Harpal Brar

Contemporary capitalism is only another word for imperialism and, in the words of Lenin, imperialism is the eve of the social revolution of the proletariat. This brings me to the October Revolution, which was indeed a product of the acute contradictions of the era of imperialism.

The October Revolution made an epoch-making contribution to the forward march of the history of mankind. It transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people, not only in the land of October but also of those living in the imperialist countries as well as the oppressed nations. Its achievements are truly world-historic. It created an educated and cultured life for the Soviet people; it put an end to unemployment, poverty and homelessness; it achieved remarkable feats in the field of industry, agriculture, sport and science; it transformed the lives of women, making it possible for the first time, by creating social facilities such as crèches, kindergartens and cheap dining facilities, for women to take part in production and in political and social life on an equal basis with men; and, it made the single most important contribution to the defeat of Hitlerite fascism.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and of east European People's Democracies, all the gains of socialism have been destroyed; in place of full employment there is rampant unemployment; education and health services, free under socialism, have been privatised and turned into commodities available only to those who can afford them; fraternal solidarity has been replaced by fratricidal warfare; people's wealth and industry, built by the working class over several decades, has been stolen by a few kleptocrats and oligarchs; diseases, long eliminated, have reappeared; crime, prostitution, drug-trafficking and all the other wonderful freedoms of capitalism are rampant in the centres of population; countries which fought for peace and gave fraternal support to the struggles of the proletarians and oppressed people, suddenly find themselves in the embrace of the war-mongering neo-Nazi NATO alliance and the European Union – both of which are attempts at redividing the world between various imperialist powers.

As regards the imperialist countries, their ruling classes, no longer afraid of the powerful socialist camp, or of a vibrant working class at home, have taken the opportunity to attack the proletariat at home and wage unbridled wars abroad, as for instance the wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is very important for the working-class movement to know precisely the reasons why socialism made way for capitalism in the former Soviet Union and other East European countries. Many Communist Parties are in denial. Instead of giving a thorough analysis of the circumstances which led to the collapse of socialism, they have invented some meaningless formulas such as that socialism collapsed because of some mistakes made in its implementation. This formula is as useless as if a doctor were to tell a patient that he was ill because his organism wasn't functioning properly, to which the patient could only sarcastically remark: 'Thanks doctor for the enlightenment, I feel much better'. In our view, comrades, socialism collapsed because of the triumph of Khrushchevite revisionism at the 20^th Party Congress of the CPSU(B) and the wholesale revision made by it of Marxism-Leninism in the field of political economy, philosophy and class struggle, and the embrace by it of market socialism.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, bourgeois ideologues made bold to pronounce the end of history, and attempted to equate communism with fascism. Recently the Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament went to the length of passing a resolution condemning "the crimes of totalitarian communism". These actions of the bourgeoisie are indicative both of its strength and weakness. Because of the disarray in the working-class movement and the disintegration of the socialist camp, the bourgeoisie feels emboldened arrogantly to make such outrageous pronouncements. On the other hand, it is indicative of the weakness of the bourgeoisie in that it feels haunted by the spectre of communism.

And it is right to be haunted by this spectre, for capitalism has nothing to offer to the vast majority of the world's peoples except poverty and destitution, homelessness and unemployment, death, destruction and war.

12 million children die each year of preventable and malnutrition-related diseases before they reach the age of 5. This is the equivalent of 2.5 holocausts a year. A hundred million people were consumed by imperialist wars in the 20^th century – wars which were fought for the redivision of the loot between a handful of imperialist bloodsuckers. 20 million people have died since the end of the 2^nd World War, and 7 million since the collapse of socialism in eastern Europe.

Under this system, 1 billion people live on less that $1 a day; and 2 billion people live on less than $2 a day. In the US, the richest capitalist country in the world, 40 million people have no health cover and 20% of the population are 'food insecure' – a euphemism for going hungry.

The capitalist crisis of overproduction is driving the principal imperialist blocs to wage fierce struggle with each other for a new division of the world, which will, in due course, lead to yet another war of horrendous proportions unless stopped by proletarian revolution.

We are firmly of the opinion that in the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, in the struggle between imperialism and the oppressed peoples of the world, victory belongs to the proletariat and the oppressed peoples, but only if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. that the proletariat affirms its belief in the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism and follows in faithfully.
2. that the proletariat builds Marxist-Leninist Parties – Parties which control their parliamentary representatives instead of being controlled by them.
3. that these Parties practise proletarian internationalism, giving support to proletarian revolutionary struggles and national liberation movements the world over.
4. and finally that these Parties wage a vigorous struggle against opportunism in the working-class movement.

Opportunism in the working-class movement has deep economic foundations; it is the product of monopoly. The bourgeoisie of a handful of imperialist countries makes profits not only through the exploitation of its own working class but also out of the super-exploitation of the peoples of the oppressed nations. Out of these vast super-profits a portion can be, and is, used to bribe the upper section of the working class – the labour aristocracy – in the imperialist countries. This labour aristocracy is the purveyor of corruption and social chauvinism into the ranks of the working class; it is the agent of the bourgeoisie in the working-class movement. Unless a vigorous struggle is conducted against this opportunism, it is pointless talking about the struggle against imperialism and for socialism.

It is precisely the prevalence of such opportunism that explains the lack of support among the working class of imperialist countries for the national liberation movements taking place on the continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America. A thousand and one reasons are invented, for example, for not giving support to the national liberation struggles presently taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan against Anglo-American imperialist occupation. The opportunists in Britain, for instance, excuse themselves for not supporting this struggle on the pretext that these struggles are allegedly led by fundamentalist or feudal forces. Our view, however, is that no matter what the leadership of these struggles may be, they are undermining and sapping the foundations of imperialism, and as such they need our support. This was the viewpoint expressed in the '20s of the last century by the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, whose name I shall not mention out of respect for the sensitivities of some comrades whose sleep is easily disturbed by the mention of that name.

Today imperialism, while arming itself to the teeth, with nuclear as well as conventional weapons, is busy attempting to disarm its intended victims. Hence its campaign against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and against Iran over the question of nuclear weapons. We in the CPGB(M-L) are in favour of nuclear disarmament but only if it is universal and non-discriminatory. Iraq was attacked because it had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD). North Korea and Iran understand that perfectly well and they do not wish to be intimidated by imperialism's nuclear weapons. It is our view that these countries have a perfect right, if they so wish, to manufacture nuclear weapons in order to be able to defend themselves against nuclear blackmail by imperialist countries, in particular the US and Britain, which together account for more than 60% of the world's nuclear arsenal.

No matter how hard the imperialists try, they cannot stop the victorious forward march of history. The victories of revolutionary struggles in Nepal and Colombia, the victories of national liberation struggles in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, the electoral victories of left-wing candidates in Venezuela and Bolivia, are a perfect proof of this, our assertion.

I conclude by expressing the hope that your Party will do well in the forthcoming parliamentary elections and that you will win lots of parliamentary seats and thus use the parliamentary rostrum to oppose and expose the rottenness of bourgeois parliamentarism, and pave the way for the kind of victories that the Czech working class achieved in the aftermath of the Second World War.