FOR SOCIALISM, FOR COMMUNISM

Communism brings man Peace, Labour, Freedom. Equality, Fraternity and Happiness.

Society of Peace

Capitalism brings man war. The imperialists plunged the world into the abyss of a world war twice in the course of only the first half of the present century. Mankind has had to pay a terrible price for the reckless policy of the imperialists: millions of people killed by bullets, hunger and epidemics, millions crippled, and tens of thousands of towns and villages reduced to ashes. Today the sinister forces of imperialist reaction are preparing a thermonuclear war, which, if it breaks out, will bring mankind incalculable suffering and misery.

In contrast to capitalism, which has made war the principal vehicle of its foreign policy, socialism has ushered in a new era in the relations between nations and states, an era of mutual trust and respect, territorial integrity, economic and political independence and non-interference in the internal affairs of countries. It is putting an end to the senseless loss of human lives and material values in unjust, predatory wars.

Socialism has become the material and political force curbing the imperialists in their attempts to start another world war. When communism is established throughout the world there will be eternal peace and all people will be delivered from fear for their future.

Society of Labour

Capitalism has deprived man of the joy of creative labour, having turned labour into an onerous duty and a means of subsistence. Fear of hunger forces the worker to sweat for the capitalist, to exhaust his physical and spiritual strength. Having turned the worker into an obedient accessory to the machine, capitalism consumes his brain and drains his physical energy. Moreover, it frequently deprives the working man of the very possibility of working—witness the many millions of unemployed in the capitalist world.

Socialism gives the working people the right to work, to engage in creative endeavour in any sphere of human activity. Having put an end to exploitation, the people of socialist society work not for the landowner or capitalist but for themselves and their society. As a result, a thoroughgoing change is taking place in the very nature of labour and in people’s attitude to work. Under communism, labour, founded on the latest achievements of science and technology, will be really free and creative. It will become man’s main inner need and will serve as the basis of his all-round harmonious development.

Society of Freedom

In contrast to the capitalist system, which belittles labour and the toiler, communist society elevates them. Bourgeois ideologists wax eloquent on the subject of the freedom of capitalist society, their argument being that in that society there is free enterprise and the freedom to trade. Some people (employers) own factories and trade in commodities manufactured by workers, and others (workers) have nothing save their ability to work. However, neither the employer nor the worker knows what fate has in store for the commodities or muscle power, whether there will be a demand for them, whether the former will be ruined because there will be no demand for his commodities and the latter will find himself out of work because there will be no demand for his muscles. Thus, the freedom to enter the market is thus illusory because both the employer and the worker are ruled by blind necessity, by the laws of anarchy and competition, which predominate in the society of free enterprise. In that society neither demand nor supply can be planned beforehand, and hence the lack of the freedom of choice by man, who is completely dependent upon chance. Capitalism is thus a realm of blind necessity and chance.

Socialism, on the other hand, makes it really possible to control historical necessity and bring real freedom to the toiler. The socialist revolution establishes public ownership and removes class antagonisms. This eradicates the chaotic nature of the market, and people get the opportunity of consciously directing the country’s economic, political and cultural development. With the triumph of socialism society accomplishes a gigantic leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom, and further progress makes this freedom broader and more diversified. Man steadily increases his control over the forces of nature and over social processes, and learns to combine his personal interests and aspirations with lofty social ideals, doing this voluntarily and consciously.

Capitalism is the enemy of democratic freedoms. Bourgeois democracy is designed only for the chosen minority, for the bourgeoisie. This is particularly true of imperialism, which displays a clear-cut trend to repeal the already curtailed bourgeois democracy and go over to outright reaction. Imperialism was the soil that bred German nazism and Japanese militarism, which caused the world so much suffering, and today it is proving to be fertile for the poisonous weeds of fascism in the U.S.A. and some other countries, thus demonstrating the worth of capitalist freedom and democracy. This freedom is only a screen for the omnipotence of the moneybags and the denial of rights to the working people. The aim of bourgeois freedom and democracy is to perpetuate the capitalist system with its private ownership and exploitation.

While imperialism is an enemy of freedom, communist society removes all the fetters from freedom. Liberated from the yoke of capitalist exploitation and division of labour, the citizen of communist society works freely and creatively in accordance with his interests and capabilities and participates actively in the administration of social affairs, thus furthering society’s economic and cultural development.

