History
(Extracts from the essay titled History, published in the book Communism, 1989-1991, Hardial Bains, Ideological Studies Centre, 1991)
"Social phenomena are sometimes like the harnessed waters of a
mighty river kept in check by the dam of history. When the dam
bursts suddenly, it is not history that crumbles into oblivion.
No. To the contrary, every drop of that mighty flow resulting
from the radical rupture nurtures the soil from which history
bursts forth.... the outcome depends on how far the people see
and grasp the necessity for change, the necessity to bring about
the
deep-going transformations demanded by history."
It is
difficult for us to accept the commonly used definition of
history, namely that everything which is past is history. The
word "history" is actually used as a synonym for "past." Young
people have even coined the colloquial expression: "He (or she)
is history," to mean that a person or an event is finished, no
longer an issue for us.
One of the features of history is that it is past, but this is not the most important one. The most important one is that history exists. It prevails, it spreads its wings, and it takes over. History is the kind of irresistible force which does not leave anything alone. No human consciousness is possible without history, and no human history is possible without human action. This much is very clear.
[...]
It is generally known that amongst the primitive people, the extent of discussion and daily exchange was extremely limited, while, at the present time, the possibilities are virtually unlimited. In spite of this, the actual discussion and exchange are still limited, because many things in society and in the lives of people remain spontaneous and in many ways out of control. Not only are they out of control, but we have an increasing consciousness of this fact. We perceive history as something out of control. It is there, but somehow it is beyond us and cannot be touched.
[...] The present generation has to reckon with what has gone into history and what has not. It is not just a question of memory, but also of determining what exists and what does not. In actual fact, another chapter has been added to what is now history in the conventional sense.
History, as it is usually conceived, presents in its finished form a panorama of what has taken place. There may be disputes about this or that part, the role of this or that event, or the role of the individual in history. History in this instance is something like an after-thought, a creation in the mind through the study of things and events past, history as a benign phenomenon separate and apart from our lives. Such history appears as totally inconsequential to the living. But is this really the case? Are we so detached from history that it has no influence on us whatsoever? Is history like the space and time within which the earth moves? Or is it something more?
If history had no influence whatsoever, then we would not have known about it; but it is just as impossible to conceive of human life without human history as it is to imagine the earth without its own history or matter without its forms and its motion. Space and time constitute the conditions in which forms of matter come into being and pass away. Is there an equivalent of this in social life?
[...] all of human development, the present and the past, has relevance to the future. History is one continuum with breaks, making it possible to perceive that it is not a void, but full of life. History, in fact, is in dialectical relationship with all that is, speaking in the social sense, because what is is becoming what has been, and what has been has become the soil on which what is is to flourish.
The notion of history comes into being at a definite stage in the development of human civilization, the stage when human beings begin to develop productive forces through interaction with nature and between themselves. The law of social development, the contradiction inherent to human living, begins to assert itself. The increase in population and the depletion of resources, besides other factors, emerge as the objective contradiction which either must be resolved in favour of human society or else human life itself will come to an end. The rise of agriculture and animal husbandry is the first human act which breaks the spell of the elements of nature. It gives human beings not only the consciousness, but also the confidence that the condition for human living can be created by conscious planning, without leaving it to chance. Thus came the prelude, the first step towards the creation of human history.
This notion of history during its prelude is extremely self-serving, as it is not cognizant of the profound role of the objective laws to which human actions had given birth, and for this reason it is also negligent of what nature really had in store for human life in the objective sense during this entire period. Such a notion could only lead to enslavement, a new kind alongside the old. The old enslavement was to nature, and the new one is of one individual to another, beginning with chattel slavery and proceeding to the modern kind, where enslavement has assumed the most grotesque form – not only wage-slavery, but also bondage to the financial institutions which, in the present period, hold the entire world in their grasp.
Human action had to go through several millennia before the prelude itself was to come under question. This notion of history during the prelude finds its expression in the class society in the self-interest of the dominant classes. History itself is turned into the slave, meaning that the slave-owners shut their eyes to the great possibilities which history had created for human development. They rejected these opportunities, including history, thus condemning everyone to different forms of slavery and to millennia of groping in the dark. This led to the present conflict between the exploiters and the exploited, between the prelude and history itself.
We have come so far in development that we have now a class of people whose self-interest of emancipation means the emancipation of all humankind. The antithesis to those who had shut their eyes and did not take advantage of history is now on the verge of realization. The eyes are about to open wide. Some have already opened, and others will follow suit. History will come into being. When the working class demands the end of wage-slavery and the end of the system based on exploitation of persons by persons, who will not be affected by it? Besides the working class, there are also the men and women of enlightenment, those who proceed in their work not from prejudice and self-interest but from the interest of science and the advancement of society. What will now stop the advent of human history?
