p In the cultural revolution, which is a component of the transition from capitalism to socialism, the proletariat creates its class, socialist culture to replace the old, bourgeois culture. In the process of creating this new culture the proletariat does 167 not reject bourgeois culture in toto. It accepts the best achievements of that culture, critically recasts them and places them in the service of the people. The new, socialist culture can be created only by mastering and critically processing the cultural heritage of the past. That is exactly what the working class does and, in addition, it raises the achievements of the past to a new level.
p The central task of the cultural revolution is to mould a truly people’s culture. This is attained, first and foremost, by making all spiritual wealth, all the achievements of science and art the property of the people and, secondly, by vigorously raising the level of education and culture, giving broad scope for talent, for the full development of the people’s creative powers.
p A cultural revolution is indispensable in both culturally developed and backward countries. Even in the most highly developed capitalist country a considerable section of the population—working people, as a rule—is denied the possibility of enjoying the benefits of culture. Spiritual activities and mental work are monopolised by the ruling classes, who in most cases restrict the working people’s cultural development to the minimum needed by them to fulfil their functions in production. The need for a cultural revolution is all the more glaring in backward countries.
p The cultural revolution is not a sudden, transient act but a gradual process requiring a more or less prolonged span of time, painstaking and persevering work and skilful organisation. Its problems cannot be resolved by decrees, with a stroke of the pen. In order to channel the people’s natural thirst for knowledge and culture in the required direction they must be made to appreciate the need for cultural growth. A large material basis is necessary as the foundation for the new, socialist culture. This basis emerges in the process of socialist economic reforms, in the process of nationalisation, industrialisation and collectivisation.
p The proletarian state nationalises and places at the disposal of the people all cultural institutions and all means of spiritual influence—theatres, museums, cinemas, radio stations, the press, and so forth—and builds new cultural centres. It undertakes the training and education of the working people and fundamentally reorganises the system of general and special education in the interests of the 168 people, thereby giving them hitherto unparalleled opportunities to master the achievements of human culture and raise the level of their general and special education.
p The opportunist theoreticians of the Second International maintained that the working class should make no attempt to seize power until it had reached a certain cultural level and had an adequate number of intellectuals. Their argument was that the “uncouth” masses were unable to administer a country and build a socialist society.
p Lenin exposed the hollowness of these arguments and proved that if the prerequisites are at hand the proletariat must forthwith seize power and then tirelessly work to raise the people’s cultural level, all the more so that the conditions for this are created by the proletarian dictatorship.
p That is exactly how the proletariat of Russia and a number of other countries acted. They did not wait for the cultural level to rise to that unknown standard prescribed by the opportunists, for if they had they would have had to wait endlessly—the capitalists were doing everything in their power to keep the people in darkness and ignorance: it is easier to exploit illiterate, downtrodden people with impunity.
p In alliance with other working people, the Russian proletariat seized power in a culturally backward country, a country where the bulk of the population was illiterate and where enlightenment and education were in a state of decline. After taking over power it cleared the road for a cultural revival. Illiteracy was, in the main, wiped out by 1937, i.e., by the time the period of transition came to an end. By that year there were general education and special secondary and higher schools, libraries, reading-rooms, museums, clubs and other cultural institutions in every part of the country. In that period the number of pupils in general education schools alone increased nearly 3.5-fold. Striking advances have been made in enlightenment and education in the non-Russian Soviet republics.
p The cultural revolution has made immense headway in other socialist countries as well.
p For example, the percentage of illiteracy among the population was 23 in old Poland, 43 in Rumanian and 27 in Bulgaria. Today illiteracy is practically non-existent in all the socialist countries. A system of general and special 169 education has been set up and much else has been done to place culture within reach of all the people. This has given rise to a genuinely people’s intelligentsia. Many of the socialist countries have more students at institutions of higher education than developed capitalist countries. For instance, in terms of per 10,000 of population the number of students averages 24 in the Federal Republic of Germany, 34 in France and 43 in Poland.
Socialist cultures are rapidly drawing closer together and there is a distinct trend towards the spiritual cohesion of the peoples of the socialist commonwealth on the foundation of Marxism-Leninism. In the sphere of creative endeavour and ideas the socialist system is moving from victory to victory over the capitalist system.
The general laws of socialist construction thus manifest themselves in their own way in different countries. This conclusion is borne out by the practice of building socialism in the U.S.S.R. and other socialist countries. In a number of European and Asian countries and in Cuba the socialist revolutions were a specific repetition of the fundamental laws, which first came to the fore in the socialist revolution in Russia. In order to further the building of socialism successfully these general laws must be developed, enriched and skilfully applied in the various countries, and dogmatism, revisionism and the absolutisation of general laws and specific conditions must be resolutely opposed.
Notes