Social Revolution

Major and fundamental revolutions effected by people in reshaping the society, an inevitable outcome and highest manifestation of class struggle, a qualitative leap from the lower to the higher in the process of development of social formations. The essence of social revolution is that the political rule of the reactionary class is overthrown by a revolutionary class by violent means in order to change the economic foundation and superstructure of the old society, the old decadent and backward social system is replaced by a new advanced social system, the productive forces are liberated, opening up the way for the development of productive forces, and thus promoting the development of human society. Social revolution is the concrete form of appearance of the basic laws of society, and its fundamental question is the question of state power.

Social revolution is not made as people please. Social revolutions have their deep roots. Their roots should be found in the general social conditions and conditions of life of every country that has experienced turbulence. Revolution in any place and at any time is the inevitable result of various situations that are completely independent of the will and leadership of a single political party and the whole class. Social revolution requires certain conditions: first, the development of the productive forces of society to a certain degree; second, the intensification of the fundamental contradictions of society, i.e., the intensification of the contradictions between the productive forces and the relations of production and between the economic foundation and the superstructure. When the productive forces of society have developed to a certain stage, the relations of production that were originally appropriate to the development of productive forces have gradually become conservative relations of production that are not appropriate to the development of productive forces, thus giving rise to an intense conflict between advanced productive forces and conservative relations of production, as well as a fierce conflict between the economic foundation and the backward superstructure determined by it. Intense social contradictions and conflicts are manifested through fierce class antagonisms. The intense contradictions in society can only be solved through social revolution. Marx said that at a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of production, or—what is but a legal expression for the same thing—with the property relations within which they have been at work hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. In addition to the above objective conditions, social revolution should also have certain subjective conditions, such as the degree of consciousness of the revolutionary class, its degree of organization and the degree of mobilization of the masses. Specifically, Specifically, there is a need for a much higher degree of consciousness and organization of the revolutionary class, as well as unprecedented revolutionary activism among the masses of the people, and, at the same time, the revolutionary class must also have its own recognized leaders with outstanding leadership skills, in order to form a powerful revolutionary force capable of shattering the reactionary class. Lenin pointed out that revolution arises only out of a situation in which objective changes are accompanied by a subjective change, namely, the ability of the revolutionary class to take revolutionary mass action strong enough to break (or dislocate) the old government.

In class society, if any revolutionary class wants to destroy the old society and eliminate the old social system, it must overthrow the old state power. State power is the mainstay of the superstructure. Without overthrowing the old state machinery and establishing a new state machinery, it is impossible to accomplish fundamental revolutions in the social system. Lenin pointed out that the key question of every revolution is the question of state power. Without a clear understanding of this question, it is impossible to talk about consciously participating in a revolution, let alone leading a revolution. The change of state power from a reactionary class to a revolutionary class is the primary and basic hallmark for achieving a social revolution. There is an essential difference between social revolution and social reform. Social revolution is a fundamental change in the nature of a society, generally from the bottom up and in a violent manner, because the reactionary ruling class will not voluntarily cede its power. In order to achieve revolutionary tasks, the oppressed classes usually have to forcibly overthrow the rule of the reactionary classes. Therefore, violent revolution is the only way for social revolution. However, social reform only pursues quantitative or partially qualitative changes in the social system, generally from above and not in a violent manner. Of course, Marxism does not generally oppose reforms, but regards them as a by-product and auxiliary method of social revolution.

Social revolution is the main mode to solve the fundamental contradictions of society and a powerful driving force to further the change of social formations and even the development of the whole society. Social revolution is a decisive means and an important moment for the replacement of the old society by the new one. In class society, revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable in class society and that without them, it is impossible to accomplish any leap in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible for the people to win political power. Moreover, social revolutions bring into full play the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the masses in making history. Social revolutions are a powerful driving force of historical development and have pushed forward the rapid development of human society. That is why Marx commented that revolutions are the locomotives of history.

The intensification of the fundamental contradictions of society is the root cause of social revolutions. However, the manifestation of the actual fundamental contradictions of society and class contradictions is concrete and historical. There have been different types of revolutions in human history, depending on the nature of the society and the class content, object, driving force, purpose and historical task of the revolution determined by it. Revolution of the slaves against the class of slave-owners, revolution of the rising landlord class against the slavery system, the revolution of the peasants against the feudal landlord class, the democratic revolution of the bourgeoisie against the feudal system, and the proletarian revolution against the bourgeoisie and capitalist system. Unlike previous social revolutions, the proletarian revolution is committed to abolishing the exploiting class through class struggle, thus abolishing all class rule, abolishing private ownership, and seeking benefits for the vast majority of people in society. Therefore, the proletarian revolution is the broadest, deepest and most radical revolution in the history of mankind.

In socialist society, the contradictions between productive forces and production relations, and between the economic foundation and the superstructure can be solved through reform, and reform also has the significance of social revolution. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “We regard reform as a revolution.” “Reform is China’s Second Revolution.” The socialist system will be improved and developed through reforms, and socialism will be pushed forward. The ultimate purpose of reform is to liberate the productive forces. In this regard, it is of the same nature as the social revolutions of the past.