WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!
NEWSPAPER OF THE CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF U.S. MARXIST-LENINISTS
Volume 9, Number 10
November 15, 1979 Special Issue
P.O. BOX 11942 CHICAGO, IL. 60611
CELEBRATE THE 35th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF ALBANIA!
Socialist Albania Marches Forward!
Down With U.S. Imperialism's Campaign of Hysteria Against the Iranian People!
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 38th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE PARTY OF LABOR OF ALBANIA:
The Party of Labor of Albania puts the struggle against revisionism in the center of its attention
Socialist Albania- A Country Free of Exploitation of Man by Man
1979: YEAR OF STALIN
FROM: "The October Revolution and the Tactics of the Russian Communists" - J.V. STALIN
On November 29, the Albanian people will joyously celebrate the 35th anniversary of the complete liberation of their homeland. On November 29, 1944, the Albanian people achieved victory in the anti-fascist national liberation war by defeating the Italian and German aggressor forces on the battlefield through heroic and self-sacrificing struggle. With guns in hand they completely drove imperialism out of their country and established genuine independence. They overthrew the rich exploiting classes and established the people's state power. Thus began the new era of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the Albanian people's 35 year forward march on the glorious path of socialism.
In the U.S. and all over the world, the workers and other oppressed masses join the Albanian people in celebrating this historic day by putting up posters and holding meetings, by giving speeches and singing revolutionary songs, rejoicing at the victories of the Albanian people in liberating their country and building socialism. Albania is a country with a small territory and small population, but it has tremendous significance for the entire world. Albania is the shining example of the emancipation of the working class and the cause of socialism. This is the common aspiration and goal of the workers of all countries, and the great achievements of socialism in Albania inspire the workers to fight for the revolution with unshakeable confidence in its inevitable victory. And it is for this reason that the heroic fighting deeds of the Albanian people, their pure revolutionary spirit and principled and unflinching Marxist-Leninist stand have struck such deep fear into the hearts of the rich exploiting classes and have shaken the very foundations of the world imperialist system.
Albania is the beacon of socialism and signifies a radical advance in the forward march of humanity and demonstrates in real life the future course to be taken by the workers of all countries. Unlike the rest of the world today, there are no exploiting classes in Albania, nor even privileged groups. The instruments and means of production have been taken away from the landlords, capitalists and foreign imperialists and converted into the socialist property of the working masses. As a result, the energy and sweat exerted by the workers in production serves the constant improvement of the people's well-being and the construction of socialist society. No longer is the labor of the workers exploited to serve the profits of a few rich capitalists. In Albania, political power has been taken away from the reactionary exploiting classes, the old state apparatus has been destroyed and the people's state power has been established in its place. As a result, the working class, cooperativist peasantry and people's intelligentsia now enjoy genuine democracy and actively participate in managing the economy, making the laws and in governing all aspects of the society. No longer are the people tyrannized and suppressed by a small number of reactionary exploiters. And today, after 35 short years, the Albanian people, led by the working class, have transformed their once poor and backward country into an advanced socialist society with a modern industry, flourishing agriculture, progressive culture and education and with genuine democracy for the people. This is brilliant testimony to the fact that the working people can successfully govern their own country, can successfully organize and direct the entire national economy and all other aspects of the society. The living reality of socialism in Albania defeats the pessimistic and unscientific propaganda of the monopoly capitalists that history cannot advance any further and that genuine socialism is impossible to achieve.
Socialist Albania is not only' a shining example of socialism, but it is a powerful base and aid for assisting the triumph of socialism in all countries. This is the era of the transition from capitalism to socialism. In this era the world is divided into two great camps confronting each other. On the one side stands the camp of revolution and socialism, which is composed of the socialist countries (of which socialist Albania is the only genuine one today), the socialist revolutionary movement of the international proletariat and the national liberation movements of the oppressed peoples. On the other side stands the camp of counter-revolution and imperialism, which is composed of all the imperialist powers and reactionary forces. These two camps are locked in mortal combat. Albania stands at the head of the revolutionary camp as the bastion of world revolution. Albania constitutes a breach in the world imperialist system of states. It is a hole in the dike, gravely threatening imperialism's ability to hold back the "rising waters" of the revolution. The workers of all lands look to Albania as the liberated base and rallying point for the fight against U.S. imperialism, Soviet social- imperialism and all other imperialist exploiters.
Today whether one supports or opposes Albania is a dividing line distinguishing between those who support the cause of the revolution and socialism, and those who are opposed to it. The imperialists and social-imperialists, the revisionists and opportunists of every description regard Albania with nothing but complete hatred. But the millions upon millions of workers and oppressed people see Albania as their reliable friend and staunch comrade, always in the front ranks of the fight against those who exploit and brutalize the masses.
The victory of socialism in Albania demonstrates the invincibility of Marxism-Leninism. Albania is guided by the scientific teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and is following the path of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 in Russia. Through heroic revolutionary struggle, the working class first succeeded in establishing socialism in Russia. This great victory established the authority of Leninism. The laws of socialist revolution and construction elaborated by Lenin and Stalin have universal validity. The present reality of social-imperialist Russia cannot dull the brilliance of the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin. Capitalism was restored in the Soviet Union after Stalin's death by the Khrushchovite revisionists. The Khrushchovites betrayed Marxism-Leninism and deserted the path of the October Revolution. Nor is China on the road of socialism. The Chinese revisionists have joined hands with bloodthirsty U.S. imperialism and are pursuing the goal of becoming a capitalist superpower. This disaster occurred because they opposed the universal validity of Marxism-Leninism and replaced it with Mao Zedong Thought and the theory of "three worlds".
The Soviet Union and China are two big social-imperialist powers and bitter enemies of the revolutionary people of the world. It is the Albanian people, led by the Party of Labor of Albania, who are building socialism in the world today. In Albania, Marxism-Leninism is correctly applied and resolutely defended against all revisionist distortions and deviations. This is the fundamental reason behind the brilliant achievements of the people in all aspects of society and for the tremendous prestige Albania is acquiring throughout the world.
In the U.S. today the workers are waging many struggles to resist the savage exploitation and repression of the monopoly capitalists. To advance the working class movement, the workers need to adopt revolutionary politics. Only by taking up revolutionary politics can the workers gather together their immense forces and conduct their struggle against the bourgeoisie as a united class fighting for the realization of their fundamental interests. Revolutionary politics provide orientation to the working class movement and guide it to achieve its historic mission of abolishing capitalist exploitation and establishing socialism.
