Stalin and his era
By Daniel Paquet dpaquet1871@gmail.com
“The Khrushchev School of Falsification:”
“The fiftieth anniversary of Nikita s. Khrushchev’s
‘Secret Speech, delivered on February 25, 1956, elicited predictable
comment. An article in the London (UK) Telegraph called it ‘the 20th
century’s most influential speech.[1]
So, I suspected that today, in the light of the many
documents from formerly secret Soviet archives now available, serious research
might discoverer that even more of Khrushchev’s ‘revelations’ about Stalin were
false. In fact, I made a far different
discovery. Not one specific statement of ‘revelation’ that Khrushchev made about
either Stalin or Beria turned out to be true. The entire ‘Secret Speech’ is made up of
fabrications.[2]
The most influential speech of the 20th
century – if not of all time – a complete fraud? The notion was too monstrous. Who would want to come to grips with the
revision of Soviet, Comintern, and even world history that the logic of such a
conclusion would demand? It would be
infinitely easier for everyone to believe that I had ‘cooked the books,’ shaded
the truth – that I was falsifying things, just as I was accusing Khrushchev of
doing. Then my work could be safely
ignored, and the problem would ‘go away.’
Especially since I am known to have sympathy towards the world wide
communist movement of which Stalin was the recognized leader. When a researcher comes to conclusions that
suspiciously appear to support his own preconceived ideas, it is only prudent
to suspect him of some lack of objectivity, if not worse.”[3]
“In December 1922, in a letter to the Party Congress,
Vladimir Il’ich wrote: ‘After taking
over the position of Secretary General, Comrade Stalin accumulated in his hands
immeasurable power and I am not certain whether he will be always able to use
this power with the required care.’
He also said:
“Stalin is excessively rude, and this defect, which can
be freely tolerated in our midst and in contacts among us Communists, becomes a
defect which cannot be tolerated in one holding the position of the Secretary
General. Because of this, I propose that
the comrades consider the method by which Stalin would be removed from this
position and by which another man would be selected for it, a man who, above
all, would differ from Stalin in only one quality, namely greater tolerance,
greater loyalty, greater kindness and more considerate attitude toward the
comrades, a less capricious temper, etc.”[4]
On December 19, 1927,
Stalin declared to the CC Plenum:
“Comrades! For
three years I have been asking the CC to free me from the obligations of
General Secretary of the CC. Each time
the Plenum has refused me. I admit that
until recently conditions did exist such that the Party had need of me in this
post as a person more or less severe, one who acted as a certain kind of
antidote to the dangers posed by the Opposition. I admit that this necessity
existed, despite comrade Lenin’s well-known letter, to keep me at the post of
General Secretary. But those conditions
exist no longer. They have vanished,
since the Opposition is now smashed. It
seems that the Opposition has never before suffered such a defeat since they have
not only been smashed, but have been expelled from the Party. It follows that now no bases exist any longer
that could be considered correct when the Plenum refused to honor my request
and free me of the duties of General Secretary. Meanwhile you have comrade Lenin’s directive
which we are obliged to consider and which, in my opinion, it is necessary to
put into effect. I admit that the Party
was compelled to disregard this directive until recently, compelled by
well-known conditions of inter-Party development. But I repeat that these
conditions have now vanished and it is time, in my view to take comrade Lenin’s
directive to the leadership. Therefore I
request the Plenum to free me of the post of General Secretary of the CC. I assure you, comrades that the Party can
only gain from doing this.”[5]
A few years before, the
young workers and peasants Republic had witnessed the Socialist
Revolution.
“If I were asked what was the greatest, the most
memorable moment of my life, I would answer without any hesitation: it was when Soviet power was proclaimed.
Nothing could compare to the pride and joy that filled
us as we heard pronounced from the tribune of the Second Congress of Soviets at
Smolny the simple and impressive words of the historic resolution: “All power has passed to the Soviets of Workers’
Soldiers and Peasants Deputies!’
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was unforgettable at that moment! It was amazing and unforgettable, this
inspired concentration of Vladimir Ilyich as he stood on the platform of the
presidium of the first Soviet legislative assembly as the Bolsheviks, in the
first few hours after taking power, began socialist construction, the construction
of a new world.”[6]
During World War 2,
soldiers of the Red Army when they had the opportunity, used to meet,
especially to celebrate New Year, and would toast to Stalin:
“La première santé,
selon la coutume des hommes soviétiques, fut portée au camarade Staline; on lui
souhaita une santé florissante dans l’année nouvelle et une longue vie. Puis
on but à la victoire…”[7]
Soviet people were then
defending their motherland and the achievements of the socialist revolution
against Nazi Germany.
“In 1917 the chain of the imperialist world front
proved to be weaker in Russia than in the other countries. It was there that the chain broke and provided
an outlet for the proletarian revolution.
Why? Because in Russia a great
popular revolution was unfolding and at is head marched the revolutionary
proletariat, which had such an important ally as the vast mass of the
peasantry, which was oppressed and exploited by the landlords. Because of the revolution there was opposed
by such a hideous representative of imperialism as tsarism, which lacked all
moral prestige and was deservedly hated by the whole population. The chain proved to be weaker in Russia,
although Russia was less developed in a capitalist sense that, say, France or
Germany, Britain or America.”[8]
History teaches us that
we must base ourselves on concrete facts.
We cannot write it according to the tastes and fashions of the day. Yes, Joseph Stalin is not popular among the
populations of the Western World. For
most of these people he is a barbarian butcher.
Such is not the appreciation for the older generations of the Russian
people who benefited from the realizations of the Soviet power. This explains why –and television coverage
shows it – the peoples of former Soviet Union are not ashamed to demonstrate
with banners proclaiming their faith in Stalin.
Meanwhile, workers
around the world are invited to join Communist parties, even if they don’t
acknowledge the contribution of Stalin for world peace and advancements in the
area of culture, economy and social progress in general.
Soviet people realized
even the differences in the economic regime after the death of Joseph Stalin;
such is also the case for the friends of Soviet Union in Europe, for instance
by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE):
“… we regard, as mistaken the political choice, that
held sway after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Soviet
Union (CPSU,-Ed) and especially after 1965, regarding utilization of mechanisms
and laws of the market for correction of
mistakes and overcoming of shortcomings in the central planning (e.g.
enterprise profits, establishment of enterprises’ self-management, etc.)”[9]
Communist News www.dpaquet1871.blogspot.com
La Nouvelle Vie
Réelle www.lnvr.blogspot.com
marxistas-leninistas
latinas hojas www.ma-llh.blogspot.com
Le sourire de l’Orient www.lesouriredelorient.blogspot.com
ARCHIVES
La Vie Réelle www.laviereelle.blogspot.com
Pour la KOMINTERN now ! www.pourlakominternnow.blogspot.com
L’Humanité in English www.humaniteinenglish.com
-30-
[6] KOLLONTAÏ,
Alexandra, Lenin at Smolny, Selected
Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984
[7] POLÉVOÏ, Boris, Nous autres
Soviétiques, Un rêve réalisé,
Édition électronique réalisée par Vincent Gouysse à partir de l’ouvrage publié
en 1949 aux Éditions en langues étrangères de Moscou, p. 152
[9] PAPARIGA,
Aleka, The importance of the critical
assessment of the socialist construction in the socialist construction in the
20th century for the strengthening of the labor movement and for an effective
counter-attack, International Communist Review, #2, Athens, 2010-2011, p. 30
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire