p GRISHA FILIPOV

p MEMBER OF THE POLITICAL BUREAU AND SECRETARY
OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE BULGARIAN
COMMUNIST PARTY

p Comrades, the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution is a great holiday not only for the Soviet people and the CPSU, but for all countries of the world socialist community, the working class of the whole world and its vanguard-the international communist movement, as well as the national liberation and democratic movements; it is a holiday for all peoples, for the whole of progressive mankind. The truly worldwide internationalist character of the celebrations of this momentous anniversary is a concentrated reflection of the tremendous, allembracing, profound, lasting, and transforming revolutionary influence of the Great October Revolution on the entire subsequent course of the socio-economic, political, and spiritual life of the peoples, on all world history.

p This celebration culminated in the jubilee meeting of the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR Supreme Soviet, and the RSFSR Supreme Soviet, attended by 123 delegations from 104 countries. The profoundly meaningful report of Comrade Leonid Brezhnev with its Marxist-Leninist analysis of the world historic significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution has made an indelible impression on 72 our minds. In forceful and striking terms it describes the magnitude of the exploit performed by the Soviet people and their Communist Party in the course of building socialism and communism. The report summarises the manyfaceted experience of the CPSU as the vanguard of the Soviet people, a part of the international working-class movement and of the liberation movement. It provides evidence of its creative approach to Marxism-Leninism, and of its concern for the development and practical application of revolutionary theory. After the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR it is, in fact, a new contribution of the CPSU to the development of Marxist-Leninist theory and the practice of socialist revolution and socialist construction in present-day conditions.

p This scientific conference is a logical continuation of the international celebrations and joint ideological and political activities devoted to this great anniversary. There can be no doubt that it will contribute not only to bringing out still more vividly the world historic significance of the Great October Revolution, the tremendous influence and impact of its ideas and deeds on the development of the modern revolutionary process, but also to the further development of Marxism-Leninism, to the strengthening of our ideological front. In our opinion, it is called upon not only to demonstrate the results of the work of Communist parties, the CPSU, in the first place, in developing our theory, but also to help enrich it with new conclusions and guidelines related to the current stage of the world communist and working-class movement.

p Comrades, the global and lasting importance of the Great October Revolution was very graphically emphasised in Comrade Mikhail Suslov’s opening speech and Comrade Boris Ponomarev’s report. We all agree that the October Revolution is the principal event of our dynamic and crucial twentieth century. This first victorious proletarian revolution has cardinally changed the world’s social and political make-up, ushering in a new epoch in man’s 73 history—the transition from capitalism to socialism throughout the world.

p The Great October Socialist Revolution owes its character and consequences to the gigantic creative and innovative work of the CPSU, of the Russian proletariat, and the Soviet people, who, overcoming the incredible difficulties facing pioneers and trail-blazers in refashioning society along socialist lines, are laying the road that leads to the triumph of socialism all over the world. The chief result of the revolution is the erection in the USSR of the world’s first developed socialist society and the transition to the building of communism. This is a triumph for the October Revolution and our common international heritage and pride. This triumph finds magnificent embodiment in the new Soviet Constitution, which formalises the principles and practical achievements of Marxism-Leninism and outlines the prospects for the building of a new world and for co-operation among peoples and states in the name of the greatest of all blessings-peace and happiness for all.

p “Each people that is fighting for freedom, national independence, social progress, and peace makes its contribution to the revolutionary cause,” Comrade Todor Zhivkov. First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, and Chairman of the State Council of the PRB, stressed at the jubilee meeting in Moscow. "But there has never been, nor is there now, any other party of this kind, any other state or people that have done so much for mankind, for peace and progress, in the name of our common communist future, as the CPSU, the USSR, and the Soviet people.”

