This movement
crystallized as an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, pro-socialist
national and international struggle. From the publication of the
Communist Manifesto in 1848 until the beginnings of socialist
construction in 1917, it was a movement of protest against poverty,
unemployment, war, waste, inequality, exploitation. After 1917 it became
a movement to end imperialism, war and exploitation and substitute a
planet-wide social system that would give every human being a chance to
play a meaningful part in utilizing nature, improving society and
creating socialist women and men, capable of cooperating for the general
welfare of mankind.
The Enlightenment had diminished ignorance, spread information and
brought elementary education to the masses. Self-government had given
people confidence in their ability to make the phrase "we, the people" a
working formula for social improvement. The Industrial Revolution had
converted millions of superstitious, frustrated peasants into craftsmen
and professionals confident in their ability to use nature effectively,
to advance their own interests and to improve society. These and
secondary social forces laid the foundation for the social revolution
that mushroomed across the planet during the opening years of the
present century. The occasion for the revolution was four years of
destructive war (1914-18) during which two rival gangs of imperialists
led their dupes and victims to shed blood and destroy property in a
struggle to decide which band of plunderers should exploit natural
resources and labor power for its own advantage.
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