Transition to Socialism:
Common Laws
and Distinctive Features
p A study of the road travelled by the countries belonging to the world socialist community reveals that the process of transition from capitalism to socialism is everywhere governed by common laws. In every country, however, the process of socialist construction manifests certain distinctive features.
p The road travelled by the Soviet Union and all the People’s Democracies shows that the basic prerequisite of socialist construction is a socialist revolution and the establishment of a proletarian dictatorship. Revolutions do not happen spontaneously: they are effected by the masses. Nor can any people effect a socialist revolution and achieve socialism spontaneously, without the leadership of the most progressive social class, that is to say, the proletariat. Neither, however, can the working class stir the masses to revolution and inspire them to build socialism unless it is guided by a Marxist-Leninist party.
p States building socialism may differ in respect of their political structure, which may assume the form of a republic of Soviets or a people’s democracy. But the essential feature of these states is that they are proletarian dictatorships. A proletarian dictatorship is needed to suppress the resistance of the exploiting classes, overthrown but not destroyed, to gradually liquidate them as an organised social force, and to prepare the ground for socialist construction. A proletarian dictatorship means restriction of the rights and activities of the exploiting classes and of any individuals who oppose socialism. Yet that is not the most important function of a proletarian dictatorship. The most important point is that it maintains organisation and discipline within the vanguard of the working people, whose task is to put an end to the exploitation of man by man in whatever form.
p While exercising coercion in respect of the foes of socialism, a proletarian dictatorship guarantees true freedom and democracy for all strata of the working people. It means democracy in the fullest sense of the word for the majority, that is to say, for the people as a whole.
p That is the objective law which is common to all the countries that have rejected capitalism and set out to build socialism. The ways by which the working class wins power, however, differ from case to case, as a look at historic events will show. The proletariat of Russia had to win its way to power in violent armed struggle with the capitalists and landlords. The working class of the 362 European People’s Democracies, on the other hand, came to power without having to fight a bloody civil war.
p Within the system of proletarian dictatorship the leading role is played by the Communist or the Workers’ Parties. Sometimes they are the only existing parties in the country, as in the USSR, Hungary, Rumania and Mongolia. Or they may co-exist, as in Poland, Bulgaria, the GDR, etc., with other democratic parties, which recognise the leading role of the working-class party and take an active part in socialist construction.
p An indispensable requirement in socialist construction is an alliance of the working class with the main mass of the peasantry and other strata of working people. The essential nature of such an alliance will vary with the successive stages of socialist construction, in line with the changing tasks faced at such stages. There may be substantial differences in the strength of such alliances between proletariat and peasantry, owing to differences in the alignment of class forces.
p It is further essential to abolish private ownership of the basic means of production and to replace it with social ownership. This necessity has been confirmed by the experience of the socialist countries. It stems from the irreconcilable contradiction between capitalist ownership and the interests of socialism. No capitalist, no banker, no entrepreneur will voluntarily refuse to pocket the proceeds of the labour performed by his employees. Hence it becomes necessary to take the basic means of production away from private owners and put them under social ownership.
p Socialism cannot be built without a preliminary gradual socialist reorganisation of agriculture. The transition to collective farming, though based in all cases on the same fundamental principles, differs in certain other respects. Thus, for instance, in the USSR and the Mongolian People’s Republic land was nationalised after the revolution, whereas in most of the other socialist countries the peasants joined to form production co-operatives while private ownership of land was allowed to remain. Here the age-long peasant tradition of private ownership prevailed, though there is now a gradual trend away from this form of ownership in favour of social ownership.
p Another common law of socialist construction is planned development of the national economy; and this is a very real advantage of socialism over capitalism. Common, socialist ownership of the means of production means that the workers and peasants at the helm of the state can develop the national economy in a planned manner, in accordance with the needs of the society as a whole, rather than in a haphazard way as is the case under capitalism.
363p An important aspect of socialist construction is the revolution in the educational and cultural spheres, essential for all countries embarking on socialist construction inasmuch as no socialist society can be built without radically changing man’s ideology and psychology, his attitude towards the society and his evaluation of his own function therein. No claim to being a builder of socialism in the fullest sense is valid without a broad education, a high cultural level, a knowledge of the laws governing the development of physical nature and society, and the ability to turn these laws to the advantage of the society and, consequently, of oneself as a member thereof.
p National oppression must go, and cordial relations must be established between peoples if socialist construction is to be successful. Communists regard the nationalities problem as a part and parcel of the question of the proletarian revolution and the establishment of a proletarian dictatorship, or, in other words, of the victory of socialism. The working class of the metropolitan states are fighting not only for the freedom of their own peoples but also for the freedom of the nations under imperialist oppression, fully conscious of the principle, enunciated by Marx and Engels, that no people can be free if it oppresses other peoples. A just solution of the nationalities problem can be found only under the socialist system. Only government by the workers and peasants can create genuinely equal and fraternal relations among nations, capable of providing a powerful stimulus for the development of a socialist society.
p The solution of the nationalities problem in the Soviet Union offers a remarkable example. In Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and other socialist countries, too, national minorities enjoy full political equality and every opportunity for rapid development, economic as well as cultural. The example set by the socialist countries is a source of inspiration for the proletariat and oppressed peoples the world over in their struggle to throw off the imperialist yoke.
p Those countries which have chosen socialism are determined to safeguard their socialist gains from all foes, internal and external. The socialist system rejects war as a means of solving internal or international contradictions. Eager to build a new way of life, the working people of the socialist countries want peace on earth more than anything else, for only peace will allow them to put all their effort and means into the work of improving their condition. Meantime they watch closely the doings of the imperialists and stand ready to smash any attempt to despoil them of the fruits of their victory.
