Communism is Not a "European" Ideology--It Is the Ideology of the International Proletariat (Part one)

Communism is Not a "European" Ideology--It Is the Ideology of the International Proletariat (Part one)

by Bob Avakian

It is sometimes claimed, particularly by nationalists of various kinds, that communism is "a European ideology." In fact, recently I was reading a report about a discussion some of our people had with some Black college students who raised this and went on to insist that "Black people cannot follow a European ideology, we have to follow an ideology we create ourselves."

First of all, to get down to basics, communism is not the ideology of any one part of the world, any one people, any one nation (or race). It is the ideology of the proletariat, which includes people of all regions and all nations. In the U.S. itself the proletariat is made up of people of many different nationalities--including Blacks, Latinos, Asians and native peoples, as well as whites. And more than that, the proletariat is an international class--it is made up of people of every country, in every part of the world, of every race--and communism is the ideology of this international proletariat.
But let's get into this whole question more fully.

Historical Development
of Communist Ideology

It is true that communist ideology was first developed in Europe, by Karl Marx (together with Frederick Engels), in the middle of the 1800s. Why was this the case?

This was a time when the industrial revolution associated with the rapid development of capitalist society was in full swing in parts of Europe. Massive technological changes were taking place and major scientific developments were being made and harnessed to this capitalist enterprise. Together with this rapid development of capitalist industrialization, the social relations of capitalism were also becoming more and more obvious. In particular, it was becoming more and more clear that the interests of the two main classes in capitalist society--the bourgeoisie (the capitalist exploiters) and the proletariat (the working class exploited by the capitalists)--were in fundamental conflict with each other.

It was on the basis of all this that Marx founded the ideology of communism. But Marx did not do this in some narrow sense. He drew from a broad range of human experience and knowledge, including philosophy and science as well as economics and politics. He looked back through the history of development of human societyand he surveyed the broad field of human experience internationally.

Marx not only exposed that capitalism meant the ruthless exploitation of the workers by the capitalists in Europe itself. He also exposed that from the very beginning capitalism had been founded in the enslavement and even the outright extermination of peoples from Africa to the Americas. He exposed and opposed the colonial powers of that time in their oppression of peoples all over the world, from Ireland to Egypt to India and China.

It is true that Marx expected the communist revolution would take place first in Europe, where capitalism was most highly developed, and that this would show the way to the rest of the world. But later in his life, as he saw that this revolution had still not come in Europe, Marx changed some of his particular views accordingly. For example, as he himself said, he had taken the position that a revolution by the workers to overthrow capitalism in England would lead to the liberation of Ireland from English domination, but he had come to see that things were really the other way around--that unless the English workers fought for the liberation of British colonies like Ireland, these workers could never carry out a communist revolution. And he took the same kind of position toward slavery in the United States: not only did Marx actively support the struggle to abolish slavery, but he pointed out that the working people in the U.S. could never emancipate themselves from capitalist wage-slavery if half of their number were chained in outright slavery.

The Russian Revolution-- A Bridge to the East

Yet, despite Marx's expectations--and his active work, both theoretical and practical--a communist-led revolution did not come first in Europe. It came instead in Russia. Or, rather, it took place in what had been the Russian empire, which covered a huge area, including not only Russia itself but many other nations as well. Most of this area was not in Europe but in Asia. In fact, this Russian empire was a kind of bridge between West and East, and so was the proletarian revolution that occurred there, beginning in October 1917.

This revolution not only brought about the emancipation of the workers from capitalist exploitation. It also brought about the liberation of more than a hundred nations and national minorities who had been cruelly oppressed under the Russian empire. Before the proletarian revolution this empire had been known as "the prison-house of nations." But as a result of the October Revolution this "prison-house of nations" was replaced by the Soviet Union. For several decades, first under the leadership of Lenin and then of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union was a genuine, revolutionary union of the peoples of the country, on the basis of equality and with the proletariat holding political power.

Marxism teaches us that theory develops in relation to, and ultimately on the basis of, practice. The experience of this October Revolution and of the overall situation in which it occurred led to the further development of communist theory. This revolution took place toward the end of the first world war--and this war in turn grew out of the further development of capitalism into a worldwide system of exploitation and oppression, imperialism. It was Lenin, more than anyone else, who led the way in analyzing these new developments and in seizing on the situation to break through the chain of imperialism and carry out the proletarian revolution. Lenin didn't just lead the revolution in the Russian empire--he did everything possible to further this same revolutionary struggle in other countries, not just in Europe but throughout the world. It was on the basis of all this that Lenin developed Marxism to a new and higher stage--Marxism became Marxism-Leninism.

Although attempts at proletarian revolution in other countries at that time were defeated--either led astray or crushed outright--still the revolution led by Lenin changed the face of the entire world. One of the most important things it did was to spread communism to the East, linking it with the struggles of the colonized peoples for their emancipation from imperialism. As Mao Tsetung so powerfully put it, the salvos of the October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China, and once the Chinese revolutionaries discovered and took up this ideology they were finally able to take the road leading to complete liberation.

Since that time communism has become even more fully an international movement. More particularly, it has increasingly been linked with and stood at the forefront of the liberation struggles of the oppressed peoples of (what today is often called) the Third World. When these struggles are led by revolutionary communists, it is possible not only to carry out the first great step--overthrowing the domination of imperialism and the local reactionary forces aligned with imperialism. Beyond that, it is possible to take the next, and even greater step--to carry forward the revolutionary struggle to the stage of socialism. 

Socialism is itself a political-economic system ruled by the proletariat and a transition to communism, which will mean the elimination of classes altogether and with them the end of all oppression and exploitation.


(end part 1)


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