The collectivization of agriculture? Kronstadt? The disbanding of the constituent assembly? Still earlier, when Trotsky read the riot act to Martov and the Mensheviks in the immediate aftermath of the October Revolution?[1]
If there is one lesson, I think it is the absolute priority of a free press and political democracy. Roads to Utopia that do not start with speeches and debates appear to have a very high probability of leading to the Revolution Betrayed instead--to the Great Terror or the Cultural Revolution or Tuol Sleng or to whatever (and I fear that it has been very bad) has been happening in North Korea for the past fifty years.[2]
Brad DeLong
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] "You are pitiful isolated individuals! "You are bankrupt; your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on--into the garbage-pile of history!
Apropos of which, Edmund Wilson wrote:
These words are worth pondering for the light they
throw on the course of Marxist politics and thought.
Observe that the merging of yourself with the onrush
of the current of history is to save you from the
ignoble fate of being a "pitiful, isolated individual";
and that the failure so to merge yourelf will relegate
you to the garbage-pile of history, where you can
presumably be of no more use.
Today, though we may agree with the Bolsheviks that
Martov was no man of action, his croakings over the
course they had adopted seem to us full of far-sighted
intelligence. He pointed out that procliaming a socialist
regime in conditions different from those contemplated by
Marx would not realize the results that Marx expected;
that Marx and Engels had usually described the dictatorship
of the proletariat as having the form, for the new dominant
class, of a democratic republic, with universal suffrage and
the popular recall of officials; that the slogan "All power
to the Soviets" had never really meant what it said and
had soon been exchanged by Lenin for "All power to the
Bolshevik Party."
There sometimes can turn out to be valuable objects cast
away in the garbage-pile of history--things that have to
be retrieved later on. From the point of view of the
Stalinist Soviet Union, that is where Trotsky himself
is today; and he might well discard his earlier assumption
that an isolated individual must needs be "pitiful" for
the conviction of Dr. Stockman in Ibsen's Enemy of the
People that "the strongest man is he who stands most
alone."
------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Apropos of which, see http://www.kcna.co.jp/contents/08.htm#4:
Pyongyang, June 8 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun in a commentary today lashes out at the South Korean war hawks for their renewed military provocation against the North Korea. On June 5, the South Korean war hawks illegally infiltrated three warships deep into the territorial waters of the north.
The intrusion is a premeditated provocative act intended to find an excuse to make a preemptive attack on the North Korea in pursuance of the "operation plan 5027-98", a new DPRK-targeted war scenario mapped out by their master, the U.S., the commentary observes, and says: This is clear evidence that the hawkish elements of the "government for the people" are running amok to unleash a war against the north.
The DPRK can never remain a passive onlooker to such provocation. The U.S. and the South Korean war hawks are well advised not to act rashly, mindful that the preemptive attack on the north will only precipitate their ultimate destruction...
Pyongyang, June 8 (KCNA) -- A variety of phraseology reflecting the stirring reality is used in Korea nowadays. Articles reported by media and slogans displayed in streets and work-sites carry the determination of the Korean people to build a powerful socialist nation.
Among them are such phraseology as "Untiring efforts", "Let us create things from nothing ", "One minute and one second for the fatherland", "Let all of us become heroes", "Everything by oneself", "Let us highly display the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance."
They reflect the firm resolution and mettle of the Korean people to build at all costs a powerful nation through self-reliance by tiding over all sorts of difficulties caused by blockades, isolation and suffocation moves of the imperialists and the continued natural disasters.
The phraseology "One minute and one second for the fatherland" mirrors the style of work of the Korean people. The Korean workers and all other people are working hard, counting every second and minute. They are performing feats in every second and minute while the scientists are devoting themselves to fresh scientific researches and invention, saving time. The pilot hero Kil Yong Jo set a lofty example of resolutely defending the leader in 25 seconds.
Also popular are such phraseology as "Everybody is master of farming", "Goal to be attained at a time", "As the men work hard, the field seethes", "Let us begin transplanting rice seedlings in a creditable manner" "Paddy field is the work place for officials," "Let us ensure full-capacity operation of the rice transplanting machines", "Actions speak louder than words." They represent the patriotic zeal of the Korean people who have vigorously turned out in farming in the same sense of responsibility for farming as that of agricultural workers.
"Man who treasures a gun is a loyal subject", "Relay club of a frontline soldier that carries forward the spirit of preceding generation", "Let us live today, too, as we did in wartime days", "Let us not forget the bloody lesson" and "Road of defending socialism" -- this phraseology reflects the unshakable determination of the Korean people to resolutely defend and glorify the socialist system.
Among them are "Let's always be cheerful, although our path is thorny " "Are you running at a canter?" "Second grand Chollima march", "Let us make a breakthrough on a steed" and "Let us work as in those days when the country seethed with enthusiasm to build the country", which indicate that the Korean people are now running at a canter making a new breakthrough toward building a powerful nation, full of confidence and optimism. ..