Guest Editorial
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| Irina Malenkov |
When I came to Russia on the eve of the presidential elections in 1996, I was most seriously hoping to move back to my country and to continue the struggle for social justice and socialism there. I didn’t fully realize the extent of corruption and falsification there at that time – and to me in 1996… it was obvious that only those who wanted to commit suicide would vote for Yeltsin.
I became much wiser since, in how the capitalist system of "free elections" and "democracy" really works. I have witnessed many things there, but I’ll give you only one example: each contestant needed to collect 1 million signatures before even becoming a candidate for the president’s post. One night, somebody rang at our door. It was a young soldier who asked us to give him our signatures – for Yeltsin. We refused politely and said that we were not going to vote for Yeltsin anyway. And the young soldier suddenly started to cry like a child! "My officer told me to collect 300 signatures today. He said not to come back until I’ll get them all!" My mom felt sorry for the poor hungry fellow – "ah come here, you poor thing" – and gave him the signature. Democracy Russian style. But this varies only in form elsewhere!
That time in 1996, I was desperately looking for a political party to join in Russia. I wanted to do something. I got fed up with witnessing all the misery – and not being able to do anything about it. I had written to several political parties, including the CPRF – our biggest left wing (to a certain degree) party and even to not so left wing parties – because I wanted to have a clearer picture of what was going on in my country politically, after nearly 7 years of absence. The only single party that was more than happy to overload me with its party documents was the absolutely right-wing nationalist LDPR of mad Vlad Zhirinovsky. Other parties seemed not really interested in new people.
There were
people who were committed communists, but looked for others as somebody from a
religious sect – somehow it was impossible to discuss with them any matter
critically – such purists they were – no constructive criticism was
permitted as to how Gorbachev had subjected the USSR to this evil. If you raised
any attempts to analyze exactly what had happened – and you can’t say that
nothing went wrong after 1953 – and there was no serious attempt to say what
was good that Socialism gave to us – these communists somehow saw you as an
enemy… instead of joining forces with you and thinking together. Without
finding the reasons for what had happened to our country, we can never rebuild
socialism in it.
Communists of this type, those who decline to analyze the past – are not just ridiculing our great social and political system in the eyes of the new generation which is now constantly being brainwashed by the present capitalist media, which tells them: Look – didn’t we tell you how fantastic and ridiculous they are? They make us think that they probably do not have a scientific explanation for the world themselves, that they have just learned some dogmas from the official books, but are unable to go beyond in their thinking. Is that why they are afraid to start analyzing – because their world would fall apart? This sort of communism has more in common with religion than with a true socialist science that it is!"
In fact, some of such thinking has contributed significantly to our loss in the Cold War: We lost ideologically; our ideology had become unattractively "boring" for the younger generation (my generation, by the way) because somebody thought that "anyone" could be an ideologist, that you don’t have to have talent and a creative mind for that, that ideology consists of just repeating the dogmas from the books.
Others were overly critical, but totally out of touch with reality. They could beautifully talk for hours about the evils of Stalinism, but were just like some Trotskyites whom I met later on in North Ireland – simply waiting and expecting that the Revolution will just happen by itself one day – and that "WE" should be prepared for that moment.
What they don’t see is that it is the other way around – we should be preparing not ourselves, but the Revolution, by daily, simple, often boring tasks that do not always look revolutionary. That shouting and campaigning alone – something that these Trots are really good at – does not bring the revolution about, but it is rather just – "letting off steam" and "making oneself feel better". It’s hard to ask these people to join in thinking with you either: you will be immediately branded as a dedicated "Stalinist" and condemned.
These people often remind me of my Dutch friend with her strong anti-Stalin (and also essentially anti-Communist) views, but who loved Moscow and its beautiful buildings and the "Russian architecture" that she admired so much. There are the Moscow Metro and high rise buildings like Hotel Ukraine – which were in fact built during Stalin's time, but to her they were "evil communists" and symbolized exactly what she calls Stalinism!
Most of these people nearly always describe everything that was in the Soviet times in a negative manner and the result of "evil Stalinism". But somehow they forget to mention or speak about the positive sides like: liquidation of illiteracy, mass education, science, development of mass sports facilities and movements, system of trade unions of a new type, construction of the metro, many sanatoria and health resorts for the workers. This is also Stalinism! The Stalin years are not something abstract outside of our socialist system. – it is the system itself. And we still don’t answer the question: did Stalin and the Soviet government have another choice to build it under the objective international and also internal conditions that existed at that time?
What were the historical reasons for what they call "Stalinism" today? It would be too simplistic to explain everything that happened to our country between mid-twenties and mid-fifties by Stalin’s "personal ambitions."
I would like to remind those who still shed (sometimes honest, but more often crocodile) tears about Stalin’s "victims": why don’t we build a monument to Peter the Great? There were millions of victims, and they died in the construction of the new Russia. But Peter is seen by the historians of today as a purely positive figure – we only look at the results of his historical reforms, but someone does deplore the fact that he declared himself an Emperor, for his drinking habits, for personally decapitating the streletz soldiers.
