It proved for all time that the working class can and will overthrow the capitalists. It struck terror into the hearts of ruling classes everywhere, and it still does. It was inevitable that the first workers' state would eventually fail. The Bolsheviks' errors were made in an inspiring struggle to learn how to construct a communist society on the ruins of capitalism. Most of these errors were unavoidable.
History proceeds by zigs and zags, never in a straight line of upward progress.
The tremendous successes and errors of the Bolshevik Party are largely identified with the leadership of Joseph Stalin. Only those who, like we in the PLP, are striving to learn from the mistakes of our predecessors in the communist movement how to succeed where they ultimately failed, have the correct standpoint from which to objectively evaluate what is positive in their experience and what must be rejected. As we've seen in this essay, they do so dishonestly. This is because they are not interested in the truth. They are interested in preserving capitalism, and will tell whatever lies are necessary to persuade workers, students, intellectuals and others not to fight for a communist society.