Anti-Stalinist left
The anti-Stalinist left is a term that refers to various kinds of Marxist political movements that oppose Joseph Stalin, Stalinism, Neo-Stalinism and the system of governance that Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1924 and 1953. This term also refers to the high ranking political figures and governmental programs that opposed Joseph Stalin and his form of communism, such as Leon Trotsky and other traditional Marxists within the Left Opposition. In Western historiography, Stalin is considered one of the worst and most notorious figures in modern history.[1][2][3][4]
In recent years, it may also refer to left and centre-left wing opposition to
Revolutionary era critiques (pre-1924)
A large majority of the political left was initially enthusiastic about the
Rosa Luxemburg was heavily critical of the methods that Bolsheviks used to seize power in the October Revolution claiming that it was "not a movement of the people but of the bourgeoisie."[10] Primarily, Luxemburg's critiques were based on the manner in which the Bolsheviks suppressed anarchist movements.[11] In one of her essays published titled, "The Nationalities Question in the Russian Revolution", she explains:[10]
"To be sure, in all these cases, it was really not the "people" who engaged in these reactionary policies, but only the bourgeois and petit bourgeois classes, who – in sharpest opposition to their own proletarian masses – perverted the "national right of self-determination" into an instrument of their counter-revolutionary class policies."
Because of her early criticisms toward the Bolsheviks, her legacy was vilified by Stalin once he rose to power.[12] According to Trotsky, Stalin was "often lying about her and vilifying her" in the eyes of the public.[12]
The relations between the anarchists and the Bolsheviks worsened in Soviet Russia due to the suppression of movements like the
Every radical generation, it is said, has its Kronstadt. For some it was the
Another key anti-Stalinist, Louis Fischer, later coined the term "Kronstadt moment" for this.[14]
Like Rosa Luxemburg, Emma Goldman was primarily critical of Lenin's style of leadership, but her focus eventually transferred over to Stalin and his policies as he rose to power.[8] In her essay titled "There Is No Communism in Russia", Goldman details how Stalin "abused the power of his position" and formed a dictatorship.[8] In this text she states:[8]
"In other words, by the Central Committee and Politbureau of the Party, both of them controlled absolutely by one man, Stalin. To call such a dictatorship, this personal autocracy more powerful and absolute than any Czar's, by the name of Communism seems to me the acme of imbecility."
Emma Goldman asserted that there was "not the least sign in Soviet Russia even of authoritarian, State Communism."[8] Emma Goldman remained critical of Stalin and the Bolshevik's style of governance up until her death in 1940.[17]
Overall, the left communists and anarchists were critical of the statist, repressive, and
According to historian
Bolshevik era critiques of Stalin (1924–1930)
One of the last attempts of the Right Opposition to resist Stalin was the
Overall, Trotsky and his followers were very critical of the lack of internal debate and discussion among Stalinist organizations along with their politically repressive methods.[25][26] In particular, Trotsky called for the restoration of the right of criticism in areas such as economic matters, the revitalization of the trade unions and the free elections of the Soviet parties.[28] Trotsky also opposed the policy of forced collectivisation under Stalin and favoured a voluntary, gradual approach towards agricultural production[29][30] with greater tolerance for the rights of Soviet Ukrainians.[31][32]
Popular Front era critiques (1930–1939)
“With all the greater frankness can I state how, in my view, the Soviet government should act in case of a fascist upheaval in Germany. In their place, I would, at the very moment of receiving telegraphic news of this event, sign a mobilisation order calling up several age groups. In the face of a mortal enemy, when the logic of the situation points to inevitable war, it would be irresponsible and unpardonable to give that enemy time to establish himself, to consolidate his positions, to conclude alliances… and to work out the plan to attack..”
Trotsky describing the military measures he would have taken in place of Stalin to negate the rise of Hitler in 1932.[33]
From the 1930s and beyond, Leon Trotsky and his American supporter James P. Cannon described the Soviet Union as a "degenerated workers' state", the revolutionary gains of which should be defended against imperialist aggression despite the emergence of a gangster-like ruling stratum, the party bureaucracy. While defending the Russian Revolution from outside aggression, Trotsky, Cannon and their followers at the same time urged an anti-bureaucratic political revolution against Stalinism to be conducted by the Soviet working class themselves.