p One of the most salient features of the major historical changes wrought by the October Revolution is the fusion of the world revolutionary movement with Marxism-Leninism and the practical activity of the Communist parties. The triumph of the revolution opened up the possibility of turning the ideas of scientific socialism into an existing socialist society. We are justified in saying, therefore, 74 that the October Revolution will be the victorious banner not only of the twentieth, but also of the twenty-first century, the century of worldwide victories for the great communist ideals. This is borne out by world developments. The facts show ever more vividly that, historically, capitalism has played itself out. Our time is marked by an unprecedented overall upsurge of revolutionary forces and by the realisation of the masses that it is historically necessary to replace capitalism with socialism.

p We fully agree with the conclusion that in our time, when the revolutionary process has spread throughout the world, Marxist-Leninist theory and its creative application have assumed greater importance than ever in revolutionary struggle and in the building of socialism with account taken of the specific conditions of every country. This is due in the first place to the extension of its sphere of application, and to the involvement of ever new contingents, currents and trends in the world revolutionary process. The role of theory grows also in connection with tasks arising in the course of the development of world socialism, the shaping of relations between socialist countries, the emergence of new problems in the development of existing socialism, the appearance of new possibilities for radical socio-political transformations in developed capitalist countries, and the new situation in the national liberation movement.

p Therefore, creative understanding of the complex and rich content of the dialectical connection between the general laws of society’s revolutionary development and the constantly growing diversity of the ways, forms, and methods of their practical operation is an essential aspect of the theoretical and political study of the main lessons of the 60 years’ experience of the October Revolution.

p Undoubtedly, this has been and remains a key problem of the communist and working-class movement. Its correct, Leninist solution gives parties a powerful weapon in their struggle to accomplish socialist revolutions in their 75 countries. Any deviation from this solution is fraught with grave consequences for the parties and leaders that renounce the Leninist principles on this issue, just as any juggling with them unavoidably leads to the morass of opportunism and revisionism.

p The experience of the Great October Revolution shows that the main key to the solution of this problem is strict observance of the fundamental Marxist-Leninist principle that no matter where, a socialist revolution and construction of the new society constitute an objectively conditioned process developing according to principles and laws of universal character and relevant for all countries.

p We refer here not to some far-fetched plan, but to the essence of socialist revolution, which remains the same no matter where or by what means (peaceful or non-peaceful) this revolution is accomplished. Specifically, this applies to the following universally valid principles: 

p — the leading role of the working class headed by a Marxist-Leninist party in carrying out socialist revolution; 

p — seizure of political power by the working class in alliance with other strata of working people, and the establishment of one form or another of the dictatorship of the proletariat; 

p — social ownership of the means of production, abolition of the exploitation of man by man, and creation of a new, non-antagonistic socio-class structure of society; 

p — planned guidance of economic and social processes in the interests of the working people; 

p — a cultural revolution and domination of the MarxistLeninist ideology; 

p — defence of the gains of the revolution against attacks of the class enemy; 

p — adherence to the principles of proletarian internationalism.

p In other words, a socialist revolution implies the destruction of the military-bureaucratic machinery of the exploiting class and the establishment of a new system of 76 state power expressing the essence of the new society. It involves a radical change in all social relations, a qualitative turn from the exploitative socio-economic formation to the communist formation. One can reckon with these laws or ignore them. But the point is that these laws are not the result of a subjective decision, of free choice, and those who refuse to reckon with them depart from the socialist revolution or speak of a revolution that is in no way socialist.

p At the same time, it is an axiom of Marxist-Leninist theory, confirmed by the revolutionary practice of many years of proletarian battles, victories, and defeats, that the way to socialism and to its construction cannot be absolutely the same for all peoples, countries, and times. The ways, means, methods, and concrete forms of advance towards the ultimate aim common to all workers are and will always be influenced, to some extent, by national tradition and culture, and the peculiarities of the historical conditions and of the time in which the revolutionary process takes place. The specific national and international conditions in which socialist revolutions and socialist construction are being and will be carried out in individual countries leave and will always leave their imprint not only on the form, but also on the content of the revolutionary process and of the refashioning of society. They play and will continue to play an important role in determining the tempo, duration, and stages of development of the socialist revolution and socialist construction, and the ways and means of carrying them out. This is due to the uneven development of countries and to the fact that social laws never exist and manifest themselves other than in individual countries, in individual socio-historical phenomena and processes, and in concrete socio-historical conditions.

