To the Future with Lenin!

　　Address of the Central Committee of the CPRF to the People of Russia

　　Dear fellow citizens,

　　Comrades and friends,

　　Each of us sees that in the third millennium humanity has not gotten rid of woes and suffering. Of the horrors of wars and bloody conflicts.Of mass poverty. World capital is pushing us toward the gloom of reaction and violence.The predators wishing to tear the world to pieces and assert their dominance bare their teeth ever more ruthlessly. The deeper the tragic character of the events, the brighter shines the great example of the heroes and fighters for the happiness and a worthy life of the working people.

　　Russia was extremely lucky. At the most difficult period of disintegration, disarray, and total crisis came along the man who, like no one else, understood the essence of the turning point events and the ways out of the tragic situation He sensed “the nerve of history” and headed the movement forward. The name of that man is Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. It is a hundred years since his large and kind heart stopped beating. We are into the second century of Lenin’s immortality.

　　Vladimir Ilyich Lenin passed away on 21 January 1924. The tragic news shook the Soviet Union created by his genius. Profound grief filled the hearts of millions of working people across the planet. In spite of the severe cold masses of people streamed to Moscow. Up to half a million people came to the Hall of Columns.Each of them wanted to honor the memory of the man who changed the world forever, made it purer and more just.

　　World history is great, complicated and many-sided. It has many metrics and various “scales.” They determine the contribution of everyone to the course of life. Lenin’s contribution to the destiny of humanity is great by any planetary measures. For the second century time in this country and the world marches under the shadow of his great discoveries and outstanding service.

　　It would seem that there is nothing eternal under the moon. And yet life shows that time is no obstacle for truly great ideas. After testing their strength, mother history elevates them to soaring heighta. It is 175 years since the publication of The Communist Manifesto. But the ideas of K. Marx and F.Engels, taken up and brilliantly implemented by V.I.Lenin, have been spared oblivion.

　　The Communist theory accomplished something unheard of in the biography of humankind. For the first time in thousands of years it answered the key, fundamental questions of world history. From century to century the best brains struggled to resolve them. And then a teaching appeared which discovered the laws of the development of society.

　　Rejecting attempts to doom working people to eternal oppression the socialist theory gave people the master map for moving toward justice. This great knowledge helps them not to lose their way in the maze of by streets of “capitalism gone mad” and to choose the right road and a reliable path toward the future. Ill-wishers, liars and traitors are powerless in the face of such exploits.

　　Even Lenin’s strongest enemies reckoned with this invincible power. Not to appear small, evil and narrow-minded they agreed to recognize Lenin’s greatness. No Asian conqueror, neither Tamerlane, nor Genghiz-Khan enjoyed such glory as Lenin, wrote Winston Churchill, a convinced anti-communist.

　　There have, of course, been attempts to challenge the titan. But those who made them looked helpless and pitiful. Like Alexander Solzhenitsyn who cooked up his lampoon “Lenin in Zurich.” Today it has become evident that all the mud in the world could not denigrate the name of the founder of Bolshevism.

　　Today the liberal propaganda of every stripe, on the one hand, and Black Hundred sorties on the other continue to lie and distort the image of Vladimir Ilyich. The enemies of socialism blame him over “the money from Parvus,” “the philosophes’ ship,” the Peace of Brest. They have no wish to dig into and sort out things. They have assumed the role of information killers. They count on the inhumanity of the psychological war of the new age. Through relentless misinformation these minions are anxious to bury Lenin’s authority beneath heaps of slander and lies.

　　But the truth is alive and it attests that the entire activity of Ulyanov-Lenin was a great feat aimed at liberating the working people from oppression and coercion.At transforming society based on the principles of justice and humanism, equality and creative endeavor. The founder of Bolshevism acted in the name of the majority of the people. It is Lenin’s main ally. This majority is his associate and follower, well-wisher and friend. Nothing can compare with such an ally!

　　People who were high-flyers looking from the heights they had achieved were even more aware of the significance of Lenin’s contribution to world history. The great scientist Albert Einstein said this about the founder of the Soviet State:I honor in Lenin the man who gave all he had with complete self-sacrifice to the cause of bringing about social justice… Such people are custodians and renewers of humanity’s conscience.

