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V. Afanasyev
Nature of the National Liberation Revolution

V. Afanasyev
The crisis of World Capitalism

Foreign imperialism, which suppressed every manifestation of political and economic independence, held undivided sway in the economic and political life of the colonial countries. The foreign monopolies saw to it that the economy of these countries remained lop-sided and used them as sources of agricultural and mineral raw materials and cheap manpower and as extremely profitable markets.

These countries played the role of the immediate strategic reserve of imperialism, and many of them were bastions of aggressive imperialist designs against the growing forces of world socialism.

In the political life of these countries, too, the imperialist monopolies were the supreme masters. They arbitrarily appointed and deposed rulers, dictated laws and ruthlessly crushed every attempt of the oppressed peoples to resist. There could be no question at all of the people enjoying even the most elementary of democratic rights.

While oppressing the people, throttling all expressions of economic and political independence, imperialism is the mainstay of the internal reactionary forces, primarily of the forces clinging to feudal and pre-feudal relations, namely, the big landowners and the tribal chiefs.

Thus, imperialism is the principal enemy of the oppressed peoples, and the national liberation revolution is a clearcut anti-imperialist movement.

Its main objectives are to uproot foreign imperialist political and economic domination, win political and economic independence and set up a sovereign national state.

However, monopoly rule cannot be ended without eradicating survivals of feudalism and tribal, pre-feudal relations, which give imperialism its largest foothold in colonial and dependent countries. The national liberation revolution is, therefore, anti-feudal as well, and the eradication of survivals of pre-bourgeois relations, which hinder economic and political development, is another of its prime objectives.

These objectives cannot be achieved without the support of the broad masses, who are the real makers of history. The uprooting of survivals of colonial rule in political life and the democratisation of social life are the third cardinal objective of the national liberation revolution, which is thus a democratic movement.

Hence, the national liberation movement is anti–imperialist, anti-feudal and democratic. It accomplishes “democratic tasks, the tasks of overthrowing foreign oppression". [119•*

The general democratic, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal nature of the national liberation revolution stems not only from its objectives but also from the social forces called upon to achieve these objectives, i.e., the driving forces of the revolution.

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Driving Forces of the National Liberation Revolution

Before proceeding to review these forces it is nprpssarv to point out that the colonial and dependent countries were at different stages of economic and political development. Some were agrarian-industrial countries; others were backward agrarian countries with embryonic industries; and still others (the majority) were extremely backward agrarian countries with deeply entrenched survivals of feudal and pre-feudal (patriarchal) relations. The social composition of the population was correspondingly extremely diverse.

Nonetheless, all these countries have (true, at different levels of development) a working class, a peasantry, a national and an urban petty bourgeoisie, a national intelligentsia (civil, military, students), feudal lords, and a proimperialist (compradore) bourgeoisie. With the exception of the pro-imperialist bourgeoisie and the feudal lords, all these classes and social forces are oppressed by the foreign monopolies and, therefore, in varying measure, take part in the national liberation revolution. Each class and social group, naturally, has its own ideas about the revolution’s objectives and, therefore, in addition to general national objectives they pursue their own social goals.

The working class, which is steadily growing, is one of the basic driving forces of the revolution. It should be borne in mind that with regard to its numerical strength, organisational unity and level of political consciousness, the working class is at different stages of development in the different countries. Hence its dissimilar role and significance in the national liberation revolutions. In some countries the proletariat has not only taken shape as a class, but has also achieved organisational and ideological unity and, led by Marxist-Leninist parties, it plays the leading role in the national liberation revolution and ensures its growth into a socialist revolution (the socialist countries in Asia). In other countries the proletariat is the principal driving force of the revolution, uniting all progressive sections of the nations, 121chiefly the peasants. In still others, although a proletariat exists, it has not yet risen to a leading position and rallied the nation’s progressive forces around itself. Lastly, there is a group of countries (mostly in Africa) in which the proletariat is only consolidating and organising as a class, and its numerical, organisational and ideological weakness prevents it from decisively influencing the course and outcome of the national liberation struggle.

However, in all dependent countries, by virtue of its objective position in society the proletariat is the most revolutionary social force, which, more than any other, is interested in carrying through the national liberation revolution. This is understandable, because liberation from foreign monopoly oppression and the democratisation of social and political life create favourable opportunities for achieving socialism, which is the historic objective of the proletariat.

In the course of the national liberation struggle the working class grows numerically stronger and more organised and acquires political experience. Its class consciousness grows and it forms and strengthens its alliance with the non-proletarian sections of the working people. Its trade unions and youth and other organisations grow and become stronger. In short, the national liberation revolution trains the working class for the impending social battles for socialism.

In some countries, the peasants are the largest and principal driving force of the national liberation revolution.

