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FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION 1903-1953
III. THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN THE STRUGGLE TO BUILD SOCIALISM
13. The Great October Socialist Revolution opened a new era in the history of mankind-the era of the col lapse of capitalism and of the triumph of socialism and communism. The victory of the Soviet revolution in Russia marked a fundamental turn in the destiny of man kind, in world history-from the old, capitalist world to the new, socialist world.
The October Revolution inflicted a mortal wound on capitalism, shook and weakened the foundations of imperialism and facilitated the struggle of the international proletariat against capital. Our Communist Party was transformed from a national into an international force, into the "Shock Brigade" of the world revolutionary and working-class movement.
With the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the Communist Party, as the ruling party, was faced with the tasks of building and defending the first socialist workers' and peasants' state in the world.
V. I. Lenin, the leader of the Communist Party and head of the Soviet Government, worked out a scientific programme for the transformation of economically back ward Russia into an advanced and mighty socialist power. That programme provided for the socialist industrialization of the country, for the utmost development of heavy industry, for the electrification of the whole national economy, for the execution of the co-operative plan for the re-organization of the country's agriculture on socialist lines, and for bringing about a cultural revolution Surmounting enormous difficulties-economic ruin and famine-repelling the furious attacks of foreign interventionists (the so-called "crusade of fourteen states" against Soviet Russia) and the revolts organized by the internal counter-revolution, the Communist Party led the peoples of our country to complete victory over the interventionists and Whiteguards.
History will never forget the great heroism displayed by the workers and peasants in the period of intervention and civil war, defending their young Soviet Republic. Neither hunger nor ruin, neither the absence of fuel, clothing and footwear nor epidemics of typhus and other misfortunes, nor kulak revolts organized by the agents of the imperialist vultures who were dreaming of the partition of Russia and of converting her into a colony of the imperialist powers-nothing could break the indomitable determination of the working people if our country to achieve victory over the exploiting classes and to build up the new socialist life.
In the most difficult period for the young Soviet Re public, in April 1919, Lenin said with the utmost confidence and foresight:
"No one will ever conquer a people whose workers and peasants have in their majority realized, felt and seen that they are defending their own Soviet government, the government of the toilers, that they are defending a cause whose victory will ensure them and their children the opportunity to take advantage of all the blessings of culture, all the creations of man's labour." History has proved that Lenin was absolutely right.
After saving the dictatorship of the proletariat in bat tles against the foreign and home counter-revolution, after smashing the foreign interventionists and the White guards, the Party developed gigantic constructive work on the basis of the New Economic Policy and directed the inexhaustible creative forces of the people into the channel of executing Lenin's plan for the building of socialism. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the work ing people of our country were the first to proceed along the unexplored paths of building socialism, laying for all mankind the road to a life of freedom and happiness.
14. When the heroic work of the Party and of the working class in restoring the national economy was drawing to an end, the question of the prospects of our country's development arose in full force.
Whereas in the period of the Second Party Congress the Bolsheviks fought against the Mensheviks for the victory of the revolutionary line in the working-class movement, now, under the conditions of the victorious dictatorship of the proletariat, the question arose of the future of socialism in the U.S.S.R. The enemies of the Party and the people-the Trotskyites, Bukharinites and bourgeois nationalists-the Menshevik rump, took the stand of capitulation. They tried to return the Party and the country from the Leninist path to the path of liquidating the gains of the proletarian revolution, rto the path of restoring capitalism. Under the leadership of the Central Committee headed by J. V. Stalin, the great continuer of V. I. Lenin's cause, the Communist Party routed the traitors and capitulators, upheld Leninism, and resolutely steered towards the building of socialism in our country. In so doing, the Communist Party based itself on the objective laws of economic development of society, on the matured requirements of the development of the material life of society, on the interests of the people. The Party based itself on Lenin's thesis that our country possesses in sufficient quantity everything needed for the building of a complete socialist society.
15. During the prewar five-year plan periods the Soviet people successfully carried out the plan drawn up by the Party for the socialist industrialization of the country and the collectivization of agriculture. As a result of the execution of that plan our country made a gigantic leap forward, and from a backward agrarian country was transformed into a mighty industrial and collective-farm socialist power.
