Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Georgian and Soviet revolutionary and political leader who was the paramount leader of the USSR from 1927 to his death in 1953. Stalin synthesized the ideology of Marxism-Leninism from the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin, which has become the standard for communist parties internationally and the basis for numerous successful proletarian revolutions following. Stalin is a controversial figure in today's political climate, hailed by many in the West as a murderous dictator but celebrated by many in the East as a revolutionary hero.

Stalin's Leadership

When the Russian Revolution of 1917 succeeded and the Bolshevik Party took power, led by Vladimir Lenin, Russia was in shambles. The Russian Empire had not fared well during World War I, allocating a large amount of their limited national budget to fighting this incredibly unpopular war. Lenin implemented the New Economic Policy, the temporary establish of state capitalism, to help get the economy back on track. By the time of Lenin's death in 1924, though the new Soviet Union struggled economically, there was now a paved road to the path of socialism.

Here is how Stalin described the NEP - he said:

“But to say that NEP is capitalism — that is nonsense, utter nonsense. NEP is a special policy of the proletarian state aimed at permitting capitalism while the commanding positions are held by the proletarian state, aimed at a struggle between the capitalist and socialist elements, aimed at increasing the role of the socialist elements to the detriment of the capitalist elements, aimed at the victory of the socialist elements over the capitalist elements, aimed at the abolition of classes and the building of the foundations of a socialist economy. Whoever fails to understand this transitional, dual nature of NEP departs from Leninism.”

Following the death of Lenin, political turmoil ensued. There was a struggle for the control of the Bolshevik Party, primarily between a young revolutionary who was known as the "Man of Steel" and a respected military commander named Leon Trotsky. After three years of political disorganization, Stalin was finally able to take control of the Bolshevik Party, and, henceforth, the Soviet Union.

Stalin implemented 5 year plans to get the Soviet economy back on track with the rest of the world and further industrialize the Soviet Union. These 5 year plans worked, bringing the Soviet economy up to speed with the rest of the world and transforming the Soviet Union from an agrarian peasant state to a fully industrialized world superpower. The USSR was also one of the few countries unaffected by the Great Depression in the 1930s, both due to the efficiency of their economy and their isolation from the West.

His economic policies, like Industrialization - were immensely popular among the people. The Bolsheviks under the leadership of Stalin managed to mobilize the entirety of the workers & peasants for the transformation of their country, bringing them into the fold of building their new society and securing a brighter future. The masses were imbued with a sense of “quasi-religious enthusiasm” Soviet Communism: A New Civilization, IBSN: 9781473311374] and gave them a real sense of purpose, with hard work and sacrifice (by means of initial low wages etc.), they were successful in this transformation. If the masses of people didn’t support such policies, if they “didn’t want” industrialization or opposed the way in which it was carried out, the achievements and the speed at which they were achieved would’ve been impossible, The mobilization of the masses of people would’ve been impossible, an innumerable of issues would’ve arisen which did not. The work they put in wasn’t in vain, its benefits were immediate and ever-increasing. This also allowed for the modernization of the Red Army, the capacity of Soviet industry to produce war materials, the huge reserve of educated and fit men to call into battle, and Collectivization allowed for the stockpiling of foodstuffs to prevent paralysis in the town and country. This was incredibly crucial to the survival of the Soviet State in the coming Nazi onslaught.

In 1936, Stalin implemented a constitution, officially establishing the unique Soviet system that we are familiar with. This system was a brilliant innovation, largely by Stalin personally - who thought that free, secret, and universal elections would give the section of the leadership that had succumbed to the disease of bureaucratism a good drubbing and have them casted from their positions. In the book by Wendy Z. Goldman titled "Terror & Democracy in the age of Stalin" it states:

“Alongside the discussion of former oppositionists, party leaders introduced two new concepts: democracy (demokratiia) and criticism of authority."

"... Stalin, Zhdanov, and N. M. Shvernik, the head of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, emphasized the need for multicandidate, secret-ballot elections for posts within the Party, the soviets, and the unions. Contending that the political culture had become increasingly ossified, self-serving, and bureaucratic, they invited the rank and file to reinvigorate their governing institutions, ... The plenum strongly urged not only rank-and-file party and union members but also ordinary citizens to challenge their local and regional leaders and rebuild democracy from below.”