And socialist Albania is the contemporary embodiment of this great goal to which the workers of all countries aspire. The truth about the tremendous achievements of socialist Albania and its significance for the working class must be spread to every mine, mill and factory so that all workers become aware of the bright future to which they must consciously devote themselves. For this reason, the Central Organization of U.S. Marxist-Leninists is organizing five public meetings to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Albania. These meetings will express the deep sentiment of the revolutionary activists and class conscious workers for the cause of the revolution and socialism.
[Graphic:
PARTY OF LABOR OF ALBANIA
UNSHAKEABLE STAND ON THE POSITIONS OF MARXISM-LENINISM
Meetings to Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Liberation of Albania
NEW YORK Saturday, Dec. 1, 7pm Two Films from Albania
Milbank Chapel, Room 125 Main Building, Teachers College, 525 W. 120th St.
BOSTON Friday, Nov 30, 7pm YWCA, 7 Temple St., Cambridge
CHICAGO Saturday, Dec. 1, 7pm 656 W. Barry
SEATTLE Saturday, Dec. 1, 7pm Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave. (14th and E. Fir)
SAN FRANCISCO Saturday, Dec. 1, 7pm
The Women's Building, 3543 18th Street (near Valencia)
Sponsored by
CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF U.S. MARXIST-LENINISTS
P.O. Box 11942 Ft. Dearborn Station Chicago, IL 60611
Glory to Socialism!]
The U.S. imperialists have mounted a massive campaign to generate hysteria against the Iranian people. The Carter government is harboring the assassin of the Iranian masses, the bloodsoaked Shah of Iran, in New York. The government has ordered the deportation of so-called "illegal" Iranian nationals resident in the U.S. and is organizing vicious violent attacks against them.
The Carter administration has launched a whole series of hostile and provocative actions against Iran and many government officials are threatening to send U.S. imperialist military forces to invade Iran and drown the Iranian revolution in blood. These vicious attacks against Iran are being carried out under the hoax that the U.S. imperialists are merely "humanitarians" who want to save the life of a sick man. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of the rabid anti-Iranian campaign is to back up and strengthen the forces of reaction in Iran, to put down the Iranian revolution, and to restore to U.S. imperialism full domination over the Iranian people.
Last February the Iranian working class and people, through a powerful uprising, overthrew the medieval monarchy. This hated dynasty of the bloodsoaked fascist Shah only lasted as long as it did because it was propped up with U.S. imperialist bayonets. The Shah was armed to the teeth by the U.S. government with tens of billions of dollars of the most up-to-date arms which every day were turned on the Iranian people who faced massacres, countless executions and torture at the hands of the Shah's henchmen. And the Shah's SAVAK agents and his other torturers and executioners were to a man trained by the U.S. imperialist experts in their bloody work. Just how many tens of thousands of martyrs fell in the struggle against the barbaric regime of the Shah in the last year alone of his ignoble rule is not known. But it is said that among the 35 million people of Iran that there is not a family which has not lost a member to the Shah's assassins and their U.S. imperialist masters.
The overthrow of this bestial regime was an enormous victory for the Iranian people. It was an historic advance in their struggle for freedom. But this victory did not mark the end of the struggle. The positions of U.S. imperialism and the other imperialists in Iran were powerfully shaken by the people's uprising but not destroyed. The claws of U.S. imperialism have not been withdrawn from Iran. U.S. multinational corporations continue their plunder of Iran and U.S. imperialism still has its henchmen there. Many of the SAVAK agents and fascist military officers and other gangsters loyal to the Shah and U.S. imperialism remain in operation. David Rockefeller, the notorious finance capitalist of Exxon Oil and the Chase Manhattan Bank, both of which have major interests in Iran, was the one who brought the Shah to New York. It is clear that the New York bankers and the imperialist oil corporations are dreaming of a restoration of the Shah. No one has forgotten that in 1953, the last time the Shah was forced out of the country, he was put back in power by the CIA through a bloody coup.
Now the "human rights" Carter government has taken the fascist Shah firmly under its wing and is whipping up a massive hysteria campaign against the Iranian people. Using the seizure of the U.S. embassy as a pretext, all the bourgeois politicians, all the bourgeois media mills and all the biggest lackeys of U.S. imperialism without exception have joined this rabid campaign. And behind the jingoist demagogy about "American citizens" and "U.S. interests" it is clear that this campaign is directed first and foremost against the Iranian revolution. It is straightforward propaganda for stepped-up imperialist intervention and aggression against the people of Iran. The U.S. imperialists are conducting their anti-Iranian campaign by burning pictures of Khomeini. But this is sheer hypocrisy. It is the people and the revolution and not Khomeini which U.S. imperialism has in its sights. Khomeini has proven himself more than willing to accommodate the U.S. and other imperialists against the interests of the Iranian masses. And the U.S. imperialists have shown themselves more than willing to use him. The Khomeini government came to power on the crest of the tidal wave of the revolutionary uprising of the working class and people against the Shah. And since usurping power from the people's revolution, it has more and more come into open conflict with the broad masses of the Iranian people. This is why U.S. imperialism, which would like to see the restoration of the Shah, also can work with Khomeini. This is why the imperialist press screamed itself hoarse when a handful of fascist generals and torturers were justly executed after the fall of the Shah; but when the same government today murders and clubs the working people, wages war against the masses of Kurdestan and other nationalities, and savagely persecutes the Marxist-Leninist communists and progressive forces, there is not a word of protest. Thus, despite the great fuss about the "madman" Khomeini, it is the forces of the working class and people which are in open conflict with the U.S. imperialists' "interests in Iran". It is these forces which are fighting for genuine freedom and independence under the banner of the Workers' and Peasants' Communist Party. And it is against these forces that U.S. imperialism is directing its vicious anti-Iranian campaign.
A most despicable part of the U.S. government's crusade against the Iranian people is the launching of a massive campaign of fascist terrorism and deportations against the Iranians resident in the U.S. President Carter has openly declared that he "shares the feelings" of the assorted fascist elements who have been recruited by the State Department and the authorities across the country to attack the Iranian youth. These ultra pro-imperialist elements have organized warmongering, chauvinist, anti-Iranian demonstrations, and have attempted to intimidate and terrorize the progressive Iranians, even carrying out brutal beatings. And Carter has put the demands of these fascists into practice with orders to immediately deport any Iranian resident in the U.S. who is allegedly here "illegally". Under Carter's order, some 65,000 students are being rounded up, fingerprinted, photographed and screened, and any Iranian student who the immigration authorities declare lacks the proper papers will be deported on the spot. This barbaric treatment of the Iranian nationals in the U.S. is a most criminal outrage against all the American people. It shows what extreme measures the U.S. imperialists are taking in their hysterical campaign against the Iranian people's revolution.
