Reflections on the Meaning of Stalinism Paul Le Blanc
blanc
blanc
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
C<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong><br />
The Stalinist political framework was c<strong>on</strong>structed with rotten<br />
timber, representing a “future” <strong>of</strong> manipulated dreams and ideals that<br />
could not endure. It is best seen nei<strong>the</strong>r as a metaphysical “Evil” nor<br />
as <strong>the</strong> inevitable outcome <strong>of</strong> revoluti<strong>on</strong>ary communism. It represents,<br />
instead, a set <strong>of</strong> human developments that can be analyzed, arising and<br />
disintegrating within specific historical c<strong>on</strong>texts. It is inc<strong>on</strong>sistent with<br />
<strong>the</strong> original revoluti<strong>on</strong>ary impulses from which it emerged. Yet elements<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> original impulses can be seen to have persisted am<strong>on</strong>g people<br />
within that framework. In our different historical c<strong>on</strong>text we can see<br />
bubbling-up out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Stalinist traditi<strong>on</strong> precisely such revoluti<strong>on</strong>arydemocratic<br />
and humanistic qualities that are c<strong>on</strong>sistent with <strong>the</strong> original<br />
revoluti<strong>on</strong>ary impulses.<br />
Sources<br />
Arendt, Hannah 1958, The Origins <strong>of</strong> Totalitarianism, New York,<br />
Meridian Books.<br />
Bhattachrya, Tithi 2013, “Maoism in <strong>the</strong> Global South,” Internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Socialist Review #97, January, http://isreview.org/issue/87/maoism-globalsouth<br />
(accessed 17/07/2015).<br />
Berger, Joseph 1971, Shipwreck <strong>of</strong> a Generati<strong>on</strong>, L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>: Havrill<br />
Press.<br />
Calvocoressi, Peter, Guy Wint and John Pritchard 1999, The Penguin<br />
History <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sec<strong>on</strong>d World War, L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>: Penguin Books.<br />
Carr, E.H. 1982, Twilight <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Comintern, 1930-1935, New York:<br />
Pan<strong>the</strong><strong>on</strong> Books.<br />
Chamberlin, William Henry 1987, The Russian Revoluti<strong>on</strong>, 1917-1921,<br />
2 vols., Princet<strong>on</strong>, NJ: Princet<strong>on</strong> University Press.<br />
C<br />
R<br />
I<br />
S<br />
I<br />
S<br />
&<br />
C<br />
R<br />
I<br />
T<br />
I<br />
Q<br />
U<br />
E<br />
/<br />
Volume 3 /<br />
Issue 1<br />
Duranty, Walter 1935, I Write as I Please, New York: Sim<strong>on</strong> and<br />
Schuster.<br />
Elbaum, Max 2002, Revoluti<strong>on</strong> in <strong>the</strong> Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to<br />
<strong>Le</strong>nin, Mao and Che, L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>: Verso.<br />
Haupt, Georges and Jean-Jacques Marie 1974, Makers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Russian Revoluti<strong>on</strong>: Biographies <strong>of</strong> Bolshevik <strong>Le</strong>aders, Ithaca, NY: Cornell<br />
University Press.<br />
Hudis, Peter 2013, Marx’s C<strong>on</strong>cept <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Alternative to Capitalism,<br />
Chicago: Haymarket Books.<br />
Hunt, Richard N. 1975, The Political Ideas <strong>of</strong> Marx and Engels, Volume<br />
I: Marxism and Totalitarian Democracy, 1818-1850, Pittsburgh: University <strong>of</strong><br />
Pittsburgh Press.<br />
_____________ 1984, The Political Ideas <strong>of</strong> Marx and Engels, Volume II:<br />
Classical Marxism, 1850-1895, Pittsburgh: University <strong>of</strong> Pittsburgh Press.<br />
James C.L.R. 1993, World Revoluti<strong>on</strong> 1917-1936: The Rise and Fall <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Communist Internati<strong>on</strong>al, Atlantic Highlands, HJ: Humanities Press.<br />
Khlevniuk, Oleg V. 2004, The History <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Gulag: From<br />
Collectivizati<strong>on</strong> to <strong>the</strong> Great Terror, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.<br />
______________. 2015, Stalin: New Biography <strong>of</strong> a Dictator, New<br />
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.<br />
Krupskaya, Nadezhda 1979, Reminiscences <strong>of</strong> <strong>Le</strong>nin, New York:<br />
Internati<strong>on</strong>al Publishers.<br />
<strong>Le</strong> <strong>Blanc</strong>, <strong>Paul</strong> 2015a, <strong>Le</strong>nin and <strong>the</strong> Revoluti<strong>on</strong>ary Party, Chicago:<br />
Haymarket Books.<br />
____________ 2015b, <strong>Le</strong><strong>on</strong> Trotsky, L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>: Reakti<strong>on</strong> Books.<br />
C<br />
R<br />
I<br />
S<br />
I<br />
S<br />
&<br />
C<br />
R<br />
I<br />
T<br />
I<br />
Q<br />
U<br />
E<br />
/<br />
Volume 3 /<br />
Issue 1<br />
Claudin, Fernando 1975, The Communist Movement, From Comintern<br />
to Cominform, 2 vols., New York: M<strong>on</strong>thly Review Press.<br />
Dallin, David J. and Boris I. Nicolaevsky 1947, Forced Labor in Soviet<br />
Russia, New Haven: Yale University Press.<br />
Deutscher, Isaac 1967, Stalin, A Political Biography, New York: Oxford<br />
Universtiy Press.<br />
____________ 2006, Marx, <strong>Le</strong>nin and <strong>the</strong> Revoluti<strong>on</strong>ary Experience:<br />
Studies <strong>of</strong> Communism and Radicalism in <strong>the</strong> Age <strong>of</strong> Globalizati<strong>on</strong>, New<br />
York: Routledge.<br />
____________ 2014, Unfinished <strong>Le</strong>ninism: The Rise and Return <strong>of</strong> a<br />
Revoluti<strong>on</strong>ary Doctrine, Chicago: Haymarket Books.<br />
102 <str<strong>on</strong>g>Reflecti<strong>on</strong>s</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Meaning</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stalinism</strong><br />
103<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Reflecti<strong>on</strong>s</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Meaning</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stalinism</strong>