In 1932
During the 1930s, critics of Stalin, both inside and outside the Soviet Union, were under heavy attack by the party. The Great Purge occurred from 1936 to 1938 as a result of growing internal tensions between the critics of Stalin but eventually turned into an all-out cleansing of "anti-Soviet elements".[34] A majority of those targeted were peasants and minorities, but anarchists and democratic socialist opponents were also targeted for their criticisms of the severely repressive political techniques that Stalin used.[26] Many were executed or sent to Gulag prison camps extrajudicially.[34] It is estimated that during the Great Purge, casualties ranged from 600,000 to over 1 million people.[34]
Concurrently, fascism was rising across Europe. The Soviet leadership turned to popular front policy during the 1930s, in which Communists worked with liberal and even conservative allies to defend against a presumed Fascist assault. One of the more notable conflicts could be seen in the Spanish Civil War. While the whole left fought alongside the Republican faction, within it there were sharp conflicts between the Communists, on the one hand, and anarchists, Trotskyists and the POUM on the other.[35][36] Support for the latter became a key issue for the anti-Stalinist left internationally, as exemplified by the ILP Contingent in the International Brigades, George Orwell's book Homage to Catalonia, the periodical Spain and the World, and various pamphlets by Emma Goldman, Rudolf Rocker and others.[37][38][39]
In other countries too, non-Communist left parties competed with Stalinism as the same time as they fought the right. The
Mid-century critiques (1939–1953)
Dissidents in the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, witnessing the collaboration of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler in the invasion and the partition of Poland and the Soviet invasion of the Baltic states, argued that the Soviet Union had actually emerged as a new social formation, which was neither capitalist nor socialist. Adherents of that view, espoused most explicitly by Max Shachtman and closely following the writings of James Burnham and Bruno Rizzi, argued that the Soviet bureaucratic collectivist regime had in fact entered one of two great imperialist "camps" aiming to wage war to divide the world. The first of the imperialist camps, which Stalin and the Soviet Union were said to have joined as a directly participating ally, was headed by Nazi Germany and included most notably Fascist Italy. In that original analysis, the "second imperialist camp" was headed by England and France, actively supported by the United States.[41]
Shachtman and his cothinkers argued for the establishment of a broad "third camp" to unite the workers and colonial peoples of the world in revolutionary struggle against the imperialism of the German-Soviet-Italian and the Anglo-American-French blocs. Shachtman concluded that the Soviet policy was one of imperialism and that the best result for the international working class would be the defeat of the Soviet Union in the course of its military incursions. Conversely, Trotsky argued that a defeat for the Soviet Union would strengthen capitalism and reduce the possibilities for political revolution.[42]
Tito and his followers began a political effort to develop a new brand of socialism that would be both
"The indictment is long indeed: unequal relations with and exploitation of the other socialist countries, un-Marxian treatment of the role of the leader, inequality in pay greater than in bourgeois democracies, ideological promotion of Great Russian nationalism and subordination of other peoples, a policy of division of spheres of influence with the capitalist world, monopolization of the interpretation of Marxism, the abandonment of all democratic forms..."
Tito disagreed on the primary characteristics that defined Stalin's policy and style of leadership. Tito wanted to form his own version of "pure" socialism without many of the "un-Marxian" traits of Stalinism.[44] Tito has also accused Stalinist USSR's hegemonic practices in Eastern Europe and economic exploitation of the Soviet satellite states as imperialist.[45]
Other foreign leftist critics also came about during this time in Europe and America. Some of these critics include George Orwell, H. N. Brailsford,[46] Fenner Brockway,[47][48] the Young People's Socialist League, and later Michael Harrington,[49] and the Independent Labour Party in Britain. There were also several anti-Stalinist socialists in France, including writers such as Simone Weil[50] and Albert Camus[51] as well as the group around Marceau Pivert.
In America,
New Party Era critiques (1953–1991)
Following the
"Comrades, the cult of the individual acquired such monstrous size chiefly because Stalin himself, using all conceivable methods, supported the glorification of his own person. This is supported by numerous facts."
