The restoration of capitalism and its international repercussions

"Perestroika"

7. The policy of "perestroika" initially appeared in the slogans proclaiming the '"renewal and restructuring" of socialism and as a policy which would lead the way out of the economic and social problems that existed at that period in the building of socialism. Certain of the initial slogans were borrowings from previous efforts by the CPSU during the Andropov period or earlier. But quite soon, it began to reveal its true counter-revolutionary face, as the specification and practical application of the initial slogans took on the content of "reforms" and measures which affected and tended to reverse crucial and fundamental sectors of the socialist society, at the level of both the political system and the economy. The essence of these "reforms" was the transitional transfer of the means of production to private ownership starting with the agrarian economy and with the clear intention of extending it to all sectors. Their purpose was to eliminate social ownership of the means of production, to abolish socialist planning, to dismantle the system of delivery and distribution of consumer goods and services. It has been revealed as a policy for exporting the counter-revolution through measures and options which abolish proletarian internationalism as well as fraternal, equal relationships within the framework of the socialist division of labour.

8. The great question, which justly concerns those who occupy themselves with these developments, is why the counter-revolution did not meet with any  resistance  from  the  people,  and  why the  people  did  not  defend socialism and its gains.

Some people are of the opinion that the policy of "perestroika" started out with good intentions and somewhere along the way "went wrong", and became a vehicle for the counter-revolution. We do not agree with this assessment. Not only because a policy must be judged as a whole and not fragmentary, but also because it must chiefly be judged on the field of its concrete and practical application and not on the field of pronouncements and slogans.

This  particular  policy  drew the  support  or tolerance  of the  popular  masses because of the combined occurrence of a number of basic preconditions:

a)  It was promoted by party and government organs and relied on their authority and on the confidence of the masses in them.

b)  It used the slogans known to all such as "more socialism - more democracy".

c)  The problems existing at that time were exploited and above all the common belief that some changes and reforms were needed within the framework of socialism, which would deal with distortions and delays in basic sectors of economic and social life.

In particular with respect to the party and state leadership at that period, the reality and the study of developments show that one section of the leadership consciously adopted the policy of restoring capitalism.

Another section followed, under the influence of the revisionist and opportunist views which had gradually infiltrated the communist party. The picture of the party and state leadership in other European socialist countries was certainly similar, if we take into consideration the decisive influence exerted by the policies and prestige of the CPSU leadership.

Sections of the people who, for various reasons, were strongly dissatisfied with or affected by the restrictive measures of the past, sided with the policy of "perestroika". It was likewise supported by significant sections of the intelligentsia who had been influenced by the delay in solving serious problems or because of the relatively low salaries in the health sector and in the social services more generally.

Other sections were influenced by difficulties and restrictions on travel abroad; yet others by the growing and unsatisfied modern needs for consumer goods, the influence of the shopwindows in the surrounding capitalist countries and the distortion of the consumer models which this environment cultivated. Sections of the youth, such as students, with their potentially radical and progressive elements, were initially influenced in favour of "perestroika", and then trapped by it, since there was no reliable information and they were not called upon to curb it.

A part was played, particularly in the other Warsaw Treaty countries, by the descendants of capitalists and landowners who had lost privileges and power and continued to retain a minor foothold; they were strengthened by the counter-revolutionary process.

This situation, in conjunction with the ideological influence of imperialism's open intervention, acquired dynamism under conditions of general apathy and alienation.

From then on, events took their own course. The stratum of profiteers came into being, along with the neo-capitalists with their political and social associations, who played an active role in restoring capitalism.(5)

9. The "new thinking" in foreign  policy was based  on the  mistaken,  anti-scientific position that the fundamental contradiction of our times is the cross-class, i.e. classless, contradiction between war and peace, in which all states may supposedly be interested, irrespective of their social system. Utopian views were put forward which denied some basic features and attributes of imperialism, e.g. that the latter would accept a world system of security when the Warsaw Treaty was dissolved. In essence, the imperialist position of "curbing Soviet aggressiveness" was adopted.

An attempt was made to de-ideologize international interstate relations and to dull their political content. The Leninist policy of peaceful co-existence was transformed into a policy of class and ideological conciliation.

