Editing Marxists Behaving Badly (section)

=== Don’t Use Marxists.org Uncritically ===
I have already quoted from Marxists.org’s falsehoods about Stalin, “totalitarianism,” and “terror.” Here are a few more that can’t be discerned from the rhetoric alone. To recognize them as falsehoods you have to know something about Soviet history. But few users of Marxists.org do, which leaves them vulnerable to the falsehoods propagated on this site.

Here’s the Marxists.org entry on Lavrentii Beria:<blockquote>... leader of NKVD from 1938 until Stalin’s death. Responsible for countless murders on his own initiative as well as on Stalin’s orders...<ref>At <https://www.marxists.orgglossary/people/b/e.htm#beria-lavrenti>.</ref></blockquote>This is completely false. In reality,

# Beria was People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs from December, 1938 until December, 1945, and again –now his title was “Minister” of Internal Affairs –from March 15 until June 26, 1953. not “from 1938 until Stalin’s death.”
# There is no evidence that Beria –or, for that matter, Stalin –ever ordered anyone murdered; executed after legal convictions on the basis of evidence of heinous crimes, yes, but never murdered.

Marxists.org does not mention even one single murder, much less “countless murders.” Nikita Khrushchev and his men, who had themselves murdered Beria in 1953, claimed that Beria was a murderer and rapist. But they never cited any evidence of these or any crimes by Beria and none has come to light since the publication of tens of thousands of documents from former Soviet archives after the end of the USSR in 1991.

Here’s Marxists.org on Sergei M. Kirov<ref>At <https://www.marxists.orgglossary/people/k/i.htm#kirov></ref>:<blockquote>In the summer of 1932 Joseph Stalin became aware that opposition to his policies were growing. Some party members were publicly criticizing Stalin and calling for the readmission of Leon Trotsky to the party. When the issue was discussed at the Politburo, Stalin demanded that the critics should be arrested and executed. Kirov, who up to this time had been a staunch Stalinist, argued against this policy. When the vote was taken, the majority of the Politburo supported Kirov against Stalin.

In the spring of 1934 Kirov put forward a policy of reconciliation. He argued that people should be released from prison who had opposed the government’s policy on collective farms and industrialization. Once again, Joseph Stalin found himself in a minority in the Politburo.

After years of arranging for the removal of his opponents from the party, Joseph Stalin realized he still could not rely on the total support of the people whom he had replaced them with. Stalin no doubt began to wonder if Kirov was willing to wait  for  his  mentor  to  die  before  becoming  leader  of  the  party.  Stalin  was particularly  concerned  by  Kirov’s  willingness  to  argue  with  him  in  public.  He feared that this would undermine his authority in the party.

As usual, that summer Kirov and Joseph Stalin went on holiday together. Stalin, who treated Kirov like a son, used this opportunity to try to persuade him to remain loyal to his leadership. Stalin asked him to leave Leningrad to join him in Moscow. Stalin wanted Kirov in a place where he could keep a close eye on him. When Kirov refused, Stalin knew he hadlost control over his protégé.</blockquote>'''Every single assertion in these paragraphs is false'''''.'' None of this happened at all. There has been plenty of research on Kirov since 1989. Marxists.org ignores all of it.<ref>For a critical examination of this research, plus my own research and conclusions, see [[Grover Furr]]. [https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=8006D1D59D68DD7353BC9AA2AAC2848F The Murder of Sergei Kirov. History, Scholarship and the Anti-Stalin Paradigm]. Kettering, OH: Erythrós Press and Media, LLC, 2013.</ref>

Marxists.org has many important texts. These texts give credibility to the site as a whole. The  non-text  sections –the  so-called  “encyclopedia”  and  historical  sections –are pervaded  by anticommunist falsehoods. Indeed it would be appropriate to use the word “lies” in reference to those fact-claims that are unsupported by any evidence, since this shows flagrant disregard for the truth.Leon Trotsky and professional anticommunists are usually the ultimate sources.

I urge everyone, whether Marxist or not, to be very wary –skeptical –of Marxists.org, except  when  seeking  a  text  that  can’t  be  found  on  alternative  sites  such  as  [http://www.marx2mao.com/ Marx  To  Mao] or [https://wikirouge.net/texts/en/Special:BrowseData/Text Wikirouge].