Despite the enormous amount of hysterical anti-Iranian propaganda being dished out by the U.S. government and the monopoly capitalist news media, the so-called "wave" of U.S. patriotism has turned out to be little more than a bunch of state-organized reactionaries waving flags. The masses of American workers will not support the aggressive superpower bullying of the Carter government. Already across the country many demonstrations of both Iranian nationals and Americans have been launched against the U.S. government and the fascist Shah of Iran. And wherever the state-organized "patriots" try to demonstrate, they are opposed. This shows that while Carter's rabid campaign is aimed at attacking the Iranian revolution, it is serving to arouse in the American and Iranian masses even greater hatred and struggle against U.S. imperialism.
Thirty-eight years ago, on November 8, 1941, the Party of Labor of Albania (then called the Communist Party of Albania) was founded. This was an historic event for the Albanian people. For centuries the Albanian people had fought sword in hand against the oppressors and invaders. The Albanian people had performed marvels of heroism. Yet they could not find the path to their liberation. On November 8, 1941 a new era began for the Albanian people. Led, inspired and organized by the Marxist-Leninist party of the proletariat, the Albanian people were able to find the correct path to liberation, to throw off the fascist invaders and the internal reactionaries and to build a new life. The leadership of a genuine proletarian party based on Marxism-Leninism proved to be the decisive factor enabling the Albanian people to orient their struggle correctly and to liberate themselves. The leadership of the party proved to be the decisive factor allowing the Albanian people to unite as one in a stable and strong unity that had never been seen before and to write the most glorious chapter of all in the history of the Albanian people. What type of political party is it that can accomplish such great deeds, that can unleash the all-powerful initiative of the masses? Such a party, the Party of Labor of Albania, is a Leninist party of a new type.
A PARTY BUILT IN THE FLAMES OF STRUGGLE
Such a party is a party built in the midst of the struggle. In 1941 the party was founded during World War II, while Albania was trampled underfoot by the Italian (and later German) fascist invaders and internal reactionaries. The party was at its formation a small party. There were 15 delegates at its founding meeting, and some 200 communists were chosen from the members of the former communist groups and admitted to the membership of the cells of the new party.
Yet the party threw itself without hesitation into the liberation war against the fascist Axis. It immediately took up the organization of the masses through uniting and mobilizing the people in the anti-fascist struggle. It is the task of any Marxist-Leninist party, no matter how small, to plunge into the middle of the struggle. The party grows and steels itself in the flames of the battle. And it is only in this way that the party comes to the leadership of revolution and leads it to victory.
The PLA did not give way to euphoria or cease the struggle after the liberation of Albania and the victory over the Italian fascist and German Nazi invaders. On the contrary, the PLA soberly estimated that running the country was a task as difficult and demanding as liberation and requiring the full use of revolutionary methods.
The PLA continued to deepen its links with the masses and to carry forward the revolution without interruption. For example, by the 4th Congress of the PLA in 1961, Albania had entered the stage of the complete construction of socialist society and had eliminated the domestic classes of exploiters. Yet far from relaxing its vigilance or calling a halt to the revolution, the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Congresses all consistently held that the class struggle continued in the socialist society. The work of the PLA centered around the continuous development and deepening of the revolution in all fields. As part of this, the PLA has paid great attention to ideological revolution. In its work for the revolutionary molding and tempering of the masses, for their communist education, the PLA put forward the slogan "Think, work and live like revolutionaries."
It has paid continuous attention to the fight against bureaucracy and to the maintenance of a revolutionary method and style of work. Thus the PLA has proved that revisionist degeneration of a party that has seized power is not an inevitable necessity. The PLA has shown that a Leninist party of a new type can preserve and strengthen its fighting capacity and its revolutionary essence in the carrying forward and deepening of the revolution under socialism.
This revolutionary character of the PLA, this constant tempering of the party and of the masses in the flames of the battle, is why the PLA and socialist Albania have had the strength to resist the revisionist-imperialist encirclement. It is the existence of the party that has enabled the Albanian people today to unite as one man in carrying out one of the most glorious struggles ever seen: glorious socialist Albania stands firm on principles and lives on the basis of self-reliance despite the frenzied opposition of U.S. imperialism, Soviet social-imperialism and Chinese social-imperialism. Socialist Albania is a small country, but it lives without any imperialist patron and it strides forward as the firm base of the world revolution. The world proletariat takes great pride in the unflinching stand of the land of socialism, the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.
A PARTY OF THE WORKING CLASS
The PLA is the party of the working class. The working class is the only consistently revolutionary class. It has immense revolutionary capacity and is the leader of all the oppressed and exploited masses in the struggle for liberation. A party represents the interests of a class. The PLA was founded right from the start as a proletarian party. When the PLA was founded, prior to liberation, Albania was a backward, agrarian, semi- feudal country. The working class was small in numbers, scattered, unformed as an industrial proletariat. Yet it was the party of the proletariat, the PLA, that provided the leadership for the revolution. This shows the powerful force which resides in the proletariat, which is the class that represents what is new, alive and growing in society. Under the leadership of the working class and its party, the laboring peasantry and all other oppressed masses were able to unite into a powerful revolutionary force. Since liberation, with the construction of socialism, the working class has grown in numbers and organization. This has been a favorable factor for the development of the party of the working class.
The PLA has always paid close attention to increasing its links with the working class and the masses. The party does not go into battle alone. The revolution is not just the doing of the party, but of the masses. This is not just true in the armed insurrection, but also in the construction of socialism. Comrade Enver Hoxha has stressed that "Socialism is built by the masses, the party makes them conscious. '' The party finds its invincible strength in the unity of the party and the people. The PLA has built revolutionary mass organizations to provide organized links with the masses, organizations such as the Democratic Front (the successor to the National Liberation Front), the Albanian Trade Unions, the Labor Youth Union of Albania, the Women's Union, etc. The close unity of the party and the revolutionary masses is another aspect of the working class character of the party.
