Fight for the Pacific - The influence of the Great October Socialist Revolution on the international situation

Fight for the Pacific 

Avarin 

1. The influence of the Great October Socialist Revolution on the international situation

The World War entered its fourth year, when a great upheaval took place in Russia, opening a new era in the history of mankind. In the flames of the October Revolution, a socialist power was born, showing the right path for humanity.

The revolution in Russia was not an accidental phenomenon, "...imperialism brings the contradictions of capitalism to the last line, to the extreme limits beyond which the revolution begins" (1) . The revolution was a historical pattern. A number of very important factors contributed to its victorious completion. Among them, the most important was the fact that the workers of Russia created their own militant political party, the Bolshevik Party, and put forward leaders of genius, Lenin and Stalin, at the head of the revolutionary movement.

The Great October Revolution and the creation of the Soviet socialist state had a decisive influence on the entire subsequent history of mankind. The transformation of Russia into a stronghold of the democratic forces of the world, into a country of socialism, also had an enormous influence on the political position and policy of the capitalist powers both in the Old and New Worlds. The contradictions between the imperialist countries, in particular between the USA and Britain, have turned into internal contradictions of the capitalist system. In addition to intra-capitalist contradictions, a new irreconcilable contradiction has appeared—between the capitalist world and the country of socialism.

In his work dedicated to the tenth anniversary of October, Comrade Stalin described the international significance of the October Revolution, “.... The victory of the October Revolution,” Comrade Stalin points out, “means a radical change in the history of mankind, a radical change in the historical destinies of world capitalism, a radical change in the liberation movement of the world proletariat, a radical change in the methods of struggle and forms of organization, in everyday life and traditions, in the culture and ideology of the exploited masses of the whole world” (2) .

The great proletarian revolution carried out by the working class of Russia under the leadership of the party of Lenin-Stalin marked the beginning of a new era - the era of socialism, "... we," Lenin wrote, "have the right to be proud and we are proud that it fell to our lot to start building the Soviet state, to begin a new era in world history, an era of domination by a new class, oppressed in all capitalist countries and marching everywhere towards a new life, towards victory over the bourgeoisie, towards the dictatorship of the proletariat, towards the deliverance of mankind from the yoke of capital, from imperialist wars..

Comrade Stalin pointed out:

“The October Revolution cannot be considered only a revolution “within the national framework”. It is, first of all, a revolution of the international world order, for it signifies a radical turn in the world history of mankind from the old, capitalist world to the new, socialist world .

The October Socialist Revolution dealt a crushing blow to world capitalism. A country that has made a socialist revolution is constantly developing along an ascending line, while the moribund capitalist system is increasingly disintegrating. The socialist system engendered by the October Revolution gave the Soviet people great and irresistible power. After the socialist revolution in Russia, ever broader sections of the working people of the capitalist countries gradually began to realize that the cause of their incredible suffering was the capitalist system, that they could free themselves from bourgeois oppression, from imperialism only by a path that led to the victory of the working people of Russia, who had destroyed capitalism, which brought the masses of the people suffering and calamity, and abolished the exploitation of man by man.

Before the October Revolution and the triumph of socialist construction in the Soviet country, socialism was a dream of the future. After the October Revolution, it became a reality, and hundreds of millions of working people all over the world saw with their own eyes that the socialist system that had won in the USSR had incomparable advantages over capitalism.

It is not surprising that progressive people all over the world began to strive to create the same social order, to fight for its achievement and, overcoming thousands of obstacles, making many sacrifices, began to move towards it, inspired by the teachings of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin and the example of the great working people. Soviet Union.

The October Revolution, as Comrade Stalin pointed out, inflicted a mortal wound on world capitalism from which it will never recover. It also dealt a mortal blow to the colonial system of imperialism. Comrade Stalin, smashing the racial theories of imperialism to smithereens, wrote:

“It used to be ‘accepted’ to think that the world was divided from the beginning into lower and higher races, into blacks and whites, of which the former are incapable of civilization and are doomed to be the object of exploitation, while the latter are the only bearers of civilization, called upon to exploit the former.

