Russian Revolution proved workers can take power
https://themilitant.com/2020/08/22/russian-revolution-proved-workers-can-take-power/
August 31, 2020
Workers’ Red Guard patrols south of Moscow during October 1917 Russian
Revolution. U.S. communist leader James P. Cannon said workers from
U.S., Europe and their “colonial slaves” were lifted up by victory of
Bolsheviks after “depression and despair” of imperialist world war.
Workers’ Red Guard patrols south of Moscow during October 1917 Russian
Revolution. U.S. communist leader James P. Cannon said workers from
U.S., Europe and their “colonial slaves” were lifted up by victory of
Bolsheviks after “depression and despair” of imperialist world war.
Speeches for Socialism by James P. Cannon is one of Pathfinder’s Books
of the Month for August. A young working-class fighter inspired by the
1917 October Revolution led by the Bolsheviks, he was a founding leader
of the U.S. Communist Party and a member of the Executive Committee of
the Communist International under V.I. Lenin. Expelled from the by now
Stalinist-controlled CP, he and others, determined to continue the
course of Lenin, founded the Militant newspaper in 1928. Cannon was
national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party from 1938 to 1953. The
excerpt is from his 1942 speech, “The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the
Russian Revolution.” Copyright © 1969 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by
permission.
BY JAMES P. CANNON
We meet on the twenty-fifth anniversary of that great day when the
world-encircling chain of imperialism snapped at its weakest link, and
the workers of Czarist Russia, supported by the peasants, broke through
to victory and established the first workers’ state. We are meeting
tonight, as we and our kind have been meeting on each succeeding
anniversary throughout the years since 1917, as partisans and defenders
of the Russian Revolution and of the workers’ state which the Russian
Revolution created.
We are not alone today. The whole world is taking notice of the USSR on
this anniversary. Everybody is recognizing the Soviet Union, each in his
own way. Churchill, who tried his best to overthrow it in the early
days, and Roosevelt, who — to judge by the indictment which his
administration drew up against us1 — was, to say the least, not very
friendly to the Russian Revolution — Churchill and Roosevelt pay
hypocritical tribute today to “the great Russian people” and “the heroic
Red Army.” Hitler looks toward the East through dark glasses tonight,
with fear and trembling, wondering whether his insane dream of empire
hasn’t been shattered on the Russian front.
Remembering the Russian Revolution of 1917, the workers of Europe and
the colonial slaves lift up their hearts in hope once more today. Each
in his own way, for reasons of his own, takes notice of this
twenty-fifth anniversary. But the differences in the reasons — and they
are whole worlds apart — change nothing in the decisive fact that
everybody is saluting, recognizing, or cursing a state and an army that
issued from a victorious revolution of the workers. This revolution is
in the greatest crisis of its entire history at this hour, in its
greatest peril. We know this and we say it openly.
And we say also, and with truth, that in its greatest crisis and danger,
we Fourth Internationalists, we disciples of Lenin and Trotsky, remain
the best defenders of the Soviet Union. The fact that we are celebrating
the revolution and not announcing its funeral shows that we are still
fighting. We are fighting for a revolution that is still living.
War and revolution are the most authoritative of all tribunals. It is
there, in war and in revolution, that all the great questions are
decided in our epoch. The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914
demonstrated that capitalism, as an economic and social system, had
exhausted its progressive historic mission. The Russian Revolution of
November 1917 served notice that a more powerful class than the class of
capitalists had come to maturity. The modern proletariat, the
progressive force in modern society, the herald and representative of a
new social order — this class, as demonstrated by the revolution, took
the offensive in the class battle that can only end in worldwide victory.
November 7, 1917. The death sentence on the old order of capitalism and
the beginning of the new order of world socialism were both proclaimed
on that day. And whatever vicissitudes, whatever setbacks, betrayals or
defeats may overtake the proletariat on the road to that final goal;
however sharp and deep may be the zigzags in the line which charts the
course of the struggle through which humanity shall pass from capitalism
to socialism; whatever may befall: the starting point in the line of
development will always be traced to that great day which we commemorate
tonight — November 7, 1917.
I can remember the dark days of the First World War, 1914-1918. Then as
now, all the hopes for humanity’s progress seemed to be drowned in the
blood of the war. Reaction seemed to be triumphant everywhere. The
enemies of the proletariat gloated over the treachery and capitulation
of the socialist parties. … The whole world labor movement was overcome
with depression and despair in 1914-1917.
But the Russian Revolution of November 7 changed all that overnight. At
one blow, the revolution lifted the proletariat of Europe to its feet
again. It stirred the hundreds of millions of colonial slaves who had
never known political aspiration before, who had never dared to hope
before. The Russian Revolution awakened them to the promise of a new life.
Here in the United States, the progressive sections of the socialist and
labor movements were reinvigorated by the Russian Revolution. The morale
of the movement grew stronger than ever before. For the first time,
concentrated in revolutionary action, we had a demonstration of the real
meaning of the doctrines of Marxism. For the first time we learned, from
the example and teachings of Lenin and Trotsky and the leaders of the
Russian Revolution, the real meaning of a revolutionary party. …
Marx and Engels lifted the conception of socialism from utopia to
science. The Russian Revolution developed scientific socialism from
theory into action, and proved several things that before had been
abstract generalizations and predictions. The Russian Revolution proved
in action that certain things were true beyond all further doubt. The
first of these things proved by the revolution was that it is possible
for the workers to take power. It is possible for the workers to forge
out of their ranks a party that is capable of leading the struggle to
victory. And the workers in all countries will everlastingly remember
that. Nothing can erase from history that example. Victory of the
proletariat is possible — the Russian Revolution in action, in blood and
fire, proved that it is so.
Cannon was one of 18 leaders of SWP and Minneapolis Teamsters union
imprisoned on charges of conspiring to advocate overthrow of the U.S.
government. Their real “crime” was organizing opposition within the
labor movement to the U.S. rulers’ drive to enter World War II.
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