1) Restoration of Capitalism in the USSR: The Soviet Union was once a workers state, the proud homeland of socialism for the working class and oppressed peoples of the world. Under Lenin and Stalin’s leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union charted a steady course designed to lead to the building up of a strong socialist state able to advance step by step towards a classless society.
But the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat took place for a long time within the Party itself. With Stalin’s death in 1953, the bourgeois forces within the party began to make their move to overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat. Their first assault was on the ideological front, attacking the stand of the proletariat on war and revolution, the party and state, and substituting for this stand such revisionist concepts as peaceful coexistence, peaceful transition to socialism, peaceful competition with capitalism, party of the whole people, and state of the whole peop1e.
By 1957 these forces, headed by Khrushchev and backed by Marshall Zhukov, staged a military coup and seized state power. By capturing the state, these new bourgeois forces, mainly composed of collective farm directors, engineers, factory managers, and state and party functionaries, had seized possession and control of the principal means of production, the economic backbone of the country.
From this pinnacle of power, this bourgeois clique moved to deprive the Soviet working class of any control over the conditions of their work and the products of their labor. This goal was achieved by severing the working class from basic ownership and control of the means of production.
Insofar as the Soviet working class lost this ownership and direct control, the Soviet Union ceases to be, in essence, a socialist society. The new system that was fully consolidated by around 1970 was state monopoly capitalism, with a bureaucrat-monopoly capitalist class firmly in control of both the state and the economic base. The means of production became commodities, to be utilized by this new bourgeois class for their own self-interest at the expense of the working class. As a complementary development, the labor-power of the proletariat was turned into a commodity like any other and could be bought and sold – workers could be fired and laid off.
2) Soviet Social-Imperialism: The capitalist economy of the Soviet Union expanded and developed fairly rapidly to the stage of imperialism. This stage is evident from the monopoly arrangement of its industry. All enterprises in each industry are required by law to join a cartel and must follow the pricing policies and directives of the cartel’s leadership. The state monopoly capitalism of the Soviet Union bears great resemblance to fascism, but it even surpasses Nazi Germany in the degree of its trustification.
The export of capital, as a consequence, is assuming greater importance in the economy of the USSR. This trend can be clearly seen in places like Eastern Europe and India, where the Soviet Union controls much of the basic industry of these countries.
The foreign policy of the Soviet Union is clearly geared to establish spheres of influence and gain control of neo-colonies. Eastern Europe has been the most profitable colonial area for the Soviet Union. The willingness of the bureaucrat capitalists of the Soviet Union to defend the profits rolling in from this region is exhibited in the deployment of three-fourths of the Soviet troops on the European front and the quickness with which it suppresses any kind of rebellion, such as in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The Soviet Union can be described as social-imperialist because it is able to masquerade as a socialist country trying to help Third World countries throw off the yoke of U.S. imperialism, but this aid is only used to serve imperialist goals of subjugating Third World countries and dominating their economies for the benefit of the bureaucrat-monopoly class of the USSR.
We are not talking merely about the hegemonistic policies of a deformed workers state, as some centrist forces in the communist movement claim, but about the full-fledged imperialist policy of a state monopoly capitalist country, whose actions abroad are dictated by its economic base, the relentless drive for profit-maximization.
3) The Principal Contradiction in the World: The principal contradiction in the world in this stage of imperialism is between the people, nations, and countries of the Third World, still struggling for independence, liberation, and revolution, and the Two Superpowers, the USSR and the USA.
The Third World is characterized by different social systems. The contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie still determines the fundamental direction a Third World country will take, either capitalist or socialist. But, despite these internal class contradictions, all Third World countries have a common interest in throwing off imperialism. Not only do the proletariat and peasantry desire an end to oppression and exploitation, but the national bourgeoisie of a colony or semi-colony can also be rallied to struggle for economic independence.
The restoration of capitalism In the USSR was a great blow to the people of the Third World and their national liberation struggles. For one thing, the Soviet Union was no longer a great source of proletarian inspiration and direct material aid. Increasingly, it became clear that Soviet aid to Third-World countries was a tool to create a relationship of neo-colonial dependency such as in Cuba, India, and Egypt.
Although the collapse of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the Soviet Union weakened world proletarian revolution, it did not ease and pacify the contradictions of the capitalist system. The Soviet Union re-entered the world capitalist economy as an imperialist Superpower in a period of rapidly shrinking imperialist markets. The new Superpower contention between the U.S. and the USSR only served to exacerbate the contradictions of imperialism, already considerably sharpened by the second stage of the general crisis of capitalism.
Despite the capitalist degeneration of the Soviet Union, the revolutionary struggles in the Third World have surged forward, with brilliant victories in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos and severe setbacks for U.S. Imperialism in Southern Africa. In addition, the Third World has continued to close ranks on the economic front, such as with OPEC and other cartels to gain a fair price for natural resources. This kind of unity is helping to rain solid blows at the very foundations of the world capitalist system.
4) The United Front Against the Two Superpowers: With the restoration of capitalism in the USSR, we have entered a new stage of imperialism, in which the correct tactic to be applied on a world-wide- basis is the United Front against the Two Superpowers.
The United Front is not in itself a strategy for proletarian revolution. It is a broad front of many anti-imperialist forces, in which the progressive forces take leadership, win over middle forces, and isolate the reactionaries. Socialist countries and Marxist-Leninist parties maintain independence and initiative within this front and struggle to assume leadership of it in order to carry the struggle through to the end.