p Lenin said in this connection: "Fundamental revolutionary principles must be adapted to the specific conditions in the various countries. The revolution in Italy will run a different course from that in Russia. It will start in a 77 different way.. . . We never wanted Serrati in Italy to copy the Russian revolution. That would have been stupid.”  [77•* 

p Therefore, the position of the right and left opportunists, who claim today that they were the first to discover the long-proved thesis concerning the many different forms and ways of accomplishing the transition to socialism, is absolutely untenable. The Great October Revolution and existing socialism are particularly vivid proof of this. The experience of the October Revolution and the existing socialist countries shows that the Marxist-Leninist parties derive their strength from observing the universally valid laws in the specific conditions of each country and in a specific situation, rather than in copying someone else’s experience and following standard formulas. It is here that a party’s political maturity and ideological creativity are tested.

p To be sure, when speaking of the dialectical unity of the general and the particular one should bear in mind Lenin’s proposition that the determining role belongs to the general, the law-governed, for it is the essence of the particular and the individual. Therefore, any attempt to tackle questions from other positions than those of general Marxist-Leninist laws and principles leads to loss of class positions and aims, to departure from the proletarian class struggle. Therefore, irrespective of the conditions and circumstances in which socialist revolution is being accomplished, to be genuinely socialist it must conform to the objective laws of this revolution. Peculiarities and specific conditions cannot change the essence of the socialist revolution.

p This Marxist-Leninist postulate helps find the only correct answer to the much-discussed question of different "national roads and models" of socialist revolution and socialist society, of the peaceful and non-peaceful ways of revolutionary struggle.

p In any particular instance the terms "national road" or "national programme”, like peaceful and armed ways of struggle, serve to denote concrete strategy and tactics in carrying out a socialist revolution and building a socialist society in a given country. It is necessary to proceed from the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and the general laws of socialist revolution and socialist construction discovered by it, solving the principal questions of revolutionary struggle and socialist construction to suit the concrete conditions in every country. As a result, while possessing a wide diversity of specific features which will impart a concrete national colour to them, the programmes of Communist parties do not change the essence of socialist revolution. That would be the only correct, MarxistLeninist understanding of the differences between " national roads or models" of socialist revolution and socialist construction.

p This is not accidental. Any "national model”, based on the Marxist-Leninist view of the general and the particular, must answer the following questions:

p - how will the socialist revolution be accomplished in specific conditions? What system of state power will be set up?

p - what class forces will accomplish the aims and tasks of the revolution?

p - what role is assigned to different classes in the revolution?

p - through what stages will the revolution pass, and what tasks will be accomplished at the different stages?

p - what will be the advantages and nature of the new system?

p These are legitimate questions. The founders of MarxismLeninism pointed out time and again that differences between the peaceful and non-peaceful roads to socialism are not differences between evolution and revolution, but merely differences between two forms of revolution.

p If a given “model” does not give the answer to these 79 questions, it becomes an abstract plan leading to selfdeception; it diverts the masses in capitalist countries from the struggle for socialism, leads them to believe that there is a special, non-revolutionary road to socialism.

p From this viewpoint a purely "national model" of socialist revolution and socialist construction cannot exist. For if models differ fundamentally from one another in their essence and have no common basic features, how can they be called models of socialism? They can be models of anything but a socialist revolution reposing on strict observance of general laws and the demands of specific conditions.

