a) The Essence and Specific Features
of a Socialist Revolution

p A socialist revolution is a qualitative leap which results in the transition from the capitalist socio-economic formation to a socialist one.

p The contradiction between the level of development of the productive forces achieved within the capitalist mode of production and the capitalist production relations that have become tetters on further progress in production, is the economic basis of a socialist revolution. This contradiction manifests itself in a growing discrepancy between private capitalist appropriation and the social character of production, which is a necessary 417 outcome of the application of machines and mechanisation of production processes. This discrepancy leads to recurrent economic crises, chronic underloading of production, a growing army of unemployed, wars for the redivision of the world and spheres of influence, seizure of new markets and sources of raw materials, etc.

p All this intensifies the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and encourages the rallying of all the working people and the exploited masses around the proletariat, which fights for society’s transformation along socialist lines.

p The proletariat and the non-proletarian working masses exploited by capital constitute the driving forces of the socialist revolution. It is the proletariat, however, that plays the leading role. It is the proletariat that is called uponto fulfil the historic mission of the grave-digger oFjHg bourgeoisie, execute the verdict passed by history on capitalist private property, jurn it into a pub|ic_socialist property and, in this way, resolve capitalist society’s contradiction between the productive forces and production relations. SinoTthe p-oletariatTis deprived of ownership 6T the means of production, and united and organised by the very conditions of its labour, it represents a consistent revolutionary class capable of carrying along the non-proletarian mass of the working people and the petty-bourgeois sections and leading them during the socialist revolution.

p The goals of the socialist revolution-seizure of political power, establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat and its utilisation to crush the 418 exploiters; replacement of capitalist small- commodity production relations with socialist ones and, at the same time, abolition of any grounds for exploitation of man by man; organisation of highly-mechanised large-scale socialist production capable of meeting the growing requirements of the working masses; a rise in the cultural level of the population and its increasingly broader involvement in the administration of the state and active participation in public affairs-all of which result in the building of a socialist society.

p The socialist revolution radically differs from all previous social revolutions. Whereas all previous revolutions replaced oHe exploiting class at the helm of power with another, a socialist revolution establishes the domination of a class whose mission is to end the exploitation of man by man.

p While opposing some specific form of private property, all previous revolutions established another such form. A socialist revolution sweeps away all private property and replaces it with public property.

p In the course of previous social revolutions the classes that were coming to power sought to consolidate their acquired position by subjecting the entire society to conditions ensuring their own mode of appropriation and to the economic relations which had taken shape prior to the revolution. The proletariat, which comes to power as a result of the socialist revolution, gains control of the social productive forces only by changing its social position and ridding itself of the prevailing 419 mode of appropriation. “The proletarians have nothing of their own to secure and to fortify; their mission is to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of, individual property".  [419•1 

p While consolidating and sanctifying the economic relations that have taken shape within the old social system, all previous revolutions confined themselves to destroying whatever prevented these relations from developing. A socialist revolution does not limit itself to the destruction of the old, historically outdated order,- its mission is to create new forms of property and new production relations that could not arise within the old society based on private property.  [419•2 

p All previous revolutions, while expressing the interests of the exploiters, i.e. of the minority, were reduced to replacing the rule of one class by that of another and could not activate the working masses. The socialist revolution is carried out in the interests of the overwhelming majority and it therefore inspires wide sections of the population-the mass of the working and exploited people-to creative deeds.

Finally, while just changing the form of exploitation of the working people, all previous revolutions could not ensure a cohesive society, since after the revolution’s victory the interests of the class that had come to power always conflicted with those of the overwhelming majority of the 420 population. All this testified to the inevitability of new social conflicts and new social revolutions. A socialist revolution which sets itself the goal of abolishing all forms of the exploitation of man by man and any kind of oppression, can and does unite the overwhelming majority of the population-the working classes-among whom, in the course of the revolution, there develops an alliance based on common interests and a unity of objectives.

b) The Theory of Socialist Revolution
as Developed by Lenin

p The theory of socialist revolution was conceived by Marx and Engels. Lenin developed it further and applied it to the new historical conditions of the epoch of imperialism. He also advanced and substantiated the idea of a successful socialist revolution in one country, developed the theory concerning the growing of a bourgeois- demjcratic revolution into a socialist one, proved the necessity of an alliance between the proletariat and the peasantry during the socialist revolution, and discovered the Soviets as a form of the dictatorship of the proletariat resulting from the victorious revolution, and so forth.

