-Ramesh Sunuwar
Translation: Utkal Sapkota

October Revolution held on Oct 24, 1997, in a backward country, Russia was one of the greatest events in the history of humankind. After the completion of the revolution, the country became not only strong enough to compete with a superpower United States of America (USA) but also to bring it on balance strategically. The reason behind this was that it obliterated all the rotten beliefs, reactionary elements, and inconsistent systems to establish a high-level, progressive, and democratic social system in which all people shall freely and fully exercise their capability for their progress. The unprecedented progress of former the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was as well the outcome based on October Revolution.

The ideological base of the October Revolution was Marxism-Leninism. Marxist philosophy was the logical synthesis of wisdom accumulated by humankind up to the nineteenth century whereas Leninism was the further development of Marxism based on new circumstances. At the time October Revolution was being planned the synthesis of human society up to the nineteenth century was not well enough, because a new circumstance was created by the beginning of the twentieth century. The new circumstance was Monopolistic Capitalism. Leninism synthesized the new circumstance and paved the way forward to the socialist revolution.

Now a ‘new environment’ has been created again, without synthesizing which planning of the socialist revolution is not possible. The ‘new environment’ is the development of Science and Technology.

The history of humankind has greatly been modified due to the towering advance in science and technology, a major incident of the modern era, the present phase of which is called the Scientific-Technological Revolution.

From the mid of 20th century, geometric progress occurred on the development of science and technology, their interrelation, correlationof science and technology with production, and development of entire systems of production forces, collectively called Scientific-Technological Revolution. This revolution is one of the greatest phenomena for our century, becoming more significant day by day. The development of science and technology has never reached such a peak in the history of humankind. The scientific-technological revolution has accelerated the progress of human society by the refutation of the rotted beliefs about society. The scientific-technological revolution has created novel possibilities in human society not only in the creation of extensive physical resources but also in the transformation of nature and to increase the creative potentiality of humans. It has a huge impact on every sector of human activities in contemporary society.

The meaning of the scientific-technological revolution lies in the radical and qualitative change which is the outcome of the integrated system formed by science, technology, and production. At first, it was originated as a great achievement through the invention of the self-acting device, atomic and nuclear equipment, the computer, projection of artificial satellite, chemosynthesis of matters with predefined characters, a search of subtle electronics, etc. It has brought about a radical change in the technological basis of production, objects and equipment of labour, their relative forms, appearance, and essence.

The present scientific-technological revolution is not related to the different scientific discoveries or technological achievements. This revolution is related to the all-around development of accumulated knowledge stimulated by the necessity of physical production output, conversion of science into direct production force and technology, and its role in the production and advancement of society as a whole.
Scientific- Technological Revolution is a systematic and compulsory phase between production forces and nature and historical process of development of science and technology. It was initiated due to the universal progress on the mechanized production process that is the phase of its additional development. This is the indication of contagion from mechanized production to automated production systems. The development of theoretical knowledge is crucial before its planning. The natural science revolution held about late 19th and early 20th century had worked as a great natural and a scientific basis that was bound up with seeking micro-level existence in the world criticizing obsolete concepts about matters and new theoretical thoughts about atomic structure. Likewise, the success gained in mathematics, biology, chemistry, etc. were also very useful for the scientific-technological revolution. In reality, the sophisticated development of natural sciences was the major element of the new advance in science and technology.

At the end of the 19th century and early 20th, a revolution was completed on science which was related to the search of the electron, conversion of one atom of an element into another atom of a different element, and integration of mutual relation between matter and energy. As a result, the industrial revolution of the mid-20th century was translated into the scientific-technological revolution. During that period, technological development was based entirely on a scientific basis that included each branch of production with every sector of labour. This revolution made science itself a factory of knowledge. A basis of developed socialist society was built on the process of scientific-technological revolution. The revolution proceeded to construct the basis of a developed socialist society.

The outcomes of the scientific-technological revolution were being fetched in the last decade of the 20th century. Its direct consequences seen today are as follows: production is based on electronics and automation is extended to every technical aspect of life, which has made them an automated process. Electronics and novel means of communication have created a condition of information explosion and the flow of information has been globalized more and more. Biotechnology and genetic engineering systems have increased productivity to a fault.

The departure of a large community of working-class people from the equipment of labour in the state of private ownership has become a reality as a result of this revolution. Likewise, from the technical perspective, the gap between developed and developing countries has been heightening more and more. That’s why there is an intense need for change in social relations. Socialization of physical basis and outcomes of scientific-technological revolution with their vigilant regulation has become utmost.

In the era of the scientific-technological revolution the development of productive forces has gained new qualitative features which are: a) Gradual replacement of human labour by machines in all sorts of production b) Contagion towards technological development based on science c) Conversion of Science and technology as a direct production force.

The scientific-technological revolution came out at the time when technology became the embodiment of scientific knowledge and when science developed gaining support from the technological sector. As a result, the fusion of science and technology became a simple behaviour. The scientific-technological revolution of the 20th century gave birth to the development of technology, based on science.

The scientific-technological revolution gave birth to an era in which cognizant and scientific application of more complex and minute forms of the velocity of the matter was set forth. Unity of every dimension of knowledge that closes up different types of know-how at a high level is a mandatory part of this process. The synthesis of scientific knowledge expresses the real dialectical unity of the material world. Like, Frederick Engels once said, “Evidence of dialectics is Nature”.