　　For all who are able to think and feel, V.I.Lenin was a giant who creatively developed the teaching of scientific communism. Being an outstanding theoretician, he was thoroughly conversant with the dialectics of Marx and Engels. He was a brilliant propagandist of these ideas. He developed and implemented all this in daily life. In fierce polemics with the political right and left-wing opportunists Vladimir Ilyich heroically opposed the attempts to revise Marxism.

　　Lenin’s own contribution to Marxism was so great that it ushered in a new stage of holistic and organic development in the life of the communist teaching. In the early 20th century Marxism-Leninism became a veritable ideological and theoretical breakthrough.The power of this science consists in the ability to profoundly understand complicated processes, generalize the accumulated experience and propose ways of resolving the main contradictions of the epoch.

　　The Marxist-Leninist theory is universal. It is as relevant today as it was in the early 20th century. Its ideological framework is the basis of the programs of all the communist and workers’ parties on this planet.In the 2021 book ”Thoughts about Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era” Xi Jinping said that history should be assessed ”from the viewpoint of historical materialism.He stressed that “Marxism itself is the truth,” whose brilliance “is manifested in its constant development in time and in practice.”For Marx the outcome of the struggle against capitalism was not in doubt –communism will win. Xi Jinping noted that with the collapse of the Soviet Union many came to doubt it, but China has overturned all doubts. The PRC leader is totally right: his country’s spectacular successes are proof of the victory of Marxism.

　　The strength of the communist movement is its close connection with practice.Lenin worked persistently to strengthen this tradition. That is why, having created a party of a new type, he confidently steered it through the trials of the revolutions and the conflagrations of the Civil War. The Bolshevik Party breathed into millions of hearts immense confidence that a just peace is possible.

　　V.I.Lenin managed to accomplish the main thing. He proved the all-conquering power of socialist ideas.Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin became the first Marxist who headed a victorious proletarian revolution and stood at the helm of the state of workers and peasants. The foundations of the Soviet social and state system were laid under his leadership. Our Motherland became the leader of world development.

　　Lenin’s brain embraced phenomena on the planetary scale and showed its genius in solving practical issues of managing a gigantic country. His colossal power astonished contemporaries. Awareness of the scale of his personality translated itself into powerful artistic images, like in the case of Vladimir Mayakovsky:

　　In his brain

　　He handled

　　A thousand gubernias,

　　Carried

　　Up to a billion and a half

　　People,

　　He weighed

　　The world

　　In a single night...

　　In the eyes of the proletarian poet Lenin is the man who “Captured the whole earth at once and saw what was hidden by time.”

　　Lenin combined sober political calculation, precise assessments and conclusions with an extraordinary audacity of a revolutionary. He assured victory by setting the task of turning a bourgeois revolution into a socialist one. He insisted on signing the Peace of Brest, an extremely difficult decision which led to new victories. Lenin’s turn to the NEP puzzled many of his associates, but the Party’s leader again turned out to be right!

　　In a situation of economic disarray, hunger and typhus epidemics Lenin figured out how to take the mangled and bleeding Motherland to the cutting edge of technological progress. He put forward the slogan: “Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the whole country.”This formula distilled the behest to all generations of communists: at every turn of the spiral of history to find the most promising things and assimilate the truly progressive things putting them in the service of socialism.

　　The man who founded our party was a true popular leader.Lenin struck fear into enemies by the irresistible power of truth, and he was close to the working people as one of them. As a brilliant agitator he captured his audience. His speech was concrete, realistic and invested with profound content, and his ideas carried away the masses.

　　Lenin’s approach called for a high level of culture.So, surprising many participants in the Third Congress of the Komsomol he speaks not about heroic victories on the front line, but declares: “Proletarian culture is not an upstart, it is not an invention of the people who call themselves specialists on proletarian culture. This is utter rubbish.”He describes proletarian cultures as the result of the development of accumulated knowledge, hence One can only become a communist if one enriches one’s memory with the knowledge of all the riches humanity has worked out.These words were addressed to all the generations of the champions and builders of communism.

