http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/03-06-2009/107690-reading_lenin-0
03.06.2009
American imperialism, Lenin, Marx, Capitalism and Socialism
By Gaither Stewart
Leftists like to cite Lenin. To quote Marx is to delve into the theory of
Socialism/Communism. But Lenin is another cup of tea. You get into Lenin and
you're in revolution. When you read Lenin's The State and Revolution, which
contains the core of Leninist thought, you are no longer in the world of
socio-economic theory. This powerful text offers insights into Leninist
policies and elaborated Lenin's interpretation of Marxism, above all the class
conflict, the crushing of the bourgeois state and the establishment and role of
the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Reading Lenin today is to enter the realm of the overthrow of Capitalism
and the transition from Capitalism to Communism. Fantasy? Not many years ago
such words seemed like maniacal ravings. But that was before the shit hit the
fan in the bourgeois capitalist world, right smack in its heart on Wall Street.
The images of capitalism digging its own grave seemed to many the theoretical
wishful thinking of a handful of radical eccentrics. But today? Lenin's
writings now read like contemporary political thought. The younger Trotsky
noted in his autobiography, My Life , that "Lenin, although he was firmly
entrenched in the present, was always trying to pierce the veil of the future."
That quality underlines the difference between Lenin and many of his
contemporaries and marks him as the true revolutionary.
His second outstanding quality was his tenacity about his main idea: his
companion and wife Nadezhda Krupskaya said he was a "bulldog"-his was the
death-grip. For he was a man of a single idea, to which he dedicated his life.
Revolution was an idea. But an idea, in the words of Mussolini, "which
possesses bayonets." Bertram Wolfe in his monumental Three Who Made A
Revolution , notes that Lenin added to that the word organization. And that was
his genius. The ironclad organization of specialists in revolution.
Lenin was not the great writer as was Trotsky. His genius was flexibility
and vocabulary. Vocabulary is a fundamental aspect of Leninist writing, highly
visible in some of the excerpts I have included here. Proletariat and
bourgeoisie, capitalism and Socialism, greedy capitalist exploiters and
oppressed toiling masses, class struggle, revolution and capitalist reaction,
flunkies and lackeys of capitalist exploiters, imperialist war and socialist
war. These are constants of the vocabulary of the bulldog revolutionary and
social-political visionary activist and interpreter of Marxist theory, Vladimir
Ilyich Ulyanov-Lenin. Lenin was the motor of the seizure of power in Russia in
November, 1917. Though disappointing to some purists, according to Bertram
Wolfe pragmatic Lenin said on the eve of the Revolution: The point of the
uprising is the seizure of power; afterwards we will see what we can do with
it." The second phrase exemplifies his recognition of the role of destiny and
chance in the history of men. Uncertainty and destiny were ever present in
Leninist thought; yet when the historical climax arrived, it deceptively seemed
to have been inevitable. That too was the Leninist method.
The contemporary crisis of capitalism underlines the extraordinary vision
of Marx of 150 years ago and of Lenin a century ago. In this sense
Marxism-Leninism is NOT outdated and anachronistic. T heir words are right on
target, current, modern, contemporary, far from quaint social philosophies of
the distant past. A return to Lenin, an adventure if you want, is a worthwhile
exercise for us all.
As described by Lenin, Socialism/Communism is natural and just. In
essence it is a dramatic redistribution of wealth and control over who does the
distributing. That simplicity cannot be disturbing except to the rich who
exploit the poor. In his last articles in 1922 Lenin defined "Socialism" (I use
here Socialism and Communism interchangeably, as was originally proper!) in
these broad terms: "An order of civilized co-operators in which the means of
production are socially owned." His use of the word Socialism thus cuts a wide
swath through the world of the Left.
I want to sketch out some of the principles of Lenin the revolutionary,
originally taken from his own writings. For this I have referred to several
books: Three Who Made A Revolution by Bertram Wolfe, Lenin's articles in
Essential Works of Socialism edited by Irving Howe, My Life by Leon Trotsky,
Marxism On Government by Vladimir Lenin, Lenin, A Biography , by David Shub, a
member of Lenin's Social Democratic Party who participated in the Russian
Revolution of 1905-6 and frequented Lenin and other revolutionary leaders.
