1917 — the Future

The scale of this event is so great that even in modern historical scholarship, the period known as Contemporary History is counted from it. The victory of October and the subsequent attempt to build socialism in Russia were an unprecedentedly bold historical step: the RSDLP(b) and its allies, who had come to power, decided to take upon themselves the responsibility of leading the peoples of the Russian Empire — who for centuries had not raised their heads from the earth — to the stars.

The achievements launched by the Great October Socialist Revolution have been following one after another from the very beginning, and they can be listed for a very long time: equitable distribution of land, elimination of illiteracy, creation of a system of social protection, equalization of the rights and opportunities of women with men much earlier than in capitalist countries, the struggle against racial prejudice and an attempt to resolve the acute national question, creation of an advanced curative and research medical system, carrying out industrialization, which made it possible to win victory in the Great Patriotic War and to carry out rapid post-war reconstruction, the world's first nuclear power plant and nuclear-powered icebreaker, the launch of the first human being into space and the world's best space program, the emergence on Earth of a new international political system called the "socialist bloc," the formation of a national identity among the peoples living on the territory of the USSR, the elevation of national cultures — in particular, the Russian — to the peak of historical development, and much, much more. A whole book would not be enough to simply list and characterize all these achievements that marked Soviet civilization.

"Communism is one of the oldest and, probably, the most interesting ideas ever presented to humanity. It is an idea associated with a world founded on the absence of fear, evil, violence — everything alien to human nature. At the heart of the scientific approach to communism lies the understanding that we are building a society that is not capitalism. A society not based on the boundless pursuit of profit. It is a society that will help us answer the most ordinary-seeming questions, such as love, friendship, happiness. All of this requires scientific comprehension and scientific substantiation. The attempt to build communism in the Soviet Union was an attempt to create a new society unknown to humanity. That project was halted halfway, but not because the theory was wrong. Therefore, our task today is to do everything we can so that, together and with the help of the entire potential of humanity, we can scientifically substantiate, unite, and realize the society that will provide answers to the most pressing questions that concern a human being. At the foundation of which, I repeat, must lie such terms as happiness, confidence in tomorrow, confidence in social justice, and an understanding of how this world should be built. Together we will win!" — believes Alexander Babakov, First Deputy Chairman of the Socialist Party A JUST RUSSIA and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Socialist Network SOVINTERN.

Like any revolution, October did not pass bloodlessly or smoothly. Not a single great historical process took place peacefully — the whole of history, alas, consists mainly of violence and constant struggle.

Behind the mistakes, hardships, abuses, and shortcomings, critics of the Great October Socialist Revolution usually overlook the main thing — it made Russia the first country in the world to attempt to reverse the inhuman course of history, to put an end to the hopeless misery of the working majority not only in Russia but throughout the world. Yes, it was somewhat naive and bold, but it is precisely for this that Russia is remembered with kind words even in the most remote corners of the world: children in Latin America are named after Lenin, a metro station in Paris still bears the name Stalingrad, all of Africa looks to Russia as the only country that stood categorically against colonialism, and Asia still proudly holds the red flag raised in Petrograd during the armed uprising on the night of November 7.

"The Day of the Great October Revolution is a holiday that was, is, and will be. It will always be, because this is the first case in the history of humanity when a people — a huge people on a huge territory of the world — gained their own state, a people's state. That is precisely why our country won the Great Patriotic War, that mortal battle. That is precisely why, looking back in retrospect, all the greatest achievements of humanity in the recent period are connected precisely with the people's state. This is in our memory, it is in our genes. And not only in ours. Because at that moment. Well, what kind of moment — it wasn't a moment, it was a decade. In those decades, people from all over the world realized that this could be real. That a state that places the happiness of an ordinary person at the center is possible. And such a state existed. And I am sure such states will exist again. They exist even now. And such a state will also be in Russia. Happy holiday!" — joins the congratulations Alexander Vorobev, Deputy of the State Duma, Secretary of the Presidium of the Socialist Party A JUST RUSSIA and regional coordinator of the Moscow network Hub.

The winged phrase "They took over with a plow, and left behind a nuclear bomb" describes rather well the historical significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution for Russia. However, some of its outcomes became fully clear only a century later.

National-Liberation Struggle

The Great October Socialist Revolution launched the process of struggle for national liberation in the countries of the global majority: it was precisely the success of the Bolsheviks in peasant and agrarian Russia that inspired the national intelligentsia of the colonies controlled by Western states to fight for independence and finally accomplish the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution — turning these "dark corners" under the heel of Western civilization into sovereign centers of industrial, scientific-technical, and cultural development. This process was set in motion as a result of the First Congress of the Peoples of the East held in Baku in 1920. Local leaders were inspired by the success of the Bolsheviks: some took up the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, adapting them to their own conditions, as in China, Vietnam, the DPRK, Cuba, etc., while others chose their own path while maintaining warm relations with Soviet Russia.

The most devastating wave of such revolutions for the old world swept the planet after the end of World War II. The authority of the USSR and its socio-economic model — which had defeated fascism, the united horde of predatory European imperialism — rose so high that peoples crushed for centuries rose one after another in revolt and were certain: truth was on their side. Truth was the Soviet Union. The entire global majority, which today occupies the overwhelming number of seats in the UN, is the direct legacy of October.

