OF THE CRISIS
OF BOURGEOIS IDEOLOGY
p Is there any ground for drawing the conclusion about there being a crisis in imperialist ideology at this stage of sharply aggravated ideological struggle, at a time when ideological penetration has become one of the main, if not the main weapon of reaction in its fight against the new, socialist world? Imperialist ideology is undoubtedly a dangerous, active and treacherous enemy. Still, there is no doubt about imperialist ideology being in crisis. It is a reflection in the sphere of society’s spiritual life of the general crisis of capitalism as a system. The unprecedentedly feverish activity of the bourgeois propaganda machine, turning out, with a kind of desperate obsession, a never-ending stream of anti-communist myths, is itself evidence that imperialism no longer has any ideas capable of inspiring and giving a lead to the people.
p Bourgeois ideology, reflecting the lack of historical prospects before imperialism, seeks by every possible means to vindicate and embellish it in every way, so as to delay the inevitable collapse of the obsolescent system.
p The general crisis of capitalism flared up with full force following the victory of the Great October Socialist 44 Revolution, which dealt a decisive blow at bourgeois ideology as well. It blasted the myth that private capitalist relations were there for all time, and opened a new epoch in world history, the epoch of the downfall of capitalism and the establishment of communism. The working people of all countries watched with great sympathy and hope every step taken by the world’s first workers’ and peasants’ state. However, the imperialists likewise kept a close watch on what it did. As the ideas of the October Revolution increasingly became the banner of revolutionary struggle across the worlol, bourgeois ideology became increasingly reactionary. This was due to the fact that capitalism was gradually ceasing to be a global world system, and degenerated spiritually as it lost one position after another.
p With the emergence of the Soviet state the anti-communist tenor of bourgeois thought became more pronounced. Bourgeois ideology turned its keenest edge not only against the theory, but also against the practice of socialist construction, this being an expression of the deep-seated fear the bourgeoisie has always had as a class of the law-governed changes taking place in the world, and an expression of its hatred for such changes.
p However, despite the hostility of the bourgeois ideologists for the October Revolution, and the savage attempts to prevent the new system from consolidating itself, it developed confidently, refuting the malicious predictions and prognostications by its ideological adversaries about its imminent collapse, and exploding the ideological myths of anti-communist propaganda one after another.
p After the victory of the October Revolution, bourgeois ideologists stubbornly insisted that the Communists were only able to destroy but not to build. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the masses of people, whom the October Revolution had put on the highroad of historical creativity, astounded the world by the great scope of their five-year plans. The Soviet economy displayed unprecedented growth rates, and the way of life in a vast country was fundamentally transformed. Socialism put an end to man’s exploitation of man for good, eliminated national oppression and strife, and ensured a new and higher type of democracy.
p Bourgeois ideologists, thrown into confusion by the confident advance of the new world, began hypocritically to 45 talk about “excessive industrialisation rates” and about “the excessive price for overcoming backwardness”. History itself has provided convincing evidence that the policy of industrialising and collectivising the country had been a wise and far-sighted one. The fruits of this policy were manifested with especial force during the Great Patriotic War.
p Bourgeois ideologists had no doubt that the striking force of imperialism would be able to crush the socialist state, and they circulated the anti-communist myth that the multinational socialist country was “unsoundly based”. The victory over fascism turned out to be not only a military defeat for Hitlerism, but a powerful blow at all these illusions of the ideologists of racism and militarism, nationalistic chauvinism and aggression.
p Just as futile were the hopes that the socialist country would be weakened as a result of the unprecedented devastation and losses during the war. It rose from the ashes and ruins, once again demonstrating to the world the mighty and inexhaustible forces of the socialist system. Its historical successes in developing the economy, science and technology dispelled the old myth of anti-communist propaganda that the economic system of socialism was inefficient.
p A new stage in the general crisis of capitalism began when socialism spread beyond the boundaries of one country and formed the world socialist system. This dispelled the myth of bourgeois ideology about the Great October Socialist Revolution having been a “purely Russian” national event. Socialist practice provided irrefutable proof that a number of basic features of this revolution are of international and not only of local importance.
p The international importance of the ideas of the October Revolution was also confirmed by the world-wide national liberation struggle of the peoples which brought down an old bastion of imperialism, its colonial system. The development of Soviet national republics has shown the countries escaping from colonial oppression what peoples taking the socialist way of development are capable of doing.
p The present stage of the crisis of bourgeois ideology is marked by intensified attempts to undermine the authority of socialism and Marxism-Leninism. But whereas some seek the slightest opportunity for using armed force against the socialist system, others prefer a more cautious line, namely, to try to slow down in every possible way the further 46 successes of socialism and to undermine it politically and ideologically from inside, making use of the most subtle methods of falsification and distortion of the truth of life. In practice, both these lines blend together in one line, merely reflecting the contradictions within the various groups of the imperialist bourgeoisie.
p The subtlety of bourgeois methods in fighting socialism is also evident in the adventurist attempts to borrow weapons from the ideological armoury of the progressive forces. Needless to say, the crying contradiction between the progressive ideas and the reactionary content of the imperialist system and its policies have made it possible to use these ideas only superficially, in terms of outward form.