Society of Equality

Capitalism brings inequality, primarily, profound economic inequality under which without expending any labour a small section of society possesses enormous wealth, wallows in luxury and spends fabulous riches to satisfy its needs, many of which are perverted, while the majority, i.e., the section that works and creates the world’s values by its labour, is sometimes unable to satisfy the most elementary needs and is forced to live in poverty and ignorance. Capitalism has created immense material and spiritual values but it is unable to distribute them justly, to utilise them for the benefit of all the people. Those who own the means of production have concentrated political power in their own hands. They sit in governments, decide the destiny of millions of ordinary people and pass laws. In addition to keeping the state machine in their hands they control the means of influencing people—the press, radio, television, literature and art—using these means to maintain their economic and political power and consolidate economic and social inequality. The majority in capitalist society are virtually denied political rights and have no possibility of expressing their will let alone determining and influencing internal and foreign policy.

Communism, on the other hand, establishes complete economic and social equality for all people. Every citizen will work according to his ability and receive material and spiritual benefits according to his needs. He will have every opportunity to study and master science and culture. He will not only enjoy but will also create spiritual values and improve physically. There will be no classes in communist society, and there will be no distinction between mental and physical labour. The state will be replaced by public self-administration, and each person will have equal possibilities to direct social affairs, to direct society’s economic and cultural development.

All nations urgently desire the abolition of inequality and the establishment of complete equality for all people in the world.

Society of Fraternity

Capitalism rejects fraternity among people and nations. It cannot do otherwise because private ownership disunites people, making them enemies and rivals in the struggle for profits, which are the holy of holies of the capitalist. In his drive for profits the capitalist flouts all the standards of human morality, being absolutely indifferent to the fate of the people around him, of his country or of society generally. He holds his mercenary interests above all else. Extreme individualism is the basis of bourgeois morals. The relations among people in capitalist society, which has not only preserved but also deepened the division of society into hostile classes, is governed by the principle of “man is to man a wolf".

In chasing profits capitalism enslaves not only the people of its own country but also the peoples of other countries. The history of capitalism is one of colonial oppression of the majority of mankind. Until recently dozens of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America bore the heavy burden of colonialism, and to this very day many millions of people are ruled by the colonialists. Imperialism was the soil that gave rise to reactionary racist doctrines maintaining the superiority of some nations over others and serving as the theoretical grounds for aggression and colonialism.

Communism establishes fundamentally new and truly human relations among working people. These are relations of genuine fraternity, collectivism and comradely mutual assistance. In communist society man is not an enemy of man but a friend, comrade and brother. These relations are founded on the principle of “one for all and all for one”. This is only natural because communist society is founded on public ownership, which unites working people, and ensures their unity and harmony in the decision of all problems of social life.

The lofty humanism of communist society manifests itself not only in fraternal relations between people but also in fraternal solidarity of the working people of all countries, in respect for the peoples of all states, big and small. Communism has nothing in common with nationalism, with the ideology of national exclusiveness and hostility among nations. It does not tolerate national or racial hostility, or disunity among the working people.

Society of Happiness

Capitalism is unable to ensure real happiness for all members of society. True, the proprietor, the exploiter is happy in his own way, but this is an unstable happiness because the transient society to which he belongs is unstable. Besides, this happiness is built on the misfortune of the working majority, and it is therefore misanthropic. Man cannot be happy in a society that has no future, in a society where he is dogged by setbacks and has to depend upon the twists and turns of fate, where harrowing fear of the future is his constant companion in life. Man cannot be happy in a society which does not ensure all its members with material security, a society where forced labour is predominant and the majority of the people cannot enjoy the benefits of material and spiritual culture, develop their abilities and worthily apply these abilities to further their own and society’s welfare.

Man cannot be happy when he is not sure of his future. In capitalist society man does not have a bright window on the future if he does not participate in the revolutionary struggle. Life in capitalist society, the English author James Aldridge noted, “is rather dulled like a blunt knife, dulled like a worn stone, or dulled like a man who is not sure where he is or where he is going".

In socialist and communist society man knows exactly where he is and where he is going, and this is his greatest joy. Under communism man is happy because he, his interests and needs and his all-round development and improvement are the only concern of society. Man derives his greatest happiness from having the possibility and need to work for himself and others; from making the largest possible contribution to the treasure-store of world culture; from the possibility of setting himself a lofty goal and achieving it; from confidence in a future that is free from material poverty; from the possibility to improve his physical and spiritual capabilities and feel healthy and happy and the master of nature and his own powers.

Capitalism denies the working people genuine human happiness. This happiness is achieved only under communism.

Communism meets the most cherished interests and desires of the people and, as the most humane social system, it is winning the minds and hearts of millions upon millions of people in all countries.

This is its strength and the key factor of its triumph throughout the world.

THE THEORY OF SCIENTIFIC COMMUNISM