　　Combining in himself the courage of a leader, iron will and fearlessness, Vladimir Ilyich was always attentive and sensitive toward people.He pinned particular hopes on the youth. His concern for the upbringing of the young generation, his keen interest in the activities of the Komsomol greatly helped the Soviet Power in molding the new man, hero and creator.

　　Seeing all the details of complicated problems, Lenin knew how to single out the main, truly fateful things. Clearly understanding the laws of development, he never succumbed to panic or dejection, retained faith in the revolutionary creative potential of the masses. As a prodigious organizer he took into account every trifle and was aware of his immense responsibility for every decision made.

　　Lenin’s ability to foresee the future was not a result of mysterious witchcraft, but of rigorous scientific analysis based on Marxist methodology. Transformation of the country’s economic life on a planned basis was the foundation of his success as a statesman.All-round transformation of society was launched. People’s life was steadily improving, educational and cultural standards were raised.

　　Lenin inspired the Bolshevik nationalities policy.For him proletarian internationalism was not a reason for beating his breast, but the basis of state decisions. He proposed a way to bring together the splinters of a disintegrated Russia into a new type of state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He brilliantly put this plan into practice together with his comrades-in-arms. The country was put back together peacefully, democratically, by decisions of the Congress.

　　The old form of the Russian state had been destroyed under the bourgeois Provisional Government. Lenin’s decrees passed in October of 1917 ensured its revival. Further continuity looked like this: the RSFSR – the USSR -- the Russian Federation.Thus, Lenin became the founding father of the present-day Russian state. He initiated the formation of all the main institutions that ensured the country’s life. Thus, the creation of the Red Army was the key condition of the victory over the foreign interventionists and their White Guard accomplices.

　　The foundation of the socialist rule of the people was laid by the system of Soviets.It was born by the living creativity of the working people in the course of the revolutionary events in 1905–1907. The idea of the soviets fully corresponded to the Russian tradition. Lenin immediately saw its tremendous potential and helped the party to make it an effective weapon.

　　The economic and social, scientific and cultural results of the Lenin and Stalin modernization have no analogs in world history.Lenin’s GOELRO plan became the basis of a mighty industrial leap forward. The power stations built at that time still supply energy for the cities and villages all over Russia.

　　In its first 30 years the USSR increased its industrial output by almost 13 times. During the same period the USA increased its output by two times and Great Britain by 60 %. The heavy industry in the USSR trebled and machine building quadrupled. Labor productivity increased by almost one-third.

　　During the pre-war Five-Year Plan periods 9 thousand major industrial facilities were built. Gross industrial output increased nearly 8-fold on 1913. New industries, including machine building, tractor building, the chemical industry and aircraft building were created from scratch.

　　At the time of the collapse of the USSR the RSFSR accounted for 9% of the world industrial output, the Soviet Union for 20%, and the socialist community countries for 40%. Today Russia’s share in world industrial output has dropped significantly.

　　Between 1921 and 1967 the real incomes of Soviet workers increased almost seven-fold and of peasants by 8.5 times. Soviet power put an end to unemployment and illiteracy already in the first 20 years. The country was the first on the planet to conquer the most dangerous infections. One in every four scientists in the world was a Soviet citizen. One in every three air passengers flew on Soviet-made planes which had no equals in terms of reliability.

　　By the beginning of the 20th century the population of the Russian Empire stood at 125 million. The population of the USSR by 1991 stood at 294 million, an increase by almost 2.5 times. Half a century after the victory of socialism our citizens lived longer by an average 38 years. In the USA during the same period the average life expectancy grew only by 18 years.

　　The Great October Socialist Revolution gave a powerful impetus to the communist and national liberation movement. The Communist International was created and had great influence. The countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America got rid of colonial dependence. Their peoples still cherish grateful memories of the Soviet Union. Together with China and Russia they are making their contribution to the struggle against latter-day colonialists of the 21st century.

