– Qemal Cicollari, Chairman of the CPA –
(Original title: The capitalist system is not a democratic system, but a dictatorial system that mercilessly oppresses and exploits the people)
The Albanian bourgeoisie in power and its bourgeois state, right-wing and “left-wing” bourgeois parties, and a group of bourgeois and opportunistic ideologues, servants, mercenaries, and lapdogs of capitalism continuously and loudly preach and propagate the great lie that “capitalism means democracy.” In their grand demagogic propaganda on this issue, the ruling bourgeoisie and its bourgeois state try, by all means, to hide the true face of the old oppressive and exploitative capitalism behind the term democracy, to identify capitalism with democracy and to sell capitalism as democracy to public opinion.
In the written and electronic media, in newspapers, on television, in books, magazines, in school and university curricula, in the speeches and writings of politicians, historians, economists, philosophers, aestheticians, journalists, writers, etc., the term capitalism has generally disappeared and has been replaced by the term democracy.
Why do the ruling bourgeoisie and their servants preach and propagate this great deception? The main reason for this great deception by the ruling bourgeoisie has been and is the discrediting in the eyes of the people of the old capitalist system, which mercilessly oppresses and exploits the people, and the great crimes of capitalism against the people.
The goal of the ruling bourgeoisie has been and is to defend and perpetuate the old oppressive and exploitative capitalist system, to present the capitalist order as the only democratic order, to mask and beautify this old oppressive and exploitative system with the “great, beautiful and sweet word” democracy, thus misleading and deceiving the people.
In truth, it must be acknowledged that the ruling Albanian bourgeoisie, its bourgeois state and their servants and lapdogs have succeeded in deceiving a large number of people, especially the younger generation, as a result of the intense anti-communist and anti-socialist pressure. Unfortunately, a significant number of people, particularly young, politically ignorant and naive individuals in Albania, believe and propagate this great lie of the bourgeoisie and its servants.
In such circumstances, it is essential to expose this great lie of the ruling Albanian bourgeoisie in the eyes of the people.
The term democracy, according to the etymology of this word, derives from ancient Greek, meaning demos — people, kratis — power, which means the power of the people. So, the word democracy means the rule of the people.
However, the history of capitalism provides us with numerous and undeniable facts that, in capitalism, it is the ruling oppressive and exploitative bourgeois class, the minority, that rules, and not the people.
For a long time, bourgeois ideologues have continued to preach and propagate the myth that the bourgeois state ensures the most complete freedoms and rights for all members of society, that it constitutes “pure democracy,” “democracy for all,” “classless democracy.”
But the facts show that, in capitalism, there is indeed democracy only for the ruling bourgeois class (a handful of capitalists and oligarchs), the minority, and there is dictatorship for the majority, the people.
To beautify and mask the bourgeois dictatorship in capitalism, bourgeois ideologues call the bourgeois state a “state of general welfare,” “an impartial arbiter” and other bourgeois nonsense.
So, what is the truth about this matter? The correct and scientific answer to this question is provided only by Marxist-Leninist science.
Marxist-Leninist science teaches us that the democratic character, or not, of an economic-social system is determined by the fact of which class holds political and economic power.
In the capitalist system, political power is held by the ruling bourgeois class, the minority (a handful of capitalists and oligarchs), who mercilessly oppress the working class (the proletariat) and the working masses, the people.
In the capitalist system, the means of production (factories, plants, combines, etc.) are capitalist private property in the hands of the ruling bourgeois class, the minority (a handful of capitalists and oligarchs), who mercilessly exploit the overwhelming majority, the working class and the working masses, the people. So, economic power in capitalism is in the hands of the ruling bourgeois class.
Marxist-Leninist science teaches us, and the history of capitalism has fully proven this teaching, that the state in capitalism is a weapon in the hands of the ruling bourgeois class, that it defends, by all means, capitalist private property, defends the political power of the ruling bourgeois class, and serves it with its reactionary and anti-people policies.
How can the capitalist system be democratic when the ruling bourgeois class, the minority (a handful of capitalists and oligarchs), mercilessly oppress and exploit the working class and the working masses, the people, the overwhelming majority?
How can the capitalist system be democratic when the imperialist bourgeoisie of the great imperialist states (a handful of capitalists and oligarchs) enslave and mercilessly exploit the peoples of entire continents?
How can the capitalist system be called democratic when it has thrown and continues to throw the peoples of the world into the slaughterhouses of imperialist world and local wars as “cannon fodder” for its interests when, as history shows, capitalism triggered the First World War and the Second World War, and local wars in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Middle East, Ukraine, etc., causing humanity more than 100,000,000 deaths and incalculable material damage?
How can the capitalist system be democratic when it is drowning the peoples of Palestine, Ukraine, etc., in blood, and threatening the world with a Third World War and the annihilation of humanity?
Enver Hoxha has revealed the class essence of bourgeois democracy, which says:
“In countries where capital rules, there is democracy for the capitalists, the oppressors, the exploiters, there is oppression for the majority, for the masses, for the people. Here exists the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the fascist dictatorship, the bureaucratic order rules.” (Enver Hoxha, “Reports and Speeches” (1967-1968), p. 44).
But many bourgeois and reformist ideologues do not lay down their arms; they preach constitutional rights and the bourgeois parliamentary order, proclaiming it as the highest expression of democracy.
