CHAPTER: 13

NEO SOCIALISM: SOCIALISM OF 21st CENTURY-----------------------------------------------------

From the very birth of traditional socialism, a controversy continued different times between the Marxists and the communists on the question of democracy. The party was the vanguard section of the proletariat and the savior of democracy. As such, Marxists hold that intra-party and the election process controlled by the party represented democracy in the time sense. The dictatorship of the proletariat was accepted. This resulted gradually to the system of one party rule, and minimum democratic rights, e.g. criticism, freedom of expression, freedom of press, to establish any party except communist party were being denied. The state oppression and the decision of the communist party or the central committee of the party on the common mass was imposed as the absolute truth.

The arbitrary power of the party hardly allowed any opposition, alternate view, political even personal liberty, and took the extreme shape of despotism.

In the 1930s, those who expressed difference of opinion in the implementation of the programs of the party at the instance of Joseph Stalin, could not escape the wrath of the supreme. From members of the Bolshevik party to workers of the lower rank, a section of the Bolshevik party like minded persons outside the party and anti-Bolshevik persons---- nobody was stopped from the state oppression. Long imprisonment, sending to labor camps, political murder continued in the reign of terror. **** The late 1920s is thus marked as the inglorious chapter in the history of Russian Socialism, with respect to democracy or in wider sense.

Historians sympathetic to Soviet Russia, journalists, intellectuals, communist leaders of other countries and political workers endeavored to justify in the following years , the necessity of state terrorism to save the young socialist state, to promote and develop the ideology of Socialism against enemies of home and abroad. The same pattern of one-party tyrannical rule and negation of democratic values were manifested in communist party controlled by socialist countries. Mass execution, long imprisonment, purging and expulsion followed in those states too.

Plurality of political paths, tolerant attitude to different views recognizing the public opinion from the angle of democratic methods have been dubbed as bourgeois outlook.

**** Another hero of Russian Revolution, Trotsky, was exiled from the country.Consequently, communist parties, gradually got isolated from the general people and thereby parties, state and bureaucracy got inseparable. To its opposite remained the entire working class including the proletariat.

The main opposition of Leninism that state will wither away in course of development of socialism to communism is historical. The more class struggle inequalities will reduce through class struggles, the more democratic process will envelope socities and the nature of the state as an instrument of exploitation will be replaced with the shape of welfare society. The hope of the state withering away with the attainment of the communism did not come into reality. Rather, trampling down, freedom and democratic rights the states become more and more instruments of repression. The communist leadership, workers and intellectuals failed to realize the simple truth that the source of political authority in the state was nothing but the people and the working class in the narrow personal, political and factional interests.

This situation leads to the weakening of the apparently powerful state. Obviously, the fall of the classical socialist state systems of the superpower Soviet Union followed by East European states.

And the imperial state and the reactionary forces took the full advantages of such debility of the malfunctioning socialist states and fuming discontent of people. Proclaiming the high ideals of bourgeois democracy they went far to establish the immortality of Capitalist system and the death knell of the socialist system.

In China, the biggest socialist state the same pattern of state prevails today. The New Democracy Revolution and the Cultural Revolution in the second phase did not accord in reality democratic rights, citizen rights, freedom of press, and to form new parties. No tolerance to individual opinion and criticism outside the communist party structure or the ruling clique was permitted. Execution, imprisonments, expulsion of person having critical view continued as in the Stalinist Russia. The most obnoxious chapter lies in the massacre of students by the Chinese army with the armored car, tanks, for their holding up the cause of democracy under the influence of bourgeois democracy. Surprisingly, while the tragic incident occurred in the late 1980s, China started to come out in the capitalistic path adopting some capitalist reforms in the form of market socialism. Meanwhile, Soviet Union also introduced Glass nost and perestroika to induct some freedom and open air in the early 1980s. All these efforts of reforms were much belated. As a result, the red flag of liberation of the working class instead of fluttering high, fell on the ground. The despondency of the high aspirations of the libertarian people of the socialist states, developed countries and developing states created an atmosphere of hopelessness and uncertain future.

