MO. 1776 - 1789 - 1917 . human PT ASLIE MORRIS e Great Divides history 1 Novembe Aion 18 marks the third anniversary of the death of Leslie Morris, Communist leader, whose outstanding contribution to progress oUt eg ; Le oad will ever be remembered } |" Socialism, by those who fight for peace, free- ie | lest; . | Na tide proms was an outstanding writer and analyst of world events. The Ay of i wrote before his death was on the occasion of the 47th anni- e October Socialist Revolution in the U.S.S.R. C first socialist state! mw Pq, f “Sue of the Canadian Tribune. fan history there are\great Ne the S bteat divides, which Teg W of events.. ; 4% agin 8 was the year 1649, when Wely ao and farmers under mt divin €nged and defeated the In € right of kings. h,.'6 ong People of the 13 Ameri- inp so vetthrew British rule and {oy ertenlished a Republic and *80Vern 4in principles of demo- Mt ae which, grand as they iti be given to the Negro 200 years later. I2gg i i People of France de- ne bac ®udal system which was AS ang ned Togress, embraced J, ope peecrecy, and helped to 1b i mM the shackles of land- ae es DA, Mids roe of tsarist Russia, j the tsar a terrible war, over- piilorgg’ 09% the land from the Uthe 2. “Cupied the factories, noe ehtshour day, proclaim- 4 leadergh i peoples, and under te BES of 1p began to build the it ach ts the communist society 4n shall receive accord- Ho ih," he would have enjoyed the celebrations this year of the half cen- Ih m Nt aad and tribute to Leslie Morris and in honor of the 50th anni- Gre reprinting ‘The Great Divides of History’ from the November ing to his need, and give according to his ability. The 1917 Revolution was the deep- est and most far-reaching because it was carried through and led by work- ers and farmers, who sought to estab- lish the social ownership of land and put an end to the rule of the capitalists and landlords, The 1917 Revolution, whose 47th anniversary is now being celebrated, was the first one to be of, by and for the workers and farmers. All the pre- ceding ones, great as they were, were led by members of the rising merchant capitalist class, and maintained class rule and class struggle. Actually, one great fundamental so- cial. change, which we call revolution, was the child of the preceding one, and the father of the coming one. Social change, ripening to the point of radical social transformation, is the law of development of human society. The more we understand this, the easier and more peaceful and less cost- ly will the social changes be. Painting by P. Buchkin in the Lenin Central Museum. Lenin i April conference of the Communist Party in 1917. nee Now, since 1917, and under its im- pact, how many changes have taken place! Central Europe is building socialism. China had been liberated from its past, and goes towards socialism. The colonial world of the former bankers and investors is no more. Al- though the latter try through various means and people like Tshombe, to hold on to their former financial and politi- cal power by a “new” colonialism. which gives “self-government,” these efforts are doomed. The great countries of Asia and Africa will build their economies, by- passing capitalism, and constructing socialism in their own way, according to their conditions and traditions. We in the Western capitalist coun- tries, where capitalism is so strong and the socialist idea is as yet so weak’ should remember a few things at this time.. Socialism is inevitable here, despite the seeming strength of capitalism. The contradiction which capitalism cannot solve, try as it may, is between the increasing socializing of the produc- tion process (a million to make a pin!) and the fact that this enormous pro- duct is in private capitalist hands, with all the consequently anarchy, disorgan- ization, waste and disruption. Automation will reveal this truth to millions of people and the scales will fall from their eyes. The Russian Revolution of 1917 has shown that working men and women can run their country without benefit of capitalists, that cooks can govern and working men and women can pio- neer the cosmos. It has shown that unemployment is not a necessary result of automation. It has shown that national hatreds and wars can cease, that men will live in brotherhood together, each contrib- uting and each sharing. It has shown that capitalist human nature (“dog-eat-dog” and “what’s in it for me?”) can give way to socialist human nature (“what can I best con- tribute to the common weal?’’) November 7, 1917, was less than half a century ago, yet its impact on the world and on the life of every human is such that we can lift up our hearts and know that all human problems can be solved by humans, and that peace and friendship between all peoples is a new force which will conquer the ancient and condemned forces of the explaitation of man by man, ignorance fear and war. : | if A Ada < Ny; Gnd the Russian Revolution, fi 9) 'm 4,” Bu af Pages. sicrostess Books, Toronto. #] the po... ef Nisin Revolution is part of fe) yy Of all ac as it is of the iG] Yeaq a Comes ees tion, © chapter ear to all who have ‘ ‘in and Ca ain the Socialist revo- , But oh alist Politics reprint- w! tbe, You will he two weeks ago. ih 5 anoth ave to read the book Canate Mea €r important fact—that il tng dian ‘ashen the history of the Roe Of the si class is part of the 1 Moy, the Sonn ussian Revolution. HT went ; oe Still immature, labor of thes Part ES Canada of 50 years 1 oa Orkers we mighty struggle "| jee SAVE the of the world which tty a of intery Revolution from the ¢ ltalie oom from the fero- eaders like Winston 4. Only one criticism . . . Churchill who vainly howled out to: “smash the bolshevik eggs in the nest and not wait until bolshevik chickens are hatched all over the world.” In these days when the barriers to even the exchange of delegations be- tween the unions of Canada and the USSR have still to be broken down, every labor man in this country should read the story of the magnificent re- solutions of solidarity with the Rus- sian revolution enthusiastically passed by the labor conventions of that time, and of the actions which compelled the quick withdrawal of the Canadian army of intervention from Siberia. And this history lives for us today because it is told by one of the most active participants in that decisive battle of half a century ago—Tim Buck of the International Association of Machinists—the working man who went on to become the outstanding there should be more’ sulted in a compression that to some degree has deprived the reader of the fullest opportunity to learn about the political currents and problems of the working class movement of that period. I would like to have seen more fully developed the processes by which the Russian Revolution and the teachings of Lenin helped to over- come dogmatism—all the ills that plagued the movement of that time. For these tendencies re-appear by other names and in other forms in the sixties. spokesman for Marxism-Leninism. in Canada and one of the most deeply respected leaders of the international Communist movement. The solidarity shown by the work- - ers.and democrats of all countries has been repaid in full measure by the Soviet working class. Tim Buck tells how even in those earliest days the Revolution began very quickly . to clarify for militant workers the road ahead to a united labor movement, to independent ‘political action, and how it served to show socialist minded Canadians of the necessity of found- ing their own Communist Party on the soil of Canada. I have but one criticism of this book. There should have been a little more of it. It is doubtless laudable that an effort was made to produce a book that could be sold widely for a dollar. But I am afraid that this re- stands is a major contribution to deepening of our understanding of our own past, and of the history of the 20th century. the Tribune who will miss the oppor- tunity to buy it and pass it on to his friends, (N.C.) anarcho-syndicalism, leftism, But nevertheless, the book as it I hope there will be no reader of November 17, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 9