Communists See Their Future Only Through the
Dictatorship of the Proletariat

By V.N. Chechensev

It is worth asking: what could be the essence of this power of the workers that would replace the present regime, when it is apparent right from the start that there are differences in principle in this power. Our party, the Russian Communist Workers Party, openly states that the working class could achieve re-education in the country only by capturing political power, the essence of which is the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat". Another concept of this power is included in the program of the CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) in which the aims of the so-called peoples power means the "constitutional powers of the working majority, united by Soviets as well as by other forms of self-government of people." The class substance of the new state power could thus be voluntarily achieved. And besides, any attempts to depart from the essential characteristics of this power will attest to the extreme underestimation of those grandiose problems that would have to be resolved by the working class in a socialist revolution, and what is more, it demonstrates the fear by these "theoreticians" of the possibility of having to lead the masses in the storming of capitalism.

Social Sciences

Taking into consideration the defeat of the communist movements in the Eastern European countries and in the USSR, the defeat of the attractive powers of the slogans for freedom and democracy, the presence of the usual bourgeois freedoms in these countries, including the Russian Federation, it is natural to pose a question: in the present-day development, are the teachings about the dictatorship of the proletariat, the transitory power from capitalism to socialism, redundant? Have they outlived themselves somewhere during the 1950's or 1960's (for instance, before the XX Congress of the CPSU)?

Social sciences occupy those regions of science where the contradictions of class interests are most acute. There is not nor could there be a universal classless social science, just as there is not nor could there be a genuine science which unites science with religion.

In the light of the above we should not be astonished by the fete of the teachings about the dictatorship of the proletariat which knocks the most fundamental basis of the capitalist structures. As in the past hundred years the bourgeois propaganda and the bourgeois lackeys within the labour movement try to present the dictatorship of the proletariat in a distorted light. The usual approach by the revisionists of Marxism-Leninism is to reduce the significance of the dictatorship of the proletariat and to present theories in such a way so as to discredit the revolutionary essence of the Marxist-Leninist theory.

The profoundness of the teachings of the dictatorship of the proletariat is the inevitability of a complete victory of the socialist revolution and the construction of a classless society with political superiority of the working class. The proletariat could overthrow the bourgeoisie without dictatorship, but it is impossible to realize the aims without political superiority. The dictatorship is not only some rank and file appendage to the revolutionary theory of scientific communism or a verbal about turn as K. Kautsky, the theoretician of the II International tried to do. In reality it is the central distinguishing symbol of viewpoints of Karl Marks, F. Engels, V.I. Lenin and J.V. Stalin. We should declare most emphatically that without the dictatorship of the proletariat there could not be any revolutionary Marxist theory.

Assessing this input into the development of social sciences, in his letter to the Weydemeyer (5/3/1852) Karl Marx stated, categorically:

In his book, "State and Revolution" written on the eve of the October Socialist Revolution, Lenin stated "...A Marxist is he who spreads the acknowledgment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In this lies the profound difference of a Marxist and of an ordinary (and even extraordinary bourgeois." (V.I. Lenin, 4th Edition, Vol. 25, p. 384, PSS, Vol. 33, p. 34)

Returning to the evaluation of the significance of the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat in a system of opinions on revolutionary Marxism, V.I. Lenin in the "Proletarian Revolution and Renegade Kautsky" (1918), wrote: "the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat... is a question that is fundamental to safeguarding the proletarian revolution... it is a question that has the greatest significance for all nations, especially the important leading ones... We could safely say that it is the most important question of the entire proletarian class struggles." (V.I. Lenin, Ed. 4, Vol. 28, p. 211).

In his work, "The Foundations of Leninism", this is how J.V. Stalin evaluated the significance of the dictatorship of the proletariat within the Marxist-Leninist theory; "...Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular." (Ed. 11 of politprinters p. 2). The basic problem in Leninism, its starting point, is the dictatorship of the proletariat, its achievements, its development. In the light of historical experiences of the XX century, there is no basis for communists to place Marxism-Leninism, their most powerful weapon, into the archives. Hence, any attempts to diminish the teachings about the dictatorship of the proletariat could be equivalent to renouncing the revolutionary theory.