　　Lenin’s ideas firmly cemented the Soviet people. Having overcome social divisions, the USSR created a solid basis for the Great Victory in May of 1945.The sword of justice forged by the Bolsheviks cut off the heads of the ugly hydra of Hitler’s Nazism, European Fascism and Japanese militarism. All Russia-haters and anti-Sovieteers need to be reminded that in history only communists have defeated Nazism and Fascism.

　　Lenin’s ideas stand behind all our victories in the 20th century.His image combines post-war rehabilitation, the creation of the nuclear missile shield and the advent of the space era. Yuri Gagarin said: “To fly to the stars it is not enough to break the shackles of the earth gravitation-- it was necessary to throw off the trammels in which labor, reason, the human soul languished until the October Revolution. It is not for nothing that the Communards were referred to as the ‘people storming the sky.’ The storming of outer space did not begin on April 12, 1961… It all started with the salvo of the Aurora, with the storming of the Winter Palace.”

　　Our enemies claim that the collapse of the USSR proved that the ideas of Marx and Lenin “were no fit for purpose.” That is clumsy cheating. It is exactly the other way around. That tragedy confirmed the importance of Lenin’s warnings to the effect that the communist party needed ideological purity and loyalty to Marxism. His staunch disciple, Stalin, expressed this in the formula: “Without theory we will perish.” Alas, Khrushchev’s see-sawing and Gorbachev-Yeltsin betrayal confirmed this truth.

　　The fate of Russia and the world after 1991 proves that Marx, Engels and Lenin were right.Saccharine talk about “humanization of capitalism,” vain hopes pinned on convergence, speculations about “the end of history” turned out to be a cover for still more relentless and all-embracing oppression. Capital has got new levers of influencing people’s consciousness and the subconscious. It imposes utter egoism and consumerism, kills culture and promotes undisguised perversion. The world oligarchy sees this as a chance to consolidate its power over billions of oppressed, robbed, hungry people deprived of access to education and modern medicine.

　　With the collapse of the USSR the globalists took off their belts. They are directly to blame for the growing scale of inequality, violence and poverty. The UN’s plans to conquer global poverty by 2030 have failed dismally.On the national level, only China has achieved this end. A third of the Earth’s population is permanently undernourished. Ten million deaths from starvation a year -- this is the price of capitalist savagery. Only out-and-out rascals can consider this to be normal.

　　Counter-revolution has thrown Russia to the periphery of capitalism and its people into poverty and disfranchisement.The country’s wealth was being looted.Advanced production facilities were destroyed. Oligarchic clans were being formed. Natural and financial resources were syphoned off.Banditry was rife. What remained of the Soviet rule of the people was shot down.

　　While bourgeois reaction was bleeding Russia white, external threats were growing. The West cynically ignored our legitimate demands “to take into account our national interests”.The consequences of criminal privatization complicated the badly needed special military operation. NATO, entrenched in Eastern Europe, is now capturing Finland and Sweden.

　　Global capitalism seeks to subjugate and destroy our country. Power seeks to uphold sovereignty while remaining within the old system.We thought we were like them, bourgeois, we want to be in this family of so-called civilized peoples, V.Putin says openly and sarcastically. But life-changing conclusions are long overdue, as Americannes and the Fifth Column continue to strangle Russia. The duality of power is becoming extremely dangerous.

　　Like on the eve of 1917, our country is at a road fork.One path leads into the quagmire oligarchic capitalism and catastrophe. The other is a course for socialism, creative endeavor and spiritual rebirth. This is the only way to secure a worthy future. Lenin’s ideas are indispensable. We, our country and our people need them like air.

　　Lenin’s outstanding contribution is the development of the theory of imperialism.Having determined the characteristics of the highest stage of capitalism he drew the conclusion that all its contradictions are sharpening, creating prerequisites for socialism. When conditions for the world moving toward socialism are ripe, “the war of capitalists for privileges and monopolies” has become a way “to delay the collapse of capitalism,” Lenin wrote in 1915. This is the cause of the tragedy for entire peoples in our day.

