The Great October Socialist Revolution

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Polecaj historie

The Great October Socialist Revolution

Table of contents :
1. The First World War: The Overthrow of Tsardom
2. The Bolsheviks Lead the Revolution Forward
3. The Victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution
4. The World Historic Significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution
5. Defeat of the Interventionists and Whiteguards

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POREIGN LANGUAGES

PUBLISHING HOUSE

Moscow 1952

FO RE IG N . LANGUAGES PUBLISHING HOUSE M os co w 19 52

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

This pamphlet is a translation of Par t 2 of the Political Education Series, published by the Pravda Publishing House, Moscow 1950.

C O N TE N TS I. THE FIRST WORLD WAR'~ THE OVERTHROW OF TSARDOM . . . . . . . • • . . . .

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2. THE BOLSHEVIKS LEAD THE REVOLUTION FORWARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 j

3. THE VICTORY... OF THE GREAT OCTOBER SOCIALIST REVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . 23 4. THE WORLD HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF TH E GREAT OC TO BE R SO CI AL IST RE VO LU TI ON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 5. DEFE.l\T OF TH E INTERVENTIONISTS AND V~lHJTEGUARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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BRIEF SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41'

I. TH E FIR ST WO RL D WAR. TH E OV ER 'fH RO W OF TSARDOM Itrt per iali sm

the Las t Sta ge of Cap ital ism

At "the clos~· oi the nin ete e·n th cen.t ury and beg inn ing · of th~ twentieth 'century, ca·pital.ism ,.et}tered the last sta ge of its development the sta ge of imp~riali~m. In his baok~tmperia/,ism, thi! Hig hes t·S tag e of Capitalism Len in wa s the 1irs t· to disclose the cha rac ter isti c features and... peculiatities of imperialism and the con diti ons of its inev-

itab le doom. · ·· Tlfere is a constant~ ·struggle~ .( oompetitio·n) betweef! the cap ital ists for markets and sourc~s of, raw mat~ri~ls. l!J the coittse1of this str u·gg le the .s ma ll cap ital ists are ruined and equ eez ed out , while the big cap ital ists gro w still rich er. Dozens an·d hun dre ds of small ·and medium factories are rep lac ed by several hµge factories~ At·. th~ be·ginning b·{ the twe nti eth cent.ury, for examp·le, _lees than one ip er cent of the fac tor ies in Gerunany ownep ·three·.: quarters of the· cou ntr y,s steam and ·electric pow er; in the· United St.ates the same percentage of f actor.ies produc ed ·nearly hal f ·of the cou ntr y's tot al out put. . Matters !are not confineo to capitalist pr·oductian ·be ing ooncenttate·d in the han ds of a sm~ll number. of·people. •

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In ·their . dri ve for nia xim \lm pro fits and to O\l"St the ir oom pet itor s, fto m the market, ··the big ca{1italists .unit~ in.fp trusts, syn dic ate s an d· oth er associatibns. Her·e jhe y fix 1

their own price~- ·on .go·ods, div ide the market~ among thei11selves; det erm ine the vol um e of pro.dnction 9r m~rge 5

their in~ustries. The ca·pitalist associations which control the production or sa le of .goods are cal led monopulies. By the end ·Of the nineteenth century and beginning of ·t.he twentieth century the monopolies held -dominant positions in ·capitalist economy, be cam e the masters of entire 1branches ·of industry. T·he United States Steel Truet, for example, accoup.teg for {36 P~t cent. of the co un try 's en·tire ~teel output in 1901 . .Monopolies devel·o·ped apace als·o in ts~ari,st Russia. The Prodamet Syn.dicate (corpo·ration selling pro·ducts of the Russian· iron· an·d steel mills), controlled 80 per"ce nt of the c·o.untry's iron and steel out·put . in 1910. The Prod, vagon Syn1d·icate (oorp·orati·on selling 1products of the Ru,s·sian rai lw ay car wo rks ), controlled nearly all sales in this field. ~ The capitalist monopolies stretched their tentacles to thiE; w·orld ma·rket as well. Powerful international mo·nopoli es (that is, associa·tions un iti ng the ca p.italists of different countries) emer·ged in the era of im pe ria lis m and s~iied a co nsi de rab le sh are of the wor-l d's prod11cti.on of \.



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oil, nickel an d zin c.

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Capitalist monopolies dominate n ot on ly the economy of bo·urgeois· states bu·t also their political life. They actua1 ly rule the se countries, appointin g pre sid en ts and rriih.i·s ter s who serve their en ds. The governments in the im·perialist sta tes voice the will of the big capitalis·ts and 1

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ba nk ers .

Lenin defined imperiali.sm as the hi,g he st and last sta ge of the development of ca;pitalism, the sta ge when the monopoli~s begin to play the deci·sive r·ole in the economic and poli·tical li1fe of the ca pit ali st countries. Im· perialism, Lenin p·o int ed ou t, is monopoly capitalism. " Ha vin.g entrenched the ms elv es in the different ind ustries the monopoly ca pi·tali·s·t s then seek to increase their profits not so mu ch by expanding production and developing technique, as by cl. as s and· deprive tl}e work· . in g peopl1e of· their alread~. curtailed political ,and economic ri gh ts . There is only one way out for the wor}