At the same time the joy of free democracy has spelled unbridled loot process through the implementation of liberal economy and globalization policies.

The control of the imperialists keeps on increasing the dominance on the underdeveloped and developing states with the revolution in information technology making the global village.

In order to perpetuate the hegemony of Americans imperialism over oil world and the entire world, the U.S.A waged war on Iraq & Afghanistan on various pretexts and committed large scale massacre of people with modern weapons.

Installing loyal governments in the aforesaid states the American imperialists acted as the protector of bourgeois democracy. And the rosy globalization and liberal democracy has already faded to a great extent. The eroded shape of it has becoming pronounced from the late 1990s to the first decade of the 21st century. Imperialists have been devising a lot of reforms to obviate the back foot position and keeping the success story of globalization intact.

But, the grim reality indicated to the increasing uncertainty, joblessness, unemployment and inequality day by day. The working class across the world staged demonstrations in Wall Street, London, Paris, Rome, and other states too against the Tokyo, Seattle, and Doha Rounds of World Trade organization.

New hopes, new directions, new thoughts have been emerging wiping out past mistakes and new lessons of the socialist states. Thus, the basis of new socialism appears to be insight, Latin American states like Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil refusing to be the strong imperialist hegemony and introduced some politico-economic changes focusing on the possibility of new variety of socialism of the 21st century.

We intend to come to our conclusion with some humble queries---- what type of socialism we need , what type of new world we aspire, whether the dictatorship of the proletariat is of any necessity, whether class dictatorship or party dictatorship is in need.

Socialism, without democracy is meaningless. The maxim of socialism speaks of: Each one will get his remuneration according to his quality and quantity of work and each one is to put work to get his bread. This capacity to do work may be intellectual, technical or manual. Towards the abolition of class inequality, new principles of economic culture and governmental may be adapted to the goal of communism. Admittedly, inequality with weakling position still persists in the socialist states. With the passing over to the classless communist society, each one will get his various requirements according to his need.

In the communists society, there will be no private property, no exploitation. The Trans valuation will inculcate spirit of voluntary services for the smooth sailing of the society. Socialism is a pre-conditional stage to the communist society. At this transitional period, the dictatorship of the proletariat necessitates some political and economic steps to popularize collective and social ownership, bidding good bye to individual ownership of means of production.

As such, during the transition from Capitalism to Socialism, the trend of collective marching of citizen will get evidence. This change in the thought of the public at large appears to gradual decline in the popular acceptance and hegemony of the bourgeois class and the capitalism itself. Instead, it will also bolster up the unity of the working class and its hegemony.

We may legitimately visualize that this process will take shape with the transformation of the bourgeois democracy into the democracy of the working people, the march towards socialism and communism being inevitable.

While democracy passes over to its improved state, the democratic spirit gets deep into the sensitized grassroots of the people. In other words, the democracy is the only path to establish rights and social justice of the entire population including the working class. On the other hand, without the application of democracy, the authority of the monopoly capitalism advocating for the globalization is impossible. Besides, democracy cannot succeed without the prevalence of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, multi-party system.

Then the question arises whether in the socialist system any type of political party can be permitted to voice freely its ideology. The matter draws attention to the dictatorship of proletariat.

It has already been discussed that the question remains unresolved whether the party dictatorship or the dictatorship of the working class or the supremacy of the working people for the leadership of greater democracy. How such a state will be formed?

We know that in modern days, each state has a constitution which reflects the ideology of the ruling class. Any protest against the constitutional provisions invites the gagging of such voice by various state machineries.

In present day India, the constitution incorporates the faade of the high- sounding radical principles of socialism has attempted to establish its legitimacy to the Indian people.

