In April of 1917, immediately after Czar Nicholas was overthrown, Lenin was able to return to Saint Petersburg, the capitol of Russia. The capitalist press wasted no time in attacking him. As Russia was, at that time, at war with Germany, Lenin was accused, by the bourgeois press, of being a German agent.
In fact, the diplomats of various countries had arranged for the return of possibly thirty Russian nationals, to pass through Germany, on a sealed train. Lenin was one of those Russian nationals.
Lenin used this example as being characteristic of the world of the capitalists, of ”dark hints, vile insinuations against the socialists”. As opposed to this, there is the world of the ”revolutionary democrats”, those who have decided to ”take steps”. (italics by Lenin)
That is as true today, as at the time it was first written. The capitalists are constantly lying, slandering the working people, especially those who are trying to ”make a difference”. They have a particular hatred for those who are Marxists, Communists. But then they know that the Communists are the most dangerous, the greatest threat to their way of life, and they are right.
That was not the first time that Lenin had referred to the two worlds, that of capitalism, and that of socialism. Several years earlier, in 1910, he had written an article in support of August Bebel, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. (Bear in mind that at that time, those who are currently referred to as Communists, were then referred to as Social Democrats.)
At a Congress of the German Party, the true Marxists were involved in a heated discussion with the social chauvinists, the revisionists. As Lenin described it: ”Two worlds of ideas: on the one hand, the point of view of the proletarian class struggle, which in certain historical periods can proceed on the basis of bourgeois legality, but which leads inevitably to a denouement, an open collision, to the dilemma: either ‘smash’ the bourgeois state ‘to smithereens’, or be defeated and strangled. On the other hand, the point of view of the reformist, the petty bourgeois who cannot see the wood for the trees, who cannot, through the tinsel of constitutionality, see the fierce class struggle, who forgets in the backwoods of some diminutive state the great historical problems of the present day.”
Lenin goes on to explain: ”The reformists imagine themselves to be realistic politicians, doers of positive work, statesmen. It is in the interests of the masters of bourgeois society to encourage these childish illusions in the ranks of the proletariat, but the Social Democrats must destroy them ruthlessly”,
That is precisely the situation we are facing today. The ”two worlds” are colliding. The world of the class of capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, is colliding with the world of the common people, the working class, the proletariat.
The working people are now faced with the choice of smashing the bourgeois state, or of being ”defeated and strangled”. That is one world, the world of the proletariat.
The other world, the world of capital, the world of the bourgeois, contains the world of reformists, of social chauvinists, those who are encouraging the belief that the ”system can be changed from within”. These chauvinists, socialists in name only, are nothing but the most dedicated servants of the capitalists. They are dedicated to preserving the rule of the capitalists. Just as surely as the capitalists must be destroyed, so too the chauvinists must be destroyed.
The best way to do this, is to take them at their word. As they say the system can be changed from within, we should encourage all working people to join the two mainstream political parties, as card carrying members, and do just that. It is the card carrying members who determine policy, as well as the individuals to run for any and all political office, so that it should be a piece of cake to flood Washington with working class people.
Of course that is not about to happen, as the capitalists, the bourgeois, are in charge, and fully intend to remain in charge. In the process of attempting to join the two parties, both of which serve the same class, the bourgeoisie, and change the system from within, the working people will learn, from experience, that the Communists are correct.
Those same working class people will also learn that there are indeed two worlds, the world of capitol and the world of labour. There is no ”third world”.
The theory of three worlds was created by the revisionists, the social chauvinists, those who are socialists in words, chauvinists in deeds. Just as there are no ”three worlds”, there are no ”third world” countries. I offer this as an example of a revolutionary theory which has been falsified. As Lenin described it: ”This is how history is written! This is how a great revolutionary doctrine is imperceptibly falsified and adapted to prevailing philistinism!”
Sadly, now the term ”third world country” is deeply entrenched in the Leftist literature, as well as in popular belief. There is nothing Marxist in that description.
Yet, this does not mean that we have to adopt the terminology of the social chauvinists. Almost all countries of the world are deeply in debt, many of them facing bankruptcy. A few of these countries are highly industrialized, while many are predominantly agrarian. Industrialized or agrarian, all are being bled white by the capitalists, facing financial ruin. The capitalists have managed to blur the distinctions between the industrialized and the agrarian countries!
The revolutionary motion is gaining strength in North America, so that several independent socialist republics have already taken shape. No doubt others will soon emerge, as the people who live in certain areas come together. Then it is just a matter of time before they declare their independence, and form socialist republics. Some of these republics will be predominately industrial, while others will be quite agrarian. Of course we need both. Then we can expect the various republics to come together and form a socialist union, as happened in Russia, after the Russian revolution of 1917.
These newly created republics will no doubt be socialist, because working people are not entirely stupid. After living under capitalism all their lives, they are only too anxious to embrace the alternative, that of socialism.
We can then expect those who are members of an industrialized republic to assist those who are members of an agrarian republic, in developing agriculture. After all, everyone has to eat! Then everyone can share in the bountiful harvests. That makes so much more sense than the capitalist method of cutting the throat of each other!
Gradually, the world of capitalists will die out, as working people learn to work together, cooperating, sharing what they have. At the same time, the world of workers will grow stronger, as socialism is built and strengthened. The nonsense of ”three worlds” will also die out, along with the capitalists.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 