p In this connection Comrade Leonid Brezhnev rightly stressed in his report at the meeting on the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution that the practice of world socialism has been extended and enriched, and that it would produce an even greater diversity of specific forms of socialist construction. "However, life provides confirmation that the general fundamental and inalienable features of socialist revolution and socialist construction continue to apply and retain their force....”  [79•* 

p “Whatever routes are chosen, the ultimate mission of the Communists is to lead the masses to the principal goal, to socialism.”  [79•** 

p Comrades, the Marxist-Leninist teaching on the dialectics of the general, particular, and concrete in socialist revolution and socialist construction provides the key to a correct understanding of one more fundamental question, that of the universal model of carrying out a socialist revolution and socialist construction.

p The question of the universal model is one of the main questions of principle which is of tremendous methodological importance both for Marxist-Leninist theory and for revolutionary practice. It is not a new question. It was 80 posed by Marx and Engels, and constituted the main guiding principle of all their theoretical and practical activity. They proved that under certain circumstances, due to the uneven development of the world historical process, one particular social revolution and one particular society can perform, and is bound to perform, the role of universal model for other social revolutions and societies.

p As applied to a socialist revolution and socialist society this approach signifies that the first victorious socialist revolution can serve, and inevitably does serve, as the universal model for other socialist revolutions, just as the first socialist society can serve, and inevitably does serve, as the universal model for future socialist societies.

p What is meant here is not, of course, a mechanical copying of the experience of any one particular country with its own specific national character, but those essential features which stem from the general laws of socialist revolution and socialist construction, which have manifested themselves or have been realised in countries where a socialist revolution has been accomplished.

p Herein lies the world historic significance of the experience of the Great October Revolution and existing socialism, which represent an organic unity of the general, the particular, and the concrete in the development of the new social system. The October Revolution was the first to open the way for the operation of universal laws and demonstrated in practice their demands, which no socialist revolution can ignore. In this connection, objecting to an attempt to present the October Revolution as a purely Russian phenomenon, Lenin wrote: "All the primary features of our revolution, and many of its secondary features, are of international significance in the meaning of its effect on all countries. .. . The Russian model... reveals to all countries something-and something highly significant-of their near and inevitable future.”  [80•* 

p The history of the post-October socialist revolutions and the building of socialism in many countries shows beyond any doubt that the October Revolution is truly the prototype, a kind of giant "experimental laboratory" for all the revolutions of the twentieth century, for all the class battles of the proletariat and other strata of working people that make up the content of the transition from capitalism to socialism throughout the world.

p That is why it is no coincidence that despite the diversity of methods and forms they use to misrepresent the ideas of the October Revolution, bourgeois ideologists and the revisionists have one feature in common: their desire to localise the experience and lessons of the October Revolution, to belittle their importance, and overemphasise Russia’s real and imaginary specific features. Following a tradition established in bourgeois literature, the “experts” in anti-communism are trying even today to present the October Revolution as the result of a combination of “accidental” circumstances in Russia, as a "purely Russian phenomenon”, as a socialist revolution in an underdeveloped country, and to prove the "limited relevance" of its experience, and the inapplicability of Leninism to the economically developed countries of the West. Today, our class adversaries rely heavily on various “geopolitical” concepts, and on attempts at “deleting” the Leninist stage in the development of Marxism from the history of socialist thought and the experience of the October Revolution, the CPSU, and the other fraternal parties in carrying out socialist revolutions and building a new society from the history of the international working-class movement.

p This purpose has been served by numerous “projects”, “studies”, and “models” of socialism over the past thirty years, beginning with the now discredited ideas of " national socialism”, "democratic socialism”, and "socialism with a human face”, and ending with the latest model-" Eurocommunism”. All these theories are being sedulously 82 propagated. The only thing the bourgeois ideologists and opportunists of all hues do not recommend and stubbornly fight against is the experience of the October Revolution and the existing socialism.

p That is why we must be united. Unjustified faultfinding and disassociation from existing socialism is not just a theoretical problem or a problem of relations between Communist parties. It is most directly bound up with the preservation of the gains of the October Revolution, with defence of existing socialism and the interests of the working class in every country, with detente, with the prospects for preventing war, and with the consolidation of peace and social progress.

