2023-11-07 16:35:00
In the midst of Israel’s brutal genocidal attack against Gaza and the Palestinian people, November 7 (October 25 of the old Russian calendar), marks 106 years of that historic revolution that changed the world.
By Alicia Sagra
In Russia, there was the despotic regime of the tsars. Regime that not only exploited and oppressed the workers and poor peasants, but also restricted democratic rights, oppressed a series of nations subject to the tsarist empire and also launched permanent attacks (pogroms) against Jewish villages. Attacks similar to those that the Israeli army and settlers have been carrying out for more than 75 years on the Palestinian territories, and which today have reached their maximum expression.
On March 8 (February 23 of the old calendar) of 1917, a revolution broke out, known as the “February Revolution”, triggered by a large mobilization of female workers in Petrograd, who abandoned the factories and went out to demonstrate against the war. and hunger[1]. During the next 5 days, the movement grows, incorporating a large number of workers and soldiers in the main cities, the working class neighborhoods take to the streets and the most advanced workers, many of them trained by the Bolsheviks, go to the barracks. Trotsky, in his History of the Russian Revolution, talks about how there were 5 days and 5 nights with the streets occupied, under the cry of Peace, Bread and Landuntil the first great triumph is achieved: the Tsar’s government falls.
Provisional government emerges
In the Duma (a type of parliament) a provisional government is elected. Centrally made up of liberal bourgeois leaders who wanted the establishment of a Republic, and Kerensky, leader of SR (Revolutionary Socialism), a party with weight in the peasantry.
For their part, workers, peasants and soldiers organized themselves into the Soviet (Councils), an organization that had originated in the revolution of 1905 and resurfaced with the revolutionary outbreak of 1917. In the Soviet, the two parties with the greatest weight were the Mensheviks[2] (with great influence on the working class) and the revolutionary socialists (SR, with weight on the peasantry). The Bolsheviks[3]with influence in the labor movement, were at that time a minority force in the Soviet.
Government of class alliance and dual power
In the following two months, worker and soldier mobilizations grew again, because the provisional government did not comply with the banners of the revolution: the land problem was not resolved, hunger continued, but centrally the most important slogan was not materialized. meaning: peace and workers and peasants continue to die in the inter-imperialist war.
To try to divert these mobilizations that are growing day by day, the bourgeoisie resorts to a policy that it continues to use to this day: the class alliance and integrates representatives of the main parties of the Soviet, Mensheviks and SR into the government.
Thus a government very similar to that of Allende in Chile (1970-1973) emerged, which also has similarities with the so-called “progressive governments” of Latin America.[4]which as expected aroused great expectations in the working and popular sectors.
But the government continues not to respond to the demands and, with the increase in struggles, the Soviet was strengthened, which became a dual-power body.
As we said, this new provisional government, which, with the growth of worker and popular mobilizations, became headed by Kerensky, was very similar to that of Chile with Allende, the Chilean Kerensky.
But unlike Chile, in Russia there was a workers’, revolutionary, internationalist party, the Bolshevik Party of Lenin and Trotsky, which did not enter the government. That party did the opposite of what most of the Chilean left did.[5] Since Lenin’s arrival in Russia in April 1917, that party tirelessly repeated: No confidence in the provisional government. The only way to achieve Peace, Bread and Land is with the Soviet taking power and building its own government.
Thus they gained the majority in the soviets and on November 7 (October 25) they led the October Revolution, which changed the world. For the first time, the workers took and kept power, causing never-before-seen economic, democratic and political changes: at the level of the lives of workers, of oppressed nations, of women, of LGBT people. And they took a great revolutionary organizational step with the construction of the Third International, as a central tool in the fight for the world socialist revolution.
Is that revolution just part of a glorious past or is it a guide to the future?
There are many who say that this revolution was very good in the past, but that today it is no longer considered. The proof is that nothing exists today that was achieved at that time; that capitalism was restored throughout the world; that the working class is no longer the center and no longer fights like before; that now things are different; that now we must fight for peace, against violence and so on. And those who propose that are increasingly turning to elections, seeking a solution through parliamentary means.
We don’t share any of that. The working class continues to be the center to the extent that the production of everything depends on it. And, no one who looks at France, Great Britain, Germany, Ukraine, China, Korea, the USA, the Belgian ports that paralyze the shipment of weapons to Israel, can say that the working class is not willing to fight. The impressive mobilizations of the Arab masses in support of Palestine speak of that same disposition.
What is certain is that today the conquests of the great October revolution were lost and that capitalism was restored throughout the world. What happened is that in Russia (and in the USSR) there was not only a great revolution. Years later, the Stalinist counterrevolution triumphed, imposing 70 years of leadership by a sinister bureaucracy, with a regime of repression similar to the Nazi regime.
On the one hand, this culminated in the restoration of capitalism and on the other, that bureaucracy was a great obstacle to the construction of revolutionary parties around the world.
A great consequence of this is that today there is no Bolshevik party that made the difference and made the triumph of the October revolution possible.
But the answer to that cannot be to abandon the fight for socialist revolution. The conclusion we must reach is that there is no more important and urgent task than advancing in the construction of that party, of that international revolutionary leadership.
That is so, because the need for socialist revolution is more urgent than ever. The Palestinian and Arab masses who fight against genocide say it loudly. As well as all those who fight in the world against exploitation and oppression. That same need is clearly expressed by the destruction of the environment and environmental catastrophes. The alternative of “socialism or barbarism” is increasingly present.
It is true that the world longs for peace. But peace will never be achieved in the Middle East until the fascist Nazi State of Israel is defeated and put an end to. Peace will never be achieved for Ukraine if the Russian invasion is not defeated. And more generally, peace in the world will never be achieved if imperialism is not defeated with the triumph of the world socialist revolution.
Therefore, the October revolution is not only a glory of the past, it remains a guide for the future. And today, the great way to apply its lessons is to redouble the effort in supporting Palestine against the genocide of Israel and, in that process, advance in the construction of the world revolutionary leadership, based on the development and strengthening of the LIT. CI and its national parties.
[1] Russia was participating in the First World War. And on the front a large number of soldiers died, not only due to the actions of the enemy, but also due to the cold and poor nutrition. At the same time, due to war expenses, misery and hunger grew in the cities.
[2] One of the two factions of the Russian Social Democratic Party.
[3] The other faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, its main leader was Lenin
[4] Lula and Dilma in Brazil, Correa in Ecuador, Petro in Colombia, Evo in Bolivia, etc. The similarity is that in these governments they participate or are supported by labor organizations. The other similarity is that most of the left calls for trust in these governments.
[5] And what most of the left does before the different governments of that type.
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