“Marx-Style” Revolution is Possible

Marx’s well-known assumption — that revolutions would occur in a few of the most advanced industrialized nations — was not borne out in practice. In contrast to Marx, Lenin came to the conclusion that revolution would occur in countries that were the weakest link in the capitalist chain, when revolutionary situations would arise in them. Such a link, in particular, was the Russian Empire in the years 1905-1917.

Experience confirmed the accuracy of this conclusion. In that case then, why is the emergence of “Marx-style” revolution now possible in the U.S. and Europe? It is clear that at the moment, the points of view of Marx and Lenin are merging: the U.S. and the European countries, with their highly developed industries, are the weakest links in the capitalist chain.

According to Marxism, the capitalist system unavoidably generates crises. At this moment, it has arrived at a new global crisis. This crisis significantly differs from the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The current crisis has three main causes, although there are others as well. The first and principal cause is economic. In pursuit of profits, U.S. and European capitalists “drove out” a large part of industrial goods production from their countries to third-party countries with much cheaper labor and significantly lower taxes and other costs, resulting in minimal production costs to themselves. Considering that technology and equipment supplied by Europe and the U.S. meet all modern requirements, and also remain under the control of specialists from those countries, the goods from Europe and the U.S. lose in the market with respect to “price-quality.”

Thus, capitalists are betraying their national interests for the sake of profit, since this leads to reduction of their own production and promotes unemployment and other social ills. The economic crisis is supplemented by a financial crisis. It is connected with financial speculations, the most damaging of which is currency speculation. The issuance of unsecured “empty” dollars as an international currency began long ago, and continues to grow. A gigantic financial pyramid has been established, which must inevitably collapse.

In the absence of an economic crisis, the pyramid might hold up longer, but both sides of the crisis are affecting each other and accelerating the arrival of its final stages.

In recent years a second pyramid began to grow, in connection with the issuance of the euro. The establishment of the European Union enabled the establishment of a parallel currency as Europe’s answer; as a French political scientist said, Europe, along with other countries, had to pay imperial tribute to the U.S. in the sphere of international trade. After Europe converted to the euro, many economists predicted the crash of the dollar and a conversion to a more balanced alternative currency. But although the euro surpassed the dollar in exchange rates, the dollar did not crash.

This is explained, first of all, by the economic decline in Europe, which required the European Union to also issue “empty” euros, which undermined trust in the new currency. The third side of the rising global crisis, which rarely receives any attention, is the deficit of raw materials, leading to a sharp increase in prices, especially for oil and gas. Global production of oil and some other types of raw materials began to fall, which led to the rise in prices and the reduction of consumer demand.

These three causes of the rising global crisis in the world capitalist system cannot be resolved. The beginning of the end can only be slowed a little. It is no accident that the media have almost stopped publishing cheery statements about overcoming the crisis. All three causes will inexorably bring a catastrophe, which, for the reasons given above, will strike the European countries and the U.S. much more strongly. For them, this will be even more painful, because the fall in the standard of living will be from a significantly greater height than that of third world countries, and the corresponding psychological shock will be significantly greater.

There can only be one escape from the catastrophe: the establishment of a better and more reasonable socialistic structure. There is no alternative to this. Escaping the crisis by means of a third world war is impossible. For the U.S. and the European Union, war with China would be not only futile, but economically unjustifiable; companies either fully or partially located in China bring them huge profits. In addition, cutting off the supply of cheap goods, especially in the U.S., would exacerbate the social situation even more. The military occupation of a semi-colonial Russia, which is a raw-materials annex to the West, will not improve the situation. And already, 80 percent of property in Russia is directly or indirectly foreign-owned, and capital is being removed from the country. Thus, the outbreak of a “Marx-style” revolution is totally possible. To what extent this is true, will become clear in the very near future.