SEP meeting attendees speak about the Russian Revolution
By
our reporters
20 December 2017
A diverse cross-section of workers, students and young people attended Socialist Equality Party meetings in Sydney and in Wellington, New Zealand, last week, entitled “100 years on: The significance of the 1917 Russian Revolution for today.” A number spoke to reporters from the WSWS.
Attending his first SEP meeting, Michael, a professional jazz/rock guitarist from Sydney’s southwest, said: “The main thing that was clarified for me at today’s meeting was how Stalinism emerged and how it led to the corruption of the ideals and direction of the revolution. This underscores the importance of the international nature of the revolution. In isolation, the opportunity for corruption and nationalism is very strong and undermines any kind of revolutionary international workers’ movement.
“I’d heard about these issues before, but having them reinforced at this meeting made it much clearer for me. It’s absolutely crucial to think about that now because the economy is so much more of a global concern and communication is so instant between everywhere in the world. Any kind of revolution that is isolated has even less chance of succeeding and being sustained. In this environment a revolutionary movement of workers has to come from all corners of the globe.”
Commenting on the growing danger of war, he said: “There’s always an enemy being promoted and here it’s currently the Chinese. But this is a massive distraction that serves the ruling class. ‘It’s not the bosses and the shareholders that are screwing you, it’s the Chinese, it’s the guys that will work for less, that are taking the money out of your pocket,’ they say. Not the people, the ruling…