The Youth Movement & lessons learnt from the Great October Revolution
- Vidhura
- October 10, 2017
- 259
- 4 minute read
The Youth Movement & lessons learnt from the Great October Revolution
Marx and Engels began the Communist Manifesto stating that ‘A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism’. A 100 years from the great Russian Revolution, which made the Communist Manifesto into reality, Adrian Wouldrig, a famous capitalist ideologist, said in his article to the Economist magazine that ‘uprising is coming back. He further said that ‘the grounds which created the Russian revolution and the current situation is drastically identical.’
In the disgusting era of the world, the spectre of the Russian Revolution remains. In their work at the time, Marx and Engels described that ‘All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police spies.’
Today, in Lanka’s context, the above passage can be revised as ‘Ranil, Maithree and Mahinda paid employees of capitalist newspapers, ideological pundits and police spies have entered into a holy alliance exorcise this spectre’.
Why the Russian Revolution still shocks and panics the conscience of capitalists even after a century.Because it was the most significant incident of the world which guiding the future revolutionary processes. Even under the subsequent deviatory factors and collapses of the left movement, still, it motivates the progressive masses who believe in a better world. IN a nutshell, we must celebrate the Russian Revolution not because it was a past incident but also guide future society.
The Russian Revolution was not the world first Revolution. 1640-49 England Revolution,1776-83 American Revolution,1789-94 French Revolution,186-65 the Second American revolution are few prior revolutions. Those revolutions marked significant milestones of human history. However, the Russian Revolution was the one that motivated the young generation of the world, giving eternal revolutionary lessons. Even though the New York Times after the Russian Revolution had undermined the proletariat government’s existence and predicted the immediate collapse of communism, it is still the world’s revolutionary theory.
The youth generation is attracted to the Russian Revolution not because it is the only alternative for future destructions of the world. The Russian Revolution provides solutions for the current burning issues under Capitalism. Capitalism deprives the right to education and the employment of Youth. Under Neoliberalism, instruction is the most endangered field in the world. Gradually social security services and concepts such as education, health, environment, the human body are being converted to profit earning commodities by Capitalism. In Sri Lanka, the student movement and progressive Youth have been fighting to preserve the future generation’s public education system for more than four decades. If the neoliberal education reforms are established in the country, it will confine the education for a privileged class pulling the majority of the society into slavery. The masses already lead struggles against those privatization efforts. The Russian Revolution is the breathing factor of those rebellions.
The Soviet Union ensured employment for every Youth with the highest privileges and rights after the Russian Revolution. However, in the present world, unemployment is a significant problem that the capitalist always manipulates to exploit the Youth. In Sri Lanka, the unemployment rate is growing day by day, and the working force’s contemporary rights are being curtailed by way of human resources and contract basis employment. Due to social security uncertainty, Youth are compelled to go for foreign jobs under unfavourable and unfair working conditions. Hence the practices under the Russian Revolution always inspire the working class of the world.
Apart from the economic right of the Youth, political rights also being curtailed by the capitalists. While taking oppressive measures against the Youth and student movement, the others are gradually taking away from progressive politics. The children of capitalist politicians are succeeded in politics as inherited property, and others are discouraged either by way of oppression or rewards. Therefore the youth generation who fight for political rights is always motivated by the Russian Revolution.
We are now celebrating the centennial of the Great Russian Revolution. The Mode of Revolution might be outdated. But the aspiration, slogans, principles stand as before. It is high time to plant the revolutionary theories of the Russian Revolution rather than just celebrating it. The Youth generation must be taught the lessons of the Revolution and encourage to change the world.