Modernization and Nation-Building

Although the historical driver of capitalism and a number of technological modes was Western civilization, it was the Great October Socialist Revolution that gave the world a model of catch-up modernization. The country of the Soviets, which had appeared on the map, had to catch up with the advanced countries from which it lagged by 50 to 100 years, or it would have been wiped off the face of the earth. So said Stalin. The USSR won the Great Patriotic War and proved the right of such a model to exist. Not its universality, but precisely its effectiveness. Thanks to this mobilization model, China rose from its knees and turned into the engine of a new technological order, the states of Asia (by the way, not only socialist ones — Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and others also made use of this model) became industrial giants, and the countries of Latin America and Africa found ways out of centuries-old backwardness. Look at the heights achieved by Cuba under Fidel Castro, who turned 100 this year: the best medicine in the Western Hemisphere, advanced pharmaceuticals, universal education and healthcare, universities, outstanding sports — and all this despite limited resources and the criminal US blockade. The same transformation was achieved by Burkina Faso under the leadership of the Marxist Thomas Sankara, savagely killed for French money.

The catch-up modernization model offered to the world by the USSR made it possible to create the so-called second-echelon national states. These are the peoples who were unable to fit into the system of international relations that emerged after the American and French Revolutions and the Napoleonic Wars. As the experience of the twentieth century showed, it was socialist values that became the core support for them in achieving the main internal demand of the entire people — to attain dignity and genuine sovereignty. Precisely for this reason, the Marxists — internationalists by nature — devoted so much attention to the development of national languages and cultures, fundamental and applied sciences, and the education of the human being within the human being.

The Decree on Peace and New International Relations

The first decree of Soviet power after the overthrow of the Provisional Government was the Decree on Peace. This was not merely a public declaration of withdrawal from the war. Reducing its significance to a mere declaration means trivializing the very essence of this document. The Bolsheviks published all the secrets of the secret diplomacy of their time, thereby overturning the then-existing system of international relations and exposing the bourgeois governments in the eyes of millions of soldiers and officers fighting on the fronts of the senseless and ruthless First World War. The Great October Socialist Revolution for the first time placed the question "In whose interests?" at the center of the international relations agenda, giving rise to heated debates about the question of war and peace that have not subsided to this day.

A New Paradigm

Despite the death of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the great socialist bloc due to many internal and external causes, the victory of the October Revolution brought onto the stage an entirely new ideological paradigm. Its center, to which all the complex theoretical constructs, political programs, and economic formulas are reduced, became the simple working person. Not abstract indicators of annual GDP growth, average wages, or lowering interest rates — to which neoliberals so ardently aspire — but the comprehensive development of the human being, raising their life to a fundamentally different level. The construction of a humane, and not merely wealthy, society — which in the twentieth century was called communism — was the global mission of the Soviet Union and made it the center of attraction for billions of people on the planet.

The experience of 35 years of "victorious" capitalism has shown that no era of capitalist prosperity with the "trickling down" of wealth from rich countries to poor ones and no "democratic peace" built on economic interdependence has come about. The result has been exactly the opposite — the world has become only more unjust, conflict-ridden, and unstable.

Young people across the planet and especially in the West are increasingly turning to socialism and the experience of Soviet civilization. All because young people, contrary to stereotypes, know how to think and draw comparisons. The protests that swept all of Europe in the autumn of 2026 are not by chance taking place under the red flags of the Soviet Union, and young North Americans are not simply drawn to Soviet aesthetics for no reason. This also works among the young inhabitants of the countries of the global majority. But this is no simple yearning for justice. It is a thirst for meaning — something that has almost disappeared from within the empty wrapper called capitalism.

"Dear friends, colleagues, comrades! Allow me to congratulate you on the Day of Great October. Great October has not gone anywhere. It is with us, in our hearts, in our deeds, in our actions. Look at the aesthetics of our cities. They were, as a rule, designed in the Soviet period. They are beautiful, interesting, and — most surprisingly — still modern. Or look at our domestic cinema. All inspiration is drawn from Soviet cinema. It is the best in the entire history of our country. I will not even mention Soviet candies, Soviet sweets. We still remember them, and now we do not need foreign manufacturers. We need domestic brands, confectioneries that use the traditions of old standards. But that is not enough. Fashion is an important thing, but Great October must come into the real economy, into real politics, into real actions. And this work is built upon a colossal thirst for justice, a colossal hope for a better future, a colossal confidence that together we can build our lives the way we see fit. I am certain that the legacy of Great October will yet reveal itself in the best possible light. We are heirs to a great civilization and great achievements. But each generation has its own trials, and ours consists in making our country once again the most advanced, the most peace-loving, the most luminous — so that, as they say, all other countries envy us. Everything is within our power. Happy holiday of Great October!" — concluded Nikolai Novichkov, official representative of the Socialist Party A JUST RUSSIA in the International Socialist Network SOVINTERN.

The October Revolution is a dream that has triumphed. This is by no means an exaggeration, because only as long as we dream of the bright, the good, and the eternal, can it come to pass. The victory of 1917 and the beginning of a new historical stage is the great dream of millions, realized — an idea that seized the masses. As one of our dear comrades says:

"Dreams, as you know, are not fairy tales. They are the story of real life. And they have the power to blow the world apart. I think this is the main message of the Great October to each human being: each person is like a chrysalis, and October calls to be transformed into a radiant, stunningly beautiful butterfly. It is the natural cycle of life! That is, of course, provided the chrysalis desires it and strives not to let everything end and die within the cozy comfort of her cocoon."

There is only a moment between the past and the future, and that moment is called life. It depends only on us which way this life will strive: forward — to the stars, or backward — to a cold earth scorched by nuclear fire. The Great October Socialist Revolution has already given its answer to this question. And what will you answer?