Contemporary World Situation And Validity of Marxism
Proceedings of International Seminar of Communist Parties Marking The 175th Birth Anniversary of Karl Marx
| Revision History | ||
|---|---|---|
| • Fall/Winter 1994 | Newspaper: Funded by Syracuse University students. | |
| The Alternative Orange: Vol. 4, No. 1 (pp. 18). | ||
| • August 11, 2003 | Webpage:  . | |
| DocBook XML (DocBk XML V3.1.7) from original. | ||
It [is] precisely in the background of developments during the last few years, and the massive propaganda blitzkrieg launched by imperialism and its spokesmen that the holding of such a seminar was proposed. This imperialist propaganda offensive sought to depict that socialism is dead, communism has no future and that capitalism is the last stage in the evolution of human society. Its paid scribes sought to negate the history of the last 150 years, that had seen the discoveries of Marx shedding a new light on philosophy, political economy and the social sciences. The study and works of Marx that brought a hitherto unknown approach to understanding and comprehending contemporary developments, were, challenged.
While some communist and workers parties, faced by the might of the imperialist propaganda, have given in and changed both their signboard and programme, others are in the midst of confusion. The parties that still adhere to the basic tenets of Marxism are evaluating the past and are trying to arrive at conclusions that will help them overcome the distortions and deviations that have led to the creation of the present situation.
...The thrust of the papers, as well as the discussions, [address the] necessity to confront the imperialist challenge to the science of Marxism, and more urgently to unitedly thwart the offensive against Cuba, Korea, Vietnam and China. The discussions also strikingly poin[t] out that the communist and workers' parties stand united on the adherence to the fundamentals of Marxism. The overriding validity and the abiding relevance of Marxism lies in its liberating vision and emancipatory goals.... The entire quest of Marx during his life time and that of all subsequent Marxists, was to establish the basic factors necessary for complete human liberation. Capitalism as Marx has shown and subsequent developments justify, is a system based on human exploitation. As long as exploitation of man by man and nation by nation continues to be the basis of the capitalist system the yearning for human liberation can never be snuffed out. The world that we know today, the rights that humanity has come to accept as a matter of course, have all been contributions of people's struggles. It is this class struggle that continues to shape the present day developments and its associated human consciousness. The imprint of Marxism on contemporary society and the intellectual development of humanity is inerasable.
The contemporary world situation tellingly demonstrates the unjust and inhuman nature of capitalism. It is its rapacious plunder that is responsible for the terrible situation of hunger, misery, sickness, illiteracy that stalk the millions in the developing world. It is directly responsible for the dangers of nuclear holocaust and worsening major ecological imbalances. The increasing moral and ethical degeneration of capitalist societies, drug abuse, violence, gender and racial discrimination are continuously debasing the finer qualities of human beings. Despite the perennial propaganda, intensified following the reverses to socialism, that 'capitalism is eternal', it today, as in the past, proves itself as a system incapable of solving the major problems confronting humanity.
This is all the more evident from the experience of the former socialist countries. Millions are today deprived of the means of daily existence, unknown to generations under the socialist system. The process of restoration to capitalism in these countries is accompanied by its natural consequences of growing unemployment, insecurity, hunger and the merciless tearing asunder of the social... fabric. In the name of 'Democracy', the dismantling of Socialism took place. Today democracy has been rendered meaningless for the people. The recent attack on May Day demonstrators at Red Square has shown the face of this 'democracy'. Imperialism's open support for Yeltsin exposes the real class nature of the new order in these countries. Capitalism has thus proven to be incapable of solving the problems of these countries.
The tasks facing communists are indeed immense. The accentuation of the fundamental contradictions of our epoch, the new insidious and vicious process of economic 're-colonization' of the third world, and the imperialist attempts to impose its New World Order, call for a greater closing of ranks amongst Communists and anti-imperialist contingents. The unity of all communists, progressive and anti-imperialist forces is the basis for strengthening internationalism in the present situation. It is only on this basis that the imperialist offensive can be rebuffed.
When communists say they base themselves on Marxism as a creative science, they do understand that the science cannot be stagnant— that it is ever developing, and the very development of society itself, the development of the productive forces, goes on enriching this science. Lenin's analysis of imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalist development, was not a small achievement. It continues to guide the direction of the movement and lays bare the contradictions inherent in the system till today.
To date, nobody has succeeded in challenging the basis of Marxist philosophy, its political economy, the laws of social development summed up in the phrase, historical materialism. In fact history has vindicated these theories. It is in the applying of these theories that distortions and deviations have occurred. That the socialist experience was the first of its kind, and that too in a largely backward country, is a factor to be recognized. Lenin in his last days, was trying to draw lessons from the experience, and formulating policies to meet the situation. It was in this regard that Lenin reiterated what Marx and Engels repeatedly stated, that the theories of Marxism are not to be treated as a dogma, but used as a guide to action.
Once we adhere to the science of Marxism, we have to reckon that, one, on the basis of the laws of development of society, capitalism is also transitory phase, and two, that socialism alone is capable of taking forward the productive forces developed under capitalism to their fullest capacity, thereby enabling mankind to free itself of not only all types of exploitation, but to reach new economic, social, cultural and political heights, with full freedom being enjoyed by all working people. This has been amply proved by the successive stages through which the development of the society has taken place. Though the nature of the classes have been different at each stage, it is the struggle between these classes which has transformed society, and the success of the socialist revolution was also the result of this struggle. Even today in the developed capitalist countries, the resistance developing against capitalist exploitation in the forms of strikes and huge demonstrations again vindicate this contention. By contrast the path of class collaboration advanced by the social democrats and the bourgeois politicians has not worked anywhere.
That capitalism based on exploitation cannot provide remedies to the problems of contemporary society has been proved by the present situation in the capitalist world. The collapse of socialist systems in the countries of eastern Europe and the erstwhile Soviet Union does not prove the superiority of the capitalist system. The crisis of capitalism in the form of a long drawn-out recession, that has been going for the past many years, is a glaring example of this. The worsening conditions of the working class, the onslaught on their social security measures, the growing unemployment and closures have vindicated this claim.
That imperialism is the main enemy is nowhere in doubt. It is known that after the developments in the socialist countries, no change has occurred in the nature of imperialism. In fact it has shown its most brutal form—whether in the advocated new world order, through which US imperialism seeks to impose its hegemony over the world, or the Gulf war, the present plight of the east European countries, or encouragement of the rightist forces in Angola, Mozambique, intervention in Ethiopia, the Palestinian issue etc. As far as its opposition to socialism is concerned, it has never hidden its designs, nor changed them.... [In relation to] the third world it seeks to forcibly impose its new economic order, make every country dependent on it, and mortgage their economic sovereignty.
The communist and workers parties will lead the socialist revolutions armed with the scientific ideology of Marxism. This equips them with the vision and capacity to organize the working class, the peasantry and the toiling millions in the struggle for social transformation... and to create consciousness in their minds to intervene in the political situation prevailing in each country by fighting not only economic policies but battles on the political and ideological front against the ruling class. In this process, they are able to rally all the forces fighting for social advancement. The leading role of the working class that the communists talk about, cannot be imposed, but has to be won, by serving the interests of the working class, the peasantry and the toiling millions as well as the genuine national interests. Therefore the significance of the communist parties in the struggle for socialism must not be undermined.
Harkishan Singh Surjeet
[Text is excerpted from the Introduction to
Contemporary World Situation and Validity of
Marxism]
Published by:
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
A.K.G. Bhavan, 27-29, Bhai Vir Singh Marg, New Delhi-110001, INDIA
