Packed meeting marks October anniversary
CPGB-ML and friends celebrate the 93rd anniversary of the Great October Revolution.
Over 90 CPGB-ML members and friends gathered at Saklatvala Hall in Southall on Saturday 6 November to celebrate the greatest event of the 20th century, the Socialist October Revolution of 1917 in Russia.
Among the honoured guests present were representatives from the embassies of China and the DPRK. The Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) was represented by Comrade Kobina, who delivered a stirring solidarity message, as did Comrade Nazar Basran of the Association of Indian Communists in Britain. Messages of support were received from the embassies of Vietnam and Nicaragua, whose representatives were unable to be present..
The meeting opened with an emotional and very much-applauded film of Comrade J V Stalin addressing the Soviet people, during the second world war, on the occasion of the 1941 anniversary of the October Revolution in Moscow, when the Nazi invaders were at the very gates of the city.
Comrade Ella Rule, in the chair, made many good points about why we still need to uphold the example set by the Russian people in 1917. She mentioned the fact that the richest 100 people in this country could have 25 percent of their wealth taken from them, which would still leave them incredibly rich, and the amount resulting from that 25 percent ‘tax’ of these ultra-rich parasites could be used to totally take away the need for any ‘cuts’.
However, she then pointed out that, of course, that is not how capitalism works, which is why it must be destroyed if working-class people want any relief from the ever deeper cuts in their wages, jobs, benefits, housing, services etc, which, along with endless wars, is their reward for tolerating imperialism.
Comrade Ella said that the economic crisis that has given rise to the cuts has driven the western imperialists to desperation. Their cuts will aggravate the crisis, and deepen their despair. In these circumstances, it is quite probable that the western imperialist powers will move from the cowardly wars for domination they are currently conducting against countries unable to hit back in the home territories of their attackers, to wars against countries such as China, that most certainly can.
Therefore, huge suffering, worse even than the cuts, will be visited on the people of the western imperialist heartlands unless they overthrow their bourgeoisies before they lead us into such devastating wars, wars that will be far more brutal than anything the world has previously ever known.
Comrade Ella also pointed out that though many sacrifices will have to be made in order to achieve the defeat of imperialism, the example given by Korea, which has been able to stand up to the united force of all imperialist countries for over six decades, proves that imperialism is truly a paper tiger, and that victory will be ours if we bring real proletarian determination to bear under correct Marxist revolutionary leadership.
The main speaker for the evening was the CPGB-ML Chairman, Harpal Brar, who spoke variously with great emotion, humour and anger but always knowledgably as he dissected the imperialist aims of trying to discredit communism in general and the USSR in particular, trying even to equate communism with fascism.
He quoted bourgeois sources to show not only that this policy was being carried out by all imperialists and their puppets but also why it was necessary for imperialism to falsify history in this way. Comrade Brar gave a well-researched and detailed presentation, which moved easily through history from 1917 to the present date to support his arguments. (Extracts available in ‘Refutation of bourgeois attempts at falsification of the glorious achievements of Soviet communism’, lalkar.org, November 2010. Full speech available to watch at youtube.com/user/ProletarianCPGBML)
Following this tremendous speech, comrade Surinder Cheema treated the gathering to a rendition of the Punjabi revolutionary song Red Flag, after which the meeting stood and sang the Hymn To The Soviet Union, accompanied by a recording of Paul Robeson, and the Internationale.
When the formal part of the meeting was over, drinks and an excellent curry were served while people indulged in comradely discussion. Several new party members were made from this meeting and many more new supporters and friends were won over. The revolutionary spirit of 1917 permeated the entire event, as it does every year.