The working class is an international class. As a working class party, the PLA has always fought as a contingent of the international communist and workers movement. It follows the immortal slogan of Marx and Engels, "Workers of all countries, unite!" The PLA cherishes the great international experience of the Great October Socialist Revolution, of the Bolshevik Party of the time of Lenin and Stalin and of the international revolutionary movement. Today the PLA is in the forefront of the international Marxist-Leninist movement. It provides great support and encouragement to the other Marxist-Leninist parties around the world, and it takes strength from and provides support to the development of the world revolution.
A PARTY OF MARXISM-LENINISM
The PLA is a principled party, a party of Marxism-Leninism. A revolution cannot be made by hit-or-miss methods. The revolution requires a definite orientation and a firm theoretical foundation. In Short, the revolution requires the guidance of Marxism-Leninism. It was Marxism- Leninism that charted the path forward for the Albanian people, that called on them to build a glorious party like the PLA, and that oriented and directed every step of the path of the PLA.
The experience of the PLA proves once again that Marxism-Leninism is a powerful weapon in the hands of the proletariat. The teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin remain ever young and universally applicable. The Marxist- Leninist principles have been repeatedly confirmed and developed in the practice of the revolutionary movement all over the world.
The PLA has always stressed that Marxist-Leninist theory is not studied just from books, nor is it a set of stereotyped formulas to be learned by rote. At the 7th Congress of the PLA, Comrade Enver Hoxha said: "We do not study Marxism-Leninism for the sake of erudition. We study it to apply it in life, so that we are guided by its principles in every action and judge everything in its spirit. Such a study of theory, closely linked with life and revolutionary practice, serves true communist moulding, the creation, not only of a scientific outlook but also of a revolutionary character,..." Marxism-Leninism is the great science of revolution. The PLA has firmly adhered to the path of upholding this theory and fighting even the slightest deviation from it.
UPHOLD THE PARTY PRINCIPLE!
The decisive role of the PLA in leading the revolution in Albania to victory has profound lessons for us in the U.S. The 38th anniversary of the founding of the PLA comes while we are in the midst of the campaign to reconstitute a genuinely revolutionary communist party of the American proletariat by founding the Marxist-Leninist Party, U.S.A. In the U.S., as in Albania, the formation and constant strengthening of the party is a decisive question for the advance of the revolution.
For decades a big struggle has taken place in the U.S. on the question of the party principle.
The capitalists and their opportunist servants have spearheaded their attack against the proletariat by trying to destroy the party. They succeeded in corroding the old "Communist" Party, U.S.A. from within, and converting it from a revolutionary party into a revisionist "left" wing of the imperialist "Democratic" Party. And they have sought to wipe out the very idea of organizing a party and being loyal to a party from the consciousness of the proletariat and all revolutionary activists. They have floated many anti-party theories. Some opportunists called themselves "New Leftists" and opposed the idea of a party as "old left". Others argued that the party is a very secondary question, and that it could be ignored and left to come by accident out of the spontaneous development of the mass movement. The capitalists themselves mocked the party as "anti-democratic", whereas the truth is that the capitalist parties, such as the Democratic and Republican Parties, are the real undemocratic parties, the parties of starvation, fascism and war, while the communist party is the party of freedom and liberation for the masses. The capitalists know that without the party the working class cannot develop revolutionary politics separate and independent from the bourgeoisie. Without the party, the working class is tied to liberal- labor politics -- that is, the idea that the workers should only fight for some petty economic sops or at most build a reformist type of trade union, while leaving the questions of politics to the "liberal" capitalists, to the Democratic Party or the "moderate" Republicans. But to accept this liberal-labor politics means to give up the struggle against capitalist exploitation altogether and to live as willing slaves.
For the working class to take up its own independent political role, it must have its own proletarian party. The leading role of the party in the revolution represents the concentrated and highest expression of the leading role of the working class* With the Marxist-Leninist party, the proletariat can lead all the oppressed masses in the struggle to abolish the system of exploitation of man by man. Comrade Lenin teaches: "In a society based on class divisions, the struggle between the hostile classes is bound, at a certain stage of its development, to become a political struggle. The most purposeful, most comprehensive and specific expression of the political struggle of classes is the struggle of parties. The non-party principle means indifference to the struggle of parties. But this indifference is not equivalent to neutrality, to abstention from the struggle, for in the class struggle there can be no neutrals;... Hence, in practice, indifference to the struggle does not at all mean standing aloof from the struggle, abstaining from it, or being neutral. Indifference is tacit support of the strong, of those who rule....The non-party principle in bourgeois society is merely-a hypocritical, disguised, passive expression of adherence to the party of the well-fed, of the rulers, of the exploiters." Lenin stressed that "... strict adherence to the party principle... is one of the factors that makes the class struggle conscious, clear, definite and principled." (Lenin, "The Socialist Party and Non-Party Revolutionism", Collected Works, Vol. 10, pp. 79,81)
Just as the PLA led the Albanian masses to liberation and today leads them in building a new life free from exploiters and without relying on any imperialist superpower, so too only the leadership of the Marxist-Leninist Party can open the path forward for the socialist revolution in the U.S. That is why the study of the experience and history of the PLA is a question of such burning importance for the class conscious workers and revolutionary activists. The COUSML hails the PLA on the occasion of its 38th anniversary of its founding and sends it its ardent revolutionary greetings.
[Photo: "The Founding of the Party"]
All the tremendous achievements and victories of the Albanian people are inseparable from the Party of Labor of Albania's absolute loyalty to the Marxist-Leninist teachings. Marxism-Leninism is the theory of the revolution and of the class struggle. In order to subvert the revolution, the bourgeoisie and the opportunists have declared Marxism-Leninism "outdated" and have set up a deafening clamor with a multitude of fashionable, anti-scientific theories all claiming to be the last word in the annihilation of Marxism. The PLA has taken the defense of the ever young and dynamic theory of Marxism-Leninism as one of its essential tasks. The PLA has especially kept at the center of its attention the struggle against modern revisionism, the main danger in the international communist and workers movement.
This year two important new books against revisionism by Comrade Enver Hoxha became available in English. These books are Imperialism and the Revolution and Reflections on China. These books are path-breaking works that deepen the ideological offensive against Chinese revisionism that the PLA opened up with Comrade Hoxha's Report to the 7th Congress of the PLA in November 1976.