Now this legend must be considered broken and discarded. One of the most important results of the October Revolution is the fact that it delivered a mortal blow to this legend, demonstrating in practice that the liberated non-European peoples, drawn into the mainstream of Soviet development, are capable of advancing a truly advanced culture and a truly advanced civilization no less than the European peoples. » (5) .

The emergence of the socialist system in the world, influencing the international situation as a whole, also had an impact on British and American politics and on the relations between these countries. The impact of the new social system, opposed to capitalism, was very multifaceted. Colossally weakening imperialism as a whole, heralding its downfall by its appearance, the socialist system, by its very existence and political and economic successes, influenced the social development of all countries, and in particular the development of the vast colonial and semi-colonial countries located in the Pacific basin.

Under the influence of the October Socialist Revolution and as a result of the favorable international situation created by the victorious anti-imperialist struggle of the socialist state, the national liberation movement of the peoples of the colonies and semi-colonies has risen to a new level. It was enriched with new content, took on an unusually stubborn and more organized character. It became an integral part of the international proletarian revolution.

"The era of liberation revolutions has begun in the colonies and dependent countries, the era of the awakening of the proletariat of these countries, the era of its hegemony in the revolution" (6) .

Giving a general assessment of the influence of the October Revolution on the liberation movement in the colonial and dependent countries, Comrade Stalin stated:

“The October Revolution undermined imperialism not only in the centers of its domination, not only in the “metropolises”. It also struck at the rear of imperialism, at its periphery, undermining the rule of imperialism in the colonial and dependent countries” (7) .

The impact of the October Revolution on the enslaved peoples of the Pacific, and especially on the Chinese people, who are the direct neighbors of the Soviet country, was enormous. The great revolutionary ideas of Marxism-Leninism in the very first years after the October Revolution penetrated into the hearts of the advanced workers, peasants and intelligentsia of China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Korea and other Asian countries.

Already in its address of November 20 (December 3), 1917, the Soviet government announced its rejection of all unequal treaties that tsarism once imposed on the peoples of the East. It was a policy never before seen by the colonial peoples. Although the news of the great events in Russia and the policy of equality and friendship between peoples pursued by the workers' and peasants' government was concealed by the imperialists and the reactionary authorities from the enslaved peoples of the Pacific countries, nevertheless this news reached the advanced elements of all countries of the world.

Realizing the significance of the revolution in Russia, the class-conscious workers in China, the best representatives of the intelligentsia, student youth began to look at the world with different eyes. Anger against the oppressors intensified, self-confidence strengthened.

Sun Yat-sen, in his programmatic work "Three People's Principles", assessing the results of the First World War, wrote that as a result of this war "the great hope of mankind was born - the Russian revolution."

In July 1919, the Soviet government addressed a declaration directly to the Chinese people. This declaration proclaimed the principle of friendship and brotherhood between the Russian and Chinese peoples and the sovereignty of China. The declaration said: "In China there should be no other power, no other court, than the power and court of the Chinese people." On behalf of the working masses of the Soviet country, the declaration said: “We bring liberation to the peoples from the yoke of a foreign bayonet, from the yoke of foreign gold, which strangle the enslaved peoples of the East, and among them, first of all, the Chinese people.”

The friendship and brotherhood of peoples realized in the Soviet country showed the way for the Chinese people. The victorious Russian revolution and the heroic struggle of the Russian Bolsheviks against imperialist intervention inspired the Chinese revolutionaries. This is evidenced by hundreds of documents and statements by the Chinese press, speeches by the most prominent revolutionary figures in China, and malicious confessions by the imperialists, the enemies of the Chinese people.

Addressing the Soviet government, the All-China Student Federation declared in 1919: “Your exploits, unparalleled in the history of the revolution, open a new era ... We will do everything in our power to arouse warm sympathy for the new Russia in our country.” The Chinese magazine "Xin-qipinglun" wrote: "We must thank Soviet Russia on behalf of all the oppressed nations, we must follow her example, strain every effort to win freedom."