p Marx and Engels lived when capitalism was in its prime-it was vigorously spreading throughout the world. It was the bourgeoisie that led the bourgeois-democratic revolutions that were breaking out at that time. The peasantry and the proletariat acted as allies of the bourgeoisie. As a result 421 of these victorious revolutions, the bourgeoisie usually seized power, established its rule and could peacefully exploit the working people for a more or less prolonged period of time, until the corresponding objective and subjective preconditions emerged for a proletarian revolution. It is only natural that, under these conditions, Marx and Engels were unable to see that a bourgeoisdemocratic revolution might develop directly into a socialist one.

p In Lenin’s time, however, capitalism entered its highest and final stage. By that time the proletariat had firmly established and consolidated itself as a class and acquired a great deal of experience in class struggles, had set up its political party and proved itself as a force capable of decisive actions. On the other hand, the bourgeoisie had by that time lost its former revolutionary zeal. Now it considered not the feudal lords or monarchy but the proletariat its main enemy, and it was therefore ready to make any concessions to the feudal lords and the nobility, in order to prevent the bourgeois-democratic revolution from developing at full speed and carrying out the pertinent democratic reforms. Under these new conditions, the bourgeoisie proved to be less interested in breaking up the old feudal production relations than was the proletariat, who needed elejnentarv democratic freedoms and guarantees to secure for itself freer and wider organisation in its struggle for socialism. The bourgeoisie could not, therefore, retain its hegemony in the bourgeois-democratic revolution, and 422 this role was taken over by the proletariat, which acquired a firm ally in the peasantry. Under these circumstances the state power must go over, as a result of the victorious bourgeois-democratic revolution, not to the bourgeoisie, but to the proletariat and the peasantry, who establish their dictatorship, later using it to crush counter- revolutionary resistance, completely abolish survivals of feudalism and establish the conditions under which the working people could widely enjoy democratic freedoms and, finally, considerably improve the material condition of the working class and all the working masses.

p Having exposed the specific features of the bourgeois-democratic revolution under imperialism, Lenin developed the theory of the immediate development of the bourgeois-democratic into the socialist revolution.

p According to this theory, while attaining the goals of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, the revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, embodying the power based on the alliance of these classes under the leadership of the proletariat, is utilised to prepare for the overthrow of capitalism and, in particular, for the concentration and rearrangement of forces, centering around the proletariat and capable of carrying out a transition to a socialist revolution.

p Lenin’s idea of the development of the bourgeois-democratic into socialist revolution was based on a profound understanding of the unity of democratic and socialist movements in the 423 epoch of imperialism. This unity gives rise to a situation when the growth of a democratic movement in all its forms encourages, to a certain [degree, the expansion of the social base of the proletarian revolution, especially in those countries where feudal or semi-feudal relations still survive. Well-known popular fronts in some now socialist countries have become reflections of this new tendency. It was the communist parties that led the national liberation movement in these countries, ensured a smooth transition from the democratic to socialist transformations and then to the victory of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

p While working out the theory of the development of the bourgeois-democratic into socialist revolutions, Lenin gave all-round consideration to the issue of the proletariat’s allies in the socialist revolution. The proletariat does not perform the socialist revolution alone. It has allies who participate in the socialist revolution. Among its allies are the non-proletarian working masses, the peasantry in the first place.

p In the epoch of imperialism the peasants are turned increasingly into the slaves of capital. Capital penetrates all the spheres of agriculture, thus increasing the numbers of hired labourers, which, in turn, gives rise to the peasants’ increasing dispossession of the land. As a result of this process, the working peasants become proletarians, taking an ever more hostile attitude towards the bourgeoisie. As a result, the non-proletarian working population may become a reliable ally of the 424 proletariat in its struggle for the victory of the socialist revolution.

