17.11.2017, Russia.
True socialism does not seek answers from the past or the present — it must seek answers from the future, Zakhari Zakhariev, member of the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the President of the Slavic Foundation said on November 5 at the Conference “Left Alternatives for Russia and Europe“, held at the “Sofia” Club in Moscow, Rossa Primavera News Agency reports.
Zakhari Zakhariev spoke about the shortcomings that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and noted that “the key problem was that the authorities were detached from the intellectual elite”. This detachment of intellectuals has led them [the intellectuals] “to taking side with the opponents of power, giving them an intellectual perspective and starting to fight for it.” “At first, however, the situation was exactly the opposite. It was not an accident that people like Herbert Wells, Bernard Shaw and others came to Lenin. They did it because the elite of the Bolshevik party consisted of intellectuals”, the politician said.
The expert believes that the collapse of the Soviet Union, being an economic, social and spiritual opposition to the capitalist countries, has led to the decline of capitalism itself. That is why “now we are living not in post-industrial or even post-communist, but in the post-democratic world”, the politician says.
Such depolarization has also led to the “political arena getting an amorphous state” in which “ideological guidelines have been lost“. The expert explained that politicians have begun to profess the same political religion, regardless of their party’s direction, and that it is the ideology of populism. According to him, the phrase “left-wing party” does not certainly mean “the left-wing party“. And the phrase “right-wing party” does not certainly mean “the right-wing party“. In the program of Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France, [which is traditionally considered a far-right party], you will see that the goals they set for themselves are far more left-wing than those of the traditional Social Democrats.
Zakhariev believes that there is hope in finding a way out of the current dead end, and it is a true left-wing movement: “Today the Leftists, the real Leftists, the Leftists with high spirit must pose a question of a new public order, the same order that had opened the door to the Great French Revolution and to the Great October Revolution”.
On November 5 Moscow hosted the “Sofia” Club Open Meeting. The topic was “Left Alternatives for Russia and Europe”. Representatives from Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine participate in the discussion.
The “Sofia” Club was established in 2013 in the capital city of Bulgaria on the initiative of Tatjana Ždanoka and Giulietto Chiesa, the deputies of the European Parliament, Sergei Kurginyan, the leader of the Essence of Time social movement, and Zakhari Zakhariev, President of the Slavic Foundation.
Zakhari Zakhariev is a Bulgarian politician and a public figure. He has been a member of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party since 1990. Since 1991 he has been the Chairman of the Slavic Foundation, established in order to promote cooperation between Bulgarians and other Slavic nations.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
