Editing Marxists Behaving Badly (section)

==== 2. Stalinism ====
Just as Leon Trotsky was the first to apply the term “totalitarian” to the USSR during the period of [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]’s leadership, so he was the first to use the term "Stalinism".

The  Oxford  English  Dictionary  identifies  the first  use  of  the  word "Stalinism"  in  the English language:<blockquote>1927 Daily Tel.22 Nov. 10/3: A violent denunciation of ‘Stalinism’ and its ‘terrorising of the party’.</blockquote>This is reference to an article about the activities of Trotsky and other Oppositionists during and after the November 7, 1927, celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. The scare quotes indicate that the paper is quoting the Oppositionists. The Trotskyist site Marxists.org joins overtly pro-capitalist writers in stating:<blockquote>... '''Stalinism lastedlonger and was more total''' than fascism. But '''fascism and Stalinism shared in common...that they rested on absolute terror''' ... (ibid.)</blockquote>Marxists.org recognizes that “Stalinism” does not have any fixed meaning:<blockquote>...getting  at  the  core  definition  of  “Stalinism”  [is]  difficult,  but  not impossible.<ref>At <https://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/s/t.htm#stalinism>.</ref> 

The  political  tenets  of  Stalinism  revolve  around '''the  theory  of  socialism  in  one country–developed by Stalin to counter <u>the Bolshevik theory</u> that the survival of the Russian Revolution depended on proletarian revolutions in Europe.''' In contradistinction,  the  Stalinist  theory  stipulates  that  a  socialist  society  can  be achieved within a single country.</blockquote>This is false. Marxists.org continues [emphasis [[Grover Furr|mine]]]:

In April 1924, in the first edition of his book ''[https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm Foundations of Leninism]'', Stalin had explicitly rejected the idea that socialism could be constructed in one country. He wrote: “Is it possible to attain '''the ''final'' victory of socialism''' in one country, without the  combined  efforts  of  the  proletarians  of  several  advanced  countries?  No,  it  is not.”

... by November 1926, Stalin had completely revised history, stating: “The party always  took  as  its  starting  point  the  idea  that  the  victory  of  socialism  ...  can  be accomplished with the forces of a single country.” (ibid.)

Note that in this last quotation Stalin spoke of “the victory of socialism,” not “the ''final'' victory of socialism” as he did in the quotation from 1924.

Lest this appear as “hair-splitting,” an example of my own confirmation bias, note that in the “Short Course,” published in Russian in 1938 and in English in 1939, we read [emphasis [[Grover Furr|mine]]]:<blockquote>... '''the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.''', as expressed in the abolition of the capitalist economic system and the building of a Socialist economic system, '''could not be considered a ''final'' victory'''...<ref>History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolseviks). Short Course. (New York, 1939). Chapter Nine. At <https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch09.htm>.</ref></blockquote>The Marxists.com writers include this text on their site but they are ignoring it. Either they are intentionally deceiving their readers, or this is an example of their own confirmation bias. Their conclusion, therefore, that  Stalin  had  abandoned  “the  Bolshevik  theory  that  the  survival  of  the Russian Revolution depended on proletarian revolutions in Europe” is invalid, a sign of prejudice rather than objectivity.

The Marxists.org article claims that Lenin rejected the idea of “socialism in one country.” This too is false. In reality, Lenin clearly stated that socialism ''could'' be achieved in one country.<blockquote>Uneven  economic  and  political  development  is  an  absolute  law  of  capitalism. '''Hence,  the  victory  of  socialism  is  possible  first  in  several  or  even  in  one capitalist country alone.''' (“'''[https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/aug/23.htm The United States of Europe Slogan]''',” 1915)<ref>At <https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/aug/23.htm>.</ref>

The development of capitalism proceeds extremely unevenly in different countries. It cannot be otherwise under commodity production. From this it follows irrefutably that '''socialism  cannot  achieve  victory  simultaneously  in  all  countries.  It  will achieve victory first in one or several countries''', while the others will for some time  remain  bourgeois  or  pre-bourgeois. (“'''[https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/miliprog/i.htm The  Military  Programme  of  the Proletarian Revolution]''',” 1916)<ref>At <https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/miliprog/i.htm>.</ref>

Indeed, the power of the state over all large-scale means of production, political power in the hands of the proletariat, the alliance of this proletariat with the many millions of small and very small peasants, the assured proletarian leadership of the peasantry, etc. ... '''Is this not all that is necessary to build a complete socialist society?  It  is  still  not  the  building  of  socialist  society,  but  it  is  all  that  is necessary  and  sufficient  for  it.''' (“'''[https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1923/jan/06.htm On  Co-operation]''',”  dated  January  6,  1923; published in Pravda May 26, 1923)<ref>At <https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1923/jan/06.htm>.</ref></blockquote>These citations of Lenin, and the works from which they are taken, are all on the Marxists.org site. The Marxist.org writers have access to all these quotations, but their anti-Stalin paradigm acts as an obstacle keeping them from integrating these texts into their thinking –assuming they are not being deliberately dishonest.

They should know that Lenin supported the theory of “socialism in one country” and that it was Stalin, not Trotsky, who was following Lenin’s theory in this regard.Once again, either the Marxist.org writers are victims of their own confirmation bias,or they are deliberately lying to their readers.

Do  the  Marxists.org  writers  rely  on  any  evidence?  Well, Trotsky  claimed  that  [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] rejected  the  idea  of  “socialism  in  one  country.”  That’s  it!Just  a  claim  by  Trotsky,  which  is sufficient to reinforce their pre-existing prejudice against Stalin, and which takes the form that “Stalinism had uprooted the very foundations of Marxism and Leninism.”

In reality, in light of Lenin’s endorsement of “socialism in one country” it was Trotsky, not Stalin, who had “uprooted” Leninism! Most readers of Marxists.org know little or nothing about Soviet history, and so are vulnerable to anti-Stalin, pro-Trotsky falsifications.

Of course Lenin’s writings should not be worshipped and regarded as errorless. In this case Marxists.org try to employ Lenin’s writings in a dishonest charge against Stalin.