The progressive forces include the working class of all countries and the exploited and oppressed masses of the Third World, especially the peasantry. The middle forces include the national bourgeoisie of Third World countries and the small and middle capitalists of the Second World. Even the imperialist bourgeoisie of the Second World, such as in Japan, France, and Italy, exhibits a dual character, both opposing the two Superpowers and capitulating to them. Insofar as they struggle to preserve their national independence and sovereignty, they can contribute to the United Front.
The core of the United Front is built on the alliance of progressive and middle forces, and to the extent that this alliance is strengthened, the conditions for socialist revolution world-wide are improved.
The participation of bourgeois governments of the Second and Third World in the United Front in no way negates the need for socialist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat in these countries. The strategic orientation of communists world-wide is that the dictatorship of the proletariat is not only the strongest bulwark against Superpower domination but also the surest solution to the entire world imperialist system.
As far as applying the United Front to the Third World is concerned, great care must be taken not to drive the middle forces into the arms of the Soviet Union. In many cases, a national liberation struggle will be directing its main blow at U.S. Imperialism as the chief force which has historically dominated and exploited its country. While giving support to the liberation struggle against U.S. imperialism, Marxist-Leninists must give a revolutionary education to the people about the dangers of Soviet social-imperialism and the need to maintain independence and self-reliance.
The exposure of the Soviet Union for the Third World’s people will be a protracted campaign. Deceitful as they are, the bureaucrat-monopoly capitalists of the USSR cannot fail to eventually expose their true nature for all to see.
5) The Danger of War: The contradiction between the two imperialisms and the Third World is still the principal contradiction in the world, and the Third World is the rising aspect of that contradiction. But the factors for war are rising as well as the factors for revolution. The contradiction between the two Superpowers, which must inevitably lead to war, is intensifying to the point of approaching in importance the contradiction between the Third World and the two imperialisms.
Imperialism is a decadent system which cannot survive without increasingly exporting capital, annexing greater territory, and grabbing more raw materials. If the sphere for the export of capital is contracting as a result of proletarian revolution and New Democratic revolution, then the contention of the great imperialist powers becomes fiercer and more desperate to control and plunder what remains. After World War II the economic division of the world among the monopoly combines was completed. Since then, the rivalry among the imperialist powers has developed around an economic redivision of a substantially smaller capitalist world.
Because of the degree of concentration of its capital, the Soviet Union is being forced to export capital, but has few colonies in which to invest it. The only way to resolve this contradiction is to go to war to expand its sphere of influence. In the age of imperialism, this ultimately means world war. Leading up to this world war, there will be many battles between the two superpowers taking the form of limited wars in different countries and areas, particularly in the Third World. No area of the world can any longer escape this contention between the Soviet Union and the United States.
As a result of this contention, Europe is increasingly becoming a focus of world contradictions. Control of industrialized Europe would give the Soviet Union the economic muscle to tip the balance of world forces in its favor and hasten the decline of U.S. imperialism.
This danger of world war is an objective fact, independent of people’s will. What is decisive and what is now still lacking is the preparedness of the world’s people. They must be readied to turn the coming imperialist war into civil war in First and Second world countries and wars of national liberation in the Third World.
6) Most Dangerous Source of War: In the contradiction between the two Super-powers, U.S. imperialism is the dominant aspect economically and financially, but it is steadily losing its dominance politically and militarily. Superficially, U.S. imperialism may appear strong, but in essence, and in the long run, it is weak. Over-all and in a general historical sense, The Soviet Union is the rising aspect of the contradiction, and the United States is the declining aspect.
It is for this reason that Marxist-Leninists must expose the aggressive nature of the Soviet Union. Because they understand dialectics, Marxist-Leninists do not take a static view of the world situation, such as many right opportunists and centrists do in fai1ing to recognize the increasing threat of the USSR.
As a rising imperialist force, the Soviet Union is the most dangerous source of war. The Soviet Union is particularly dangerous because it can reap benefits on its past history as a workers state. Waving the flag of socialism, it can more easily penetrate into Third World countries and pose as a friend of 1iberation struggles. Because of its extensive repressive apparatus, the Soviet capitalist class can hold down the standard of 1iving of the working class in favor of raising mi1itary spending and hope to stem any political resistence. As a result, the USSR has been able to operate in the world arena as a much more cohesive political force.
7) The Pitfall of National Chauvinism: The growing danger posed by the Soviet Union must not divert Marxist-Leninists from continuing to oppose U.S. imperialism. Although it is a declining force, it is still immensely powerful and desperately aggressive, and will be substantially weakened only over a relatively long period of time. Some Marxist-Leninist forces in the U.S. and elsewhere are making opportunist errors in almost exclusively opposing Soviet social imperialism and are thus objectively collaborating with U.S. imperialism.
A United Front against the Soviet Union does not accord with the objective world situation and would only play into the hands of U.S. imperialism. Both Superpowers must be opposed as the two main enemies of the world’s people.
The United Front against both Superpowers is especially important for Marxist-Leninists carrying on revolutionary struggle within the United States. It is relatively easy to turn people in the U.S. against the Soviet Union, but the primary ideological basis at this time would be national chauvinism and anti-communism. National chauvinism has been the basis for the revisionist downfall of many a Marxist party, as the history of the Second international testifies.
While educating people to the danger of the Soviet Union as a social imperialist force, U.S. Marxist-Leninists must avoid the pitfall of national chauvinism and reject an alliance with their own bourgeoisie. This is the kind of class collaborationism that Browder advocated in World War II as a revisionist distortion of the tactics of the United Front against Fascism developed by the Comintern. Marxist-Leninists must consistently point out that the main enemy of the working class is the who1e imperialist system, of which the two Superpowers are the chief kingpins.