On 7 November 1917 in Petrograd, the revolution triumphed. The Second Congress of Soviets proclaimed the socialist nature of the revolution, and adopted the Decree on Land and the Decree on Peace.
The importance of the Great October Revolution in the history of humanity is immense. It marked a radical shift from the old capitalist world to the new socialist world. The October Revolution differs principally from all previous revolutions. Its aim was not to replace one form of exploitation with another, one group of exploiters with another, but the destruction of all exploitation of man by man, the abolition of all groups of exploiters, the establishment of the power of the most revolutionary class of all the oppressed classes existing until then, along with the organisation of the new socialist-communist society and the abolition of classes. From its very first steps, the Soviet power realised the necessity and put flesh on the socialist content of the slogans with which the Bolsheviks raised the people for the Revolution: ‘Peace to the peoples’, ‘All power to the Soviets’, ‘Land to the peasants’, ‘Factories to the workers’, ‘The 8-hour day for all’.
The October Socialist Revolution demonstrated that the proletariat could lead the new society against and without the capitalists. Nothing will ever be the same again. October 1917 ushered in the era of the world proletarian Revolution and was the inspiration for the Communist International, which contributed to the foundation and strengthening of the communist parties in every country. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has solved many exceptionally important and fundamental problems that the capitalist countries cannot solve. Unemployment disappeared in 1930. It safeguarded the right to work, free healthcare, education, culture and sports. These successes and social conquests are the consequence of the material and political foundations under socialism, of the socialised economy, central planning and workers’ control, and the essential prerequisite for these successes and conquests is the socialist revolution and the power of the proletariat. As a result, for the first time in human history, the products of labour belonged to all members of society. The capitalist appropriation of the social production was abolished and workers became masters of their own destiny.
These are the main reasons why the USSR, with the working class at the forefront, the people, its Red Army and its socialist economic base, saved humanity by playing a primordial and decisive role in the crushing of fascism.
Today, inter-imperialist contradictions are sharpening, with the imperialist war in Ukraine between NATO and capitalist Russia as well as the one in the Middle East with the genocide of the Palestinian people by the occupying state of Israel and its imperialist interventions in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen again raising the danger of a generalised war. Reality shows us that capitalism is outdated and can only offer wars, exploitation, poverty, environmental degradation, economic crises and refugees.
The example of the October Revolution is a source of inspiration for the new generations of communists all over Europe, who are fighting in very difficult conditions against the bourgeoisie, the bourgeois states and the inter-state capitalist unions, such as the European Union or their armed wing NATO, etc. We call on the people and the youth to reflect more deeply on the causes, the reality and the truth about the counter-revolution, the dissolution of the USSR and the overthrow of socialism. The study of this experience shows that it was the violation, not the application, of the principles of building socialism that led to the counter-revolution. This truth pulverises the propaganda of the bourgeoisie, the EU, the capitalist governments and their apparatuses, the falsification of history, and the unhistorical identification of communism with fascism. We are indeed living in the era of the socialist revolutions ushered in by the Great October. The course of history cannot be reversed, our era continues to be the era of transition from capitalism to socialism. Therefore, the communists of the European Communist Action reasonably claim: It is impossible to kill the people’s dream of a life of freedom and justice. The Bolsheviks showed the whole world how to make this dream a reality. The struggle continues, with the Communist Parties at the vanguard to fulfil their revolutionary mission so that the working class in every country throws off the shackles of exploitation, overthrows the barbarous capitalist system and builds the new world, socialism–communism.