The emergence of such a class and stratum of individuals signals the beginning of the end of the prelude to history. This prelude, this pre-history, besides other things, involves this class and this stratum in open clashes with the unknown, with that which hitherto has been considered as hidden or taboo, as the sole preserve of the nobility and of the ruling caste. They begin to present themselves as those who must create the new society. This prelude to history becomes the era of the greatest assault against any kind of obscurantism, whether clerical or other, because both the class of people who are workers and the stratum of those who seek enlightenment cannot live with the demand of the past that they must accept their condition as preordained. The worker, the servant of the one who gives the job, and the enlightened, the servant of the one who pays, cannot accept this condition because of their nature and the essence of their work and profession in the objective sense. This gives rise to consciousness and to clashes between what they want to be and what condition they are placed in. Thus arise the strain and the tension where the prelude to history is now transformed into history itself. What comes before strives to become the after. The prelude to history becomes history.
But this transformation is not spontaneous and objective alone. There is a pressure that the prelude to history must remain as such. If this were merely a matter of someone's taste and did not affect anyone's life, it would be a different matter, but such a pressure on the prelude means that all the problems must remain unsolved, whether in economy, politics or culture or on the question of peace and progress of the peoples of all countries. There is also an opposite pressure, the vital condition of all the oppressed and exploited, who want the prelude to become history itself. The result is the great conflict of our times. This clash between the two interests is not benign, and it must be resolved.
It is not uncommon for history to be presented not merely as a thing of the past, but also in a completely static and lifeless form. Nothing can be learned from such a pedantic rendering of history, nor yet can such history have any vital role. The aim of this pedantic rendering is to obstruct the prelude to history from becoming history. It does not set history within the change, development and motion of real life, and it ensures that history does not appear as an all-sided vital force in any period. On the contrary, its role is to eliminate the vital force and make society regress. It wants to prolong the period of banality and every form of degeneration. It finds its freedom in this act, an act which is revolting to many but which is, all the same, also the condition for progress.
This pedantic rendering of history has today condemned the past and has theorized and moralized that, because of "human nature," no progress has been made in the past and no progress will be made at the present time in so far as the existence of the basic problems of society is concerned. According to this notion, the prelude to history the exploitation of persons by persons, will always remain. This runs counter to actual facts, which testify that there is progress, but that there is also retrogression. This progress has been so dramatic in every field from economy to culture that the prelude to history is more and more turning into history, a history created by work and serving the need of this and the coming era.
But there is a retrogression as well, where all the progress in different fields has been turned into its opposite. The scientific theory of evolution is confronted with the medievalist theory of creationism. Socialism faces various schools of bourgeois twaddle in the form of [...] "free market economy." Economic revival today has meaning only on the front of technique, not in the perfection of relations between people. The drive to end the exploitation of persons by persons faces all kinds of apologists who consider the reversion to spontaneity, under the supervision of technical experts, to be an advance over central planning carried out by the working people themselves. We have only to look at this world which is so pregnant with change, while at the same time, the integuments of the status quo are becoming ever so rigid and inflexible. Two world wars and so many clashes of varying intensity point to the character of our era, where history is knocking at the door, demanding the end of the prelude.
There is not a single problem in this world which we do not recognize in one form or another, from the acute problems of the economy and the environment to problems at home or the danger of another world war. But what is being done quite matter-of-factly about them is that they are still being looked at only according to the interests of those who constitute the ruling class. In the case of Canada and many other countries, the capitalist class constitutes the ruling class. Those constituting the governments refuse to be objective about the problems, and instead of finding their solution, they are perpetuating them. Cynicism and indifference are promoted, and the greatest pressure is exerted on people that they must shun their civic responsibility and keep away from politics and politicians. Many do not even want to speak about the problems, because they are afraid that, if they did so, they would be condemned as communists and persecuted. But this does not mean that the problems somehow disappear. On the contrary, they keep becoming acute and the dangers increase. History is calling for their solution. The moment they are solved, they pass into history, and history begins.
[...] if the prelude to history is being prolonged, this is not the end of history. The capitalist system does not have the power to prolong the prelude into eternity, because capitalism has contradictions which are tearing it apart. These contradictions cannot remain without resolution indefinitely. The demand of the working people for economic well-being and security, for peace and the protection of the environment, and for progress in every field cannot be ignored forever. Most importantly, the demand to end all exploitation of persons by persons, the root-cause of all other problems, can no longer be ignored. As long as such contradictions exist there will be attempts to resolve them, and when the contradictions are resolved, the prelude to history will turn around and declare, I AM HISTORY.
