The worldwide transition from capitalism to socialism marks the main content and basic feature of the era in which we live. This is the era of proletarian revolution, the final collapse of imperialism and the triumph of socialism.
Capitalism emerged out of the ruins of feudal society. From the beginning it created both the conditions and the necessity for its eventual destruction. The fundamental contradiction of the entire capitalist era is between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The ownership of the factories and resources are concentrated in the hands of the numerically small capitalist class. The proletariat has no means of production and is forced to sell its labor power to the capitalists. This is the basis of the extraction of surplus value and the production of commodities for profit.
Capitalism is characterized by a constant drive for maximum profits and accumulation. This leads to increasing competition first at home, and then worldwide. Capitalist competition regularly leads to overproduction, industrial and agrarian crises, stagnation and ruin.
The development of capitalism extracts a brutal toll from the proletariat and its allies. The brutal exploitation and oppression of the proletariat leads to decay and filth in the industrial centers, stark poverty in the countryside, growing degeneracy of culture and narrowness of life. The greater the drive for maximum profits, the greater the misery of the proletariat. Women are brought into production under grossly unequal wages and conditions. This is added to the already existing household slavery. Child employment is increased and the aged are abandoned when their productive ability is reduced.
The rise and development of capitalism signaled an intense period of class struggle. With the development of large scale socialized production, the collective consciousness, organization and fighting capacity of the proletariat developed rapidly. The material conditions of work served to unify and prepare the proletariat to fight the bourgeoisie as a class.
In many countries the proletariat developed trade union organizations for self-defense. Under the influence of scientific socialism, many unions broadened their viewpoint and fought for the complete emancipation of the working class.
The sharpening class struggle and the drive for maximum profits spurred on the development of capitalism. Capitalism could not remain at its competitive stage any more than society could have remained at the feudal stage.
From its birth, capitalism began to lay the basis for its final stage of development, imperialism. Huge empires and vast fortunes were built. New colonies were opened up for plunder and the development of capitalism proceeded on the backs of the workers, peasants and oppressed colonies. The barbaric slave trade from Africa was essential to the rise of capitalism.
The development of capitalism in the U.S. vividly demonstrates the transition from the competitive to the monopoly, or imperialist, stage of capitalism.
The bourgeois democratic revolution of 1776 marked an historic turning point. Colonial ties with Britain were broken and the U.S. capitalist class established itself in power. This was a genuine revolutionary war against British colonialism. The establishment of capitalism in the U.S. proceeded on the basis of exploitation and oppression.
The rise of capitalism in the U.S. had many distinct features. The relative absence of feudal remnants — except in the South — promoted competition among the capitalists. Vast lands and resources were gained by the genocide committed against the Native Indian population. The oppression of the Black Nation and the Chicano Nation yielded enormous superprofits for the new capitalist class.
The large scale development of agriculture in the South and the exploitation of chattel slavery provided the profits necessary for the rapid and intense industrial development of the North. The Civil War consolidated the control of the U.S. industrial and financial bourgeoisie over the slaveholders in the South. This war laid the basis for the growth and development of huge trusts, such as those controlled by the Rockefellers, Hunts and Morgans.
The development of the oppressed Black Nation in the South was one of the most important features of capitalist development in the U.S. The Black Nation was forged over hundreds of years, and consolidated after the suppression of Reconstruction. At that time, the Northern industrialists in collusion with the Southern feudal landlords forcibly seized the land from the Black masses. This continues to be the material basis for the denial of democratic rights and the oppression of the Black Nation.
A similar history exists for the Southwest. In 1848, the U.S. seized control over the territory in the Southwest which was then under the control of Mexico. This seizure gained vast amounts of land for the U.S. Included in this territory was a developing Chicano Nation centered in what is now New Mexico. The domination by the U.S. over the land and peoples consolidated this Nation. The confiscation of the Chicano people’s land continues to be the material basis for the denial of democratic rights and the oppression of the Chicano Nation.