Strategy for gaining power
I repeat, these lines about "reading Lenin" are not about ancient
history. For purposes of this article one should keep in mind the explosive
obvious: the causes of today's crisis in the world of finance derives not only
from exploitation of the rapidly growing proletariat (now inclusive of a great
part of the impoverished middle class), but also from the elitist aloofness and
egoism of the crème de la crème of the globalized bourgeoisie.
Therefore, far-sighted as ever, Lenin: "The proletariat may continue to
pledge allegiance to the old ruling class which had no qualms in exploiting
them in myriad ways. But the proletariat, having assembled sufficiently
powerful political and military 'striking forces', must overthrow the
bourgeoisie and deprive it of the power of the state, so as to wield this
instrument for its own class purposes.." (Lenin, Collected works, Vol. XVI
p.148.
This, Lenin said, is to be achieved by "smashing to atoms" the old state
and creating a new apparatus adapted to the struggle of the proletariat. Though
universal suffrage and the ballot reveal the conditions of the various classes,
the solution of the social problems is to be achieved by the class struggle in
all forms, even in civil war, but above all not by the vote. (How obvious today
when elections are sold and bought like merchandise!) The revolutionary
participates in parliamentary activity in order to educate the masses but the
parliamentary struggle is by no means decisive. Practical Lenin believed that
participation in bourgeois parliaments makes it easier to show to the backward
masses the reasons why such parliaments must be eliminated. The heart of
Leninist thought was that the working class must instead use and exploit the
institutions of the bourgeois state against it, for its destruction.
Without the guidance of the socialist vanguard the labour movement would
"become petty and inevitably bourgeois." He foresaw the future of the US
working class and the great part of the labour movement in Europe today. The
vanguard would consist of persons who devote the whole of their lives to the
revolution, that is, the professional revolutionaries, who would teach,
indoctrinate and guide. Simple trade unionism, Lenin writes in What Is To Be
Done means the ideological subordination of the workers to the bourgeoisie.
Working class consciousness cannot be genuinely political consciousness unless
the workers are trained to respond to all cases of tyranny, oppression,
violence and abuse. To bring political knowledge to the workers, the Social
Democrats must go among all classes of the population."
Lenin dismisses charges that Communists have no ethics of their own.
This, he says, is just "throwing dust in the eyes of workers." But he rejects
the ethics of the bourgeois who liken their ethics to God's commandments. The
bourgeoisie uses the name of God in order to continue exploiting the workers of
the world, today as yesterday. Hand on the Bible, crosses in the classroom, God
bless America and all the rest! Lenin repudiates all ethics that are fraud and
deception to clog the minds of workers in the interests of capitalists.
Socialist morality instead derives directly from the interests of the class
struggle of the proletariat.
Socialist democracy
"Capitalism cannot be defeated . without the ruthless suppression of the
resistance of the exploiters . who will try to overthrow the hateful (for
them!) rule of the poor. A great revolution is inconceivable without civil war,
which . implies a state of extreme indefiniteness.. (Lenin, Selected Works,
Russian Edition, Vol. 2, pp.277-8)
Lenin was convinced that only the proletariat led by the socialist
vanguard could liberate mankind from the sham, lies and hypocrisy of
capitalism, which is (and has always been) a democracy for the rich, a
"democracy for the few." Only the proletariat can make the benefits of
democracy available to the workers, benefits which today in 2009 are ever more
inequitably distributed, the rich richer, the poor, poorer, a concentrated
wealth of grotesque salaries, bonuses and stock options for the rich, the
poverty of unemployment and hard bread for the poor.
Lenin's "proletarian democracy", that is, what today is called popular or
socialist democracy, aimed in the opposite direction. Only the hangers-on, like
Lenin's "flunkies" of the bourgeoisie, or academics blinded to real life by
bourgeois propaganda and benefits, fail to see the difference. Capitalists
speak hypocritically of democracy while constantly creating obstacles to its
realization and reinforcing their own dominant position by distorting the
legality of their state. Therefore the urgent necessity of preparing the
masses, in 1920 Russia , as well as the USA and Europe in the year 2009.