To look at the Russian Left forces today from the outside is, to be honest, a sad picture. Of course, it is much easier to criticize somebody than to actually do something differently yourself, and I would like to stress that I am not criticizing the comrades in Russia and ex-USSR from the destructive position – I simply would like all of us to come together and to start thinking who is it that is really gaining from our arguments with each other? And can we really leave it behind for the time being – because in the end, we all have a common enemy, an enemy who is, unlike ourselves, very united: the world’s ruling capitalism and its higher stage of imperialism. It might have put a different mask on itself, but it still remains the same blood-sucking system to which our grandparents have given the strongest blow in history.
We should take our history for what it is. We should not try to re-write it. Unlike Mr. Gorbachev’s personal conscience, we, the Soviet people have nothing to be ashamed of. Only those who do not do anything do not make any mistakes. Leo Tolstoy, our great writer, said that in order to live honestly, one should fight, struggle, move restlessly around. "Tranquility is soul's dishonesty!"
The Soviet People were pioneers on humanity’s road to justice. We should always remember that we were still miles ahead of these greedy and primitive creatures that claim today that the "future belongs to them". It does not! As Assata Shakur beautifully said, "The world does not belong to cowboys and bandits!"
And even if we won’t be able within our present lifetime to strike these blood suckers again with the same force as our grandparents did in 1917 and during the Great Patriotic War, we should have no less determination in working day in, day out on preparation of the conditions for our children and grandchildren, to give this capitalist system its final blow!
But we have to start asking ourselves some uncomfortable questions in the Russian Left. Nobody will give us the answers… we have to find it ourselves in discussions, criticism, self-criticism and above all – unity – this will give us the correct answer!
P.S. When NSC asked me to write this article, I decided to ask some of my friends back in Russia for their opinions as to why the crisis and why no unity. This was done because I have been abroad for many years, I thought that it would be important to listen to what these young people think as they witness the work of these left forces each day. Below I attach their opinions.
We publish these comments in a condensed form, for lack of space – Editor.
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ECONOMIC: The privatization of everything produced very great hardships for the majority of the people. This caused a very radical change in the class structure, which meant that the old Soviet structure was liquidated and the appearance of the "middle class" came into being. The people were accustomed to be helped by the state and with no unemployment. But now, they have to fend for themselves, which they were not used to.
SOCIAL: The present capitalism is extremely bureaucratic, primitive and very adaptable to become neo-colonial capitalism. Classes did not have a chance to form themselves yet, since there was only one working class before, therefore, class consciousness is still being formed.
SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL: This is the most important problem. The Soviet system under Stalin was growing into a bureaucracy which Stalin struggled against, but there were reasons for all of this. Lack of experts and the encirclement of the whole of the USSR forced the government to be strict, which in turn was not strict enough, since the hidden enemies inside the USSR were doing their sabotaging work. The Soviet Union showed its strength during the Great Patriotic War, but after Stalin died, the apparatus started to fall apart due to no leadership following the diatribe against Stalin by Khrushchev. This led to collapse and the word of the CPSU was no longer law or inspiration. On top of this, the constant Western propaganda, the spies, and also traitors inside the CPSU. The Soviet people could not comprehend the power of the media that was unleashed upon them, thus making many Soviet people apolitical and not believing in anything.
PARTY: After Gorbachev sold out and dismembered the party, after the so-called "democrats", who at the beginning were calling for "socialism with a human face" as the counter-revolutionaries were doing in Czechoslovakia before and during 1968, brought the Soviet people practically to the point that they do not believe anyone. After Zyuganov in 1993 refused to call the party members of the CPRF into the streets to defend the USSR, and also the defenders of the White House under attack by forces loyal to Yeltsin, and after that in 1996 when Zyuganov won the presidential elections against Yeltsin, he, Zyuganov, refused to call the masses into the streets to defend his victory and the USSR. After that, the program of the CPRF became a "governmental" supporter and "patriotic," the CPRF members began to leave the CPRF and the party started to become a social-democratic party and not a genuine communist party.
Other parties appeared on the scene and now there is a move towards unity amongst the smaller left forces. Zyuganov says in effect that "You must join with me, but on my terms, otherwise you cannot go anywhere since my party is the largest!"
These other parties have not taken the slogan off their program "Workers of the World Unite" as has the CPRF.
CONCLUSION: At this present time the question is not only the building of the strength of the parties and their influence, there is a need for unity around which the parties will unite, like the "Committee of ‘68" which was formed in Northern Ireland amongst the trade unions. People will have to understand that you cannot win just on the economic demands, because without political demands, the question of the state for the people, there is no other way. For all this there is a need for time, working amongst the people, unity and also consensus of purpose. To put this aside, to prolong this inactivity longer than is absolutely necessary, is very dangerous, because Russia could again become a reactionary force in Europe, as it was during the days of the Czars.
The question of struggle against globalization, war, New World Order, US imperialism is the order of the day. Comrades should not forget Russia, because it again will play an important and major role in the world.
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