Extraordinary Measures Are Required

The RCWP (Russian Communist Workers Party) is attempting to gain political power by the working class to a victorious achievement of socialism in our society. It is absolutely obvious that by its activities, after having taken power, the working class will encounter exceptional difficulties, conditioned for the last ten years, by rapacious native bourgeoisie. The country is on the threshold of a gigantic catastrophe when poverty and degeneration of the vast majority of the populace have assumed tangible consequences. It is precisely because of this that the situation in the nation has assumed a menacing character and extraordinary measures will be required after emergence from this crisis. Let's ask a question: "Is it really possible for the working people to return to a society without oppressors, a society created by labours of many generations? Now, a genuine bourgeois class has emerged in the nation which will defend its self-interests to the end. Just how it intends to do this is apparent from a letter of one L. Nikolayev, a Kulak from the Kulajovsk region, as it appeared in the issue of Izvestia newspaper as of 22/5/96 issue, under the heading, "I will defend my Property to the end!" It reads in part, '...we Kulaks will not surrender ours, and you will never force us to plough the kolkhoz fields for the office. I have here a rifle which I bought. Should they come to expropriate, I will drive the livestock to the forest, burn the buildings and then begin to fire the rifle on the communist riffraff. That is what we Kulaks all decided to do. And I think the same thing will be happening in other Russian villages. By comparison Chechnia will appear as child's sing-song..." I must add that according to information supplied by A. Nikolaev himself, there are 50 Kulaks of a total of 191 households.

Under these conditions the words about adherence of the future administrations of the working class to common laws could sound hypocritical. The revolutionary working class could not, beforehand, renounce any (precisely, any!) measures of force with regards to its class adversaries.

Of course the populace not only plays an important role in the class struggles. It is necessary and indispensable in rendering harmless all of the counter-revolutionary activities, and in the installing of fear for actions against measures of the proletarian powers. It is obvious that the victorious working class, correlating its forces, will have to deal with the question of restricting the participation of the bourgeois elements in the political life, of depriving them of possibilities of uncontrolled disposition of profits of independent owners of industry, right to the confiscation of properties (there is no mention by me of the immediate transfer into the hands of the proletarian state of the basic industry, such as heavy industry, transport and communications), including the administration of power plants, the immediate abolition of laws that are designed to infringe upon the interests of the working class, etc.

It is not impossible that, having taken over the driving wheel, the working class will have to, unilaterally, annul some irregular or humiliating for Russia palaces, confiscate properties of foreign ownership. I will particularly stress the importance of crushing the "fifth column", malicious foes of the working people, the likes of A. Yakovlev, I. Gaydar, O. Latsis, and others who, in the interim, have gained access into the higher echelons of power in order to disorganize and wreck the Socialist Society. To achieve these measures decisively the proletarian power has to rely on the clearly pronounced verdicts of the broad masses of toilers, to be able to express their will for emancipation from the chains of exploitation.

Fellow travelers in the working class are frequently found propounding theories contrary to the dictatorship of the proletariat and the workers' democracy. It is necessary to make reminders of the obvious: the workers' democracy is somewhat different, less capacious and as a result scientifically prejudiced, a designation of that political power which implies the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The first concept singles out "democracy", while the second deals with dictatorship. The bourgeois in Russia, posing as "democrats", have distorted the understanding of democracy to such an extent that its application in any situation misinterprets the obvious.

In reality, it is only under the power of the working class that the broad masses of the workers, and not just the exploiting minority and those bribed by the state, receive the genuine possibilities to manage the affairs of the state. I will bring out just one example of how today's order isolates the workers from political activities. "The Union of Moscow Workers", a legally registered organization, applied to the mayor for permission to use a building for a meeting, as allowed by the present constitution. It took six weeks to receive an official denial. The press, television, municipalities, palaces of labour all serve the interests of a small group of the wealthy. Access to them by the worker is practically unavailable.

Today, as was the case 80 years ago, the actual words of V.I. Lenin explain the essence of class struggle: "Dictatorship of the proletariat is a force that is achieved and supported by the oppressive measures of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie and is not restricted by any laws." (V.I. Lenin, PSU, Vol. 37, p. 245)

Of course, depending on the speed of the transitional movement towards socialism, the role of repressive measures will recede more and more to the secondary plane if necessary but in any case the proletarian powers must remain merciless towards foes of the people, must be prepared to give a crushing blow to Imperialist powers should the latter become a threat to the achievements of the working class.