In the colonial and dependent countries they are in desperate straits. Deprived of land, they are compelled to rent it on onerous terms (from 40 to 80 per cent of the harvest) from the big feudal landowners.

In addition, they are oppressed by the foreign monopolies, who own huge estates and, working hand in glove with the local feudal lords, ruin them, pocketing enormous profits. The destitute, ruined peasants, deprived of their tiny patches of land, constantly swell the already huge army of rural paupers.

This, therefore, is the most acute social problem. The peasants are vitally interested in abolishing monopoly, 122feudal and tribal nobility ownership of the land, and obtaining the possibility of working that land and enjoying the fruits of their labour. This, naturally, makes them an anti–imperialist and anti-feudal force interested in destroying the political and economic supremacy of foreign capital and the rule of the feudal landowner class and tribal nobility, in the carrying out of deep-going agrarian changes.

Let us now turn to the bourgeoisie. Its position in these countries is extremely contradictory.

In view of the fact that the foreign monopolies and local feudal lords hinder economic development in every way they can, that part of the bourgeoisie which is interested in economic progress is active in the national liberation revolution, particularly in the struggle for political independence. It is called the national bourgeoisie to distinguish it from the pro-imperialist, anti-national bourgeoisie, which, being closely linked up with the foreign monopolies, betrays the national interests.

The national bourgeoisie participates in the national liberation movement in order to advance its own class interests, promote economic development along capitalist lines and secure political supremacy. At the same time, it champions certain general national interests, because it can achieve its class aims only by getting rid of foreign imperialism and local feudalism. The anti-imperialist, anti-feudal aspirations of the national bourgeoisie thus coincide with the interests of the entire nation.

Here we must take the contradictions, the duality of the national bourgeoisie into consideration. In the struggle against foreign imperialism and the internal forces supporting it, primarily the feudal and tribal nobility, the national bourgeoisie aligns itself with the working masses, relies upon them and uses their revolutionary energy to achieve its own ends. On the other hand, it fears the revolutionary working class and peasants, regarding them as a threat to its exploiter interests, and therefore seeks to confine the revolution to the narrow framework of its own interests, to hold up its development and direct it along the capitalist road.

In colonial and dependent countries, particularly in Africa, there is an extremely numerous and influential 123intermediate (petty-bourgeois) section, consisting of artisans, handicraftsmen, small shopkeepers, and so forth. Due to these countries’ economic backwardness, these intermediate sections occupy a fairly prominent place in the economy because at their small enterprises they produce much of the goods required by the population. They control the everyday services, the retail trade and other spheres, and their influence on political life corresponds to the role they play in the economy. To a certain extent, the destiny of the national liberation revolution therefore depends on the stand taken by the intermediate sections, on whether they support the progressive or the reactionary forces.

Due to their social position these sections are extremely contradictory. On the one hand, they own property (usually not very considerable) and this, to some degree, gives them a bourgeois orientation. On the other hand, they have to work, to earn a livelihood with their hands, and this brings them closer to the workers, to say nothing of the peasants. Moreover, like the other working people, the intermediate sections are brutally exploited by the foreign imperialists and the local rich. The overwhelming majority of this intermediate section are, naturally, inclined to favour radical changes and therefore participate in the national liberation revolution.

A prominent and sometimes leading role is played in the national liberation revolution by the national-democratic intelligentsia: scientists, cultural workers, part of the civil employees, progressive army officers, students, office workers, and so on. This intelligentsia plays a particularly important role in countries where the working class has not taken shape as an independent force and the national bourgeoisie is either weak or pursues a pro-imperialist policy, as in the case of most of the African countries. Under these conditions, intellectuals frequently head the revolution and the state, as in the United Arab Republic, Mali, Guinea and some other countries.

Such, in brief outline, are the driving forces behind the national liberation revolution. The alignment and role of these forces is different in each country due to historical conditions and the level of social and economic development. This balance changes in each country as the revolution 124develops, and, therefore, when we analyse the driving forces of the revolution in one country or another we must take the internal and international situation into account.

The winning of political independence, liberation from political dependence upon imperialism, comprises the content of the first, initial stage of the national liberation revolution. This stage, which has been completed in some of the developing countries, witnesses the transfer of state power from the foreign imperialist bourgeoisie and the local feudal or clan and tribal ruling clique to the patriotic forces of the nation. The attainment of political independence and the formation of national states in Asia, Africa and Latin America are one of the crowning results of the disintegration of the imperialist colonial system.

But it is not the only objective of the national liberation revolution, for without economic independence it is impossible to consolidate the gains achieved by the revolution and put an end once and for all to dependence upon foreign monopolies. The ideologists of imperialism, Lenin wrote, usually talk “of national liberation .. . leaving out economic liberation. Yet in reality it is the latter that is the chief thing”. [124•*

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Notes

[124•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 244.

[119•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 59.