Imperialism and the Revolution is a truly breathtaking work of immense scope. It exposes the present-day strategies of imperialism and of all the major varieties of modern revisionism, including Soviet, Chinese and Titoite revisionism. It pays special attention to Chinese revisionism. Its appearance marks a great deepening of the struggle against the infamous and universally condemned theory of "three worlds", that counter-revolutionary theory used by the Chinese revisionists to justify their warmongering alliance with U.S. imperialism. The book shows that Mao Zedong Thought is the ideological and theoretical basis of the "three worlds" theory. It proves that Mao Zedong was a revolutionary democrat, but not a Marxist-Leninist, and that his system of Mao Zedong Thought was an anti-Marxist, revisionist doctrine that was the ideological basis for all the different revisionist factions and groupings in the Chinese leadership. As well, Comrade Hoxha elaborates Marxism-Leninism on a number of burning questions of the strategy, tactics and forms of organization of the revolution.
Reflections on China consists of excerpts from Comrade Hoxha's political diary. It provides a wealth of material showing the Marxist-Leninist approach to world problems and the problems of the international communist movement. The first volume covers the years from 1962-1972. This volume spends great attention on the zigzags and waverings of the Chinese leadership in the struggle against modern Soviet revisionism.
DOWN WITH KHRUSHCHOVITE REVISIONISM!
Why is the question of the fight against Khrushchovite revisionism so crucial? It is because revisionism is the main danger in the international communist movement. Modern Khrushchovite revisionism represents the most complete and worked out anti-Marxist revisionist system. Furthermore, it is supported by the state power of a huge superpower. The renegade Khrushchov seized power by a coup d'etat in Russia. Khrushchov and his successors slandered Stalin, betrayed the workers and peasants, and brought about the degeneration of the revolutionary Soviet Union of the days of Lenin and Stalin into the present imperialist Soviet Union. The modern Soviet revisionists speculate on the prestige won by the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the days of Lenin and Stalin in order to try to present their anti-Marxist revisionist trash in "communist" colors. The revisionist takeover in the Soviet Union was a great tragedy that vastly accelerated the spread of revisionism around the world* Many parties fell prey to revisionism and degenerated into capitalist, counter-revolutionary parties. The genuine revolutionaries and communists in such countries had to establish new Marxist-Leninist parties in the course of a ferocious struggle against revisionism.
Thus the struggle against modern revisionism is an absolute necessity. Leninism teaches that "The fight against imperialism is a sham and humbug unless it is inseparably bound up with the fight against opportunism." The degeneration of the Khrushchovites bore this out completely. They stopped fighting imperialism and instead collaborated with imperialism and joined the game of imperialist rivalries and alliances. They concocted a whole series of theories to prettify imperialism and subvert the revolution. They claimed that imperialism had changed its nature and become a peaceful, "reasonable", docile lamb. They prettified capitalism and imperialism which they regarded as basically good and whitewashed its crimes as due only to a small fringe of "madmen" or "ultra-rights".
They opposed the revolution and advocated the peaceful integration of capitalism into socialism. They sought to blackmail the masses with the specter of nuclear war in order to replace the revolutionary spirit with tame pacificism, bourgeois humanism and capitulation. They attacked the party principle and sought to convert the communist parties into tame social-democratic parties similar to those of the Second International.
The only path for genuine revolutionaries was the stern, uncompromising struggle against the Soviet revisionists. This was the path taken by the PLA and other genuine Marxist-Leninists.
For this, they faced the wrath of the Khrushchovites. Khrushchov and his successors applied brutal economic, political and all-round pressure on Albania. They went to the extent of breaking diplomatic relations with Albania. Together with the imperialists they formed an encirclement of Albania. With the arrogance of imperialist great-power chauvinism they expected tiny Albania to surrender to him. But Marxism-Leninism gives immense strength to the genuine revolutionaries. The Albanian people and the PLA stood firm on the positions of Marxism-Leninism and in favor of the interests of the revolution. As a result of a heroic and protracted struggle of the PLA and other Marxist-Leninists, the "communist" color was gradually stripped from the Soviet revisionists.
THE UNPRINCIPLED WAVERINGS OF THE CHINESE
For these reasons, the assessment of the course of the struggle against modern Khrushchovite revisionism is a question of major importance. The genuine Marxist-Leninists study the history of this struggle in order to learn how to wage it more consistently, more sharply and with greater power.
Reflections on China documents the wavering stands of the Chinese leadership and its crimes against the anti-revisionist cause. The Chinese leadership took a certain part in this struggle. Indeed, it tried to give itself credentials as the greatest anti-revisionist fighters. But the Chinese leadership used the prestige of the stands it did take against Soviet revisionism in order to promote its own peculiar anti-Marxist theories and Chinese brand of revisionism. Reflections on China pulls aside the veil that the Chinese leadership has cynically cast over this period.
It exposes the vacillations and zigzags of the unprincipled Chinese stand and denounces the various centrist and even out-and-out capitulationist Chinese theses. This includes such utterly revisionist stands as: the "anti-imperialist front including even the modern revisionists"; the various theses in opposition to the vigorous development of open polemics against the Khrushchovite traitors; the Chinese contempt for the new Marxist-Leninist parties; the united front with all sorts of revisionist scoundrels like the Titoites, Romanians, "Eurocommunists", on the pretext of using one revisionist against the other, and finally the embracing of the fascist war criminal Richard Nixon and the establishment of the U.S.-China alliance.
These vacillations and waverings revealed that the Chinese leadership was not fighting the Soviet revisionists in order to defend the principled positions of Marxism-Leninism, but only for certain economic and political motives on a national chauvinist basis. The history of the actual role of the Chinese leadership in the anti-revisionist struggle is of the utmost interest to the genuine revolutionary Marxist-Leninists. Real Marxist-Leninists do not regard the struggle against revisionism as a mere maneuver or a way of bargaining for better terms with the revisionists, but as a matter of life and death, as a great struggle to uphold the Marxist-Leninist ideology. The danger of a nonchalant approach to the defense of Marxism-Leninism is illustrated by the tragedy of China, which degenerated all the way into a social-imperialist power, as utterly corrupt and revisionist as the Soviet Khrushchovites themselves.
Thus Imperialism and the Revolution and Reflections on China bring the bright light of Marxism-Leninism to bear on the questions of the essence of Mao Zedong Thought and Chinese revisionism and its history and development. These works by Comrade Hoxha bear fiery testimony to the unflinching stand of the PLA in the struggle against modern revisionism. Disregarding all pragmatic calculations of temporary benefits, the PLA has stood squarely for the defense of the revolutionary principles of Marxism-Leninism. This is the type of principled stand that should be the model for every Marxist- Leninist. The irreconcilable struggle against revisionism and opportunism is an absolutely necessary prerequisite for the defense of Marxism-Leninism and the victory of the revolution.