No Place for Illusions

By its nature the working class is called on to create a new socialist world. Therefore the constructive role of the dictatorship of the proletariat has no equal role in history. To this end contemporary creates new more favorable conditions because, by this time, a new educational level have emerged. The levels of the working class had immeasurably increased.

For example, in the class of 1997-98, of the MK RCWP, consisting of 31 people, one was a doctor of sciences, seven were candidates of sciences, 14 of higher education, one student (total 77%) from educational standards minimum, including 55 students of higher education (32%), with minimum 39% and with 60% in the lower standard. By comparison, of the 171 delegates interviewed at the VI Congress of the RSDRP (1930's) there were 55 delegates, 32% including students with a higher education, 79 delegates (23%) with middle standings, and 60 with lower education. It is difficult to re-evaluate also the great experiences of Socialist construction in the last 70 years.

It, seemingly, follows from here that the widely distributed simplistic observation suggesting that the placement of power, accompanied by the legal proclamation of primary government measures is sufficient to a new society to emerge out of the crisis as a transitional movement towards socialism.

It is imperative to expose such an illusion as being disastrous. I will begin from a premise that by the presence of petty-bourgeois concepts restoration of capitalism in the country had a demoralizing effect on the working class, especially true in larger centers which serve as flagships for regional reforms. Activities of workers' movements are below the minimum standards in Moscow as well as in Leningrad, Sverdlovsk, Kaliningrad, Murmansk and other areas. The raising of class consciousness in the broad strata of the working class should be the primary concerns of the workers' communist party. The trade union leaderships' statistical averages should not be pursued; instead, the class consciousness should be raised to the level of readiness to participate in revolutionary activities; this should be the guiding light in all the daily work of our party organizations.

Development of socialist revolutionary activities will without doubt hasten the process of raising the consciousness of the more backward ranks of the working class. And even then the exclusive role of its revolutionary vanguard should not be placed in doubt. It could be rightly stated that without selfless devotion to the cause of the fine points of the activities of the leadership of the working class, many questions could not be resolved, questions such as achieving greater increases in the productivity of labour and in struggles with sabotage, of productivity of labour in struggles with sabotage, crime and corruption - struggle to overcome the alienation of the basic masses from participation in state affairs. This stratum of the working class should be prepared to literally live under the slogan, "Socialism or Death!"

The Role of the Party

The party of the working class, armed with an advanced theory, is the power that is capable of providing a serious, and in many cases the deciding, influence on the progress of events. The vanguard of the working class which will assume the responsibility for the fate of the nation must be welded together by the single-mindedness and by a determined conscientious discipline, to be a party of Lenin-Stalin. In all cases when we look back on the history of victories and defeats of the working class in our country, it is necessary to, firstly, consider the role of the party, its ability to solve the problems, educate the working class in the spirit of Communism and to forge an undefeatable army of the proletariat. "No one can defeat us but our own mistakes." (V.I. Lenin, Vol. 42, p. 249).

It is necessary to state that verbal acknowledgment of inevitability of the dictatorship is insufficient guarantee of ones recognition of its ability to promote class struggles in qualitatively different circumstances and, consequently, in different forms. This lack of understanding, the lowering of levels of our propagandistic activities, factually equates the Soviet power with a parliamentary republic, contrasts the workers' self-government of the working class, underestimates the qualitative roles of the trade unions, as well as other social organizations, under conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat, lowers the role of the communist party within the bounds of state power.

Social Upheaval Coming

Our immediate aims are the achievement of power by the working class for the establishment of a socialist structure. In this regard we must have a singular comprehension of the political structure of society in the transitional period, the nucleus of which is the dictatorship of the proletariat. Such an understanding gives birth to an assurance of our actions and convinces those whom we are calling upon to follow us.

The possibility of a social upheaval is great and it would be criminal carelessness not to be prepared for such a drastic turn of events. In politics, as in any other complex issues, chances for success are minimal if the basis is only education. Defeat can be suffered even by a side with favorable distribution of chances, if measures are not taken for the assurance of their realization.

As at the beginning of the XX century, history has placed an historical task before the Russian working class - to be the advance guard of the workers' revolutionary movement. This difficult problem could be solved only by the forces of the revolutionary working class.

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