Vol. 8, Issue : 10 & 11
Nov 2016
The Significance of Great October Revolution
The October Revolution cannot be simply
another revolution. It is a revolution that signifies a
radical turn in the world history of mankind, a turn
from the old, capitalist world to the new, socialist
world.
Revolutions in the past usually ended by one
group of exploiters at the helm of government being
replaced by another group of exploiters. The
exploiters changed, exploitation remained, except
the Paris Commune, which was the first glorious,
heroic, yet unsuccessful attempt on the part of the
proletariat to turn history against capitalism.
The October Revolution differs from these
revolutions. Its aim is not to replace one form of
exploitation by another form of exploitation, one
group of exploiters by another group of exploiters,
but to abolish all exploitation of man by man, to
abolish all groups of exploiters, to establish the
dictatorship of the proletariat, to establish the power
of the most revolutionary class of all the oppressed
classes that have ever existed, to organise a new,
classless, socialist society.
“It is precisely for this reason”, as Com. Stalin
once observed, “that the victory of the October
Revolution signifies a radical change in the history
of mankind, a radical change in the historical destiny
of world capitalism, a radical change in the liberation
movement of the world proletariat, a radical change
in the methods of struggle and the forms of
organisation, in the manner of life and traditions, in
the culture and ideology of the exploited masses
throughout the world”.
It took the instruments and means of
production from the landlords and capitalists and
converted them into p ublic property, thus
counterposing socialist property to bourgeois
property. It wrested power from the bourgeoisie,
dep rived the b ourgeoisie of political rights,
destroyed the bourgeois state apparatus and
transferred power to the Soviets, thus counterposing the socialist rule of the Soviets, as proletarian
democracy,
The October Revolution is not confined to
national boundaries of Russia. It is a revolution of
an international character. It influenced the
development of the revolutionary movement
throughout the world. October Revolution has
created a powerful and open centre of the world
revolutionary movement that can organise a united 2
revolutionary front of the proletarians and of the
opp ressed peoples of all countries against
imperialism.
The October Revolution breached the front of
world imperialism, for having overthrown the
imperialist bourgeoisie in one of the biggest capitalist
countries and put the socialist proletariat in power.
The working class has for the first time in the history
of mankind risen to a position of the ruling class.
This means that the October Revolution has
ushered in a new era, the era of proletarian
revolutions in the countries of imperialism.
The October Revolution has shaken imperialism
not only in the centres of its domination, not only in
the “metropolises.” It has also struck at the rear of
imperialism, its periphery, having undermined the
rule of imperialism in the colonial and dependent
countries.
Having overthrown the landlords and the
capitalists, the October Revolution broke the chains
of national and colonial oppression and freed from
it, without exception, all the oppressed peoples of a
vast state. The proletariat cannot emancipate itself
Organ of the Central Committee of CPI(ML)
contd on page 2