Experts' remarks at the Symposium on the October Revolution and Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 10, 2017
Clarify history and holding a firm conviction
By Yan Zhimin, Professor of the School of Marxism, Peking University
To better adhere to and further develop the path of socialism blazed by the October Revolution, it's necessary to clarify history and oppose historical nihilism.
The October Revolution was in conformity with the laws governing the development of history, rather than being the so-called "premature infant" beyond the historical stage. Historical nihilism denies the historical inevitability of the revolution, and claims it was a "premature infant" that could not survive due to the absence of "objective economic preconditions." Vladimir Lenin then dismissed this metaphysical notion of historical development, and the successful practice of socialism in countries like China over the past century proves that economically- and culturally-backward countries can win a revolutionary victory in advance of any supposed conditions, which accords with the law of world historical development. The October Revolution in Russia conforms to the historical trend rather than being a historical misunderstanding.
The October Revolution is a great people's revolution, rather than a so-called "coup" launched by the few. Historical nihilism distorts its character by insisting it was a "coup" engineered by a few, and a man-made "disaster." The truth is that the provisional government emerging after the February Revolution persisted in continuing Russian involvement in the world war and rejected people's requirements for peace, land to till and bread. The national economy was on the brink of collapse and social contradictions were extremely acute. With nowhere to go, and disasters looming ahead, the people chose Bolshevism and revolution. It manifests that the October Revolution was a people's uprising that saved Russia from a crisis and predicament.
The October Revolution enabled Russia to usher in a new path of modernization, rather than representing a deviation from the civilized road of humanity. Historical nihilism sought to obliterate the historical role of the revolution by claiming that it halted Russia's modernizing course and caused Russia to break away from a civilized development road of humanity. It should be pointed out that it was the Tsarist Government's involvement in the world war that halted Russia's modernization drive. The October Revolution relaunched the modernization drive, blazed new trails and made the Soviet Union's industrial and agricultural output to move from a rank of fifth in the world and fourth in Europe to become a world power second only to the United States. This feat is indelibly registered in the annals of world development.
The Soviet Union collapsed because it departed from the path created by the October Revolution and it is not that the revolution led to the dissolution. Historical nihilism denies the October Revolution by falsely claiming it was the source of the eventual collapse. Multiple causes combined to lead to the final dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the key one was that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union deviated from the socialist path blazed by the October Revolution, declared abolition of Communist Party leadership, denied the guiding role of Marxism-Leninism, and made people of all ethnic groups in Soviet Union lose their strong leading core and the ideological foundation of unity. Thus, it's fair to say the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the outcome of deviating from the October Revolution.
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