The USA and Europe have forgotten their revolutionary heritage: the very
birth of the United States of America and in Europe the great English and
French revolutions. Since it is difficult to even imagine a revolutionary class
in the USA , the work of the individual revolutionary today must be one of
education and indoctrination. Yet, as Lenin and Marx prophesied, capitalism is
digging its own grave as seen everyday in the chaos of its monetary system. As
Henry Ford said, "It is well that the people of this nation do not understand
our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be
revolution before tomorrow morning."
Peter Chamberlain writes in his fine essay, Sermon From The Corporate
Church , "Faith in the infallibility of capitalism and the belief that it is
the answer to mankind's problems permeate American culture" to the extent that
the suggestion to a true believer that capitalism is a doomed religion or
intrinsically harmful to mankind is unnerving.."
Chamberlain goes on to say that the masters of deception have interwoven
faith in capital with patriotic belief, while depicting doubters as
"Communist." Those who resist the plan for a global empire built on the graves
of billions of "useless eaters" are considered enemies of mankind, communists,
terrorists, or common criminals. Even though resistance to a plan of mass
genocide is an act of self-defense, those who dare to do so are marked as
extremists and terrorists, targeted for death or incarceration in the war on
terror. Real patriots should instead seethe with anger since America itself is
the final target marked for destruction in the envisioned New [Imperial] Order.
Civil liberties
The limits on civil liberties seen in Soviet Russia during periods of
enormous social stress, much of it induced from abroad, such as the Nazi
invasion in WW2, have been the chief factors in capitalism's condemnation of
and attacks on Communism in general, while, as seen today, capitalism has
resorted to the same tactics it has criticized in the name of salvation of a
declining system. America 's antagonism toward Socialist Russia of early last
century continue down to today.
Lenin: "We declare that we are fighting capitalism as such, the free,
republican, democratic capitalism included, and we realize, of course, that in
this light the banner of freedom will be waved defiantly at us. But our answer
is . every freedom is a fraud if it contradicts the interests of the
emancipation of labour from the oppression of capital." (Collected Works, 1923
Edition, Vol. XIV, pp. 80-1, 203-4)
For Lenin capitalist society was based on the exploitation of labour. A
small minority owns everything (more so today than in Lenin's time); the
working masses own nothing. The capitalists command. The workers obey. The
capitalists exploit. The workers are exploited. The essence of capitalist
society is found in the ever-increasing exploitation of everything from human
beings to beast and to nature itself.
Though in Lenin's late period around 1923 the military invasions to
topple the new socialist regime in Russia had ended in defeat, the new Soviet
Russia was isolated. Lenin noted, however, that the international bourgeoisie
was not in a position to wage open war on the new revolutionary state because
capitalism had to reckon with the opposition on the part of its own working
classes. So the war between Socialism and capitalism continued in his time and
continues down to our day.
Party unification and unity
Lenin's book What Is To Be Done, a work of orthodox Marxism adapted to
Russia 's backwardness and to its developing workers movement, contained
Lenin's ideas on party organization. What differentiated Lenin from other
Social Democratic leaders was his meaning of party unification. He meant the
uniting of all Marxist circles into a centrally controlled and homogeneous
All-Russian Bolshevik Party, with a Marxist program as interpreted by himself.
The center would safeguard the purity of doctrine and action of the party in
"proletarian discipline." Much of this work is an attack on the intelligentsia,
which was, in his words, "careless and sluggish." I remember when the Italian
Communist Party (PCI), one-third of the Italian electorate and the biggest in
the West, discussed for years the retention or abolition of the rule of
"democratic centralism", according to which once a decision was made, obedience
to it was obligatory. That rule was the glue that held divergent elements
together. The rule was abolished and soon after the PCI began its decline.