Furthermore, Marx and Engels believed that the socialist revolution would simultaneously triumph in all or, at least, in the major capitalist countries, but it was Lenin who drew attention to the graphic manifestation of the law of the unevenness of economic and political development of the capitalist countries in the epoch of imperialism. The unevenness of the economic and political development is responsible for the fact that in different countries the conditions for the proletarian revolution mature unevenly. Hence the conclusion that revolution cannot simultaneously take place in these countries and that it can triumph in one or, at best, in several countries at once, these being the weakest links in the imperialist chain.

c) The Multiple Forms of the Socialist Revolution

p The socialist revolution °ff_Pf-f_Fri in jint countries at different times and under gnt conditions, may take different forms. In particular, k may assume the torm of an armed uprising or be carried^ out by peaceful means.

p For example, in the Soviet Union, when the working class in alliance with the peasantry came out against the bourgeoisie, capitalism was dominant in all other major countries. Counting on the support of these countries, the Russian bourgeoisie did not intend to relinquish its power peacefully, so the socialist revolution in Russia took the form of an armed uprising, which later 425 developed into a civil war unleashed by the bourgeoisie. On the other hand, in other countries (in particular in Poland, Rumania, Hungary and some others), the socialist revolutions took place under different conditions, affected by the existence of the Soviet Union, and the socialist revolution developed from a democratic, anti-imperialist revolution, directed against nazi invaders, feudal lords and the monopoly bourgeoisie, and so socialist transformations proceeded peacefully.

p The specific features of the socialist revolution in one or another country concern not only the way the power is taken, but also the multifarious transformations of the political, economic, ideological and other aspects of society’s life. For example, after the revolution of 1917, the Russian bourgeoisie did not wish to co-operate with the workers and peasants, since it believed that their power would not last long, and so began its struggle against the working people’s power, making every effort to overthrow it. As a consequence, the Soviet Government was compelled to isolate the bourgeoisie from participation in the country’s economic and political life. It was disfranchised, while the means of production belonging to it were nationalised and turned into public property.

p As distinct from the Soviet Union, in some other countries, such as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the transformation of enterprises belonging to the national bourgeoisie proceeded in a somewhat different way-not through nationalisation but through the establishment of mixed state- 426 capitalist undertakings that were gradually transformed into socialist enterprises. These features stem from the fact that, for a long period of time, this and other such nations were semi-colonial, semi-feudal, economically backward countries with a relatively weakly developed national bourgeoisie who took part in the struggle against imperialism, monopolies and the feudal lords. Remaining economically and politically weak, and sensing the futility of opposing the socialist transformations of the economy, the national bourgeoisie in these countries chooses to co-operate with the power of the working people and not to struggle against the transformation of capitalist industry along socialist lines.

p There are many specific features related to the transformation of agriculture and other areas of social life in various countries that affect the socialist revolution there.

While stressing the inevitability of differences in the way the socialist revolution develops in individual countries, Marxism-Leninism opposes the views of revisionists who absolutise these differences and peculiarities, and who claim that every country is heading towards socialism in a Way drastically differing from those taken by other countries or from that once passed by the Soviet ^Union. It should be remembered that parh specific feature is inevitably linked with that which is common, that each difference presupposes identity and that the general laws of transitian from capitalism to socialism, which should be always borne in mind if the desired goal of 427 socialism and communism is to be reached along the shortest road, do inevitably make their way through the host of specific features ot tne socialist revolution in individual countries. Below are some of these general laws, formulated in the Declaration of the 1957 Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers’ Parties: 1) guidance of the working masses by the working class? the C6f5 6t which is the Marxist-Leninist party, in ettectmg a proletarian revolution and establishing the dictatorship oi the proletariat; 2) the alliance of the working class and the bulk of the peasantry and other sections of the working people; 3) the abolition of capitalist ownership and the establishment of public ownership of the basic means of production,- 4) planned development of the national economy; 5) gradual socialist reconstruction of agriculture; 6) the carrying out of the socialist revolution in the sphere of ideology and culture and the creation of a numerous intelligentsia devoted to the working class, the working people and the cause of socialism; 7) the abolition of national oppression and the establishment of equality and fraternal friendship among peoples; 8) defence of the achievements of socialism against attacks by external and internal enemies; 9) solidarity of the working class of the country concerned with the working class of other countries, that is, proletarian internationalism.