The spectre of communism (1951)

From the March 1951 issue of the Socialist Standard

Over 100 years ago, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels jointly produced the most famous of all political pamphlets “The Communist Manifesto.” In the prefatory paragraphs they wrote:—

“A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism. . . .

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties as well as against its re-actionary adversaries?

Two things result from this fact:

I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powers to be itself a Power.

II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the spectre of Communism with a manifesto of the party itself."

(S.P.G.B. edition, p. 59) 

When these words were written capitalism was developing in Europe. In England and France the capitalist class had obtained political power and the working class were making demands for political liberty. In other countries the workers supported the rising capitalist class against the feudal aristocracy. The hopes, dreams and aspirations of the more advanced workers were expressed in vague utopian communist ideas. This made the rising capitalist class “tremble in their shoes” and drove them to seek alliance with the feudalists powers.

It was Marx who made the discovery

“that in every historical epoch, the prevailing mode of economic production and exchange, and the social organisation necessarily following from it form the basis upon which is built up and from which alone can be explained, the political and intellectual history of the epoch; that consequently the whole history of mankind (since the dissolution of primitive tribal society, holding land in common ownership) has been a history of class struggles, contests between exploiting and exploited; ruling and oppressed classes; that the history of these class struggles form a series of evolution in which, nowadays, a stage has been reached where the exploited and oppressed class—the proletariat—cannot attain its emancipation from the sway of the exploiting and ruling class—the bourgeoisie—without, at the same time, and once and for all emancipating society at large from all exploitation, oppression, class distinction and class struggles." 

(Engels Preface to 1888 Ed., Communist Manifesto, S.P.G.B. Ed., p. 56).

With Engels, Marx applied this theory to the changes taking place in society and brilliantly sketched an outline of this development in the "manifesto.” 

They pointed out how the voyages of discovery in the latter part of 15th and the earlier part of the 16th centuries created a world market, giving incentive to the growth of industry and commerce. The inability of the existing methods of production to satisfy the demand forced the rising capitalist class to seek political power for the abolition of the restrictions which feudalism placed on production. Methods of production kept developing. The new methods, wherever they took root supplanted the older methods uprooting the old way of living and its traditional beliefs. The development of the means of production concentrated property into fewer hands, driving more people into the ranks of the working class, reducing society into two classes—the capitalist class, who own and control the means of production and the working class who, having no property in the means of production, must sell their labour power to live. The workers, due to the pressure of the circumstances in which they find themselves, must struggle to better their conditions. This struggle will ultimately lead the workers of all countries to realise they have a common interest, the abolition of capitalist society, which is based on the private ownership of the means of production—the source of their exploitation—and the establishment of socialism, which is based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production.

Today, 100 years after the publication of the pamphlet, the area has extended. The spectre of Communism is no longer confined to Europe. It haunts the world. Again the “nursery tale of the spectre of Communism ” must be met.

Communist still remains one of the most common terms of abuse. Defenders of free speech in the Western democracies, brigands in hills of Greece, bandits in the jungles of Malaya are all classified under this epithet.

The terms socialism and communism mean the same thing, a classless form of society. Marx and Engels chose to use the term communism because it was associated with the working class movements of the time whereas socialism referred to utopian movements, composed of reformers, and men like Robert Owen who thought the change must be brought about from above by the “educated classes,” while Marx and Engels maintained the emancipation of the working class must be the work of the working class themselves (see Engels Intro to Manifesto). At the present time, the term communist usually refers to those who claim that Russia is a socialist country and endorse the Leninist-Stalinist interpretation of Marxist theories. They claim that socialism is the transitory stage to communism.

But according to the Chinese Communists the change taking place in China is “generally speaking, still a new-democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism, and not a revolution of a socialist nature " (The Economist, Jan. 20th, 1951). Capitalism is developing in Asia, breaking up the age-old customs and beliefs, bringing with it Western ideas. The Chinese Communists are more truthful than their Russian predecessors and teachers, who stated that in Russia, at a similar stage in social development, a socialist revolution had taken place.

The underlying theory held by those who call themselves Communist, whichever nationality they claim, is that the working class can be led to socialism. This idea is principally the same as that of the “utopians” in 1848. It leaves out of account the economic conditions and the political development of the working class, and. therefore, it contradicts the fundamental Marxian theory quoted earlier in this article in Engels own words. The development of Russia since 1917 shows how this idea that socialism can be installed from above is false. Lenin regretted the need for the inequality of income which has now given rise to rouble millionaires. The law of inheritance was abolished and in later years restored. After the revolution, education was free, then later could be had at a fee; divorce laws were relaxed, and divorces easy to obtain, but now these laws have been changed and only the more privileged section of society can afford divorce.

These regressions demonstrate that it is impossible to construct socialism before certain conditions have arisen. These conditions arc a sufficiently developed means of production, which could provide the requisites for a comfortable living for all members of society and a working class, the majority of whom understand that only by the common ownership of the means for producing wealth can a comfortable living for all be obtained. Capitalism is run from top to bottom by the working class. If any socialist transformation is going to take place, the workers must want the change and know how to make it The change can’t take place in the face of their opposition. Society is a group of people with ideas in their heads; if it isn't socialist ideas then they will have non-socialist ones.

The task before the asiatic workers is the assimilation and the dissemination of socialist knowledge. Capitalism will look after the development of the means of production. Let these asiatic workers look after the other necessary condition for socialism, a majority of workers who know what socialism means and want it

And the task faring the workers in the more advanced Western world is the same. Learn what socialism is. When the workers in both Eastern and Western countries gain that knowledge they will obtain political power, and collectively set about to establish such a society. The main obstacle in the way of Socialism is that the workers don’t know what it means. Once they do, the obvious advantages of this system will compel the workers in the advanced countries to bring it about, and will bring their more backward brothers in swift pursuit.

J. T.