The Soviet Centennial
On 30 December 1922, exactly one-hundred years ago this week, an announcement of historic proportions was made from the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Two documents, the Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and the Declaration of the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, were officially ratified by the first meeting of the All-Union Congress of Soviets. The legacy of the Great October Socialist Revolution was secured, five years of civil war and invasion had failed to put down the will of the people, and now, for the first time in history, those working people held the reins of power; the Soviet Union, the first workers' State in history, was officially born. Few, if any, moments in human history shine with the same glory as the founding of our Soviet motherland; few, if any, will ever again shine as bright, or fill the hearts of working and oppressed people around the world with as much pride, joy, and faith in a better future—in that moment, the longing of the downtrodden masses of all of mankind were brought together, raised up, and united under the great scarlet banner, the testament to their sanctified blood, and the golden hammer and sickle, the golden beacon of their united power.
In the summer of 1916, Vladimir Lenin, the great Bolshevik revolutionary, lamented his mother’s death; unable to return to Russia to attend her funeral, he feared that he too would die before revolution would come. Less than a year later, the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution saw the overthrow of Tsarist tyranny, and the birth of the Petrograd Soviet alongside a weak, provisional bourgeois Constituent Assembly—Lenin would return to lead the Bolsheviks, declaring his April Theses:
Complete rejection of World War I as an imperialist war, as well as Russia’s involvement in it; advocating a campaign promoting revolutionary defeatism.
Recognition that Russia had undergone a Bourgeois revolution, but due to insufficient organization and power, had not yet undergone Proletarian revolution, which must be the next stage, and the Party must organize.
Rejecting all support for the bourgeois Provisional Government.
Recognition that in most of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies the Party is a minority against petty-bourgeois opportunists who yield to the influence of the bourgeoisie; that, as a minority the Party must uphold the Soviets as the only possible form of revolutionary government while also criticizing and exposing the errors.
Advocating the establishment of a Republic of Soviets of Workers’, Agricultural Laborers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, from top to bottom; abolition of the police, army, and bureaucracy; and for the salaries of all officials to not exceed the average wage of working people.
Advocating for the agrarian programme’s emphasis to shift to the Soviets of Agricultural Laborers’ Deputies; for the confiscation of all landed estates; nationalization of all land in the country, to be disposed of by the local Soviets of Agricultural Laborers’ and Peasants’ Deputies.
Advocating for the immediate unification of all banks in the country into a single national bank under the control of the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies.
Asserting that it is not the Bolsheviks’ immediate task to introduce socialism, but to bring social production and distribution under the control of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies.
Establishing Party tasks:
a) The immediate convocation of a Party Congress
b) The adaptation of the Party’s programme:
i. On the question of imperialism, and the war
ii. On the Party’s attitude towards the state
iii. Amending the minimum programme
iv. Renaming to the Communist Party.
Advocating the immediate creation of a new revolutionary International, against social-chauvinism.
Under Lenin’s leadership, both Soviets and Communists would grow in power; culminating in the Great October Socialist Revolution. Less than two years after Lenin had lamented how far off revolution seemed to be, the Soviets would take control, and the five-year civil war would commence; with imperialists, reactionaries, and every stripe of anticommunist and opportunist trying—and failing—to bring the people’s government, and the people’s army, to a halt. Despite never officially declaring war, the United States would deploy some 5,000 soldiers to Arkhangelsk from 1918 to 1919, as well as around 7,950 to Vladivostok from 1918 to 1920.
Imperialist hatred for the free people of the great Soviet Union did not end in 1922. Coinciding with the birth of the USSR, another political shift started in Europe during October of 1922: the March on Rome, and the rise of Benito Mussolini, the harbinger of fascism. Even as the fascist hordes massed in Europe, and the specter of war once again cast its long shadow across the continent, the imperialist powers of the world set first and foremost to bringing about the downfall of the Soviet Union. As fascism spread to Germany, under the vile hatred of Adolf Hitler, and the great struggle against fascism ignited in Spain, imperialist powers remained primarily concerned with the rise of communism. These powers expelled, executed, and persecuted those who sought a free and dignified future for all under the great scarlet banner—then, just as now, the bourgeoisie saw in fascism not a repugnant stain against the dignity and wellbeing of our species, but an ally and friend with whom to struggle against the rise of freedom-loving people around the world. As fascist bombs descended on the city of Guernica, little would be provided in the way of aid for the suffering; the Soviet Union, and communist volunteers from around the world, would take up her call. As the nazi machine reared its ugly head, and swathes of land were eaten up day by day in spite of promises of appeasement, the West was slow to act. As the smoke billowed out from the first death camps, the imperialists watched idly by—many even directly participated in their construction, and supported the ideology that bore them. It was their hope, as the blitzkrieg rolled into Poland, that it would be the Soviets who would bear the brunt of the fascist hordes—that it would be the Soviets who would either suffer under the beast of their making, or be consumed by it.
