Why did socialism replace capitalism for a long time?

The development and perfection of the socialist system is a long-term historical process, advancing in twists and turns. If we only realize the inevitability and superiority of socialism, but don't realize the long-term and complexity of building socialism at the same time, it is easy to misunderstand. It seems that socialism will soon defeat capitalism in the world. In this way, once you encounter setbacks, you will lose your way and even shake your faith in socialism. In fact, the view of "quick victory" is neither realistic nor scientific, and does not conform to the true nature of history and the law of social development.

First of all, from the perspective of the law of social development, the replacement of any old and new social systems will go through a long historical process, during which it will inevitably experience fierce restoration and repeated struggles. It took thousands of years for feudal society to replace slave society, and it experienced numerous repetitions and struggles. It is not always smooth for capitalism to replace feudalism. Since the British bourgeois revolution in 1640, the British bourgeoisie has been struggling with the feudal dynasty for more than 30 years. 1789 After the victory of the French bourgeois revolution, the bourgeois regime was restored by three feudal dynasties, and it took 86 years to stabilize the situation. From the appearance of Britain, a typical capitalist country, to the German bourgeois revolution in 187 1, it took capitalism more than 220 years to defeat feudalism in the world. Even so, feudalism still exists in some countries. It will take such a long historical process for one exploitation system to replace another. It goes without saying that the new but immature socialism will compete and struggle with the highly developed and mature capitalism, and will achieve complete victory, and finally realize the elimination of the exploitation system and the liberation of all mankind, which will inevitably be more complicated and arduous, and will inevitably withstand various challenges and severe tests.

Secondly, according to the law of basic social contradictions, the change of production relations depends on the development of social productive forces, which is the decisive factor. Now, under the general trend of stagnation and decay, there is still room for further development of capitalist production, and there may be a faster development speed in a certain period of time. Only when socialized mass production develops to a certain extent, capitalist relations of production can no longer accommodate the development of productive forces, will capitalism perish. Of course, this also needs a long historical process. The socialist system was first established in economically backward countries. It will take a long time to strengthen economic construction, vigorously develop productive forces, create rich material wealth, and realize the prosperity of the country and the common prosperity of the people. Only by creating more developed social productive forces than capitalism can we truly embody the superiority of the socialist system and lay a strong material foundation for socialism to replace capitalism.

Thirdly, judging from the growth law of new things, twists and turns are always inevitable. Any new thing can't be perfect as soon as it comes into being, and it can only be improved gradually in development. This requires constant exploration and experiment. In this process, there are successes, and there are bound to be setbacks and failures, resulting in twists and turns. The socialist cause, like the growth of all new things, is also spiraling and advancing in waves. In the history of the international communist movement, the development of socialism has encountered several major setbacks. For example, after the failure of 187 1 Paris Commune, the reactionary forces brutally suppressed and persecuted the proletariat, and at the same time wantonly attacked the First International and socialist ideas, coupled with the destruction of bakunin molecules, the First International announced its dissolution; During the First World War, the international workers' movement was split by rampant opportunism in the Second International. In the mid-1950s, some newly established socialist countries divorced from their own reality and copied the Soviet model, which brought many disadvantages, divorced from the masses, and the prestige of socialism declined. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the crisis of the socialist movement, marked by the drastic changes in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, was the biggest and most serious setback since the birth of the communist movement.

Judging from the history of our party, the development of the revolution has also experienced many twists and turns. During the democratic revolution, there were setbacks caused by right capitulationism that led to the failure of the first revolutionary civil war, and riots in "central cities" under the guidance of "left" putschism, especially the "left" opportunistic rule of 193 1 934, which made the revolutionary cause lose/kloc- During the period of socialist construction, under the guidance of 1958 "Left" thinking, China made a "Great Leap Forward" and blew a "communist wind", which caused great losses to our economy. From 1966 to 1976, due to the long-term development of "Left" thought and the insistence on "taking class struggle as the key link", it led to the catastrophe of the "Cultural Revolution" for ten years.

Therefore, it is inevitable that socialism will experience twists and turns in its development. Therefore, we should treat twists and turns correctly: first, we should not underestimate them, be good at summing up experiences and lessons, and try our best to reduce the harm caused by twists and turns to a minimum; Second, don't panic. You can't shake your socialist faith whenever you encounter twists and turns. Instead, we should regard twists and turns as a new starting point for moving on. History has proved that it is after every setback that people will conscientiously sum up experience, learn lessons and make efforts to explore, so as to open up a broader road for the development of the socialist cause and make the socialist cause move forward in new practice. A few years after the failure of the Paris Commune, the climax of the socialist movement marked by the establishment of proletarian political parties in various countries appeared. After the bankruptcy of the Second International, it was replaced by the birth of Soviet socialist Russia and the development of the Third International. The setbacks in some socialist countries in the 1950s brought about reforms in various socialist countries. It can also be believed that socialism will enter a new development period after experiencing great setbacks in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a comrade who wants to join the Party, we must correctly understand and grasp the objective laws of social development under the guidance of Marxism, constantly strengthen our socialist and communist beliefs, persevere and resolutely fight for communism.