World revolution
In 1925, in the book, Against The Stream , co-written with Zinoviev,
Lenin underlined the "absolute law of capitalism" according to which economic
and political development is uneven around the world. That reality made
possible the victory of Socialism in only a few or even in only one country.
The proletariat of that country would then rise and lead the struggle against
the capitalist world, attracting to itself the oppressed classes of other
countries.
The Leninist idea of a chain reaction of anti-capitalist revolution stood
behind leftwing terrorists in Europe of the 1970s and 80, Red Brigades in Italy
and Rote Armée Fraktion in Germany . Lenin believed workers in the developed
countries would eventually disrupt capitalist war policies. To some extent we
saw a reflection of his prediction during the Vietnam War, although it was
chiefly youth and not workers who helped end that capitalist war.
Unfortunately, brainwashed workers have remained attached to their tiny piece
of the capitalist pie . or they did until today's crisis. Now, as millions of
workers stand to lose their jobs in the USA alone, the working class is
stirring, riots and revolts threaten, perhaps in the beginning in a war among
the poor, whites against the rest, natives against immigrants, homeless against
landlords, a war which must inevitably turn against the bourgeois masters of
all. That uprising is widly considered a threat in the USA today.
Lenin wrote confidently "as long as capitalism and Socialism remain, we
cannot live in peace. In the end one or the other will triumph. Either
Socialism would triumph throughout the world or the most reactionary
imperialism would win, the most savage imperialism which is out to throttle the
small and feeble nationalities . all over the world." That imperialist triumph
came to be called globalization. Though the Soviet Union collapsed,
capitalism's victory has soured in the arrogance of power.
On war, national defense and peace
Wars will always be imperialist if fought by capitalist-run nations. War
ceases to be imperialist when capitalism is overthrown and the revolutionary
proletariat stands at the helm of state. According to Lenin, to defend one's
own nation (a capitalist nation) is a betrayal of Socialism and
internationalism. The German or Frenchman or American who defends his own
capitalist nation puts his own bourgeoisie above the interests of his class and
thus participates in imperialist war. In Leninist thought even the most
democratic bourgeois republic is an instrument for the suppression of the
workers by capitalists. Imperialist wars are by their nature reactionary and
criminal, in order to strengthen capitalist rule, as in Iraq and Afghanistan
today. On the other hand, war for the extending of Socialism is legitimate.
Lenin gives another and unfamiliar twist to the nature of war: "The
character of war (whether reactionary or revolutionary). is determined by the
class that is waging the war and the politics of which this war is the
continuation." In that sense, wars between imperialist powers of his time, "are
to our advantage", for example, the antagonism between Japan and America . Or
between America and the rest of the capitalist world today. Anti-Americanism in
Europe today confirms Lenin's evaluation of the 1920s, nearly a century ago: "
America is strong, everybody is in debt to her (or was until not long ago!) .
she is more and more hated, she is robbing everybody .. America cannot come to
terms with Europe -that is a fact proved by history."
Significance of Leninist vision for US today
Noting that the US Army 3rd Infantry's 1st Brigade Combat Team returned
from Iraq some months ago "may be called upon to help with civil unrest and
crowd control", Professor Michel Chossudovsky puts forward the hypothesis that
"Civil unrest resulting from the financial meltdown (of capitalism) is a
distinct possibility, given the broad impacts of financial collapse on lifelong
savings, pension funds, homeownership, etc".
The Centre for Research on Globalization website posted an article
written by Wayne Madsen who refers to a highly confidential official report
circulating among senior members of the US Congress and their top advisors. The
report, allegedly nicknamed as the "C and R document", standing for "conflict"
and "revolution." The document reveals that severe financial chaos could spark
a major war. Senior American statesmen recognize that financial volatility
could fuel a wave of discontent, which could reach troubling proportions.
America itself is not immune from "regime-threatening instability" as the
Pentagon and the American intelligence community terms it. It is likely that
American government officials have been preparing for the worst-case scenario.
Gaither Stewart, novelist, essayist and journalist, is Cyrano's Journal
Online Senior Editor and European correspondent.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
