People's democracy

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People's democracy is a unique form of socialist political organization that arises as a result of a people's democratic revolution. The term is synonymous with people's democratic state. A people's democratic state matures into a socialist state through the transition of capitalism to socialism; it therefore can be considered as a 'transitionary period' between the two.

This article does not cover Mao's similar theory of new democracy; please see that article for information about that subject.

History

Lenin's theory of revolutionary-democratic dictatorship

In his 1905 work, Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, Comrade Lenin spoke of the revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, an alliance of the proletariat and peasantry that would carry out the tasks of the democratic revolution and accelerate the development of capitalism in Russia, without subordinating itself to the bourgeoisie. This was in response to the Menshevik support of stagism, which stated that Russia required a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie to undertake the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution before a proletarian revolution was possible.

According to Lenin, it was not possible for tsarism in Russia to be defeated by the bourgeoisie or capitalists, as it was in their interest to maintain tsarism rather than oppose it. It was therefore only the people: the proletariat and peasantry, that was capable of sincerely waging struggle against tsarism. Lenin considered the rural and urban petty bourgeoisie to be part of 'the people' as well, and distributed them likewise into the peasantry and into the proletariat. The proletariat would carry out the democratic revolution with the peasantry, and the proletariat would carry out the socialist revolution with the semi-proletariat: that is the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie.

Lenin's theory of revolutionary-democratic dictatorship can therefore be considered as the precursor, if not the foundation, to people's democracy.

Dimitrov's theory of the united front

Georgi Dimitrov theorized of a broad united front (also people's front or popular front) against fascism, led by the proletariat but also including the peasantry and urban petty bourgeoisie. Dimitrov considered the formation of a government based on the people's front to not only be possible but necessary, calling it the 'government of the proletarian united front' (or people's front). The government of the proletarian united front was to be distinguished from a dictatorship of the proletariat: it was not a government formed as a result of the victory of the proletarian revolution, but rather was to precede the victory of the proletarian revolution; its purpose was as an instrument of struggle against fascism and reaction.

Experience of World War II and elaboration

During World War II, (and in some cases, even before it) many communist parties followed Dimitrov's theory of the united front to oppose fascism. In Dimitrov's home country of Bulgaria for instance, the Fatherland Front was set up in 1942 as an antifascist alliance. Initially it was a broad popular front, but the work of the Bulgarian Communist Party helped propel itself as the center of the Front. When Bulgaria was liberated from fascism and the Fatherland Front took over governance of Bulgaria, it therefore can be considered as one of the first people's democracies.

By 1947, Eugen Varga had noted that Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Albania had become what he described as democracies of a new type; they were characterized by the elimination of feudal remnants, the nationalization of large enterprises in the spheres of industry (whilst maintaining private property), transport and credit, and the lack of a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (but, on the contrary, a state serving ithe interests of the working people). These were a new kind of state; neither a bourgeois nor a proletarian dictatorship, neither capitalist nor socialist: they were instead hailed as transitioning toward socialism.

A year later, Dimitrov would reflect on the four years of governance by the proletarian united front, which he now called people's democracy. Dimitrov would define the character of the people's democratic state in four:

1. People's Democracy represents the power of the working people (the overwhelming majority of the people), under the leadership of the working class.
2. People's Democracy is a transitionary state, destined to ensure the development of the state towards socialism.
3. People's democracy is bnuilt in collaboration and friendship with the Soviet Union.
4. People's Democracy belongs to the democratic anti-imperialist camp.

Rákosi Mátyás would elaborate on the experience of people's democracy in Hungary, who first summarized it as the 'dictatorship of the proletariat without the Soviet form', and then elaborated on its nature as a two-stage (or phase) affair: the first stage was predominated by the carrying out of the tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution, the second was predominated by the carrying out of the tasks of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Rákosi emphasized that these two stages overlapped with one another; tasks of the DOTP could be undertaken during the 'bourgeois-democratic stage', as well as tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution during the 'proletarian stage', hence is why he emphasized the predominance of these tasks during their named stages rather than mutual exclusivity of these tasks.

Full maturity

In the CPSU's 1961 party programme, in contrast with Varga's conception of people's democracy as a new type of state that was neither a proletarian nor a bourgeois dictatorship, people's democracy was held to be a variety of the dictatorship of the proletariat, rather than a new state form.

Earlier in 1957, the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR published Political Economy, which would elaborate much on the concepts of the people's democratic revolution and its character, the forms of economy and class in the people's democracies, and the development of socialism in the people's democracies.

Processes

There are two processes to people's democracy: that being the revolution that establishes it, and the state formation that emerges out of it: the people's democratic state. When the tasks of the people's democratic revolution and people's democratic states are accomplished, the transition towards socialism is complete.

People's democratic revolution

According to the aforementioned Political Economy, the chief motive forces of the people's democratic revolution are the working class (i.e., proletariat) and peasantry, under the leadership of the former. In the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe, this process had also included the urban petty bourgeoisie and part of the middle bourgeoisie, whilst discluding the landowners and monopolist bourgeoisie.

The first stage of a people's democratic revolution is firstly anti-imperialist, and secondly anti-feudal. This stage primarily carries out the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, but is not a bourgeois-democratic revolution: the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolution leads to a weakening of world imperialism, and creates favorable conditions for socialist revolution. The volume of these tasks and the consistency and methods with which they are carried out depend on the historical development and conditions of each country. In Albania for instance, where there remained many feudal elements, more emphasis was put on anti-feudalism.

The second stage of a people's democratic revolution is socialist: the socialist revolution is not a new revolutionary process, but simply the next stage in a revolutionary process started by the working class. The transition to the socialist stage is defined by measures undertaken during the first stage which pave the way towards socialism: the establishment of workers' control over production, confiscation of the property of war criminals, collaborating capitalists and monopolist bourgeoisie, and the weakening of the economic position of the bourgeoisie; state monopoly in trade in the most important commodities and state control of foreign trade: in essence, the nationalization of the means of production.

The people's democratic revolution is complete when the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution have been completed and the transition from capitalism to socialism has truly begun. Thus is created the people's democratic state.

Class and Economy under People's Democracy

The economy of people's democracies was, in the case of Europe, a transitional economy containing three basic forms: socialist, small commodity, and capitalist. The socialist form of economy was the state or public ownership of industrial enterprises, transport, banks, trade and agricultural equipment. In the people's democracies of Europe for instance, the socialist economy occupied the predominant place in the economy. The small commodity economy includes the farms of the individual working peasantry and also small handicraft production based on the personal labor of its owners. The capitalist economy includes kulak farms, private trading establishments and private industrial enterprises based on the exploitation of hired labor.

The class nature of the people's democracy is that of the revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, though alongside the working classes, there exist the bourgeoisie in the form of the kulaks and also private entrepeneurs in trade and industry. People's democracy does not entail a weakening in class struggle, but on the contrary an intensification of it.

The People's Democratic State

The people's democratic state is defined by its political organization on the basis of Marxist-Leninist principles: that is unified state power of the supreme organ of state power under the leadership of the ruling communist party. The precise organization of people's democracy differed from state to state.

The conclusion of the transition from capitalism to socialism coincides with the transition of the people's democratic state to the socialist state. This transition was completed unevenly in many countries. In Czechoslovakia, it was declared that socialism had been established after just 12 years, while in Mongolia, the process had taken 35 years. The only extant people's democracy is Laos, which has described itself as a people's democratic state since 1975. With the exception of the Soviet Union, all socialist states, past or present, have been at first been people's democracies.