The European Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties, in face of the 101st anniversary of the Great Socialist Revolution of October, states the following:

The October Revolution was the greatest event that took place in the 20th Century. The effects that the seizure of power by the working class had for the workers and the peoples of the world have been visible for decades and have shaped the developments in human history.

The public social security systems, the public education, the public health system, thay all have existed in the capitalist countries because they were firstly created in the USSR. The working class in the capitalist countries was stronger thanks to the existence of socialist countries. The sole existence of socialist countries was strong enough to weaken the capitalists and give more force to the working class movement all around the world.

In our times, years after the triumph of counter-revolution in the USSR and the European socialist countries, even now the capitalists continue aiming to destroy all the conquests achieved thanks to the heroic struggle of the working class and the peoples, inspired by the example of the countries that were building socialism-communism.

The importance of the October Revolution and its consequences should not be forgotten or manipulated. The October Revolution and the communist movement and history must never be equated with Nazi-fascism. Let us not forget that it was the USSR who defeated Nazi-fascism and liberated the countries of Eastern Europe!

The example of October Revolution is inspiring for the new generations of communists throughout Europe, who struggle under very difficult conditions against the bourgeoisie and its state and inter-state mechanisms and alliances like European Union or NATO, who feed the danger of a new imperialist wars and confrontations.

The example of October Revolution is full of lessons for the working class movement, who develops a long lasting struggle against the employers and their Governments that want to destroy the social rights, the labour rights, the collective agreements, the social security and health systems, who want to delay the retirement age and hinder the access to public pensions for workers.

The example of October Revolution and the socialist construction is a powerful weapon in the hands of the working class women and the women from the popular strata, who can find many examples of how their liberation can only come together with the liberation of the whole working class, of how equality between men and women can be achieved only in a social and economic system that puts an end to the economic roots of inequality.

The Great Socialist Revolution of October 1917 marked the path to follow: demolishing capitalist relations of production and the capitalist state through the Socialist Revolution; socializing the concentrated means of production to give way to a centrally planned economy under the workers' control of the production and distribution of the social product; raising the socialist-communist democracy from the work centres, building a new type of State that corners until their complete disappearance all trace of mercantile relations of production, any trace of exploitation and oppression of some human beings by others, until the complete triumph of communism.
For many decades, the USSR and the rest of socialist countries proved the supriority of socialism-communism over capitalism. It is a fact that, for the first time in history, the exploitation of man by man was surpassed and that, in the USSR and in the rest of the socialist countries, the foundations were laid for the formation of a superior society, free from exploitation and all forms of oppression.
That is why we are fully committed to defend and promote the advances of socialist construction in the past, having being taught by the weaknesses and mistakes but also, and mainly, we are committed to retake the path marked by October Revolution 101 years ago, we are committed to organize and develop new revolutions that lead the working class of our countries to a new way of development free from exploitation and war, on the basis of relations between countries based on mutual cooperation and not on looting and plunder.

November 2018
European Communist Initiative