Statement from the Workers' Party of Ireland.
The 100th anniversary of the creation of the world's first workers' and socialist state was on December 30. We have already looked at several statements from Communist and workers' parties about this and here we share the statement from the Workers Party of Ireland published on January 5:
The victory of the workers in the Great October Socialist Revolution led directly to the formation of the first workers’ state, converting the socialist vision into a tangible reality. For the first time in history the revolutionary ideas of Marx and Engels were translated into practice and this, in turn, laid the basis for the creative and innovative development of the socialist project.
The most important act of consolidation of this project was the formal constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Under Soviet power life expectancy and literacy levels were increased, the living conditions and material well-being of the people were improved and the health and education of citizens was secured. The Soviet state created the basis for material and social advancement, for the transfer of power to the working people, the creators of wealth, and provided the workers with the opportunity, through their labour and struggle, to build the social, political, economic and cultural conditions which offered the prospect of a free and fulfilled life.
Soviet Power paved the way for the abolition of the capitalist relations of production. It brought about a new social system which abolished private ownership of the means of production, rejected the barbarism of capital and created the conditions for the establishment of a new type of civilization throughout the world.
The new state declared important rights for women, equality under the law, the right to divorce, and the right to free and legal abortion. These gave women the right to control their wages and property, maintain a claim to their children in the event of divorce, and to decide where they wanted to live, go to school, and to work.
Illiteracy was eradicated, unemployment abolished, access to education, housing, health care and social protection was guaranteed, the rights of women, children and the elderly promoted and the fundamental rights of workers ensured.
The industrialisation of the economy, the expansion of medical and health services, the development of educational provision and training, the measures taken to provide for culture, literature and sport, the development of agriculture, scientific and technological progress, including pioneering achievements in space, and the improvement in the material conditions of working people were among the many accomplishments of the Soviet Union.
The creation of the USSR also commenced a new stage in international solidarity. It encouraged and inspired the international revolutionary movement. The victorious revolution in Russia was in itself a serious defeat for imperialism and colonialism and it inspired and supported further such defeats. The movement for national liberation, freedom and independence was strengthened and socialism became the hope of the oppressed.
The Soviet Union and its people played a decisive role in the defeat of fascism, Nazism and Japanese imperialism.
The historic victory of socialism in the Soviet Union and later in the socialist countries was a vital factor in the transformation of the world. In the course of its history the USSR, under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, advanced the socialist cause and demonstrated the strengths and achievements of socialist construction.
The enemies of socialism have sought, unsuccessfully, to diminish the achievements of the Soviet Union and the ideas of the October Revolution. The accomplishments are as vibrant and relevant as ever. They have not been overshadowed or diminished by the counter-revolution. This did not represent the end of history. Neither did it invalidate the revolutionary principles of Marxism-Leninism.
The Soviet Union demonstrated the real potential of socialist construction and the realisation of the vision of workers’ emancipation. The purpose of revolution is to establish workers’ power and socialist construction begins with the revolutionary acquisition of power by the working class. The workers' state, the dictatorship of the proletariat, is an instrument of the working class in the class struggle.
Real, fundamental, transformative change requires a rupture with the capitalist system and its abolition, to create a world where the working class controls its own destiny under socialism-communism and a society which maximises human potential, dignity and development rather than a system driven by the relentless pursuit of profit for the benefit of the few.
Exploitation will only be ended under a radically different social, economic and political order where the capitalist system is abolished and where the working class controls its own destiny under socialism-communism.
The creation of the first workers’ state and the process of socialist transformation was a beacon of hope for the workers of the world.
100 years later, the Workers Party of Ireland proudly commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Foundation of the USSR as an great occasion in the history of the world working class movement, an outstanding symbol of workers’ power and social progress to the world.
G. Grainger
International Secretary
Workers Party of Ireland
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