From all corners of the world, an unrivaled number of immigrant workers poured into the U.S. The exploitation and oppression of countless national minorities was essential to the development of U.S. capitalism.
The history of the rise and development of U.S. imperialism shows clearly that imperialism means the oppression and division of nations. The domination established by the rising imperialists over the Native Indian population, the Black Nation and the Chicano Nation was repeated countless times, on every continent. The colonies of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Micronesia are but a few examples. U.S. imperialism has stretched its tentacles of capital and guns to the furthest corners of the world.
These and other factors led to an unprecedented rate and level of financial and industrial development in the United States. In the U.S., the development of capitalism and the socialization of labor proceeded at a pace unknown anywhere in the world. From 1820 to 1870, the U.S. moved from a small, rural and insignificant manufacturer to the second largest manufacturer in the world.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the contradictions of capitalism developed to such a point, in the U.S. and elsewhere, that capitalism entered its final imperialist stage.
The imperialist era is the era of proletarian socialist revolution and the transition from capitalism to socialism.
Imperialism is finance capitalism. The monopoly, multi-national corporations create a world economic system. The ever increasing export of capital, resulting from increased concentration of capital and the search for maximum profits, leads to greater international competition between imperialist powers. This inevitably leads to imperialist war, and the general crisis of capitalism.
Worldwide, the extraction of the vast superprofits by imperialism from the exploitation of the proletariat, peasantry and colonies sharpens the contradictions and spurs forward the class struggle.
In the colonies, national liberation struggles begin to rage.
In the capitalist countries, the proletariat organizes itself to win important victories against capital, such as the eight hour day. The contradictions of imperialist development weaken the imperialist system, bringing vividly to light its reactionary and backward nature. These contradictions educate and unify the proletariat and oppressed nations of the necessity for the destruction of imperialism. The links of the imperialist chain begin to crumble.
In 1917, the Russian proletariat, allied with the peasantry, led by the Bolshevik Party with Lenin at its head, overthrew the reactionary bourgeoisie and established the dictatorship of the proletariat. This event smashed the imperialist system at its weakest link, and opened up an entirely new chapter in the history of the world. For the first time, the proletariat consciously applied the objective laws of development to improve the well-being of the majority of poor and working people. The era of proletarian revolution was born.
Imperialism no longer represented an all embracing world system. Two camps were irrevocably created, the camp of socialism and the camp of imperialism. The socialist revolution in Russia demonstrated not only the rottenness of capitalism, but also the inevitability of socialism. Socialist Russia became a beacon to the working and oppressed people of the world. The age old dreams of the working and oppressed people of the world had been turned into a reality.
Because imperialism is a world system, the victory of the proletariat of the advanced capitalist countries cannot come about except in alliance with the democratic and revolutionary movement for national liberation in the colonies and oppressed nations. In the era of imperialism, this strategic alliance between the proletariat and the oppressed nations and people of the world rings the death bell of imperialism. It ushers in the worldwide victory of the proletariat.
The sharpening of the basic contradictions of the imperialist system together with the increasing blows struck by the proletariat and the national liberation struggles spur on the general crisis of capitalism. It matures into an all-round economic, political, ideological and military crisis. As the working and oppressed people of the world score advances against the imperialist camp, the bourgeoisie utilizes both outright oppression and deception to maintain its rule. Imperialist war, fascism, opportunism and reformism are its tools in trade.
The vast superprofits of imperialist plunder from the colonies and oppressed nations are used to bribe the upper stratum of the proletariat, the labor aristocracy. Based upon this bribery, reformism and opportunism are spread both by this stratum and the trade union bureaucrats. The trade union bureaucrats, who come from the ranks of the labor aristocracy, are social props of the bourgeoisie. They seek to undermine, mislead and curtail the revolutionary objectives of the working class movement.