Such declarations have already been made before in this century, but with each such declaration, which gives a glimpse of history, the form and content of this history becomes clearer and better. It has become all the more clear, now that communism is requiring the invocation of the highest of techniques and the most developed social relations between people, so that not a trace of backwardness remains. History is demanding that the aim of all production must be the satisfaction of the individual and collective interests and their reconciliation with the general interest of society. An individual's desires have to be satisfied. When individuals work together as a collective, the individual desires cannot be satisfied without satisfying the interest of the collective. An individual worker cannot satisfy his desires without the entire collective fighting for them, and the individual and collective interest cannot override the general interest of society without risking serious conflicts.
History is putting everything on the table for solution. This includes the problems of the economy, politics and culture, of peace and the environment. Everything is clear and concise, but it is within this situation that a setback has come. The mere fact that [there is] so much damage is no reason to hesitate to find solutions to real problems. But there is hesitation. This hesitation is not spontaneous or aimless either. It has an aim, the aim of prolonging the prelude, of perpetuating all the problems. Those who are in the dominant position can pursue no other path, but this does not and cannot stop the billions in the world who are the victims of this prelude. Their struggles are like ocean waves pounding the shores of the old world, and with each and every wave the message becomes ever more clear: The prelude must come to an end.
For a while, it looked as if the prelude had come to an end. This was the period after the Second World War. People all over the world, especially in Europe and Asia, celebrated the victory over fascism on May 9, 1945. By 1953, several other countries had carried out people's revolution, and along with the Soviet Union [...] the prelude to history had come to an end in this part of the world. A conscious plan to deal with problems became the watchword.
[...] The U.S. and its allies were afraid that if the prelude actually did come to an end, it would have repercussions in the U.S. and other countries as well. The capitalists and those whose interests lay in domination and exploitation did not want the prelude to end. They gave birth to the Cold War, the war between those who wanted to end the prelude, headed by the Soviet Union and the socialist camp, and those who wanted to prolong it, headed by the Anglo-American alliance. Within a short space of time, there arose preachers who presented a completely distorted picture of the world in order to ensure that the prelude does not come to an end. [...]
[...] In the name of democracy, everything socialistic has come under fire [...] socialism again began to be equated with dictatorial rule and fascism. The spectre of communism was brought back. Far from being the dawn of history, it became another stage in the prelude, before the advent of history. Another dark cloud has cast its shadow over the world, postponing the dawn, but the dawn has not disappeared. There is no turning back.
These victors of the prelude have already come under scrutiny. The struggle for history has not come to an end. In spite of the setbacks, the struggle for socialism and democracy that is, for history versus "ideological and political pluralism" and "free market economy,",] the extension of the prelude, has begun again in earnest. This is the epochal struggle between the prelude and its antithesis, history. At this stage, world capitalism, the forces favouring the prelude, hold the advantages, while world socialism as a system does not exist. The forces favouring history are in retreat. World capitalism gives the impression that it can guarantee prosperity and real democracy, but therein lies its weakness. The claims which are made are not verifiable by facts, and as time passes, these claims ring ever more hollow. In any event, the contest between the two, prelude and history, has entered a new phase.
The question arises: Is this the end of history? As long as the struggle between the prelude and history remain, there can be no end of history. There is a suggestion that the end of the Cold War heralded the final victory of capitalism and that all the world's problems are now resolved. This is tantamount to saying that historical development has come to an end. But such a suggestion is based on false premises. The present developments [...] do not prove, as it is being claimed, that capitalism has self-corrective powers, that it can overcome its ills in the course of its development. Even if this were the case, it would still not spell the end of history. It would mark the beginning of the "self-corrective" phase of capitalism, a historical "turning point". History may look as if it is turning back, but this is not quite true. There is retrogression, but in fact history is going through pre-history to its complete affirmation.
The apparent turning back to the original position is the springboard for even deeper and broader changes, a revolution which will end capitalism and create a new society. The bourgeoisie has not raised the spectre of communism for nothing. It wants to avert the big bang: the transition from the helplessness and desperation of working people in the face of history to the working people not only humanizing, but actually creating history as the first step towards the total transformation of the human animal into a human being. The seeds for such a transition have been sown all over the world. The prelude is bound to give way to history.
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 30 - May 1, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54304.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca