Stalin's monument unveiled in Novosibirsk

A new sculpture - and more specifically a black bust and two plaques - dedicated to the great Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was unveiled in the city of  Novosibirsk, the third largest city of Russia, on May 9th. 

The monument was placed in the facade of the local offices of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, after a decision of the city council. 

At the same time, a record 70 percent of Russians approve of Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s role in Russian history, according to a poll published by the independent Levada Center pollster last April. 

Anticommunism Fails: 70% of Russians have a positive opinion on Joseph Stalin

Despite the decades of anti-communist, anti-stalinist propaganda by the bourgeois apparatus, the majority of the Russians have a positive view over Joseph Stalin's role in history. 

More specifically, according to a recent poll conducted by Levada Center, over 50 percent (the highest ever) of Russians positively view Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his role in the country’s history.

International Communist Bulletin 5-3-2019

Truth and lies about Stalin - An exclusive interview with Grover Furr

On the ocassion of the 140th birth anniversary of Joseph Stalin we asked Professor Grover Furr to share with us his thoughts on some issues surrounding Stalin and the period of his leadership. Grover Furr, a Professor of medieval english literature at Montclair State University in New Jersey, is well-known for his research and writings on a vast range of issues about Soviet history. Some of his most famous books include "Khrushchev Lied", "The Moscow Trials as Evidence", Trotsky’s "Amalgams", "The Mystery of the Katyn Massacre: The Evidence, The Solution" and others. The name of Grover Furr is included in the list of the "101 most dangerous academics in America".

J.V. Stalin- Where is the nationalism of Tito’s group in Yugoslavia leading to? (1948)

Where is the nationalism of Tito’s group in Yugoslavia leading to?

By Joseph V. Stalin.

Pravda, 8th December 1948.

In the well-known resolution of the Information Bureau of the Communist Parties adopted in June 1948 ‘On the Situation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia’ it is pointed out that in recent months the nationalist elements that covertly existed even earlier have come to dominate the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, that the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia has broken away from the internationalist traditions of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and has taken up the course of nationalism. 

Joseph Stalin: 65 years since his death

By Nikos Mottas.

Sixty-five years have been passed since the 5^th March 1953 and the bourgeois in all over the world still tremble before his name. For the fascists and neo-Nazis, his image creates nightmares. The various opportunists, trotskyites and counterrevolutionaries still try to conjure him with tons of lies and slanders.

More than six decades since the death of Joseph Stalin, the slanderous campaign against his legacy continues unabated. The anti-stalinist slanderers have used every single kind of defamation in order to tarnish the personality of Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili: From the ungrounded fairytales of the Nazi sympathizer Solzhenitsyn to the fabricated, anti-communist stories of the so-called “Ukrainian famine”, the (committed by the Nazis) Katyn massacre, the supposed millions of executed prisoners in the notorious Gulags, etc.

Stalin’s Ghost Haunts Capitalism

A Riposte to Stephen Kotkin’s ‘Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941’

By Raj Sahai*.

Source: Marxism-Leninism today.

Princeton University historian Stephen Kotkin is writing a monumental three-volume biography of Joseph Stalin. Kotkin’s is the latest in a large number of books on Stalin, starting with Isaac Deutscher in 1949. So, why yet another book on Stalin?

Kotkin says Stalin represents a “gold standard” in “personal dictatorship”, and more archival documents are now accessible, so now a definitive biography of Stalin can finally be written. He takes Isaac Deutscher’s three-volume biography of Trotsky as a model for his own work. Published in 2015, Kotkin’s first volume was titled ‘Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878 - 1928’. Volume 2, published in November 2017, is titled ‘Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929 – 1941’.

The Death of Stalin: Vulgar anticommunism under the veil of "comedy"

"The Death of Stalin" is the title of the anticommunist film which is going to be screened on cinemas. The two-minutes trailer of the movie is enough for someone to understand that it is another case of crude and vulgar anticommunism, of distortion and counterfeiting of History, as long as it shows Stalin as the "fear and terror of the nation" and other personalities of the time (e.g. Marshall Zhukov) as miserable caricatures.

But the text of the [film's] synopsis by the distribution company ODEON which accompanies the movie and has been published in the media is also revealing. Promoting the film, the distribution company refers to it as "a comedy based on real events": "On the night of March 2, 1953, a man is dying. A terrible stroke is wracking his entire body. He is drooling. He is pissing himself... The man is Joseph Stalin, dictator, tyrant, butcher as well a Secretary General of USSR. ‘The Death of Stalin’ is a satire about the days before the funerals of the Nation’s Father. Days that shine a sardonic light on all the madness, depravity and inhumanity of totalitarianism. Days that will see the men surrounding him fight to inherit his supreme power. And it’s all based on true events."