Khrushchev also revealed to the congress the truth behind Stalin's methods of repression. In addition, he explained that Stalin had rounded up "thousands of people and sent them into a huge system of political work camps" called gulags.[54] The truths revealed in this speech came to the surprise of many, but this fell into the plan of Khrushchev. This speech tainted Stalin's name which resulted in a significant loss of faith in his policy from government officials and citizens.[54]
During this Cold War era, the American non-communist left (NCL) grew.[55] The NCL was critical of the continuation of Stalinist Communism because of aspects such as famine and repression,[8] and as later discovered, the covert intervention of Soviet state interests in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).[56]: 31 Members of the NCL were often ex-communists, such as the historian Theodore Draper whose views shifted from socialism to liberalism, and socialists who became disillusioned with the communist movement. Anti-Stalinist Trotskyists also wrote about their experiences during this time, such as Irving Howe and Lewis Coser.[56]: 29–30 These perspectives inspired the creation of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), as well as international journals like Der Monat and Encounter; it also influenced existing publications such as the Partisan Review.[57] According to John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, the CCF was covertly funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to support intellectuals with pro-democratic and anti-communist stances.[56]: 66–69 The Communist Party USA lost much of its influence in the first years of the Cold War due to the revelation of Stalinist crimes by Khrushchev.[58] Although the Soviet Communist Party was no longer officially Stalinist, the Communist Party USA received a substantial subsidy from the USSR from 1959 until 1989, and consistently supported official Soviet policies such as intervention in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The Soviet funding ended in 1989 when Gus Hall condemned the market initiatives of Mikhail Gorbachev.[59]
From the late 1950s, several European socialist and communist parties, such as in Denmark and Sweden, shifted away from orthodox communism which they connected to Stalinism that was in recent history.[60]: 240 The emergence of the New Left was influenced to some degree by the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 and increasing amount of information available about Stalinist terror.[60]: 285 Albert Camus criticized Soviet communism, while many leftists saw the Soviet Union as emblematic of "state capitalism."[61] After Stalin's death and the Khrushchev Thaw, study and opposition to Stalinism became a part of historiography. The historian Moshe Lewin cautioned not to categorize the entire history of the Soviet Union as Stalinist, but also emphasized that Stalin's bureaucracy had permanently established "bureaucratic absolutism," resembling old monarchy, in the Soviet Union.[62]
Notable figures
- Leon Trotsky
- Emma Goldman[63]
- Colette Audry[64][65]
- Daniel Bell[66][67]
- André Breton[68]
- Albert Camus[69]
- Milovan Djilas[70]
- Daniel Guérin[65]
- Sidney Hook[71]
- Irving Howe[72]
- CLR James[39]
- Lucien Laurat[73][74]
- Claude Lefort[65]
- Marcel Martinet[75][68]
- Dwight MacDonald[72]
- Mary McCarthy[71]
- Claude McKay[76]
- Maurice Nadeau[65]
- Pierre Naville[65]
- The New York Intellectuals[77]
- Benjamin Péret[78][79]
- Henry Poulaille[68][80][81]
- David Rousset[65]
- Jean-Paul Sartre[82]
- Josip Broz Tito
- Nikita Khrushchev
- Victor Serge[83][75][68]
- Ota Šik[84][non-primary source needed]
- George Orwell[85]
- IF Stone
- Carlo Tresca[72]
See also
- Anti-Leninism
- De-Stalinization
- Eurocommunism
- Fourth International
- Harvill Secker
- Joseph Stalin's cult of personality
- Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
- Korets–Landau leaflet
- Left Opposition
- Left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks
- Lenin's testament
- Libertarian socialism
- New Left
- Red fascism
- Socialist democracy
- Tankie – pejorative term used by anti-authoritarian socialists
- Trotskyism
- The Stalinist Legacy
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Further reading
- Ian Birchall Sartre Against Stalinism. Berghahn Books. (See review here Archived 1 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine.)
- HYSLOP, JONATHAN (11 August 2018). "German seafarers, anti‐fascism and the anti‐Stalinist left: the 'Antwerp Group' and Edo Fimmen's International Transport Workers' Federation, 1933–40". Global Networks. 19 (4). Wiley: 499–520. S2CID 150336580.
- Julius Jacobson The Russian Question And American Socialism,New Politics, vol. 6, no. 3 (new series), whole no. 23, Summer 1997
- Alan Johnson The Cultural Cold War: Faust Not the Pied Piper, New Politics, vol. 8, no. 3 (new series), whole no. 31, Summer 2001
- David Renton, Dissident Marxism 2004 Zed Books ISBN 1-84277-293-7
- Boris Souvarine, Stalin, 1935
- ISBN 1-56584-596-X).
- Alan Wald The New York Intellectuals, The Rise and Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left From the 1930s to the 1980s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987. 440 pp (See review by Paul LeBlanc here)
External links
- Media related to Anti-Stalinist left at Wikimedia Commons