Today, the People's Socialist Republic of Albania is the red fortress of socialism in the world. November 29th marks the 35th anniversary of the complete liberation of Albania. It marks the celebration of 35 years of victories in socialist revolution and socialist construction by the heroic Albanian working class and people. The triumphant construction of socialism in Albania is a triumph of immense international significance. In fact, the very existence of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, the only genuine socialist state, encircled by the vast ocean of imperialist, social-imperialist, capitalist and revisionist states, is a vital feature of the contemporary world.
In what lies the great significance of this small socialist country in the middle of Europe? The eyes of the working class and the oppressed people of all countries see in socialist Albania their future, the model of the new society which they too are struggling to achieve. And, on the other hand, the enemies of the proletariat and oppressed people, the U.S. imperialists, the Soviet and Chinese social-imperialists and the capitalists and revisionists everywhere see in the PSRA their most implacable adversary, the socialist system which will bury their system of savage exploitation and oppression which has had its day.
THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE HAVE BUILT A NEW SOCIALIST SOCIETY WITHOUT THE CAPITALIST EXPLOITERS
Thus, among other things, the immense significance of socialist Albania lies in its great example. Most significantly, the Albanian working class and people are building their new society, their free, prosperous and happy life without the capitalist exploiters or any other parasites who live off the blood and sweat of the working people. At the time of liberation, the Albanian working class and people resolutely expropriated the property of the capitalist owners and landlords. In stepwise fashion all the exploiting classes were deprived of their wealth and power and were eventually eliminated as classes. Moreover, not only were the hated bourgeois and feudal exploiters overthrown, but without the exploiters and against them, the Albanian working people have built a new, far superior society on the ashes of the old one. The property of the former exploiters was converted into socialist property. And, based on their own efforts, the Albanian working class, cooperativist peasantry and people's intelligentsia have completely transformed their once poor and backward country into an advanced socialist society, with a modern industry, a strong and self-sufficient agricultural base, a flourishing and progressive culture and genuine democracy for the working people.
The monopoly capitalist rulers of this country and their hired scribblers and lackeys never tire of trying to convince the American working class and working people that they could never get along without the exploiters. "Without exploitation by the capitalist employers, who would provide the workers with employment?" "Without the plunder and robbery of the overgorged oil corporations, who would be left to drill the oil?" "Without the domination of the billionaire bankers and other financial parasites, who would finance so-called economic development?" Such is the self-serving logic of the defenders of capitalist exploitation. Look at the huge campaign which has been organized to "save Chrysler". Day and night the proletariat is told to not rise in struggle, to not rise in revolution and overthrow the hated bourgeoisie because even if it were overthrown the working class could never get along without it.
But all this is a monstrous hoax to preserve the rotten system of wage slavery. It is the working class, the toilers who have produced and created everything in this society and who are perfectly capable of becoming masters of this society. And the example of socialist Albania is living proof that the working class and people can, in fact, live perfectly well without the money- grubbing exploiters altogether. Not only can the society get along without the exploiting classes, but a far better life, a superior social system can be built on their graves. The contrast between the crisis-ridden monopoly capitalist society in the U.S. which is rotting alive and the brilliant reality of socialist society in Albania is incontestable evidence of this fact.
The United States is the richest and most powerful of the imperialist states,. Nevertheless, while this vast wealth has been created by the hands of the working class and working people, it is controlled by a handful of capitalist monopolies. The basic economic law of monopoly capitalism -- the securing of maximum profits through the exploitation, ruin and impoverishment of the majority of the population at home, and through the enslavement and robbery of the people of other countries, as well as through the militarization of the economy and war -- is in full force. The anarchy of capitalist production, where the law of the jungle reigns, has brought about a severe economic crisis of overproduction which has now gripped the U.S. economy for over five years.
And these five years of economic crisis and stagnation have meant five years of even more millions of unemployed, and even higher rates of inflation and even deeper cuts in the real earnings of the workers to make the people pay for the crisis. President Carter has declared that the only solution to the economic crisis, to the soaring double-digit inflation, to the energy crisis, etc., is for the working people to make more "sacrifices"; to submit to even deeper wage cuts under his fascist wage controls; to accept the blatant robbery of the oil monopolies; to agree to be taxed to death in order to fork over more billions in subsidies to the big corporations who are raking in record profits at the expense of the people. In short, the rich minority are growing richer and the poor majority are growing poorer with every passing day.
In stark contrast to this gloomy reality of capitalist society stands socialist Albania. In Albania there are no rich parasites whatsoever. The factories, mills, and other means of production are the socialist property of the working people. Since liberation, Albania has known no economic crisis, but has sustained a constant increase of carefully planned economic growth at over a 10% annual rate, the highest rate of economic development in Europe. The reason for this is that in Albania the basic economic law of socialism is in force: the securing of the maximum satisfaction of the constantly rising material and cultural requirements of society through the development of socialist production.
This is why in Albania prices are completely stable or even decline, but never increase.
There is no unemployment in Albania. Whereas in the U.S. often over a third of a worker's wages may go to his landlord, housing rent in Albania is only 1% of a family's income. In the U.S., the tax burden on the people grows ever more unbearable while hospitals are shut down and school expenditures and other needs of the people are cut back. Albania, on the other hand, is the only country in the world to abolish all taxes on the people. Furthermore, in Albania all health care is free of charge and modern medical facilities are available to all the people. Similarly, education is free and available for all. Moreover, students in high schools and college are provided for financially, and there are provisions for workers to be able to attend classes, thus making equal access to education a reality for all and not just the children of a privileged few. And this education is scientific and progressive, free of the capitalists' lies.
Socialist Albania also has developed a flourishing socialist culture. Whereas the "height" of U.S. imperialist culture is nothing but extreme decadence and the promotion of anti-working class, racist, and fascist ideology to enslave the people, in stark contrast, the socialist culture of Albania is both scientific and progressive. It is a true socialist culture of the people. In a country where before liberation the majority of the people were illiterate, today the majority of Albania's painters, poets, musicians, etc. are to be found in the ranks of the workers and peasants.
Another great achievement of socialist Albania is the advancement of the position of women. In bourgeois-feudal Albania the oppressive treatment of women was particularly severe, like in all the countries where the exploiters rule. Women were treated like so much property to be bought and sold. But today, the Albanian women have equal rights, participate in all spheres of socialist life, and through the revolution the women are realizing their rightful stature as fully equal comrades with the men in building the new society.
