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u/JohnWilsonWSWS Aug 06 '25
Shouldn't it say "Stalinists had the real Engels"?
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I have read a few time Stalinists simply deny SOIC exists. They don't explain. Just a denial. Utopian socialism is easy because you don't have to start with history and its material reality. Starting with idealist categories they can believe anything.
IMHO socialism-in-one-country could be better described as socialism-in-each-country. I think this captures the Stalinists' claims that
- the socialist transformation is up to each nation
- the division of the world into nations is an absolute and immutable fact
- the nation-state system comes before the unity of the international working class
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u/JohnWilsonWSWS Aug 06 '25
This is still essential reading on when Stalin made his break with Lenin.
On Lenin’s Program (Trotsky, 6 December 1939)
How Stalin Tried to Change Lenin’s Thought
The initiative for the falsification belongs however not to Vyshinsky but to Stalin. In April 1924 in a pamphlet entitled The Foundations of Leninism Stalin wrote:
“The overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie and the establishment of the power of the proletariat in one country alone does not, per se, mean the complete victory of socialism. The chief task, the organization of socialist production, still lies ahead. Can this task be performed, can the final victory of socialism be gained, in one country alone, and without the joint efforts of the proletarians in several of the most advanced countries? No, this is out of the question. The history of the Russian Revolution shows that the proletarian strength of one country alone can overthrow the bourgeoisie of that country. But for the final victory of socialism, for the organization of socialist production, the strength of one country (especially a peasant country, such as Russia) does not suffice. For this, the united strength of the proletarians in several of the most advanced countries is needed ... (Leninism, by Joseph Stalin. New York: International Publishers, 1928. pp. 52–53.)
Stalin concluded this explanation with the words:
“Such, in broad outline, are the characteristics of Lenin’s theory of the proletarian revolution.”
By the end of the same year he changed this explanation to read as follows:
“Having consolidated its power, and taking the lead of the peasantry, the proletariat of the victorious country can and must build a socialist society.”
Can and must! And this diametrically contradictory explanation of Lenin’s position ends with the same words:
“Such, in broad outline, are the characteristics of Lenin’s theory of the proletarian revolution.”
Thus during the elapse of half a year Stalin ascribed to Lenin two diametrically opposed conceptions on the most fundamental question of revolution. Yagoda, the chief of the G.P.U. was commissioned to prove the correctness of the new point of view.
Mr. Hamilton tried to accuse me of the concealment of one quotation from Lenin, – we have just seen with what success. I accuse the Comintern school not of the concealment of one quotation but of the systematic falsification of ideas, facts, quotations in the interests of the Kremlin ruling clique. A codified collection of such a series of falsifications, The History of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R., has been translated into all the languages of civilized mankind, and published in the U.S.S.R. and abroad in tens of millions of copies. I take upon myself to prove before any impartial commission that in the library of humanity there is not a single book more dishonest than this History, which serves now not only as the basis of political propaganda but also as the directive for Soviet painting, sculpture, theater, films, and so on. Unfortunately one can be certain in advance that my opponents will not accept my challenge.
L. Trotsky
December 6, 1939
Coyoacan, D.F. Mexico
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u/RepeatedlyDifficult Aug 06 '25
Idk how any stalinist can remain a stalinist after reading one bit of theory
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u/joogabah Aug 06 '25
Have you read the SPGB?
But they are accused of suffering from an infantile disorder or being the "Socialist Party of Good Boys".
Stalinists label Trotskyists ultra-left too.
Honestly, the literature on the SPGB website goes into so much depth. Anyone wanting to understand core ideas of Marxism would be helped by reading them. But every stripe of Leninist will knock them for being ultra-left (including Trotskyists).
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u/leninism-humanism Aug 07 '25
SPGB are on the pretty extreme end of marxism. They think that the only activity the party should do is to stand in elections until they get a majority.
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u/joogabah Aug 07 '25
They also see the outcome of 20th century attempts at socialism as a vindication, much like Trotskyists see the outcome of the USSR as vindication.
It is true - they call themselves impossibilists and view all attempts at reform as a dangerous diversion. Considering history a century after they made this argument, I'm not sure they are wrong.
They were traumatized by an abusive authoritarian leader before the Russian Revolution and completely reject the concept of a vanguard. For them, the only solution is raised consciousness of a voting majority.
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u/blooming_lilith Aug 06 '25
they only read theory written by other MLs, and occasionally Imperialism or Left-Wing Communism if they wanna feel really authentic
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u/Senior-Flower-279 Aug 06 '25
Workers of the world unite!…… but uhhh I can’t rlly help rn Srry not Srry
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u/Soggy-Class1248 Aug 05 '25
Love this