N NOVEMBER 7, 1917,

the guns of the Rus-
Sian cruiser “Aurora,” thun-
dering against .the Winter
Palace, announced the begin-
fing of a new era—the era
of the Socialist Revolution.
@n that historic day, the Red
Guards and the revolutionary
troops occupied the railway sta-

tions, post offices, telegraph of-
fices, the ministries and the
state bank in the capital of

Russia—Petrograd. On that day
the Communist Party published
its appeal to the “Citizens of
Russia” which stated that the
bourgeois provisional govern-
ment had been deposed and the
state power was now in the
hands of the Soviets.

In the evening of the same
day the Second All-Russian Con-
ress of Soviets of Workers’ and
Soldiers’ Deputies opened in the
building of the Smoiny Institute,
the headquarters of the Petro-
prad Soyiet and the Bolshevik
Gentral Committee. By that
time the victorious uprising was
already at its height in Petro-
grad.

The Congress, at which the
Communists held the overwheim-
ipg majority of votes, proclaim-
ed that all power in Russia had
passed to the Soviets.

As the supreme organ of state
power, the Second Congress of
Soviets during the night ot No-
VYember 7, 1917, adopted the De-
eree on Peace, and the Decree
on Land which proclaimed that
Jandlord ownership of land was
abolished forthwith without
compensation. In accordance with
this decree the right to private
ownership of land was abolish-
ed; this. right was replaced by
state ownership of the land, its
mineral resources, waters and
forests. By this decree the peas-
antry received over 400,000,000
acres of land.

The Congress formed the new
government of Russia — the
Council of People’s Commissars,

under the chairmanship of the
leader of the October Revolu-
tion, the founder of the Soviet

state, Vladimir Lenin. This was
the first Soviet government i
history.

In the period between October
1917 and January 1918 the Soviet
Revolution spread throughout
the vast country, in a truly tri-
umphant march of the Soviet
power. Thus in the fires of the
October Revolution a new type
of state was born—the Soviet
Socialist state, with new, truly
democratic supreme and local
organs of state authority and
Bovernment) implementing, not
in, words but in deeds the prin-
ciple of povernment by the
people:

6

[H first Soviet Constitution
: was adopted at the be
ginning of July, 1918. It pave
legal expression to the basic
aim: of the Soviet power; thus
in Article ITI of the Constitu-
tion we read that the funda-
mental aim of the Seviet power

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 12

years

S|iUINUMUNLUUTUILUUITOTITOCUULNT TOUT UATE

By ANDREW DENIS

is to abolish all forms of. exploi-
tation of man by man.

Since the October Revolution
the Soviet state has passed
through two main stages in its
development.

The first was the period from
the Q@ctober Revolution to the
final elimination of capitalism.
This period saw the solution of
the following important tasks:
the resistance of capitalism,
overthrown by the October
Revolution, was crushed. The
Soviet state crushed the ex-
ploiting minority in the inter-
ests of the working majority,
while in capitalist countries the
exploited majority are oppressed
in the interests of the expoiting
minority.

The second stage in the de-
velopment of the Soviet state
was the period from the elim-
ination of the capitalist ele
ments to our days. In this
period the Socialist economy
was organized throughout the
country, the last remnants of
the capitalist elements were
eliminated a cultural revolution
took place as the resuit of which
illiteracy was wiped out, a new
aemocratic intelligentsia came
into being, and up-to-date arm-
ed forces were created for the
defence of the country-

This great work resulted in
the complete victory of Social-
ism in the USSR.

small nations. This
ticularly clear in
question. England’s
tive spoke of ‘democracy as
Great Britain understands it.”
Later it became clear that Eng-
land’s interpretation of democ-
racy was rather peculiar. The
old colonizers, evidently recog-
nizing that their colonial might
is shaky, decided to establish a
small colony right in the , very
heart of Europe. Of course, all
this is presented under the guise

became par-
the Trieste
representa-

of defending the people of
Trieste, just as if the stones
of Trieste envy the pavements
of Calcutta sO generously

sprinkled by the blood of the
natives. There will have to be
a new Enclycopedia written in
which the definition of “‘democ-
racy’ will include “democracy
in an English interpretation’’—
mentioning colonial wviceroys,
governors, foreign troops, - exe-
eutions a la India, jails a la
Greece, pogroms a la Pales-
tine.

Angio - Saxon representatives

often appear as preachers of
ethics, teaching the peoples of
Central and Southeastern FHur-

ope principles of democracy, hu-

manitarianism and tolerance.
Americans lecture the Yugo—
slavs about national tolerance.

While in Yugoslavia I saw the
freedom enjoyed there not only
by Slav nationalities, but aiso

OCTIALISM entered into

every phase of the people’s
life. This historical victory has
found its legal expression in the
Constitution of the USSR adop-
ted on December 5, 1936, which
the Soviet people call the Stalin:
Constitution in honor of the
man who stood side by side
with Lenin at the cradle of the
Soviet state, who together with

has

Lenin guided the building-up of _

the Wnion of Soviet Socialist
Republics, who after Lenin’s
death raised high the banner of
Lenin and inspired the people to
the struggle for the Socialist in-
dustrialization of the country
and the collectivization of agri-
culture, who guided the whole
of the highly complicated work
of building up a Socialist so-
ciety over one-sixth of the
earth’s surface. ©

During the second stage of its

development the Soviet land
was subjected to a grim test:
the treacherous attack launched
on the Soviet Union by Hitler-
ite Germany. The war came
as a thorough test to all who
took part in it including the
Soviet state; it was a test of
the economic and the political
strength of the countries, their
ideology, the whole of their so-
Cial and state structure.