“Party leaders, insisting on democracy and multicandidate, secret-ballot elections, attempted to bust up the controlling "family circles" within the unions and party organizations. They urged the rank and file to exercise their democratic rights, expose hidden oppositionists, and oust entrenched leaders from power.”

During the Great Patriotic War, Stalin led with great valiance in the fight against the Fascists alongside U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Roosevelt was an admirer of Stalin's leadership, and advanced US-Soviet relations in a very positive way during this time.

The policy of freedom of religion was first declared immediately following the October Revolution, in the Decree “Freedom of Conscience” in 1918 [https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1917-2/conflict-with-the-church/conflict-with-the-church-texts/law-on-freedom-of-conscience/| Freedom of Religious Conscience], further in the 1924 Constitution, then again in 1936 Constitution. Believers in any religion were never repressed for their beliefs and had the right to worship.

Stalin had this to say to anyone who infringed on people's right to freedom of religion:

"These and similar numerous examples show with sufficient clarity how careless and frivolously some local Party organizations and local authorities treat such an important issue as the issue of freedom of religious belief. These organizations and authorities apparently do not understand that by their rude, tactless actions against believers representing a vast majority of the population, they cause innumerable harm to the Soviet authorities..."

Secretary of the Central Committee I. Stalin."

The repression of the Church in the years of the Revolution & subsequent Civil War, was both a result of the almost universal joining or supporting of the White Army by the clergy who had just lost all their privileges and benefits from their place in society under Tsardom, and a bottom-up phenomena on behalf of the masses of people, mainly the peasants, who had been exploited to the hilt by the Church all the years before. Resentment on behalf of the peasantry towards the Church had begun before the Bolsheviks or Stalin had anything to do with it.

Repression after the Revolution and Civil War again mainly targeted the clergy of the heavily corrupted Church, that was only freed of its corruption after the October Revolution after the corrupt clergy were purged. The church had not only been co-opted by modern capitalism but also infiltrated by foreign elements. The Church also played a role in cleansing itself of these elements, especially after establishing official ties with the Soviet State.

The Church first declared loyalty to the Soviet State in 1923, under Patriarch Tikhon. [1] Following just four years later, in 1927, under the famous Patriarch Sergius, the Church declared unquestionable loyalty to and gained official relations with the Soviet State.

The Church and those clergymen who remained true to the official line of the Church, were free of repression and persecution. Repression targeted those clergymen or former clergymen, who despite the now official relations with the Soviet State, remained anti-Soviet and acted on these beliefs of theirs. Not only did they stand against the state, but also against the Church.

Churches were banned from being destroyed by Stalin himself in 1933, and can be seen in an extract of the minutes of the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee, dated December 9, 1933:

“In the period from 20-30, 150 churches were completely destroyed in Moscow and on the territory of the surrounding areas. 300 of them (the remaining) were converted into factory workshops, clubs, dormitories, prisons, detention centers and colonies for teenagers and street children. Architectural plans provide for the demolition of more than 500 remaining buildings of temples and churches.”

“On the basis of the above, the Central Committee considers it impossible to design buildings due to the destruction of churches, which should be considered architectural monuments of ancient Russian architecture.”

“The bodies of Soviet power and the workers' and peasants' militia are obliged to take measures up to disciplinary and party responsibility for the protection of architectural monuments of ancient Russian architecture.”

When Stalin assumed power, there were only 780 Churches in the Soviet Union. When he died, there were 22,000.

Notable Works

• Anarchism or Socialism? (1907)
• Marxism and the National Question (1913)
• Foundations of Leninism (1924)
• Trotskyism or Leninism? (1924)
• The Results of the First Five-Year Plan (1933)
• Dialectical and Historical Materialism (1938)
• Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR (1952)

Further Reading

• Constitution (Fundamental law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Joseph Stalin, 1936
• Marxists.org Stalin Archive
• Marxism-Leninism