p This produces a striking contrast between word and deed. Thus, imperialist policy and its aggressive interventions, carried out under the pretext of safeguarding democracy, working for peace and freedom, and defending humanism and civilisation, expose themselves by their deeds. The crisis of present-day bourgeois ideology undoubtedly marks the decline of capitalism, and the final transformation of the bourgeoisie, once a historically progressive class, into a reactionary one.
p In the most general terms, this crisis is expressed, first, in that the class content of bourgeois ideology has run into an acute and irreconcilable contradiction with the course of world social development, and has become a drag on social progress.
p In content, the function of bourgeois ideology increasingly comes down to a reactionary class defence of the capitalist system. The methods used in this defence are diverse, but concern for this defence permeates every sphere of bourgeois social thinking, being specifically mirrored in its various forms: political and legal ideology, philosophy, and ethical and aesthetic theories.
p Second, the development of the new world and its successes have required (in view of the class-rooted negative assessment of this world by the bourgeoisie) the restructuring of the whole of bourgeois ideology. The negative attitude, which has grown into wild anti-communism, anti-Marxism and attacks against any expression of free thought, has led to an abandonment of the bourgeoisie’s once progressive heritage. Present-day bourgeois ideologists have been throwing overboard the best achievements of bourgeois thought 47 relating to the period of rising capitalism, or have been distorting them out of all recognition. In the past they used to extol atheism, but today religion is the best mark of “respectability”; reason and science used to be at the service of education, but today irrationalism and mysticism have been declared the instruments of cognising the world; social progress once used to be their credo, but today this is increasingly confined to technological development. With deep insight Lenin observed: “A point in history has been reached when the commanding bourgeoisie, fearing the growth and increasing strength of the proletariat, comes out in support of everything backward, moribund and medieval.” [47•1
p Bourgeois ideology has been increasingly hypocritical. Marx and Engels wrote in The German Ideology: “The more... the conditions of the ruling class ... develop their contradiction to the advanced productive forces, and the greater the consequent split within the ruling class itself as well as the split between it and the class ruled by it, the more untrue, of course, becomes the consciousness ... and the more do the earlier traditional ideas ... descend to the level of mere idealising phrases, conscious illusion, deliberate hypocrisy.” [47•2
p The development of the new world and its achievements have exerted an influence on the mood and behaviour of the bourgeois ideologists themselves, leading to ferment in their midst, to tactical disagreements, and to serious internal contradictions, frictions and conflicts. The ideologists of imperialism are unable openly to speak of the interests and goals of the ruling classes in capitalist society because these are in crying contradiction with the interests of the people. The hypocrisy to which they must resort is not merely the product of the subjective, personal qualities of the various bourgeois ideologists. It is a historically-rooted social phenomenon.
p A characteristic concern of the bourgeois ideologists is not so much the content or the authenticity of their ideology, but the propaganda results from the spread of it. The development and improvement of psychological methods of exerting an influence on the masses, and the use for that end of the 48 ramified organisational and technical propaganda machine reflect the bourgeois ideologists’ urge to keep the minds of the people fettered by bourgeois ideology. One very popular term is “psychological warfare”, with the emphasis on the conditioning of men’s minds to have them support a given policy. What the bourgeois propagandists are concerned with is not truth but plausibility, not a knowledge and understanding of men, but the control of their emotions and their responses in favour of the ideas they are spreading. For that purpose, many bourgeois ideologists engage in applied research to meet the requirements of the ruling clique, the militarists, the military establishments and the employers in methods of brainwashing the masses.
p The crisis of bourgeois ideology (its increasingly glaring reactionary character, resistance to the principal line of social development, scientific untenability, hypocrisy, and deep-going internal contradictions) does not at all mean that it has lost its capacity or power to influence the masses. Its potentialities are still very great. First, the spread of bourgeois ideas is concentrated in the hands of the state machine of imperialism, the monopolies and the corporations, who spend vast amounts of money and use modern techniques and devices for the most extensive spread of bourgeois ideas. Second, there has also been a change in the methods used by bourgeois propaganda, which has been steadily improving and sharpening its ideological weapons. New theories, new systems of views, new lines of bourgeois thinking are thoroughly analysed to see how they can be used for antisocialist propaganda.
p No, indeed, imperialist ideology is far from being dead, and it will not automatically collapse without efforts and struggles against it. On the contrary, the crisis processes going forward within it have merely intensified the propaganda activity of its ideologists.
p Of course, the ideologists of imperialism are incapable of putting forward noble, lofty ideas, but they have not lost the ability to falsify ideas and to distort social phenomena. Besides, they have been actively speculating on the real difficulties, shortcomings and mistakes in the new world.
p Just as the objective historical laws governing the transition from capitalism to socialism do not operate apart from active participation in the social process by men themselves, so the truth of life, the scientific character of Marxist-Leninist 49 ideas does not overcome bourgeois ideology automatically. For the truth to win out, it has to be driven home to men; there is need to be able to strip the cover of hypocrisy, and to probe deep down to the class interests behind bourgeois ideology which are always there but which are concealed, to show and to prove to the broad masses of people that the theories defending these class interests are unscientific, anti-humanistic and undemocratic.
p A tireless, stubborn struggle against bourgeois ideology is just as important and objective a necessity as the economic competition between the two systems, as the political struggle against imperialism and reaction. This struggle can be carried on successfully only on the basis of a knowledge of the concrete crisis processes going forward in the various spheres of bourgeois social thought.