J.V. Stalin- Lenin: The Genius of the Revolution

Joseph V. Stalin -

Speech Delivered at a Memorial Meeting of the Kremlin Military School.

January 28, 1924. 

First Published on Pravda, No. 34, 

February 12, 1924.

Source: Works, Vol. 6, January-November, 1924, pp. 54-66, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1954.

Reproduced from Marxists Internet Archives.

Comrades, 

I am told that you have arranged a Lenin memorial meeting here this evening and that I have been invited as one of the speakers. I do not think there is any need for me to deliver a set speech on Lenin’s activities. It would be better, I think, to confine myself to a few facts to bring out certain of Lenin’s characteristics as a man and a leader. There may, perhaps, be no inherent connection between these facts, but that is not of vital importance as far as gaining a general idea of Lenin is concerned. At any rate, I am unable on this occasion to do more than what I have just promised.

J.V. Stalin - Trotskyism or Leninism? (1924)

Joseph V. Stalin- Trotskyism or Leninism?

Speech delivered at the Plenum of the Communist Group in the A.U.C.C.T.U., 

November 19, 1924;

Published on Pravda, No.269, 

November 26, 1924.

Published via Marxists Internet Archives.

Comrades, after Kamenev's comprehensive report there is little left for me to say. I shall therefore confine myself to exposing certain legends that are being spread by Trotsky and his supporters about the October uprising, about Trotsky's role in the uprising, about the Party and the preparation for October, and so forth. I shall also touch upon Trotskyism as a peculiar ideology that is incompatible with Leninism, and upon the Party's tasks in connection with Trotsky's latest literary pronouncements.

J.V.Stalin- The International Character of the October Revolution (Speech on the 10th Anniversary of the October Revolution)

Speech by Joseph Stalin on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution; Pravda, November 6-7, 1927. 

Source: J.V.Stalin, Works, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 

Moscow, 1954, Vol.10, pp. 244-55.

The October Revolution cannot be regarded merely as a revolution "within national bounds." It is, primarily, a revolution of an international, world order, for it signifies a radical turn in the world history of mankind, a turn from the old, capitalist world to the new, socialist world.

Russia's bourgeois class still trembles at the sight of Stalin: The Moscow State Law Academy incident

Sixty-four years have been passed since the biological death of Joseph Stalin and, still, the bolshevik leader creates nightmares to the bourgeois class. They fear his legacy, his name, even his portraits or plaques which refer to him. 

According to an Agence France-Presse report (which is full of stereotypical anti-communist references to "Stalin's repression"), everything started when the Moscow State Law University last month reinstated a Soviet-era plaque marking a speech delivered there by Stalin in 1924. The plaque had been removed in the 1960s. A former student launched an online petition in order to have the plaque removed, while a defense lawyer called Genri Reznik and professors of another college break their ties with the university in protest. 

Joseph Stalin is the "most outstanding" world figure according to the Russian people

Despite years of severe anticommunist-antisoviet bourgeois propaganda, a significant number of the Russian people express admiration and respect for the great Bolshevik leader.

Source: Russia Today.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin has once again been named the most oustanding world figure by Russians. Vladimir Putin shared second place with poet Alexander Pushkin. Among non-Russians, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton made the top 20.

Stalin, Putin, Pushkin, and Vladimir Lenin took the top three positions in a Levada Center poll which asked Russians to name the “most outstanding people of all times and peoples.” The poll results were published on Monday.

The poll surveyed 1,600 people in 137 places across Russia and was in free form – respondents weren’t given any suggestions for answers.

Joseph V. Stalin- Concerning Questions of Leninism

Concerning Questions of Leninism.

By Joseph V. Stalin.

 January 25, 1926.

Source: Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1954 via Marxists Internet Archive.

Dedicated to the Leningrad Organisation of the C.P.S.U (B).

I. THE DEFINITION OF LENINISM

The pamphlet The Foundations of Leninism contains a definition of Leninism which seems to have received general recognition. It runs as follows:

“Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular.”1

Joseph V. Stalin- Address to the people on May 9th 1945 (Victory Speech)

Speech by the Marshal of the Soviet Union 

Joseph V. Stalin.

May 9, 1945.

Comrades! Fellow countrymen and countrywomen! 

The great day of victory over Germany has arrived. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has admitted defeat and has announced her unconditional surrender. 

Joseph Stalin's popularity among Russians continues to increase, reaching 16-year high

Sixty-four years after the death of Joseph Stalin, the popularity of the great Soviet leader in Russia continues to increase, reaching a 16-year high. 

More specifically, according to a recent survey by the independent Levada Center, the percentage of Russians who have a positive perception for the communist leader has been increased. Some 46 percent of respondents viewed Stalin positively, compared with 21 percent who said that they hated or feared the former leader. Another 22 percent described themselves as merely “indifferent.”