p Therefore today, when our revolutionary doctrine has triumphed in theory and in practice, when the October Revolution and existing socialism have proved the objective character of the laws discovered by Marxism-Leninism, it is our common class duty to consolidate our internationalist unity and cherish our most precious possession-the ideas and cause of the Great October Revolution; to steadfastly defend existing socialism as the main conquest of the international working class in the struggle against capital, as the main bulwark of the advance towards the ultimate aims of the workers’ movement; to fight consistently and to the end against anti-Sovietism, this concentrated expression and most malignant form of modern anticommunism, and for the complete triumph of MarxismLeninism.

p Comrades, the world historic significance of the experience of the October Revolution and the vitality of the Marxist-Leninist theory of the general and the particular in socialist revolution and socialist construction have also been fully borne out by the history of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Our Party has always made clear that the deep-going revolutionary transformations in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria would have been inconceivable without the creative application of universal laws, Leninist 83 principles, and the rich experience of the CPSU. In this connection Comrade Todor Zhivkov again declared at the jubilee meeting in Moscow on the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution that "the road of our Bulgarian victories has been the road of the Leninisation of the Bulgarian Communist Party. And we were able to accomplish a socialist revolution in our land and in 33 years radically change Bulgaria only because Leninism and the example of the October Revolution have always been the banner of the Bulgarian Communists and the Bulgarian people”. That was our position of principle during the preparation and accomplishment of the socialist revolution in Bulgaria on 9 September 1944.

p The 9 September revolution in Bulgaria is known to have been a people’s democratic revolution in form, but as far as its essence and content is concerned, it was a socialist revolution from the outset. This means that the revolution in Bulgaria is a continuation of the October Revolution, a repetition of its main and basic features, a manifestation and a part of the great worldwide revolutionary transition from capitalism to socialism, and, at the same time, a specific form of revolutionary struggle determined by the socio-economic, military, and political conditions in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War due to the victorious offensive of the Soviet Army against Hitler Germany.

p Proceeding from Soviet experience and the general laws of socialist construction, the BCP produced a number of guidelines and decisions characteristic for the building of socialism in our country, which we regard as our contribution to the development and enrichment of MarxismLeninism and the practice of socialist construction. For example, on the basis of the Leninist teaching on the state, our Party characterised people’s democracy as a new suitable form of proletarian dictatorship that corresponds to the national conditions and traditions of our country and its internationalist obligations. Thus, the BCP put into 84 effect Lenin’s prevision concerning the diversity of state forms of proletarian dictatorship. Our experience in applying Lenin’s co-operative plan also has distinctive Bulgarian features. The BCP introduced co-operative agricultural farms as socialist enterprises and a new form of socialist reconstruction ot agriculture without nationalisation of land. Our Party can also be credited with its original elaboration of questions connected with the establishment, consolidation, and development of the Patriotic Front in socialist conditions. In keeping with the Marxist-Leninist teaching on allies of the working class and with the traditions of our historical development, the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union was preserved as the second ruling party in the political structure of our society. It accepts the Programme of the BCP, recognises our Party’s leading role in society, and acts as its loyal ally.

p Of exceptional importance for the all-round improvement of the theoretical and practical activity of the BCP in creatively applying the experience of the CPSU and the Great October Revolution, and the main laws of social development discovered by it, was the historic April (1956) Plenary Meeting of the BCP Central Committee, which set the stage for building developed socialist society in Bulgaria.

