Chapter 15 Chapter 2 The World Revolution 7

7 But in any case, the Communist Party can now be said to be content.The revolutionary situation is very good, from the Elbe in the west to the China Sea in the east, they are all in their world.The world revolution that had inspired them was evidently making great strides here and there.Communism was no longer confined to a poor and isolated bloc of soviet unions.Looking around, under the impetus of the second wave of world revolution, at least 12 communist countries have emerged, or at least are in the process of brewing.And Big Brother is the only Soviet Union in the world that is worthy of one of its hegemonic reputations (the name of a superpower, which appeared as early as 1944).What's more, the impetus of the world revolution is still in the ascendant, because the overseas territories of the old colonial empires are disintegrating and fighting for independence.Under all kinds of circumstances, wouldn't the communist revolution have great potential and be able to reach new heights?Looking at the bourgeoisie in various countries, don't they themselves worry about the future of capitalism?At least in Europe.When French industrialists rebuilt their factories, didn't they also ask themselves: the nationalization policy, or simply putting the Red Army in power, can solve the problems they face?Conservative French historian Le Roy Ladurie (Le Roy Ladurie, 1982 p. 37) later recalled that he was deeply influenced by the doubts of his relatives and resolutely joined the French Communist Party in 1949 (LeRoy Ladurie, 1982 p. 37).Listen again to the report submitted by the U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce to President Truman in March 1947. He said: Most countries in Europe are already on the verge of collapse and will collapse at any time; Where to go (Loth, 1988, p. 137)?

This is the mood of those revolutionary sons and daughters at that time, those men and women who went from underground organizations to the public, after fighting, resistance, prison, concentration camp, exile, and finally saw the light of day again, and then took responsibility for the future of the country.And right now, the country is in ruins.Some of them may once again notice the fact that the easiest place to start overthrowing capitalism is not in its heartland, but perhaps where capitalism is the weakest or almost non-existent.But looking back, who can deny that the general trend of the world has indeed turned to the left dramatically?After the end of the war, if there is any concern for the new Communist Party leaders in power, it is definitely not about the future of socialism.Their concern is how to rebuild their war-torn country among a population that is sometimes inevitably hostile; how to deal with the danger of capitalist forces attacking the socialist camp before rebuilding national strength and establishing security?Paradoxically, communist countries are uncertain, and Western countries cannot rest easy either.The cold war that enveloped the world after the second wave of world revolution was simply the result of a nightmare competition between the two sides.The east is afraid of the west, the west is afraid of the east, no matter whose fear is more well-founded, all these are the fruits of the October Revolution in 1917, and they belong to a great era of development since the October Revolution.However, going further, this era has actually come to an end, but it will take another 40 years to declare its end.

But the world has indeed changed.Perhaps the direction of change is not exactly what Lenin and those inspired by the spirit of the October Revolution expected.Outside of the Western Hemisphere, there are few countries in the world that have not experienced some degree of revolution, civil war, resistance, or recovery from foreign occupation or from colonial empires.Seeing that the general situation was over, the old empire also voluntarily withdrew from the colonies in various places in order to prevent future troubles. (As for the European region, the only countries that have not experienced these turmoil are the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, and perhaps Iceland.) Even in the Western Hemisphere, except for the violent changes of government that are all labeled as "revolutionary" by the local In addition, several large-scale social revolutions (including revolutions in Mexico, Bolivia, Cuba and other countries and their successors) have completely changed the face of Latin America.

Up to now, the revolutionaries who have truly started their careers in the name of communism are exhausted.But as long as the Chinese, who make up one-fifth of the world's population, are still led by the Communist Party, it is too early to play an elegy for it.But in the same way, it is impossible for the world to return to the old system and the old society in the past: just like once France has experienced the Great Revolution and Napoleon, it is impossible to go back.By the same token, former colonies everywhere proved that it was impossible to return to the life before being colonized by outsiders.Even for the ex-communist countries that have now renounced communism, their present, and their conceivable future, must always bear the special imprint of the counter-revolution that superseded the true revolutionary spirit.It is absolutely impossible for us to imagine that the Soviet era never happened, and arbitrarily erase it from the history of Russia, or the world.St. Petersburg, it is impossible to restore the appearance before 1914.

In addition to the far-reaching direct effects, the world upheavals that occurred after 1917 had many equally significant indirect consequences.After the Russian Revolution, the world began a series of processes of colonial liberation and self-government.In politics, on the one hand, brutal counter-revolutionary forces emerged (its forms include fascism and other similar movements, see Chapter 4), on the other hand, it also brought social democratic parties to participate in politics for European countries.It is generally forgotten that, until 1917, all Labor and Socialist parties (with the exception of the near-peripheral Oceania region) preferred to remain in permanent opposition, waiting for the moment when socialism came to power .The first (non-Pacific) Social Democratic governments, or coalition governments, were formed between 1917 and 1919 (Sweden, Germany, Austria, Belgium).Within a few years, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway and other countries followed suit.We are also too forgetful that the moderation of these social democrats was in large part a response to the radical Bolsheviks.Another reason is that the original old political system was eager to incorporate them.

Simply put, the 77-year short twentieth century from 1914 to 1991 cannot do without the Russian Revolution and its direct and indirect effects.It also became the savior of liberal capitalism: capitalism had just defeated Hitler's Germany and won World War II with the help of the Soviet Union.Moreover, because of the existence of the communist system, capitalism has been stimulated to carry out major reforms on itself.The most paradoxical thing is that in the era of world economic panic, the Soviet Union was completely immune.This phenomenon has prompted Western society to abandon its belief in the orthodox theory of the traditional free market.We shall get a glimpse of this in the next chapter.