On June 22, 1941, the imperialist powers got their wish, as the fascist hordes launched their rapacious assault against the Soviet Union. Mile after mile, village after village, the death march of the walking damned spread its shadow—Byelorussia, Ukraine, and the Baltics fell. As the fascist line advanced, behind it trailed the death squads, clearing the way of human detritus for the fuhrer’s great living space. Precisely the genocidal cleansing the imperialist powers had for so long hoped would rid the world of all that they hated most—those pesky human beings who only sought freedom and peace. In spite of their best wishes, and greatest plans, the great people of the Soviet Union, under the leadership of General Secretary Stalin, and the command of Marshal Zhukov, would not be defeated. Instead, the Communists broke the back of the fascist death machine, liberated the death camps across the east, and brought the fury of the people directly to Hitler’s doorstep. The Communists, following the fall of the nazi regime, would then break the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, sealing the fate of the Japanese Empire, forcing them to surrender to the United States in fear of an imminent Soviet conquest. The freedom of the world today, and the lives of billions, are owed precisely to the great people of the Soviet Union, and to the Soviet Red Army—heroes, if ever there were any.
The Soviet Union became the quickest industrialized country in the world, lifting millions out of poverty, illiteracy, backwardness, and indignity. Under the leadership of the Communist Party the once-despised sick man of Europe was transformed into the great motherland which bore revolutions around the world, achievements in science, great leaps in social harmony, and unfathomable advances in technology. Though never perfect, the Soviet Union’s contributions to the furthering of humanity mark nothing less than the most important, and most precious, developments in the whole of the 20th century. It is from the Soviet Union that we stand today, communists the world over; and it is precisely in her memory, by her great example and in her great honor, that we proudly carry on the immortal science of Marxist-Leninism, and the great work of revolution.
24 December 1991, almost exactly on the 69th anniversary of its founding, the Union was betrayed, sold out and cannibalized by revisionists, opportunists, and imperialist running dogs of the worst variety. History remembers them today as the greatest traitors to ever live, but even in their avarice they could not kill our Soviet motherland. From the People’s Republic of China, to the Democratic People’s Republics of Laos and Korea, to the Socialist Republics of Vietnam and Cuba; from the sigh of every oppressed worker, to the nightmares of every fascist rat; the dream of a world free from the tyranny of the rich, where all may live in equality, peace, and dignity, lives on—the dream of our shared humanity, solidarity, and liberation. In the heart of every working and oppressed person, and on the lips of every revolutionary engaged in the great struggle for freedom, our Soviet motherland lives on.
United forever in friendship and labor,
Our mighty republics will ever endure.
The Great Soviet Union will live through the ages.
The dream of a people their fortress secure.
Long live our Soviet motherland,
Built by the people's mighty hand.
Long live our people, united and free.
Strong in our friendship tried by fire.
Long may our crimson flag inspire,
Shining in glory for all men to see.
Through days dark and stormy where Great Lenin lead us
Our eyes saw the bright sun of freedom above
And Stalin our leader with faith in the people,
Inspired us to build up the land that we love.
Long live our Soviet motherland,
Built by the people's mighty hand.
Long live our people, united and free.
Strong in our friendship tried by fire.
Long may our crimson flag inspire,
Shining in glory for all men to see.
We fought for the future, destroyed the invaders,
And brought to our homeland the laurels of fame.
Our glory will live in the memory of nations
And all generations will honor her name.
Long live our Soviet motherland,
Built by the people's mighty hand.
Long live our people, united and free.
Strong in our friendship tried by fire.
Long may our crimson flag inspire,
Shining in glory for all men to see!