On Commemorating October Revolution!
It was on 7 November 1917 that the Communist Party successfully captured political power through “Great October Socialist Revolution,” and established Soviet Socialist Republic under Lenin’s leadership. Following that, the Comintern was (Communist International) formed in 1919. The Second Congress of Comintern held in the next year adopted it’s central slogan or clarion call as “Workers and Oppressed Peoples of the World, Unite”. It inspired working and oppressed peoples in both imperialist countries and oppressed nations- colonies and semi-colonies. It led to the formation of Communist Parties across the world, including that in India and China in the 1920s. Along with Socialist Revolution in imperialist countries, Peoples Democratic Revolution in dependent colonial and semi-colonial countries became two streams of World Revolution. In the meanwhile, many advancements including Chinese Revolution took place.
However, today, under postwar neocolonial, neoliberal and neofascist global situation, while imperialism and decadent global capital, everywhere, are inflicting the biggest-ever offensives on world people, the Communist Movement is facing many ideological-political setbacks. Due to this, though working and oppressed peoples in many parts of the world are rising up against imperialism and their lackeys, a political-organisational initiative to lead them is lacking at a global level. This enables neoliberal corporate capital to intensify it’s oppression and plunder on world people through neofascism, i.e., fascism in the 21st century.
It is in this context that India, the most populous and one of the most oppressed countries has gone under the stranglehold of fascism led by RSS, world’s largest and longest-running fascist organisation. As part of this, while majority of the people continues as poor, India is also home to world’s largest number of “absolute poor”. As part of RSS’ majoritarian Hindurashatra agenda, the religious minorities, especially Muslims, are targeted, stigmatised and wantonly attacked, even as efforts are in full swing to disenfranchise and even to deny citizenship right to them. Since Manusmriti, the ideological basis of RSS, treats Dalits and women as subhuman, they also continue as most oppressed and being denied the minimum demcratic rights enshrined in the Constitution for them. Even the basic structure and character of Constitution itself is undermined. And all Constitutional, judicial, legal and administrative institutions are saffronised. As we see today, the Election Commission itself has become a majoritarian fascist tool under the RSS/BJP regime.
Thus, today when we commemorate October Revolution, the entire world including India is at a critical juncture of far-right neofascism propped up by globalised/internationalised corporate-finance capital. Obviously, the material basis of fascism is internationalised Capital everywhere, while it’s ideological basis varies according to the concrete historical, cultural and social characteristics of countries. And, the Communists can play their role only if they are capable to concretely evaluate imperialism and fascism, in the 21st century, both at a global level and in India. To put it differently, while commemorating October Revolution, it is the task of Communists to have ideological clarity on twenty-first century imperialism and fascism and develop political practice accordingly. Of course, compared to Lenin’s time, imperialism and finance capital have undergone many qualitative transformations in the 21st century. Same is the case with twenty-first century neofacism compared to classical fascism of the interwar period. Rather than being stereotype or text copy of the past, both neoliberal imperialism and neofascism are extremely complex that requires concrete analysis according to the concrete situation, as Lenin said. Today, this is the crucial task before Communists while commemorating October Revolution.
P J James
General Secretary
CPI (ML) Red Star
New Delhi
7th November 2025