The policy of the "market economy" was linked with the "acceleration of socio-economic evolution", a goal which had also been set by previous CPSU congresses. The "socialist market economy" was promoted, with a view to increasing the productivity of labour, strengthening incentives for the application of scientific and technological advances in production, allowing enterprises to be self-sustained". The aim of "correcting" mistakes and weaknesses in the economic mechanism and in the management of central planning was put forward. Discussions were deliberately held on the correlation of socialism and the market, in order to abolish socialism and to impose the capitalist market economy.

The next step, which revealed the true nature of the "perestroika" economic programme, came a little later, in 1987, when the law providing for and protecting private ownership and the commodification of the labour force was passed. Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) was used as an example in the psychological and ideological preparation of the Soviet people, even though it had been applied at a different phase in the building of the socialist society and was in the nature of a temporary measure.

The slogan "transparency in social and political life" was initially based on criteria and values identical to those of bourgeois democracy, while the slogan of struggle against "bureaucracy" took on a demagogic character. The nucleus of the ideological and political views which were put forward from one point on were clearly targeted upon the party's leading role and the country's political system as a whole. The famous "glasnost", a slogan which accompanied "perestroika", proved to be the chief means of falsifying and nullifying the history of the communist movement and the Soviet people. At the same time, M. Gorbachev was keeping his "consultations" and agreements with the leaders of the imperialist countries out of the headlines.

The counter-revolution was pushed forward decisively by the general involvement of the imperialist countries, their governments and their secret services which obviously had the data and human instruments to carry out their plans.

The tactics and methodology of "perestroika" relied on magnifying the existing problems of the Soviet society, on falsifying history, and on nullifying and slurring the 70-plus years in the building of the new society, such as: magnifying and making absolute the problems of central planning and bureaucracy, and weakening the centre on the pretext of strengthening initiative by enterprises and the Union's republics.

Thus began the process of undermining the united character of the Soviet state. The way was paved for stirring up national chauvinist differences and conflicts which led to the early secession of the Baltic republics from the Union. Localism and chauvinism were reinforced, particularly through the programmes of "economic aid and reform" generously promised by the developed capitalist countries in order to strike at the Soviet regime, to exploit and widen the first cracks in its foundation.

The leading core of the CPSU, which was consciously promoting the restoration of capitalism, took artful advantage of the disagreements and differentiations arising after the first stages of "perestroika". A characteristic example was the full reversal and   distortion   of   the   nature   and   content   of   the   terms   "renovator"   and "conservative", "Left and Right". As a result of this, greater confusion and disorientation were created, which affected a large number of communists. New parties and groups appeared which were openly propagandising the rapid return to capitalism. Also, the real nature of "perestroika" was obscured as were the dividing lines between the two social systems.

Nihilism, talk of mistakes and the non-historical approach to the past, outside place and time and remote from a concrete analysis of the specific historic reality, replaced the need for a creative utilisation of the positive and negative historical experience.

With the help of the mass media and imperialist propaganda, the heroic story of the socialist construction, and the international contribution of socialism to the achievements of humanity were slandered.

The phenomena of disorientation, confusion and apathy on the part of broad masses of the people accelerated under the influence of "anti-Stalinism" and "de-Stalinisation" which served as the pretext to justify anti-communism, anti-socialism and the tearing down of more than seventy years of heroic efforts on the part of the Soviet people. The "support" of imperialism was used to "restructure" the socialist system. The high-sounding words about the independent responsibility of the socialist countries and rejecting the "imitation" of the Soviet mode! concealed a systematic effort to "export" "perestroika" to the Warsaw Treaty countries and to the parties in the capitalist countries. For the first time since 1917, the Soviet Union, with the responsibility of the party and state leadership, abandoned its internationalist policy. All the evidence which has seen the light of day, and which is now being provided officially by US agencies, proves that, when Gorbachev and Bush met in Malta, they agreed to the annexation of the GDR and the creation of a united, capitalist Germany, as though it were the "democratic" solution to the German problem and a means of ending the cold war. The annexation of the GDR accelerated the dissolution of the socialist system.