Although the entire system of imperialism is the enemy of the proletariat and its allies, certain imperialist powers will be the main enemy at certain times.
During World War II, the main enemy of the people of the world was Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan. After World War II, with the defeat of these powers and the ruin of other imperialists, the main enemy of the world’s people became U.S. imperialism. The U.S. was the only imperialist power to emerge from World War II with significant economic and military strength.
U.S. imperialism organized the Cold War and launched an extensive campaign against the socialist camp. The U.S. established countless international banking and finance institutions to shackle the development of other capitalist countries and the oppressed nations. It organized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other political and military mechanisms to further its domination. The U.S. intervened in China, Korea, the Congo, Lebanon, the Dominican Republic and Vietnam. It organized fascist reaction in Indonesia, the Philippines, Iran, Brazil and Chile. It props up the fascist apartheid regimes in Azania (South Africa) and Zionist reaction against the Palestinian people. It consistently sought to blockade and undermine the socialist states, proletarian revolution and the national liberation movements fighting for new democracy.
Since World War II, U.S. imperialism has suffered many defeats, such as in Korea and Vietnam. But in no way has it changed its basic nature. U.S. imperialism remains a reactionary power on a scale previously unknown. Its bloody thirst for profits, resources and territory continues. Far from falling into a defensive stand, it fights to maintain its leadership of the imperialist camp and extend its influence, control and domination. The defeat of U.S. imperialism at the hands of the U.S. proletariat and its allies will be an event of world historic significance, and a decisive turning point in the worldwide struggle against imperialism.
After World War II, socialism achieved victory in several countries in Europe and Asia. The Chinese Revolution in 1949 was a direct continuation of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, and dramatically changed the balance of forces in the world in favor of revolution and socialism. Enormous external and internal pressure was brought to bear against the socialist camp, led by the Soviet Union. Stalin, following in Lenin’s footsteps, actively led the struggle against this external and internal reaction. But after Stalin’s death in 1953, revisionists undermined the Marxist-Leninist base of the Party, reversed the policy of Lenin and Stalin and opened the door for the restoration of capitalism. This path was followed soon after by the Eastern European People’s Democracies. The Soviet Union developed into a social-fascist dictatorship at home. With the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Russia emerged as a social-imperialist power: socialist in words, imperialist in deeds.
The restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union was a tragedy of world proportions. But it does not change the essence or nature of our era. Regardless of this or future zigzags in the advance of socialism, the triumph of socialism worldwide is inevitable.
Today, U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism are the main enemy of the people of the world. Both are aggressive, both seek after maximum profits and both seek the redivision of the world. Both are capable of starting an imperialist world war. Both must be resolutely opposed and defeated. Unity with either one against the other can only serve to strengthen the hand of imperialism overall. The struggle of the proletariat and oppressed nations against the two superpowers is a struggle against the worldwide system of imperialism and reaction.
While imperialist war is inevitable, world war is not inevitable. Whether revolution is able to prevent world war or world war gives rise to revolution, the proletariat is bound to triumph.
The struggle against imperialism must be guided by a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the main contradictions in the world. This is the only correct basis for strategy and tactics. These contradictions are:
1. The contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in the capitalist countries.
2. The contradiction between the oppressed nations and peoples and imperialism.
3. The contradictions between the imperialist powers and between monopoly capitalist groups.
4. The contradiction between the two opposing social systems – socialism and imperialism.
Today the camp of imperialism, counterrevolution and imperialist war is led by the two superpowers. The superpowers are tied to countless secondary capitalists and feudal and local reactionaries. Everywhere the two superpowers are colluding and contending for maximum profits and influence. But the two superpowers do not stand unopposed. The camp of socialism, the proletariat and its allies, resolutely oppose imperialism and reaction. The main trend in the world is revolution, new democracy and socialism.
Though the class struggle rises and falls and the composition of these camps may change, the contradictions between the socialist and imperialist camps will only disappear with the worldwide victory of socialism.