p The programme of building developed socialism adopted by the Party at its 10th Congress crowns years of hard work by the BCP Central Committee headed by Comrade Todor Zhivkov, by all Bulgarian Communists to find optimal forms and methods of combining the international with the national, the general with the particular, and theory with practice. In elaborating this programme we based ourselves on the laws inherent in the building of developed socialism which originally were developed and applied in the USSR, namely: 

p — ensuring a high level of development of the productive forces through the use of the latest achievements of the scientific and technological revolution; 

p — gradual development of the economic basis by enhancing socialist property in its two principal forms (state and co-operative) and their gradual drawing together and mutual enrichment; 

p — constant improvement of the wellbeing of the working people, which is the principal aim of the socialist national economy; 

p — strict observance and improvement of the socialist principle of distribution according to work as the main form of distribution; 

p — progressive modification of the social structure by enhancing the leading role of the working class, strengthening its alliance with other strata of the population, consolidating the unity of the entire society, and increasing its social homogeneity; 

p — growth of the state of proletarian dictatorship into a socialist state of the whole people; deepening and securing the all-round development of socialist democracy; 

p — further enhancement of the educational and cultural level of the people, of their political awareness and ideological maturity; the moulding of a scientific, MarxistLeninist world outlook of the working people; 

p — promotion of all-round co-operation with the fraternal socialist countries; 

p — heightening the leading role of the Communist and Workers’ parties in all areas of society’s life as the main condition for the triumph of socialism and communism.

p The experience of the CPSU and our own experience show that mature socialism is an indispensable stage in the development of the socialist phase of the communist formation. It is a necessary stage before embarking on the building of communism.

p It is on the basis of these principles that the BCP now pursues the policy of building developed socialism in Bulgaria. Among the important elements of this policy we list the organic fusion of the advantages of socialism with the latest results of the scientific and technological 86 revolution; further improvement of social production and the raising of its efficiency; transition to higher forms of social organisation of production such as economic associations and combines and agro-industrial and industrial-agrarian complexes; introduction of profit-and-loss accounting not only in individual organisations, but in all economic ministries; development and improvement of forms of socialist property and the creation of conditions for the formation of common socialist property; development of the socialist way of life, and the like. On the basis of this programme we are constantly perfecting our political system, which ensures the development of socialist democracy and enables us to combine state and public forms of management ever more closely, to introduce the social and state principle of management, to draw millions of working people into active administration of the affairs of society.

p As a result of the consistent implementation of the line of building developed socialist society as given in the decisions of the llth Congress of the BCP, the People’s Republic of Bulgaria will make the next major step forward in laying the material and technical foundations of mature socialism, in further improving social relations, promoting the all-round development of the individual, and paving the way to gradual transition to communism.

p The Party’s general line of building socialism and communism includes, as its basic element, fraternal friendship and co-operation with the great Party of Lenin and the Soviet Union. This friendship and co-operation have become a vital concern, the destiny of the entire Bulgarian people, and, at the same time, a great material force in our socialist advance. Today, this friendship has risen to a new, higher stage, a stage in which there is even closer co-operation and drawing together at all levels between our two countries and peoples. Our experience has shown that the course towards drawing the socialist countries closer together with the USSR is governed by objective laws and is a decisive factor in each country’s development and advance 87 to communism. This policy of drawing closer to the Soviet Union in all areas and of bilateral and multilateral cooperation with other socialist countries reflects the objective tendency towards the internationalisation of the whole of the economic, political, and spiritual life of the peoples and bears out Lenin’s brilliant prediction "of a single world economy, regulated by the proletariat of all nations as an integral whole and according to a common plan”.  [87•* 

p This line, further developed during the visit of our Party and government delegation headed by Comrade Todor Zhivkov to the Soviet Union at the end of May and the beginning of June 1977, accords with the vital interests of our two countries and of the entire socialist community. It is our common striving to make the relations between the People’s Republic of Bulgaria and the Soviet Union now and in future a model of relations between two socialist states, an example of socialist internationalism in action.

We have always regarded the theoretical guidelines and decisions of the Bulgarian Communist Party, their practical realisation in building socialism, as our Party’s distinctive creative approach to the national and other specific features of objective conditions and as a further development and enrichment of the experience and cause of the Great October Socialist Revolution. That is why the path traversed by the People’s Republic of Bulgaria since 9 September 1944 is one more great triumph for the October Revolution and for the ideas of Leninism in Bulgaria.