　　Capital responded to the aggravation of the crisis by increasing exploitation of the working people, cracking down on rights and freedoms, unleashing wars and conflicts. Today thescars of bloody cleavages disfigure Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa. The US imperialism seeks to dominate the world and establish a new colonial system. The united West is pursuing a vicious aggression against Russia. It uses anti-communism and Russophobia and fosters Fascism. Imposing ideas about alien nations, religions and races, the bourgeoisie gets a free hand and “cannon fodder” for its adventures.

　　The danger of a global nuclear conflict is growing with every passing day. It can only be prevented if the working people of all countries unite to make a breakthrough toward socialism. Here, too, Lenin helps us with his ideas about the hegemony of the proletariat in a revolution, its alliance with the working peasantry, the possibility of peaceful development of the revolution, and the link between the struggle for socialism and the national liberation movement.

　　Today, life in the world and in individual countries is changing rapidly. After the start of the special operation political and social processes in Russia have acquired a new logic and dynamics. Any major provocation can upset the current balance of forces and trigger a chain of fateful phenomena. In these conditions the Russian communists, the popular patriotic forces continue their struggle against bourgeois reaction.The struggle for a just peace and social progress.Our key task is to change the balance of forces in the country in favor of socialism.

　　Russia is duty-bound to respond to the challenges of the time on all the fronts of the hybrid war. Above all on the economic, scientific-technical, social and demographic levels. The course of the ruling circles does not correspond to these tasks This amounts to an attempt to build a guardrail against historical challenges and to go on living according to the recipes of liberal fundamentalists.

　　An ambivalent policy cannot be creative. It always leads to defeat. It is impossible to criticize capitalism and hope to achieve success in the framework of this system. The ruling circles feel no kinship with the working people and are afraid of the will of the popular masses. That is why they shy away from a broad dialog aimed at working out a new nationwide course. They target the CPRF, hem in the trade unions, do not want to rein in anti-Sovietism symbolized by the festering abscess of the Yeltsin Center. Following this path the ulcers of mass poverty, social discord, corruption eating away at the social organism cannot be cured.To tolerate this in the context of vicious aggression of the West is a recipe for disaster.

　　The CPRF has amassed great experience of creative endeavor. The Primakov-Maslyukov government saved the country from default in 1998.The people’s enterprises ofP.Grudinin, I.Kazankov, I.Bogachev, I.Sumarokovhave for many years demonstrated successful development of collective work. The communist teams ofA.Lokot, S.Levchenko, A.Klychkov, V.Konovalovand A.Russkikhhave done much for the development of Novosibirsk, the Irkutsk and Oryol oblasts, the Republic of Khakassia and the Ulyanovsk oblast.

　　The CPRF is constantly studying the best management practices.Proceeding from them the party proposes draft laws, government programs and national projects. Important contributions to this work are being made by I.Melnikov and V.Kashin, N.Kharitonov and Yu.Afonin, D.Novikov and L.Kalashnikov, N.Kolimeitsev and S.Savitskaya, M.Arefyev and K.Taysyev, O.Smolin and N.Ivanov, N.Ostanina and Yu.Sinelshchikov, V.Sobolev and N.Osadchy, S.Kazankov and A.Kurinny. G.Kamnev and V.Isakov and all the CPRF deputies.

　　Our VictoryProgram guarantees a fundamental change of policy. It is aimed at improving the quality of life and well-being of the citizens. Its provisions include:

　　-nationalization of strategically important sectors;

　　- long-term socio-economic planning;

　　- removing the oligarchy from managing the economy;

　　- dramatic increase of government investments in high-tech economy, science, education and healthcare;

　　- stopping capital export from the country;

　　- all-round support of people’s and collective enterprises;

　　- growth of the well-being of the people and broad access to cultural achievements.

　　We attach paramount importance to uniting society and mobilizing resources, forces and means to defeat those who have declared war on the Russian world. Every patriot must feel personal responsibility for defending the Motherland and its great future.

　　It is only after solving these strategic tasks that we can confidently move forward. Implementation of our ideas would guarantee a decent life for the workers and peasants, the intelligentsia and the military, veterans and youth.