The outlook of the Chinese revolutionaries was shaped under the influence of the October Revolution, the great teachings of Lenin and Stalin, and the successes of socialist construction in Russia. Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Mao Tse-tung in his biographical essay says: “Under the influence of Marxist revolutionary theory and the experience of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, in the winter of 1920, in Changsha, I created the first political organization of workers. From now on I consider myself a Marxist" (8). In his work On the Dictatorship of People's Democracy, Mao Tse-tung wrote: “The Russians carried out the October Revolution, creating the world's first socialist country. Under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin, the revolutionary energy of the great Russian proletariat and working people, which was in a hidden state, invisible to foreigners, suddenly exploded like a volcano ... Then and only then did the Chinese, who worked in the field of ideology, enter a completely new era. The Chinese have found the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism applicable everywhere, and the face of China has changed. The Chinese acquired Marxism as a result of its application by the Russians. Before the October Revolution, the Chinese not only did not know Lenin and Stalin, they also did not know Marx and Engels.

In the same place, Mao Tse-tung pointed out: “The cannon salvos of the October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to us. The October Revolution helped the progressive elements of the world and China to apply the proletarian worldview to determine the fate of the country and redefine their own problems.

Follow the path of the Russians - that was the conclusion. And then he continues: "The vanguard of the Chinese proletariat studied Marxism-Leninism after the October Revolution and created the Chinese Communist Party" (9) .

Analyzing the development of political life in China, Mao Tse-tung repeatedly points to the decisive influence that the socialist revolution in Russia had on the liberation struggle of the Chinese people.

The Soviet socialist state is a state of a new type. Its foreign policy, based on the principles of respect for all peoples, radically differed from the very first day of the existence of the Soviets from the imperialist foreign policy of the bourgeois states. The revolutionary leaders of the enslaved countries have repeatedly noted the deep impression that was made on the peoples of the colonial and semi-colonial countries by the attitude of the Soviet state towards the oppressed peoples. Emphasizing that Soviet power is guided by the great principles of proletarian internationalism, Liu Shao-chi writes: “...Lenin and Stalin, as soon as the Great October Revolution in Russia overthrew the tsar and the bourgeois Provisional Government and the working people came to power, for the first time in the history of mankind, immediately proclaimed the abolition of all unequal treaties,(10) . The Chinese people saw their true friend in the Soviet socialist state.

Diverse and numerous were the channels through which, after the October Revolution, direct contact was made between the country of socialism and the Chinese liberation movement. One of these canals was the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria.

Already a few days after reports of the February Revolution in Russia were received in Harbin, Russian Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were created there. They soon united. In the organization and work of the Harbin Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the workers of the Main Mechanical Workshops of the CER showed the greatest initiative and activity. The Bolsheviks gradually began to play a decisive role in the Soviet.

After the victory of the October Revolution, the Harbin Soviet turned to the Taotai, a representative of the Chinese authorities, with a declaration stating that the Russian people and the Soviet government had deprived the tsarist officials in Manchuria of any powers that had now passed into the hands of the Soviet. The declaration expressed confidence that there would be no misunderstandings between the great republics of China and Russia and that the freedom-loving peoples of the Soviet country and China would live in peace and harmony.

However, on December 12, 1917, the Chinese militarists, in agreement with the leaders of the Russian counter-revolution, attacked the armed forces of the Harbin Soviet. In view of the overwhelming number of attackers and the suddenness of the attack, the squads of Russian militia were disarmed, the existence of the Harbin Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies was put to an end. The Chinese people condemned both this and other subsequent speeches by Chinese reactionaries against Soviet Russia and its representatives.

The American and British oppressors and their henchmen in China watched with bitterness how, under the influence of the Russian socialist revolution, the national liberation and working-class revolutionary movement developed in China, how, despite their frantic efforts, the first workers' revolutionary organizations were created, how many intellectuals were moving from a state of passivity to an active one. patriotic and revolutionary activity, as the first communist organizations appear in China, bringing freedom to the people and destruction to imperialist rule.

After the Great October Socialist Revolution, the entire gigantic world of colonies and semi-colonies became an inextinguishable hotbed of the anti-imperialist national liberation movement. This was caused primarily by the transformation of Russia from an imperialist into an anti-imperialist country, the victorious struggle of the peoples of the USSR against world imperialism, and the successes of socialist construction in the first country of socialism.

