90 years of struggle
On this day ninety years ago, our historical epoch began: the epoch of the transition from capitalism to socialism. Since then there have been great advances and setbacks of world-historical disappointment, but the arc of history is long, and we either get there or we perish as a species under the disasters that capitalism creates.
Since and as a result of the storming of the Winter Palace, Russian rural landlord peonage and illiteracy were wiped out; hundreds of millions were freed from colonial bondage in Asia and Africa and the back of Jim Crow was broken in the United States; and workers in Europe, the United States, Japan and elsewhere were able to move beyond the horrors of the early industrial revolution and its "dark satanic mills." All of these achievements were conceded by capital in direct proportion to its fear of being wiped off the face of the earth forever by the concerted actions of the people -- and to the extent that we have backslid, sometimes drastically, it is because no one is instilling that proper fear in the hearts of the capitalists.
Our decades- and centuries-long transition is not inevitable and will not happen by accident. It requires the conscious action of people who are ready to "storm heaven." And it will happen again, no matter the defeats of recent years. Tomorrow the revolution will rise up again, clashing its weapons, and will proclaim with trumpets blazing: "I was, I am, I shall be!"