In our country the exploiting classes were completely eliminated and the exploitation of man by man was abolished forever. The Soviet people, led by the Communist Party, were the first in history to build a new social system-socialism. The victory of socialism abolished un employment and brought about a fundamental improvement in the material welfare of the people and created the necessary conditions for a prosperous and cultured life for the working people. A real cultural revolution was brought about in the country. Guided by the Lenin-Stalin national policy, the Communist Party liberated the peoples of Russia from age-long social and national oppression, overcame the economic and cultural backwardness of the formerly oppressed peoples, welded all the nations of our country into a single fraternal family and created a mighty multi-national socialist state-the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The victory of socialism released and strengthened the mighty driving forces of Soviet society, such as moral and political unity, friendship of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., and Soviet patriotism.The epoch-making victories of the Soviet people are fixed and sealed in the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. the Constitution of victorious -socialism and of developed socialist democracy. The Eighteenth Congress of the Communist Party ( 1939) outlined the programme for the further progress of Soviet society towards the completion of the building of socialist society and the gradual transition from socialism to communism. The building of socialism in the U.S.S.R. is the result of the fulfillment of the behests of Lenin, the result of the great organizing and directing activities of the Communist Party and its wise leadership, the result of the heroic labour of the workers, peasants and intellectuals who unanimously support the Party's policy.
Our Party was and is victorious because of its faithfulness to Leninism. It teaches our cadres, and all Communists perseveringly to master revolutionary theory, consistently to adhere to the norms of Party life worked out by Lenin, to the Bolshevik principles of Party leader ship. In the speech he delivered on April 22, 1941, J. V. Stalin, speaking of Lenin's greatness and on the importance of Lenin's behests, said:
"It was he, Lenin, who taught us to work as Bolsheviks should work, knowing no fear, and not being daunted by any difficulties."
16. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union was a most serious trial of the strength and viability of our social and political system. During that war the Party was the inspirer and organizer of the nation-wide struggle against the fascist invaders. Through its work of organization the Party directed all the efforts of the Soviet people towards the common aim and concentrated all the country 's forces and resources on the task of defeating the enemy. The Party mobilized the working class, the peasantry and the intelligentsia for the purpose of selfsacrificingly surmounting difficulties; it stimulated a mighty wave of labour enthusiasm, placed the national economy at the service of the front and transformed the country into a single fighting camp. During the war the Communist Party drew closer than ever to the people and established still closer ties with the broad masses of the working people. During that period of severe trial, surmounting the gravest difficulties and obstacles on the path to victory, the Party once again showed that it is a united, militant organization with no wavering or dis agreement in its ranks.
Routing the fascist aggressors, the gallant Soviet Army, the entire Soviet people, led by the glorious Communist Party, upheld the freedom and independence of our country and saved the peoples of Europe and Asia from the menace of fascist enslavement. As a result of the victory of socialism over fascism in the Second World War, the forces of socialism and democracy grew and gained strength, while the position of imperialism and reaction became weaker. A number of countries in Europe and Asia dropped out of the capitalist system and the regime of People's Democracy was established in them. An immense victory for the cause of socialism and democracy was the triumph of the people's revolution in China and the formation of the Chinese People's Republic. The position of the Soviet Union was immeasurably strengthened and consolidated; the prestige of the Soviet Union and its influence on the whole of international development increased immensely 17. The postwar period demanded from the Soviet people tremendous efforts to heal the grave wounds inflicted by the war and to eliminate its consequences. Inspired and organized by the Communist Party, the working people of our country, in an unprecedentedly short space of time, restored the national economy and advanced all branches of Soviet economy, technology and culture.
The Nineteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union summed up the magnificent results of the struggle and victories of the Soviet people and drew up the programme for the further progress of our country. That congress provided new and striking evidence of the indestructible solidarity and unity of our Party, of the close unity between the Party and the people, of the Party's indomitable determination to lead the peoples of our country to the victory of communism.
Carrying out the historic decision of the Nineteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U., the Party has brought about a new upswing in all branches of the national economy and culture. The enormous successes achieved by the socialist economy and the efflorescence of culture in the U.S.S.R. were possible thanks to the firm alliance between the working class and the collective-farm peasantry, to the ever-growing friendship of the peoples of our country, to the ever-growing moral and political unity of the Soviet people. All this is the result of the consistent application of the policy elaborated by the Communist Party, a policy based on the creative activity of the masses and enjoying the support of the whole of Soviet society.
The Soviet Union, with its indestructible might and creative strength, is successfully advancing in the building of communist society.