In India, following a major political strike of textile workers in the industrial center of India - Bombay, which broke out in 1918, unfolded in 1919-1922. powerful anti-imperialist movement. This movement was defeated as a result of the betrayal of the leading groups of the bourgeoisie to the cause of the national liberation struggle, but the working masses of India acquired the first experience of serious mass actions, in which not only the proletariat took part, but also the peasantry began to be drawn into. The bloody repressions of the British colonial executioners strengthened the eternal hatred of the enslavers in the hearts of all progressive Indians and the desire to continue the struggle until India was completely liberated from the rule of imperialism and reaction.

Imperialist Japan also became the scene of popular unrest and anti-government actions, which significantly undermined the strength of Japanese imperialism at that time. In Japan, as in India, there was not yet an experienced and seasoned proletarian party which could direct the movement along the right channel and lead the people to victory. Spontaneous "rice riots", in which many millions of workers and peasants took part, which engulfed most of the territory of Japan in August 1918, were suppressed by the police and troops. They led, however, to the strengthening of the movement for the democratization of Japan. The workers eventually won certain rights, such as the right to organize trade unions, and in a number of cases achieved some shortening of the working day.

The influence of the October Socialist Revolution was even more direct in Korea, which had been enslaved by the Japanese imperialists.

In the uprising that broke out in Korea in March 1919, about 2 million people participated in one form or another. It covered almost the entire territory of the country without exception. The demand for national independence was the main demand of the Korean people. The armed struggle of the revolutionary partisans continued in the mountains of Korea even after the Japanese imperialists, possessing superior armed forces, crushed the popular uprising. This was facilitated to a large extent by the betrayal of those sections of the Korean ruling classes who initially supported the liberation struggle, but then betrayed it. This uprising was a difficult school for the working masses, one of the stages in the struggle of the Korean people for national independence and democratic rights.

And in Indonesia, far from the Soviet Union, sparks flared up with a bright flame, planted by the socialist revolution that had won in a sixth of the globe. A strike movement developed among the workers of Indonesia, and even spontaneous peasant uprisings took place. Communists also appeared in this colony of imperialism, and it was mainly under their leadership that an uprising in Java took place in 1926, which unfolded as a result of the deterioration in the situation of the broad working masses and the intensification of repression by the colonial authorities. The uprising in Java was then suppressed, but the Dutch colonialists were forced to stage the first reforms after it in order to buy the support of the national reformist leaders and try to weaken the hatred of the broad masses.

The national liberation movement unfolded differently than in other enslaved countries in Outer Mongolia, which borders directly on the Soviet country.

Counter-revolutionary White Guard gangs operated on the territory of this country, invading Soviet territory from there. The Soviet Army and the popular masses of Mongolia joined together in the struggle against their enemies. After the reactionary forces of Baron Ungern were defeated by the Soviet troops in 1921, the People's Revolutionary Party contributed to the formation of national authorities, and in 1924 a people's republic was proclaimed in Outer Mongolia.

The Soviet government and the Soviet people provided all possible assistance to the Mongolian people, thanks to which the development of the Mongolian People's Republic along a non-capitalist path was ensured. The plans of Japanese imperialism, which tried to enslave the Mongolian people through the White Guard agents, were thwarted from the very beginning. Thus, the Great October Socialist Revolution was the direct cause of the change in the fate of the Mongolian people, their liberation from imperialist and feudal oppression and the creation of a new, better life.

Everywhere in the colonial world, including in the countries of the Pacific basin, it became much more difficult for the imperialist powers to fight the liberation movement of the oppressed peoples. They were forced to maneuver and camouflage more than ever. From the very first months of the existence of Soviet Russia, the policy of the capitalist world was determined by the desire to organize a struggle against it, to liquidate the new, progressive social system. But at the same time, the mutual contradictions of the imperialists continued to aggravate, new attempts were made to weaken the rivals, to gain strength and strength at their expense.

