisie on one side and the working class and the other classes of the popular masses on the other.
The people’s war is the only strategy apt to face the war the bourgeoisie already carries out against the popular masses all around the world, undeclared war of extermination, that in the oppressed and semi-colonial countries openly kills by weapons, repression and fascism, while in imperialist countries it kills imposing to the popular masses life condition more and more unsustainable, corrupting their material and spiritual condition and that already has made thousands of victims.
The bourgeoisie is forced to carry out this war by the ongoing crisis, a new general crisis of absolute overproduction of capital. It is the second long-term general crisis, after the second lasted since 1910 to 1945, and it began in the middle of the Seventies. It creates what we have called a revolutionary situation in development. This is a long lasting situation where the factors that make possible the revolution are more and more growing, and upon which is founded the possibility to carry out a protracted people’s war.
In particular, the bourgeoisie attacks all the conquests the popular masses wrung out from it on the wave of the communist movement started from the October Revolution. Today the popular masses of the imperialist countries still live in objective conditions that are fruit of the historical cycle of struggles begun with the cannons of Aurora. This is the indelible sign of the October Revolution, and that the bourgeoisie desperately strives to wipe out, driven by the general crisis investing the world capitalist system. The most advanced popular masses of the imperialist countries are already resisting to defend these conquests. If they will find in their country a communist party able to lead them, they will struggle with the right strategy, that is to say with the protracted revolutionary people's war for the establishment of socialism.
As regards our country, in the present condition we experience the crisis of the bourgeois left, that gathered the parties leftover of the old Italian Communist Party. These are becoming or are once for all become rightist, and they are losing the support of the popular masses that are beginning to organize themselves and struggle autonomously. Here, the best heritance of the October Revolution expresses itself in the determination of the masses to defend what they have conquered and in this ability to organize themselves. On the other side, the latest modern revisionists show their true face carrying out openly antipopular politics and denigrating the October Revolution with the same words used by the fascists.
This is what our party thinks about the present situation and about the heritance of October Revolution and its developments. This we share with the other forces fighting our same battle, and firstly with the (new) Italian Communist Party [(n)PCI], constituted four years ago in clandestinity, as the instrument of direction of the process that unites us towards the common objective, to make Italy a new socialist country.
The (new) Italian Communist Party indicated the four struggle fronts where masses’ revolutionary mobilization will develop. First front: resistance against repression, struggle against repression and solidarity. Second front: popular masses’ mobilization for intervening in bourgeois political struggle. Third front: popular masses’ mobilization in claiming struggles, in the defense without reservation of the conquests wrung from bourgeoisie. Fourth front: popular masses’ mobilization for building economic, social and cultural instruments and organizations autonomous form bourgeoisie (people’s houses, social centers, cooperatives, cultural circle, mutual aid cashes, sport and recreational societies, etc.) and apt to directly satisfy their own needs. The mobilization in everyone of these fronts has the main objective to favor the accumulation of revolutionary forces.
Since the spring of 2005, the CARC Party has taken as main duty the work on the second front of (n)PCI’s general Plan of work : “to promote, direct, and organize the popular masses’ mobilization for intervening in bourgeois political struggle, with the main objective to accumulate the revolutionary forces, and in the second place with the objective to improve life and work conditions of popular masses and extend their rights, increase and exploit the contradictions among imperialist bourgeoisie’s groups and forces.”
Our struggle is the concrete contribution we give to whom preceded us, to the revolutionaries of the Red October, to the ones who followed their steps all around the world and to whom does it today in every country, to those who struggle in imperialist country as we do, to those who lead revolutionary people's war in Nepal, Philippines, Turkey, India and elsewhere, to the popular masses resisting against imperialist aggressions in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere, to the popular masses in Latin America protagonist of the struggle of liberation from imperialism.
Long live the October Revolution!
Long live proletarian internationalism!