　　The CPRF is honestly fulfilling its duty by the people of Russia. By forming a creative team and working out the Victory Program we have done much to safeguard the national memory and the right of citizens to be proud of the heroes of the Soviet era. We will continue this work as we approach the Centenary of the day of commemoration of Lenin.

　　We have announced a Lenin call-up and are inviting to our ranks all those who are committed to the struggle for socialism. Preparing those who will replace us is a pivotal task. The ideological staunchness and cohesion of communists are extremely important. Lenin taught us that there is no alternative to being organized. He wrote: “The Party is a conscious, advanced stratum of the class, its vanguard. The strength of this vanguard is 10, 100 times greater than its numbers… Organization increases strength tenfold.” 

　　Communists of the 21st century remember the teaching about the party of a new type. “The role of the frontline fighter can only be fulfilled by a party guided by an advanced theory,” Lenin stressed. He maintained that without relying on the working class the party would degenerate into a sect, and without a revolutionary theory it would not be able to lead the working people. Lenin’s idea was vindicated by the fate of the renegades of the Second International and the left-wing parties which turned into appendages of the bourgeois system.There are many pseudo-left organizations in the world today. To protect the working people from these fakes, the communist party is called upon to fulfil its role of the political vanguard of the masses.

　　The CPRF is open to admitting to its ranks for those for whom the name of Lenin is a symbol of genius and valor. We call on them to carry on working together for this cause, to implement the Victory Program, to march toward socialism and to revive our beloved country.

　　Lenin spared neither his time nor his health in the struggle for the best ideals. Frantic, feverish work, sleepless nights and the consequences of his being wounded undermined his strength. But he did not give up until last, remaining an example of a true communist.

　　Lenin’s heart stopped beating a hundred years ago. But the main thing had been done. The world changed. Changed for the better and forever.Lenin’s heritage is our priceless treasure. His ideas carry an immense creative charge. His thought, will and accomplishments continue to illuminate the path of world development.

　　Already then, in the cold January of 1924, the nationwide farewell to Vladimir Ilyich reaffirmed that his name would be written in gold letters in the annals of history. The poet Mikhail Isakovsky reflected this very accurately:

　　Night passes. And ever broader

　　Dawn breaks, shining…

　　He did not die: everywhere in this world

　　His deeds live on.

　　The nationwide mourning demonstrated how much V.I.Lenin meant for the peoples of our country. When his heart stopped beating the party announced a call-up to its ranks. In his report to the 13th Congress of the RCP(B) on 24 My 1924 the General Secretary of the CC,I.V.Stalin, summed up the interim results of the Lenin call-up. Party membership had increased from 485, 000 to 680,000. Expressing their thoughts and feelings, their will and choice Alexander Bezymensky wrote: As for me, I am joining the Party. I am a son of the Land of the Soviets.

　　Do you hear me, Party? I give you my pledge…

　　Just months will pass and a hundred thousand party cards Will replace Lenin’s lost card.

　　Life goes on. No one can forbid the peoples to dream about genuine freedom and happiness. Legions of Hitlers and Gimmlers, Francos and Salazars, Vlasovs and Banderas, Batistas and Pinochets were powerless to kill this hope. A hundred years ago Lenin passed away, like all mortals do. But the hot pulse of Lenin’s immortal ideas was already beating in millions of hearts across the world.

　　Henceforth from century to century – along with the brightest dreams of the working people – goes the image of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the great visionary and dreamer, a genius theoretician and practitioner. Thinker, Revolutionary, Creator who stepped into immortality 100 years ago. And we repeat without a shadow of a doubt, clearly and proudly, after Vladimir Mayakovsky:

　　Lenin lived,

　　Lenin lives,

　　Lenin will live!

　　So, dear fellow-citizens, forward to the future under the victorious banner of Lenin! Toward a strong, just Socialist Russia! 

　　Editor: Zhong Yao、Huang He

　　From: http://www.solidnet.org/article/CP-of-the-Russian-Federation-Address-of-the-Central-Committee-of-the-CPRF-to-the-People-of-Russia/（2023-11-23）