This new situation left its mark on Anglo-American relations as well. The American monopolies became very rich as a result of the war. Their profits during the war often exceeded 100% per annum, but sometimes they made 500% or more. Although the British monopolies also profited from the war and British imperialism emerged victorious from the war, it has become weaker in comparison with American imperialism. After Russia dropped out of the ranks of the capitalist powers and the defeat of Germany, the most powerful economic and military powers in the capitalist world turned out to be the United States and Britain. Their contradictions have become the fundamental contradiction of imperialism. However, Japan also began to play a very large role in the Pacific Ocean, which has grown considerably during the World War and is now expanding widely in China and throughout the western Pacific. As a result, Japanese-American contradictions became extremely aggravated, and this circumstance could not but influence the course of development of Anglo-American relations.

The United States already had much more economic and potential military power than England, and England was now largely dependent on the United States. But together with Japan or France, British imperialism was a fairly serious force with which American statesmen had to reckon much more than with England alone. Therefore, British politicians after the First World War resorted to more complex maneuvers towards the United States than ever before. Despite this, the Anglo-American contradictions came to the fore already in the days of Versailles (11) .

Later, going through stages of greater or lesser aggravation, the Anglo-American contradictions in the late 1920s and early 1930s entered a period of great tension. The struggle between England, which after the First World War had become a "country of economic decline" (Stalin), and America, a "country of capitalism rushing forward" (Stalin), came to the fore in the capitalist world. After the defeat of Germany, the weakening of England and the falling away of Russia from capitalism, the economic center of the capitalist world moved from Europe to North America.

The threat of Anglo-American imperialist war has been discussed in hundreds of books, pamphlets and articles. Only after the bloc of fascist aggressors took shape, which openly set as its goal an immediate redivision of the world, did Anglo-American relations gradually begin to change. Continuing to operate, the contradictions between the United States and Britain temporarily receded into the background before the rapidly growing aggression of the fascist bloc.

Throughout this entire period, Pacific questions played a very important role in Anglo-American relations.

Of course, the active policy of peace pursued by the Soviet country, imbued with deep sympathy for the working people of all countries and for the oppressed peoples, exerted an ever greater influence every year on the international situation and the situation in the Pacific, all the more so since the Soviet Union is one of the largest Pacific countries, located "between the center of the financial exploitation of the world and the arena of colonial oppression..." (12) .

(1) J. V. Stalin, Soch., vol. 6, p. 72.

(2) J. V. Stalin, Soch., vol. 10, p. 240.

(3) V. I. Lenin, Soch. ., vol. 33, pp. 32-33.

(4) J. V. Stalin, Soch., vol. 10, p. 239.

(5) J. V. Stalin, Soch., vol. 10, pp. 243-244.

(6) IV Stalin, Soch., vol. 10, p. 245.

(7) Ibid. page 243.

(8) Mao Tse-tung, Biographical sketch, Gosdolitizdat, 1939, p. 33.

(9) Mao Tse-tung, On the dictatorship of people's democracy, M. 1949, pp. 5-7.

(10) Liu Shao-Chi On Internationalism and Nationalism, M. 1949. p. 11.

(11) A sharp divergence between the United States, on the one hand, and the allies, led by England, on the other, took place even in connection with the publication of Wilson's 14 Points. The implementation of many of these points was at odds with the imperialist interests of Britain and France. These points greatly favored imperialist Germany and were in line with the interests of American monopoly capital. They also pursued the goals of false propaganda and were, as it were, in opposition to the decree of the Soviet government of November 8, 1917 on a just world. London politicians, of course, were concerned only with their anti-English content. Only after a special commentary on these "14 points" was sent out, partly explaining their propagandistic demagogic meaning and emphasizing the anti-Soviet direction of the sixth point, and after Wilson's personal secretary and chief adviser House threatened to conclude a separate peace with Germany, England and France agreed to accept the "14 points" as the basis for negotiations with Germany. Even so, they made several reservations (Seymour, American Diplomacy during the World War, Baltimore 1942, pp. 324-325).

(12) I. V. Stalin, Works, vol. 6, p. 397.