The major symptom of the scientific-technological revolution is that science has become a special part of the production force and developing at an extremely high rate. After a long journey, in the present age of the scientific-technological revolution science has transformed into a factory of knowledge departed from cultural and religious elements and became the largest and the most dynamic branch of the economy. Scientific work has become a special type of social labour that has its specific utility value with means of equipment of labour on their own. At present time, the expenditure spent on science is considered mandatory and conscientious expenditure valid in society.

Another major symptom of the scientific-technological revolution is that; by this revolution labour and natural resources have been saved to such an extent that it has become a source of extensive re-production. Since the sculpting of scientific knowledge has become the mainstay of extended reproduction, the process of reproduction has increased two-fold qualitatively. Because firstly, the amount of saving of labour has guaranteed the high rate of production increment, and secondly, the era of saving of a huge amount of intellectual labour has begun. In fact, due to the replacement of intellectual labour by automation the development of science and technology has become more dynamic.

By the scientific-technological revolution, the conversion of science and technology to the major source of extensive reproduction has created such a situation that the rate of economic increase and amount of production has become dependent upon the level of development of science and technology. Today, the power of economic progress has become identical to the power of growth in science and technology.

Today, scientific worldview has become the determinant of social cognizance, the logical methods of thought have become predominant, and scientific facts are accepted as the elements of general concepts. As a result, public opinion about the social phenomenon has been re-constructed on a scientific basis. So, the scientific perspective is becoming a worldview of the huge society of oppressed class people.
The decisive development in science and technology caused huge changes worldwide. The changes can be explained as follows:
1. Arrival of new production force 2. Need of new method of revolution 3. Proximity to socialism

1. Arrival of new productive force
The essence of Marxism is the materialistic perception of history. According to this belief, the basis of human society is physical elements rather than mental. The meaning of this physical element is the production force. That’s why Marxism stands distinct from all other philosophies. Similarly, the excellence and scientificity of Marxism are implicated in this.

Each social system has its production force. Different production forces construct different social systems. That is why the social system also changes when the production force changes. A new production force constructs a new social order.

According to the development of productive forces, various changes have occurred in human society. From ancient times to the present there have already been four social systems. ‘Nature’ was the production force in ancient communism. ‘Human labour’ was the production force in the bondage system. The ‘land’ was the production force in feudalism and the ‘capital’ in the capitalistic society. Now there is ‘science and technology’ as a new production force and it is building a new social order which is socialism.

The contradiction between science-technology, a new production force and capitalism, the present social system has already begun. Science-technology doesn’t match capitalism. It has made the majority of people poor displacing the human labour and all property has centralized to just a handful of people. Today, many of the just ten percent of people own up more property than the rest.

But, the cause of this problem is not the development of science and technology rather it is capitalism based on private ownership. That’s why the solution is to transform the science-technology of unlimited capacity from private ownership to all society’s ownership. For this,a socialist revolution is needed.

The suitable social system for socialism is science and technology. Because there is no private ownership in socialism and production is done only for consumption rather than profit, all people in the society will be benefited from the unlimited capacity of science and technology.

2. Need of new method of revolution

Now, because of the change that occurred in the production force, it’s necessary to modify the method of class struggle or revolution.
Until now, the policy to build socialism has been adopted only after the completion of the revolution. But, it’s now necessary to switch for new. The task of building socialism has become imperative even before the revolution from which a conducive environment for the revolution would be created. Because, if a new system is constructed parallel to the old one, the old slowly weakens and the new become prosperous and strong. As a result, by the socialist revolution, the old system dies and the establishment of a new system occurs.
After the development of science and technology as a production force, the labor force has been displaced from the production sector. That’s why it’s no longer been possible to fight against it within the capitalistic system. So that it can only be made by building socialism in parallel but out of it.

It is a mandatory and historical necessity to construct a new social order, socialism based on a new production force i.e. science and technology against the present social system, capitalism. When socialism comes in force in parallel against capitalism, there occurs a struggle between them. Due to the clash, capitalism slowly weakens and in turn, socialism becomes strong and organized. As a result, the defeat of capitalism and victory of socialism through a great social revolution (socialist revolution) will occur in the end.

The construction of new social order begins with organizing new productive forces in new production relations. In this process, the new forces of production developed within old systems are organized in new production relations and brought under the new social system. That’s why the construction of the new social system, socialism begins with organizing the new production force i.e. science-technology into the socialistic production system. This is the task of the proletariat class in which all the communists will guide the proletariat people.

3. Proximity to Socialism

The development of science and technology as a production force is the major incident of this era. It has changed the basis of socialism and made socialism closer and possible. The old basis for socialism was human labour. Its new basis is science-technology which is more powerful in comparison to human labour. As a result, socialism has become very close.

The first condition for socialism is the end of private ownership. Science-technology has fulfilled this condition replacing human labour from the production sector. The basis of private ownership is human labour, that’s why private ownership ends when human labour is displaced from the production sector.

The second condition for socialism is a sufficiency in equipment fulfilling human needs. In the past, it was impossible from human labour because of which socialism has not succeeded. Now in addition to food, shelter, and clothing, there is the possibility of the abundance of many other objects and means of living.

Likewise, the third condition for socialism is equity. In human society, classes were created as a result of the division of labour. After the rise of different classes, inequality between humans was created. Science-technology has made all the works simple and equal. Specificity has become universal and the role of humans has reduced. As a result, there will be no distinction between people based on their role in society. Gender, race, color, capability, tradition, etc. are no longer decisive. Equity between all humans has been created.

Therefore, the creative development of Marxism based on the scientific-technological revolution is essential. So that, developed Marxism will be Today’s Marxism which will guide all the oppressed class people to the right foot for the socialist movement in the present world.