The bourgeois parliament, as the history of capitalism shows, has never and nowhere ensured real equality among members of society.
Many bourgeois constitutions proclaim the equality of all people before the law, such as the right to vote, the right to speech and expression, the right to work, etc.
The history and current reality of capitalism show us very clearly that these rights are formal and remain declarations on paper; they only embellish bourgeois constitutions.
To prove and verify the falsity of bourgeois democracy, I will briefly analyse and present some undeniable facts.
For example, the right to vote for all people in capitalism, although proclaimed by many bourgeois constitutions, is severely curtailed with various restrictions, excluding a large portion of the population from this right.
We are witnesses to how the election process in capitalist Albania has not been conducted at all in a democratic manner.
We are witnesses to how the ruling Albanian bourgeois class, in order to ensure the election of its candidates, whether they are called democrats, socialists, etc., has used all forms and means, demagogy, deception, intimidation, falsification, money and even terror.
Therefore, as the history of capitalism shows, nothing changes in the oppressive and exploitative nature of the capitalist system through voting.
Regarding this issue, the great Lenin said:
“Once every few years, it is decided which member of the bourgeoisie will oppress the people in parliament. This is the essence of parliamentarism.” (Lenin, Works, vol. 34, p. 46).
In bourgeois constitutions, it is written in black and white that people are legally guaranteed the right to employment. The history of capitalism shows us very clearly, like sunlight, that in capitalism, the phenomenon of mass and chronic unemployment has existed and still exists.
Today in the world, statistics and bulletins from international organizations such as the UNO, FAO, etc., indicate that the number of unemployed people reaches hundreds of millions of people capable of working. Only during the economic crisis and the coronavirus period from 2018 to 2020, the number of unemployed increased by 20-40 per cent.
In capitalism, as history shows, the ruling bourgeois class is not at all interested in the employment of people, but has only one goal: to secure maximum profits and increase its capital by mercilessly exploiting the working class and the working masses.
Regarding this issue, the father of scientific communism Karl Marx emphasized that the bourgeoisie throws workers onto the unemployment line as soon as they become “superfluous” for the needs of increasing the value of “Lord” capital.
So unemployment is an objective phenomenon and law of capitalism; it can never be eradicated in capitalism.
Let’s also consider the “freedom of speech and expression” in capitalism, which is preached and trumpeted with great noise and continuously by bourgeois propaganda and ideologues and servants of the bourgeoisie.
This preaching by bourgeois ideologues and propaganda is a farce because the main means of shaping public opinion, such as the press, radios, televisions, newspapers, libraries, social networks, etc., are capitalist private property or in the hands of the capitalist state, which confuse and deceive the masses.
Proletarians, poor peasants and simple workers, as history and the current reality of capitalism show, with their poor and miserable condition, are not able to secure even their daily bread, let alone own propaganda means such as radios, televisions, newspapers, etc.
Based on this undeniable fact of capitalism, the preaching of bourgeois and opportunist ideologues about so-called “freedom of speech and expression” in capitalism falls apart and becomes “shattered to pieces.”
Therefore, in capitalism, there is in reality “freedom of speech and expression” for the ruling bourgeois class and not for the people.
All these undeniable facts show that the bourgeois state, even when it is organized in the “most democratic” forms, in essence, is the dictatorship of the ruling oppressive and exploitative bourgeois class, the minority, over the working class (the proletariat) and the working masses, the people, which means over the oppressed and exploited majority.
In the current conditions of imperialism, as the highest and final stage of capitalism, in which we find ourselves, imperialism tends to trample on democracy; bourgeois democracy is rapidly degrading into political reaction.
Why does this happen?
This happens because, in imperialism, the internal antagonistic class contradictions deepen and become more acute, the political consciousness of the working class and the working masses rises, etc., making it difficult for the bourgeoisie to rule with “democratic methods” and forcing it to shift to an open policy of terror against the working class and the working masses.
Abroad, as history shows, the imperialist bourgeoisie pursues a policy of aggressive wars and occupations, as well as suppression of revolutionary and national liberation movements.
To achieve these goals and implement this reactionary and aggressive policy, the imperialist bourgeoisie is massively expanding its military-bureaucratic machine, increasing the army, police, prisons, intensifying the arms race and making colossal expenditures on wars.
In imperialism, the bourgeois state directly falls into the hands of the financial oligarchy.
The big capitalists, oligarchs, become ministers, occupy key positions in the state apparatus and direct the activities of the bourgeois state, as they are doing here in Albania.
Therefore, in capitalism, democracy exists only for the ruling bourgeois class.
Thus, in capitalism, democracy does not exist for the working class and the working masses, the people.
History shows us that only in the socialist and communist system does true democracy exist, socialist democracy, because in socialism the oppressive and exploitative bourgeois class is eradicated, because in socialism the working class, in alliance with the working peasantry, is in power, the majority is in power.
In socialism, as the history of socialism shows, there is democracy for the working class and the working masses, the people, the majority, and there is dictatorship for the enemies of the people, the former oppressive and exploitative bourgeois classes, and their remnants, and the degenerate elements of socialism, the minority.
The Communist Party of Albania has the duty to expose the falsity of bourgeois democracy, its anti-people character, and to mobilize and organize the working class and the popular masses, the people, in the struggle to overthrow the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in whatever form it may exist.
(Translated from the Albanian original)
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