National Scientific Conference “100 years of the October Revolution of Russia (1917-2017) and Real Socialism: Historical Values and Contemporary Significance”

Co-chairmen of the conference were Secretary of the Party Central Committee cum President of the Ho Chi Minh Academy Nguyen Xuan Thang, Party Central Committee Member cum Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda and Education Commission Lam Phuong Thanh, permanent Vice Chairman of Central Theoretical Council Phung Huu Phu, President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Nguyen Quang Thuan, and Vice President of Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics Le Quoc Ly.

Attendees of the conference included former Party Central Committee Secretary cum former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, representatives of ministries and central state agencies, domestic scientists; and central and local media.

In the opening remarks, Politburo member cum Head of the Central Propaganda and Education Commission Vo Van Thuong emphasized that 100 years ago, under the leadership of the Bolshevik party led by Great Lenin, the Russian working class and labourers with an armed insurrection had overthrown the capitalist government and counter-revolutionary forces to establish the Soviet government, ruled by working class and peasantry, the first of its kind in the world,  and in doing so, opened a new era in the history of mankind –the transition period to socialism on a global scale.

The success of the Russian October Revolution not only marked the establishment of the world’s first socialist government but also put the premise on the creation of the socialistic system, which can possibly abolish all kinds of oppression and injustice while bringing about equity, equality, and freedom for human beings, in sheer contrast to the previous social regimes of exploiting class. The foundation of the Soviet government and significant progress of the Soviet Union in the early decades of the socialist construction was a complete reflection of the strength and the superiority of socialism over other social regimes.

Politburo member Vo Van Thuong made the opening speech at the conference

For Vietnam, the success of the October Revolution shined a spotlight of a new era and Marxism Leninism on Vietnam in the moment when our resistance against French colonialism had remarkable changes and the number of Vietnamese working class sharply increased, resulting in them entering the political arena, and hence, contributing to the end of our crisis of finding ways to liberate the nation in the early twentieth century. The October Revolution not only illuminated the revolutionary path of Vietnam but also encouraged the masses of workers and peasants to participate in the national revolution to overthrow the rule of colonialism and feudalism and seize power to people’s hands. The great victory of the Red Army forced the Japanese militarists to accept unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945 and made an important premise for Vietnamese people to carry out the 1945 August Revolution successfully. The August Revolution gave birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now known as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam), opening a new era of independence and freedom of socialism and encouraging oppressed nations worldwide to fight for independence and freedom.

The success of the Russian October Revolution and the practical activities of the Soviet government provided the Party and the people of Vietnam with invaluable experience with regard to theory and practice of building socialist government. The Communist Party of Vietnam creatively applied and developed appropriately Marxism Leninism and lessons learned from the Russian October Revolution into the specific conditions of the country. With the enthusiastic and meaningful support of the Soviet Union as well as the socialist countries and the progressive people in the world, the Party led our people to go through many difficulties and challenges to gain the glorious victories.

“After 100 years, noble ideas and great values of the Russian October Revolution, consisting of peace, national independence, democracy, and socialism, always shine and become a driving force to motivate and arouse the revolutionary spirit of the progressive people in the world, including Vietnamese people”, Politburo member Vo Van Thuong affirmed. “The 100th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution is a rare occasion to assert its great historical stature and values and significant contribution to the real socialism in the history of the humankind. This is also an opportunity for us to recognize and analyze profoundly and scientifically experience and lessons, successes and failures of the real socialism and the Soviet model after 70 years of development. In so doing, we have drawn rules and new, patterns of rapid and sustainable development, which are suitable for trends of the era, on the road of building and defending the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the context of globalization and international integration”.

Speaking at the conference, Secretary of the Party Central Committee cum President of the Academy Nguyen Xuan Thang said 100 years ago, on the November 7, 1917, the Russian October socialist revolution broke out and became a historical event that shook the world and marked a great turning point in the evolution of the human history. The victory of the Russian October Revolution gave birth to the real socialism.

A century of transition to socialism took place with many ups and downs including both great achievements gained in every country and failures. However, from this practice, each country had learned many valuable lessons in its path towards building socialism. The Russian October Revolution and ups and downs in the history of the real socialism in the world always had symbolic, enormous, and special significance to the Vietnamese revolution.

He said that results of the research and discussion of the conference would contribute to providing more bases, theories, and practices for the guidelines and policies of the Party and the Government in many major issues following the light of the October Revolution and socialist objectives and idealism. At the same time, they would also bring scientific beliefs to better implement the Resolution of the term XII of the Party Central Committee, especially effectively implementing recent crucial decisions of the Party made in the fourth, fifth, and sixth meetings of the Party Central Committee (Term XII).

Although approaching the topic from different angles, with nearly 60 in-depth articles of leaders, managers, and scientists, the participants of the conference reached agreement on the evaluation of the great historical values of the October Revolution. The historical event opened the ways for national liberation not only for Russia but also for all nations and humankind. It marked the beginning of a new era in the modern history, which was the transition period from capitalism to socialism. Besides, the October Revolution provided communist movement and international workers’ movement with invaluable lessons on the role of the Communist Party’s revolutionary leadership; on the mass mobilization of workers, peasants and labourers in the revolution; on great sacrifice to seize power and protect the revolutionary government; and on the inseparable combination of patriotism and international spirit. With eternal values, the October Revolution would always remain in the heart of the humankind. Socialism is still a desirable goal and burning aspiration for the mankind long into the future.

Participants of the conference stated that the crisis of real socialism and the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist system in Eastern Europe had objective and subjective reasons, but subjective causes were primary. The collapse did not mean the collapse of Marxism-Leninism with scientific and revolutionary nature but the “materialization” and “actualization” of Marxism-Leninism into real life was not successful in several specific models. Subjective reasons of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist system of the East Europe involved many factors such as bureaucracy, keeping distance from the people, corruption; weaknesses in the organization and implementation of guidelines and policies, and mistakes on revolutionary guidelines and policies or the betrayal of the socialist objectives and ideals by some leaders. These factors in the subjective reasons were related to the consistency, loyalty, creative application and development of Marxism-Leninism in the process of the socialist revolution and in the socialist construction of these countries.

With regard to Vietnam, presentations and comments by the conference participants reached a common conclusion that the country now has had many advantages in the socio-economic development as well as defense and security consolidation, but simultaneously facing lots of accompanied difficulties, risks, and challenges. From the light of the Russian October Revolution and painful lessons learned from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist system of Eastern Europe, it was imperative for us to identify risks and issues to proactively present solutions. In so doing,  we will approach  ultimate success of the current renovation of the country, as shown in the spirit of the 12th National Party Congress: “To strengthen building the strong and clean Party; promote the strength of the entire people and the socialist democracy, accelerate comprehensive renovation process; firmly defend the Fatherland, maintain a peaceful and stable environment; strive for our goal to soon become basically an industrialized country towards modernity”.