Doubleta

Italians, Hungarians, Albanians,
Wallachians. Let me add also
that I was in America. While
listening to the U.S. representa-
tive, I could not help remember-
ing the Negroes who are lynch-
ed in the state of South Caro-
lina. It so happened that this
very U.S. representative was at
one time a congressman from
South Carolina, and I recall one
of his statements: “Any colored
man striving for political equal-
ity will not find any work in

the “South.” Such are the doc-
tors who are trying to cure
healthy people.

Is it Surprising, then, that 2
representative of that official
Greece which, together with
Franco, is the bearer of Nurem-

berg traditions—that this man
had the audacity to accuse the
delegates from heroic Yugoslavia

_of “Hitler terminology’?

The French senate held its
sessions in the Luxembourg
Palace before the war. The Par-
isian satirists always laughed
at the aged senators who feared
progress worse than fire. But
those senators were at least
quiet, while the Greeks, Aus-
tralians and. New Zealanders are
very noisy. They stop at, noth-
ing in their attempts to slow
down the work of the Peace
Conference. For example, one of
the committees was debating the
question of the boundary be-

The Soviet Union carried the
brunt of the burden in the war
and played the leading role in
the reut of the German-fascist
invaders, accomplishing a task
of world-historical importance.
this
such 2
as Hit-

In order to accomplish
great task, to conquer
cruel and strong enemy
lerite Germany, the Soviet.
people and their state had to
‘confront the fascist. aggressor
with a higher and more power-
ful organization of both ma-
terial and spiritual forces. And
the Soviet Union succeeded
brilliantly in this task, thus
proving indeed the advantages
ef the Soviet social and state
structure.

The Soviet system proved its
vitality and progressiveness al-
ready before the war, in the
years of the accomplishment of
the first three Stalin five-year
plans. The advantages of the
Soviet social, state and eco
momic order were clearly prov-
ed by the high rate of indust-
rialization, the absence of-crises
and unemployment of exploiting
classes and exploitation, and the
friendship of and moral-political
unity of the peoples, achieved on

k in Paris |

tween Greece and Bulgaria.
When the time limit for “am-
endments” was over, the Greek
delegate tried to bring in at
least one more “amendment.”
The chairman declared it out
of order and closed the session.
Promptly the New Zealanders
and their uk became “rebels.”
They decided to continue the
Session without its chairman.
All this could be funny, if it
were not so closely tieqd to the
fate of millions and millions of
honest people.

Evidently Australians are not
the only ones who suffer from
Australian fever. Publicity is at
least a partial remedy. IT am not
at all surprised that on numer-
ous occasions the British pro-
posed to remove the press from
sessions of the conference; evi-
dently there are certain affairs
that cannot stand publicity. In-
variably the delegates from the
Soviet Union did and do insist
on full publicity. They have
nothing to conceal, because they
work not only for the good of
our people, but for the good
of others as well. In this con-
ference they lead the struggle
for peace during the four years
of great grief and great pride.
We fought openly. The whole
world saw that we did not evade
any battles.

We are today openly fighting
for peace, and together with us

the basis of the Soviet social
system, the solidarity of the en-
tire. Soviet people rallied around
the Communist Party and the
Soviet government
Joseph Stalin.

ji population of the Soviet
Union now consists exclusively
of the working people of the
city and village, the great ma-
pority of whom are engaged in

state and cooperative (collec-
tive) farm, Socialist enterprises.
To this population full state

power belongs, as expressed, in
particular, by the establishment
of elections to the Soviets on

the basis of universal, direct
and equal suffrage by secret
ballot.

The Soviet state has now ent
ered upon a new phase in its
development, that of the com-
pletion of the building-up of the
Socialist society, and of the
gradual transition from Social-
ism to Communism under which
the guiding principle of social
life will be: “From each ac-
cording to his ability, to each
according to his needs.”

are all those nations which, hay-
ing freed themselves of fascism,
having purged themselves of
fascism, having freed them-
selves of foreign enslavement,
are today trying to build their
homes, houses for themselves

and not for American oil kings
or British governers, and not
even for Australian busy-bodies.

The Paris Conference finds it
difficult to overcome the “hedge
hogs” set up by varieus dele-
gates. The Australians will prod-
ably create more trouble yet.
But a great and useful task has
been done—the whole world now
knows who really does want
peace. I heard that even in the
remote village of Hrance—where
the mined homes and bridges,
the mass graves of victims) of
torture and executions constant-

ly remind one of the recently —

suffered tragedies — peasants
reading the newspapers com- ~
ment: “Hyven at this conference,

the Russians continue to fight

for us.” Even the journalists’
lies cannot confuse these peas-
ants. They fully realize that

whenever Soviet people speak of

peace they do not figure it im
dollars and cents; they are not
trying to enslave other nations;
they do not simply repeat words

learned by rote but really want)

peace, and really know -how. te
fight for peace. J

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1946

headed by.