- The Guardian
- Issue #1987
The 7th November marked the 104th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. While the February bourgeois Revolution removed the tsar, the October Revolution served as the impetus for the workers to take power and deliver a workers’ government for the first time in world history.
While the Russian Revolution itself extended just over six years, it was the fruition of decades of work by the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin. In this period, sometimes spent in exile, sometimes spent with comrades, Lenin and the Bolsheviks worked tirelessly to educate and organise the workers’ and share their vision with other revolutionaries.
It is perhaps fitting, then, that we turn to one of Lenin’s most famous phrases that “[t]here are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” And, while it is always enticing to turn to the most exciting aspects of the October Revolution, it is important that we note that there were thousands of hours spent doing unrecognised work.
And, it is in this situation where we find ourselves today. It is essential to acknowledge that we are not on the precipice of revolution but rather in a period of rebuilding that requires dedicated effort in our tasks. It is a reality that much of the work we do today will go unnoticed for years to come. However, this should not deter us as the tasks ahead are difficult. Not only must we build our Party, but we must strive to build class consciousness among the working class – tasks that require serious engagement with the masses.
Our dedication in this period should only serve to strengthen our resolve when larger challenges confront us as a result of our successes. In the immediate future, we need to work together, assess the situation confronting us in each area, and work collectively on how we build our Party and win over workers. Our next set of tasks will reveal itself when this work is done.
Thus, we should not only celebrate the October Revolution as a historic victory for the working class. We should recognise it for what it is: the effort of heroic revolutionaries – many of who remain nameless, and all of whom spent countless hours – who wrote, spoke, protested, and even sacrificed their lives in the struggle for the working class and peasants to take control and liberate themselves from the shackles of their oppressors.
Comrades! The celebration of the October Revolution is a reminder to us all of the difficult and long struggle that lies ahead for the working class to achieve victory, to gain its freedom from capitalist rule. If we are to take the bull, known as opportunity, by the horns, we must make more concerted interventions in the labour movement. We must also find ourselves involved on the streets, whether fighting for better action on climate change, Indigenous struggle, or peace.
The October Revolution is a guiding light, a beacon we use to illuminate the halls of our future as we move forward in the fight for our socialist victory, our October Revolution.