This is but a brief glimpse of some of the unparalleled accomplishments of the new socialist society which the Albanian working class and people have built. The reality of socialist Albania demonstrates that not only is it possible to live without the hated capitalists but also that life without them under socialism is a far better life than the one under the heel of the bloodsucking exploiters. It is for this reason that the People's Socialist Republic of Albania has set a contagious example for the proletariat and oppressed people everywhere, an infectious example which poses a grave danger to the very existence of the capitalist system of wage slavery in all countries.
ONLY THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT CAN GUARANTEE GENUINE DEMOCRACY FOR THE PEOPLE
Socialist Albania is the living proof of the fact that the exploited and oppressed majority is not condemned by "fate" or the ''natural order of things" to be ruled indefinitely by the exploiting minority, as all the apologists of exploiting systems have claimed for ages. No. Through the National Liberation War and the people's revolution which won victory 35 years ago, the political power in Albania of the foreign invaders and traitorous capitalists and landlords was smashed forever. And the people's state power, the dictatorship of the proletariat was set up in its place. All the great socialist victories which Albania has achieved would have been impossible without the people's revolution and the establishment and strengthening of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The bourgeoisie raves against socialism as "dictatorship". But in fact, the socialist state, the proletarian dictatorship, is the only kind of state which truly represents democracy for the majority, the working people, unlike the fraud of "democracy" under capitalism.
The dictatorship of the proletariat is exercised by the working class, which has become the ruling class. And this proletarian dictatorship, led by the working class, is based on the solid alliance of the working class and the peasantry which means that it is the power of the true majority of the Albanian people against the internal and external class enemies. The Marxist-Leninist vanguard Party of Labor of Albania, is an essential instrument of the dictatorship of the proletariat and plays a leading role in the state and society. As Comrade Enver Hoxha points out, "ensuring the leading role of the Marxist-Leninist Party constitutes the decisive condition for carrying out the revolution, establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat and building socialism." The party is the leader and organizer of the masses, who are the builders of socialism. Lenin explained the question of who builds socialism: "But socialism cannot be implemented by a minority, by the Party. It can be implemented only by tens of millions when they have learned to do it themselves." (V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 135) This Leninist principle is summed up in the Albanian slogan: "SOCIALISM IS BUILT BY THE MASSES, THE PARTY MAKES THEM CONSCIOUS." Without a highly politically organized, conscious and active population, the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism would be out of the question.
In this regard, the mass social organizations, which incorporate the entire Albanian people in their ranks, play a crucial role as powerful levers of the Party in the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Democratic Front of Albania (the broad political front of the people), the Albanian trade unions, the Labor Youth Union and the Women's Union unite, organize, educate and mobilize the people for the line of the Party and for the strengthening of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the construction of socialism and the defense of the homeland.
Furthermore, in Albania all state power derives from and belongs to the working people. The working people are the true masters of the affairs of state and are directly involved in the administration of government. The state organs rely on the creative initiative of the masses, drawing them into the running of the country. The representative bodies elected by the people, the People's Assembly and the People's Councils, direct and control all the other state organs. And every governmental or managerial body, every state or economic institution is subject to direct control by the masses. Control and supervision is carried out through organized workers' and peasants' control groups and by other means. This is an important guarantee against bureaucracy, and to ensure that the various bodies and officials do not degenerate but remain loyal to the working class and people. Another important measure to prevent the emergence of a privileged stratum opposed to the people's interests, the social base for the revisionist restoration of capitalism, is the reduction in wage differentials. Elected officials earn an average worker's wages and the difference in wages between the highest paid official or manager and the lowest paid worker is no more than two to one.
From all angles, the proletarian democracy practiced in socialist Albania is the very opposite of the bourgeois-imperialist "democracy" practiced in the U.S. This so-called "democracy" is nothing but a hollow,shell to hide the savage dictatorship of the monopoly capitalist class. A disgusting farce rigged up every four years to decide which capitalist millionaire of which party of the big monopolies, the Republicans or the Democrats, is going to suppress the people is the real extent of "American democracy". This so-called "democracy" means the freedom of the state to organize fascist gangs of nazis and Klan terrorists to gun down demonstrators in cold blood. And, likewise, it means the necessity of the people to carry out active resistance and fight tooth and nail for their most elementary rights. Beneath the noisy propaganda about "democracy" and "freedom" lies the rule of finance capital, the rule of the billionaires, whose power lies in their vast wealth and their subsequent control of all the means of power, in particular the state apparatus -- their armies, police, prisons, courts and enormous bureaucracy -- with which they crush the people. Under the cloak of "democracy" and "human rights" the bourgeoisie is actually developing fascism against the working class and people, imposing wage controls on the workers to cut wages and break strikes, organizing fascist gangs, and carrying out unprecedented war preparations for the slaughter of the people.
No. As the Albanian example testifies, the working class is completely capable of organizing itself as the ruling class. And this dictatorship of the proletariat will ensure genuine democracy for the people, a democracy incomparably more just and humane, a thousand times superior to the so-called "democracy" advertised by the Nixons and Carters, the war criminals, fascists and lackeys of monopoly capital.
THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE ARE BUILDING SOCIALISM ON THE BASIS OF THEIR OWN EFFORTS -- INDEPENDENT AND FREE
Another reality of socialist Albania of great international significance is the fact that the Albanian working class and people are building socialism on the basis of their own efforts. Imperialism has created the propaganda that the people of the weak and the small countries would perish without the benevolent tutelage of one or more of the big imperialist or social-imperialist states. Allegedly without imperialist "aid" and credits the people will starve and only the U.S. imperialist or Soviet social-imperialist nuclear umbrella can guarantee "security" and "defense of independence". But this imperialist lie has been demolished by the PSRA. Leninism teaches that it is the internal strengths of the working class and the people which is decisive, not the external factors. Upholding this Leninist principle, Albania relies principally on its own internal forces for the socialist progress of the country while at the same time enjoying the support of the international proletariat and revolutionary forces everywhere. Albania is the only country in the world which receives no credits whatsoever from the capitalist states, a measure guaranteed by the Constitution. Albania has no foreign military bases or troops on her soil. Socialist Albania has proved to the whole world that the people, even of a small country such as Albania, can live, breathe and prosper without selling their independence and freedom to the U.S. imperialists, Soviet or Chinese social-imperialists or any other big power. The working class and people can guarantee their complete emancipation, freedom and independence only through their own revolutionary efforts.