Most Russians — 32 percent — said that they looked upon Joseph Stalin “with respect.” Ten percent said that they had “sympathetic views,” while four percent said that they looked upon the leader with “admiration.” 

Trotsky’s Lies - What They Are, and What They Mean

Trotsky’s Lies - What They Are, and What They Mean

By Grover Furr*.

The personality and the writings of Leon Trotsky have long been a rallying point for anticommunists throughout the world. But during the 1930s Trotsky deliberately lied in his writings about Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. My new book, Trotsky’s ‘Amalgams’, discusses some of Trotsky’s lies that have fooled people, and demoralized honest communists, for decades. 

In January 1980 the Trotsky Archive at Harvard University was opened to researchers. Within a few days Pierre Broué, the foremost Trotskyist historian of his time, discovered that Trotsky had lied. Trotsky had always denied that any clandestine “bloc of oppositionists” including Trotskyists, existed in the Soviet Union. Trotsky called this an “amalgam,” meaning a fabrication by Stalin. This “bloc” was the main focus of the second and third Moscow Trials of January 1937 and March 1938. Broué showed, from letters in the Trotsky Archive by Trotsky and by his son Leon Sedov, that the bloc did exist.

Joseph V. Stalin- The October Revolution and the Tactics of the Russian Communists (1924)

The October Revolution and the Tactics of the Russian Communists.

By Joseph V. Stalin.

Source:Problems of Leninism, by J.V. Stalin, 

Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1976, p. 117.

Republished from Marxists Internet Archives.

Three circumstances of an external nature determined the comparative ease with which the proletarian revolution in Russia succeeded in breaking the chains of imperialism and thus overthrowing the rule of the bourgeoisie.

Firstly, the circumstance that the October Revolution began in a period of desperate struggle between the two principal imperialist groups, the Anglo-French and the Austro-German; at a time when, engaged in mortal struggle between themselves, these two groups had neither the time nor the means to devote serious attention to the struggle against the October Revolution. This circumstance was of tremendous importance for the October Revolution; for it enabled it to take advantage of the fierce conflicts within the imperialist world to strengthen and organize its own forces.

The remorse of a dissident: Alexander Zinoviev on Stalin and the dissolution of the USSR

SPECIAL TO IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM.

Alexander Zinoviev (1922-2006) was a Russian philosopher, sociologist, mathematician and writer. He is an extraordinary case of a dissident in the Soviet Union who later apologized for his anti-sovietism and anti-stalinism. In his youth, in 1939, he was arrested for allegedly involved in a plot to assassinate Joseph Stalin. As a head and professor of the Logic Department at Moscow State University, Zinoviev acquired a dissident reputation. In 1978 he left the Soviet Union - he lived in Western Europe until 1999. 

Having the opportunity to live both the socialist system in the USSR and Western Europe's capitalism, Zinoviev made a u-turn in his thoughts after the counterrevolutionary events in the Soviet Union (1989-1991). He profoundly regreted for his previous anti-soviet stance and even asked from the Russian people to forgive him for that. 

He wrote in one of his books: 

How many people did Joseph Stalin really kill?

Source: anti-imperialism.com.

When discussing the merits and achievements of the Soviet Union, detractors of various stripes, from anti-communist to anti-Leninist, often point to a 2013 International Business Times article named “How Many People Did Joseph Stalin Kill?” by Palash Ghosh. The article, which depicts Soviet leader J. V. Stalin as an inhuman cold-blooded mass murderer, claims that up to 60 million people, nearly one-third of the USSR’s 1941 population, were killed on the part of the government and the leadership of the country.[1][2] But do these figures actually hold up? Through a careful read of the article, one can find glaring problems with the logic and the conclusion and deduce that the article is not much more than crude propaganda.

The article, having been published on the 60th anniversary of Stalin’s death, introduces Stalin as “one of history’s most prolific killers”, proceeding to list various events as atrocities. Included in the list are “imprisonment in labor camps”, “manufactured famines” and “forced displacements”, all of which are implied to be inherently atrocious like the other items listed. While these are indeed atrocious events, this should raise the question of hypocrisy, as a neo-liberal news publication lists these events with the intention of portraying a socialist leader as a “prolific killer” when historically they have happened on a number of occasions in the imperialist states and their semi-feudal colonies à la the American internment of Japanese and Germans in World War II, the systematic depopulation of indigenous lands by the US government, and the number of famines in British India in the 19th and 20th centuries. One might in response concede that the USSR was by no means alone if it is responsible for such atrocities, but,nevertheless, the actions of other nations does not absolve the Soviet Union. This is true. Therefore, we move on to see Ghosh’s backing for the assertion of Stalin as a mass murderer.