WP of Ireland
Teleconference of the European Communist Initiative
“100th anniversary of the founding of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)”
3rd December 2022
Contribution of the Workers Party of Ireland
The October Revolution of 1917 was one of the greatest events in human history, an occasion of historic global significance which changed forever the power relations between exploiter and exploited and made real the vision of a new socialist society of equal nations and peoples. This socialist revolution was the first and the greatest successful workers’ revolution in history. The experience and ideas of the October Revolution transformed the world.
In contrast to all earlier revolutions, the Great October Socialist Revolution transferred power to the working class, broke down the machinery of the bourgeois state and established the world’s first workers’ state. The object of the October Revolution was to abolish all forms of exploitation and oppression and to construct a new society based on socialist ideas. The Bolshevik Revolution was at the core of a political phenomenon the impact of which was felt across the world.
The victory of the workers in the Great October Socialist Revolution led directly to the formation of the first workers’ state, converting the socialist vision into a tangible reality. For the first time in history the revolutionary ideas of Marx and Engels were translated into practice and this, in turn, laid the basis for the creative and innovative development of the socialist project.
The most important act of consolidation of this project was the formal constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at the end of 1922. The proclamation of the USSR on 30 December 2022 was followed by the elaboration of a formal constitution which formalised the existence of the new state.
In a number of his articles Lenin summarised the results of Party work in the early stages of Soviet power and his ideas formed the basis of the Party’s 12th Congress in April 1923.
Under Soviet power life expectancy and literacy levels were increased, the living conditions and material well-being of the people were improved and the health and education of citizens was secured. The Soviet state created the basis for material and social advancement, for the transfer of power to the working people, the creators of wealth, and provided the workers with the opportunity, through their labour and struggle, to build the social, political, economic and cultural conditions which offered the prospect of a free and fulfilled life.
Soviet Power paved the way for the abolition of the capitalist relations of production. It brought about a new social system which abolished private ownership of the means of production, rejected the barbarism of capital and created the conditions for the establishment of a new type of civilization throughout the world.
The new state declared important rights for women, equality under the law, the right to divorce, and the right to free and legal abortion. These gave women the right to control their wages and property, maintain a claim to their children in the event of divorce, and to decide where they wanted to live, go to school, and to work.
The workers’ state also focused on the socialization of housework to enable women to pursue an education or enter waged labour on an equal basis with men, freed of the unequal burden of household labour, building public dining halls, laundries, day care centres and nurseries for children.
Illiteracy was eradicated, unemployment abolished, access to education, housing, health care and social protection was guaranteed, the rights of women, children and the elderly promoted and the fundamental rights of workers ensured.
Writers and artists embraced the revolutionary progress. There were experiments in music and film. The Soviet Union saw the powerful potential of film in raising the consciousness of the working people and many artists utilised the visual arts to produce vibrant support for socialism. Newly created art schools pioneered innovatory teaching methods.
A new world was dawning. The industrialisation of the economy, the expansion of medical and health services, the development of educational provision and training, the measures taken to provide for culture, literature and sport, the development of agriculture, scientific and technological progress, including pioneering achievements in space, and the improvement in the material conditions of working people were among the many accomplishments of the Soviet Union.
The creation of the USSR also commenced a new stage in international solidarity. It encouraged and inspired the international revolutionary movement. The victorious revolution in Russia was in itself a serious defeat for imperialism and colonialism and it inspired and supported further such defeats. The movement for national liberation, freedom and independence was strengthened and socialism became the hope of the oppressed. In 1919 colonial and dependent countries made up approximately 72 per cent of the world’s territory. By the end of the 1960’s this figure had been reduced to 3.6 per cent.
The Soviet Union and its people played a decisive role in the defeat of fascism, Nazism and Japanese imperialism. In 1945 fascism was defeated in Europe. The Soviet Union, the Red Army and the communist partisans and resistance fighters of Europe were instrumental in securing that defeat. The battle of Stalingrad,
which lasted 200 days and nights, represented a major defeat for the Nazis. Subsequent to the defeat at Kursk the Nazis failed to mount another major offensive and the Red Army advanced, step by step, to Berlin. Peace had come to Europe – but at great cost. Fascist aggression had been defeated and the Soviet Union played the decisive role in that struggle and sustained the biggest losses. The Red Army, under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was instrumental in that achievement.
The role of the liberation movements and the creation of a socialist community of nations, supported by the Soviet Union, challenged imperialist and colonialist ambitions. The historic victory of socialism in the Soviet Union and later in the socialist countries was a vital factor in the transformation of the world. In the course of its history the USSR, under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, advanced the socialist cause and demonstrated the strengths and achievements of socialist construction.
The enemies of socialism have sought, unsuccessfully, to diminish the achievements of the Soviet Union and the ideas of the October Revolution. The accomplishments are as vibrant and relevant as ever. They have not been overshadowed or diminished by the counter-revolution. This did not represent the end of history. Neither did it invalidate the revolutionary principles of Marxism-Leninism.
The Soviet Union demonstrated the real potential of socialist construction and the realisation of the vision of workers’ emancipation. The purpose of revolution is to establish workers’ power and socialist construction begins with the revolutionary acquisition of power by the working class. The workers' state, the dictatorship of the proletariat, is an instrument of the working class in the class struggle.
Real, fundamental, transformative change requires a rupture with the capitalist system and its abolition, to create a world where the working class controls its own destiny under socialism-communism and a society which maximises human potential, dignity and development rather than a system driven by the relentless
pursuit of profit for the benefit of the few.
Exploitation will only be ended under a radically different social, economic and political order where the capitalist system is abolished and where the working class controls its own destiny under socialism-communism.
The creation of the first workers’ state and the process of socialist transformation was a beacon of hope for the workers of the world. 100 years from the founding of the Soviet Union that vision and struggle remain undimmed.
G. Grainger
International Secretary