SOCIALISM IS THE ASPIRATION OF THE WORKING CLASS
In socialist Albania the proletarians of all countries see the realization of their own aspirations and future. The building of socialism and communism is the great aspiration and historic mission of the working class. Moreover, since 1917, when Lenin and Stalin led the Russian proletariat in the Great October Socialist Revolution, socialism has not been only a dream and a future prospect, but a reality. The existence of socialism is the greatest achievement of the international proletariat. Despite all the counter-revolutionary wars and plots of imperialism to wipe socialism off the face of the earth, despite the zigzags of history, in Albania the red banner of socialism is being raised aloft higher and higher.
But this has not stopped the imperialist propagandists from declaring that "socialism is impossible", or that "socialism is no different than capitalism" -- that in any event socialism is either a utopia or something that is not worth fighting for anyway. And the greatest service to this counter-revolutionary propaganda is performed by the pseudo"socialism" of the various revisionist states that have in fact betrayed socialism.
The favorite trick of the bourgeois media is to point to the Soviet revisionists who live like new tsars and call this "socialism". In reality, however, the Khrushchovite revisionists are the biggest gang of counter-revolutionaries who, after the death of J.V. Stalin, overthrew socialism and restored capitalism, transforming the once glorious socialist homeland of the international proletariat into a warmongering social-imperialist superpower which is only rivaled by U.S. imperialism in the magnitude of its crimes against the people.
The bourgeoisie also points a finger at revisionist China and calls this "socialism" too. Mao Zedong kissed with the war criminal Nixon and the other henchmen of U.S. imperialism and paved the way for the formation of the U.S.-China counter-revolutionary alliance. This warmongering alliance has been sealed, and Chinese social- imperialism has emerged on the world scene and has savagely invaded Viet Nam, showing itself to be a dangerous enemy of the people. And, of course, the U.S. imperialists use China to claim that "socialism" means alliance with imperialism and the most barbaric reaction.
Now the U.S. government and the imperialist media have launched a hysterical propaganda campaign to the effect that the "communists" and "socialism" have brought about the terrible disaster in Indochina. However, socialism and communism have nothing to do with this disaster for the people. Behind the fratricidal bloodshed and devastation in Indochina lies the unbridled rivalry of Chinese social-imperialism, Soviet social-imperialism and U.S. imperialism. It is these international barbarians who have the blood of the valiant Indochinese people on their hands. Whereas for the Indochinese people themselves -- people who have waged the most titanic wars of liberation including their most heroic triumph over the hitlerite war of aggression waged by U.S. imperialism -- they have not found the true Marxist-Leninist road of socialism.
This propaganda that socialism is to blame for the monstrous crimes of the Soviet and Chinese social-imperialists is altogether wrong. It is not socialism and Marxism-Leninism which are discredited by the real crimes of the Soviet, Chinese and other revisionists. These crimes only discredit these revisionist traitors to socialism and highlight the absolute necessity for the proletariat and people to adhere to the Marxist-Leninist teachings on the revolution and socialism.
No imperialist or revisionist calumny can tarnish the brilliant example of the genuine socialist country, the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, which is building socialism correctly according to the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. Socialism as it is being constructed in Albania provides a model for the future socialist society which will inevitably triumph in all countries. It is the reliable base area and inspirer of the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat and the laboring people of the world who are fighting for their emancipation, for socialism and communism. Herein lies the immense international significance of this valiant socialist country in the middle of capitalist Europe. Albania is the red beacon of socialism in the world.
[Photo: "SOCIALISM IS BUILT BY THE MASSES, THE PARTY MAKES THEM CONSCIOUS"]
[Photo: J.V. Stalin and Enver Hoxha]
Most probably, the world revolution will develop by the breaking away of a number of new countries from the system of the imperialist states as a result of revolution, while the proletarians of these countries will be supported by the proletariat of the imperialist states. We see that the first country to break away, the first victorious country, is already being supported by the workers and the laboring masses of other countries. Without this support it could not hold out. Undoubtedly, this support will increase and grow. But there can also be no doubt that the very development of the world revolution, the very process of the breaking a- way from imperialism of a number of new countries will be the more rapid and thorough, the more thoroughly socialism becomes consolidated in the first victorious country, the faster this country is transformed into a base for the further unfolding of the world revolution, into a lever for the further disintegration of imperialism.
While it is true that the final victory of socialism in the first country to emancipate itself is impossible without the combined efforts of the proletarians of several countries, it is equally true that the unfolding of the world revolution will be the more rapid and thorough, the more effective the assistance rendered by the first socialist country to the workers and laboring masses of all other countries.
In what should this assistance be expressed?
It should be expressed, firstly, in the victorious country achieving "the utmost possible in one country for the development, support and awakening of the revolution in all countries" (see Lenin, Vol. 28, p. 292).
It should be expressed, secondly, in that the "victorious proletariat" of one country, "having expropriated the capitalists and organized socialist production, would stand up... against the rest of the world, the capitalist world, attracting, to its cause the oppressed classes of other countries, raising revolts in those countries against the capitalists, and in the event of necessity coming out even with armed force against the exploiting classes and their states" (see Lenin, Vol. 21, p. 342).
The characteristic feature of the assistance given by the victorious country is not only that it hastens the victory of the proletarians of other countries, but also that, by facilitating this victory, it ensures the final victory of socialism in the first victorious country.
Most probably, in the course of development of the world revolution, side by side with the centers of imperialism in individual capitalist countries and with the system of these countries throughout the world, centers of socialism will be created in individual Soviet countries and a system of these centers throughout the world, and the struggle between these two systems will fill the history of the unfolding of the world revolution.
For, says Lenin, "the free union of nations in socialism is impossible without a more or less prolonged and stubborn struggle of the socialist republics against the backward states" (Ibid.).
The world significance of the October Revolution lies not only in the fact that it constitutes a great beginning made by one country in causing a breach in the system of imperialism and that it is the first center of socialism in the ocean of imperialist countries, but also in that it constitutes the first stage of the world revolution and a mighty base for its further development.
Therefore, not only those are wrong who forget the international character of the October Revolution and declare the victory of socialism in one country to be a purely national, and only a national, phenomenon, but also those who, although they bear in mind the international character of the October Revolution, are inclined to regard this revolution as something passive, merely destined to accept help from without. Actually, not only does the October Revolution need support from the revolution in other countries, but the revolution in those countries needs the support of the October Revolution in order to accelerate and advance the cause of overthrowing world imperialism.
December 17, 1924