But the basic thing can hardly be overlooked that the state system based on class exploitation and the guarantee to protect private ownership of production conceals the real character of it. Indian bourgeois tries to confuse the public with the idea that a special type of socialistic pattern and the evolutionary socialism through the public sector enterprise like Railways, banks, Insurance, Steel Plants, is being developed.

It is the irony of fate that the full advantages of this pseudo-socialism is taken by the ruling class under the leadership of the big business. Instead of pointing to these limitations of the democratic system of India, left parties have tactically accepted the system, without molding the mindset of the people towards class struggle.

The implication underneath is simply the electoral victory to share power with bourgeois parties in order to survive in the system being isolated from the party and the working class. They rationalize their position by pretending their commitment and responsibility to the cause of democracy and the people (without caring for the type of democracy). They simply forget that the representation of the working class presupposes the unique path of the class struggle and the socialist democracy to uphold the interest of the working class, their rights measured in terms of putting labor and quality not in terms of private property and capital.

Left parties in India have been forced to recognize the political plurality system to safeguard their existence and in the interests of bourgeois democracy.

It is now necessary to utilize political multi-party system to further the cause of New Socialism or Socialism in 21st Century.

The features of New socialism which we think preferable to bourgeois democracy are as follows:-

1.Political Plurality will be acceptable in the presence of political parties and their factions.

2.Different labor organizations and mass organizations shall have freedom of expression and right to demonstration in case of necessity.

3.It is not that democracy will prevail only among political parties or mass-organizations. It will prevail in the society, the state at all stages of production from grassroots to the highest tier.

4.All the crisis of the state, the nation and the world will be tackled by the people and the people will enjoy the advantages of their handling.

5.Freedom of the press and other media will have to be secured.

Faced with the crisis of existence in the past and the present, a section of leftists are in motion to rule out the dictatorship of the proletariat. Under the influence of reformist and bourgeois ideology left-minded leaders avoided the matter of the great role of the working class. It must be admitted that the full fledged democracy and freedom can exist in a communist society only. And this fact is not remembered by so called leftists. They actually want to leap backward by supporting capitalist democracy instead of waging struggle for the cause of the dictatorship of the working class.

Of course, Marxism admits that all types of democracy are class-based, whether it is Roman aristocratic democracy or the capitalist democracy. The constitution which the state system operates is really speaking, reflects the faade of democracy, in the hegemonistic rule of the ruling class.

Hence, in the process of implementation of socialist programs towards achieving the communist society, the constitution will be developed amidst the abolition of class antagonism and inequality. Such constitutional pattern will assure the most extensive democracy and the collective social ownership arranged giving up private ownership of means of production. In order to protect and promote such state system, the dictatorship of the working class is to play the historical role.

In other words, democracy and multi-party system, freedom of thought and expression, freedom of the press, and all types of political and civil rights will remain protected till they are enjoyed to the achievement of goals of socialism and communism. In case, any individual, or organization or political party or syndicate of newspapers takes any initiative to propagate in favor of private ownership of property and exploitative ideology, the constitutional provisions should be applied to crush such reactionary movements. With a view to coerce such attempt there should be a monitoring agency in New Socialist system of the state or the international organization.It is also intended to give legitimacy to the administration conducted by political party. The government will be formed by the people through the election process which will allow different political parties, even opposition parties to embrace economic policies so as to ensure the attainment of socialist goal, improvising the socialist relations, and this will be the process of continuous class struggle which will eliminates al the exploiters, classes values and economic prejudices and establishes new proletarian culture and value system. . They will be selected by the people to run the governmental machinery.

Each party will aim at advancing towards socialism through rapid and logical ways. This process will do away with antagonistic conflicts and non-antagonistic contradiction will wither away by course of time. The Revolutionaries as the torch bearers of enlightenment will move ahead from the present condition of despondency with high commitment to build up the edifice of socialism and communism and to help blossoming hundred flowers through the non-violent class struggle only. ________________________________________________