Standing thus on guard against foreign and domestic enemies and guided by the principle of proletarian internationalism, the 364 peoples of the socialist countries support each other and the working people of all lands. This proletarian internationalism, that is to say, class solidarity and international co-operation among the working class, is one of the laws that govern the process of development and a basic prerequisite of success in the people’s struggle to overthrow capitalism and build socialism in its stead. Proletarian internationalism stems from the fact that the proletariat of every country finds itself pitted, in its fight for freedom, not only against its own, domestic bourgeoisie but also against the capitalists of other countries. If this resistance is to be overcome the working class must confront them with the solidarity of the proletariat of all countries.
Co-operation and Mutual Assistance
Among Socialist Countries
p The development of the world socialist community can best be served by cordial co-operation and mutual assistance among the socialist countries. Their unity of interests is determined by the identity of their economies, systems of state government, ideologies and aims. In all of the socialist countries state power is held by the people headed by the working class; industrial plants are owned by the society as a whole; and the same ideology prevails, that is to say, Marxism-Leninism. The common aim of the peoples of the socialist community is to defend their revolutionary gains and build socialism and, eventually, communism. This unity of interests lays the groundwork for close and cordial relations among these countries, based on full equality, mutual respect of independence and sovereignty, fraternal mutual assistance, and cooperation.
p Mutual assistance is practised continuously by the socialist countries in the field of industrial, agricultural and cultural development. This is the purpose of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (CMEA), set up in 1949 by the USSR and the European People’s Democracies. The CMEA is called upon to co-ordinate the economic development of the member-states in line with the national interests and possibilities of each and also in the interests of the socialist community as a whole.
The emergence of a world socialist community made it unnecessary for the states that opted for socialism to develop all the various branches of their economies, as the USSR had been forced to do at a time when it was ringed about with capitalist countries. Socialist international division of labour became possible, each country emphasising those branches of its economy which it is best equipped to develop, as well as the co-ordination of national economic plans.
365p A multilateral pattern of commodity exchange promotes a rapid and rational economic development of all the member-countries. Specialisation in the production of this or that line of goods follows the Council’s recommendations. Thus, blast-furnace equipment is produced in the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia; equipment for the aluminium industry in the Soviet Union and Hungary; artificial-fibre manufacturing machinery in the GDR and the Soviet Union. Bulgaria specialises in fruit and vegetable growing and in the production of agricultural machinery. This socialist international division of labour is conducive to a more rational utilisation of the means and resources of each membercountry and, in addition, to a more rapid economic development of the entire socialist community.
p Close co-operation and mutual assistance enable the socialist community to undertake projects which would be beyond the power of individual countries to handle. Thus the longest oil pipeline in the world, Friendship, some 5,000 kilometres long, has been built jointly by the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and the GDR to deliver oil from the Volga valley to the banks of the Oder, Vistula, Vltava and Danube. And a common power grid, Peace, is used by the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Rumania.
The peaceful uses of atomic energy constitute a field in which the scientists of the socialist countries are currently co-operating.
366 And there is a continuous extensive exchange of information on current scientific and technological achievements and production techniques.p Under the socialist system the economically more advanced states aid those that still tend to lag, so that there is a gradual levelling of the economic development of the member-states of the socialist community.
p While thus joining forces to promote its economic development, the socialist community does not hold aloof from the world capitalist market, favouring, rather, the development of mutually advantageous trade with the capitalist countries.
p Some of the socialist countries are parties to treaties of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance. Moreover, the emergence of the aggressive military NATO bloc of Western states has made it necessary for the socialist states to take counter-measures in the interests of security.
p Accordingly, in May 1955, the USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Rumania and 367 Czechoslovakia concluded, at Warsaw, a treaty of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against any one of the parties thereto, and formed a joint military command of their armed forces.
In the meantime, the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries are consistently working for general and complete disarmament, for the prohibition of atomic and hydrogen weapons, and for the dismantling of foreign military bases.
World Socialist System as Decisive
Factor in Development of the Human Society
p In the late 1950s and early 1960s the world socialist system entered a new phase of development. The Soviet Union launched a broad programme of communist construction, while the peoples of Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania and Mongolia laid the foundations of socialism. Most other People’s Democracies were close to the achievement of this aim. Elimination of social and economic possibilities of restoring capitalism in these countries signified that the new social system had won the final victory on the scale of the whole world system of socialism, and that the relation of forces in the world arena had changed radically in favour of socialism.
p The growing might of the forces of socialism and the concurrent decline and disintegration of the capitalist system indicate that the world socialist system is becoming the decisive factor in the development of the human society. The main content and main trend of world history will hence depend on the continued development of the socialist system.
p One of the basic prerequisites of victory of socialism over capitalism on a universal scale is a consistently high rate of economic development in the socialist countries. Over the period 1950-67 the volume of industrial production has increased in the socialist countries bv a factor of 5.4 and in the capitalist countries by a factor of 2.5. In other words the economy of the former is developing more than twice as fast as that of the latter.
p The more sober-minded among the capitalist ideologists appear to realise the strength and magnetism of the world socialist community. Thus William Randolph Hearst, Jr., the American newspaper chain owner, who has visited several socialist countries in Europe, has had to admit that the working people in these countries have much higher living standards than they had ever before, that socialism was there forever and no talk could change the fact.
Events have shown that the expansion of the socialist doctrine cannot be halted. Its advance over the face of our planet continues, hastening the day of its eventual triumph.
Notes