Fwd: Finally, a reply to the Stalinist

[iwp.ilo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (CEP )]

            I picked the following post from APST.  I think some
            people sould benefit from it, what do you think?

            Comradely,
            Carlos

(Start Fordwarding Message)


Stalin had a great number of respectable positions in the Party at the
time of Lenins death (though not the most prestigeous at that time).
Still, it is very wrong to say Lenin approved. To the contrary:

"Comrade Stalin, having become general secretary, has concentrated
unlimited authority in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will
always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution.
Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand, as his struggle against the CC on
the question of the People's Commissariat of Communications has
already proved, is distinguished not only by outstanding ability. He
is personally perhaps the most capable man in the present CC." (Lenin
Collected Works, vol 36 pp 593-97, 1956 edition)

Lenin asked that the CC was expanded to 50-100 members, mostly
workers, to stop extreme factions from taking the Soviet Republic down
the drain. Stalin-Kamenev-Zinoviev stopped this proposal and for a
long time kept it a secret.

"Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in our
midst and in dealings among us Communists, become intolerable in a
general secretary. That is why I suggest that the comrades think about
a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in
his stead." Lenin Collected Works vol 36 p 596).

Lenin fought hard to combat the influence of Stalin and his Great
Russian chauvinist companions. However, when Lenin died, Stalin made a
god out of Lenin and started a cult of worship around him, with
himself as high priest and interpreter of the holy faith (infidels
executed).

Stalin launched a cult of personality already at Lenin's funeral:
"Departing from us, comrade Lenin enjoined us to hold high and guard
the purity of the great title of member of the party. We vow to you,
Comrade Lenin, that we shall fulfil your behest with honour! |
Departing from us, Comrade Lenin enjoined us to guard the unity of our
party as the apple of our eye. We vow to you comrade Lenin, that this
behest, too, we shall filful with honour! ..." (this was written in
capitals in Stalin works vol 6) this continues so on and so forth in
the same horrible monotonous manner. Against the wishes of Krupskaya
(and most certainly of Lenin!), Lenin was embalmed in a mausoleum as
an object of worship.

Lenin had this to say about the fate of dead revolutionary leaders:
"After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless
icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their *names* to a
certain extent for the 'consolation' of the oppressed classes and with
the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the
revolutionary theory of its *substance*, blunting its revolutionary
edge."

As to Lenin's internationalism and opposition to any "socialism in one
country": "The final victory of socialism in a single country is of
course impossible. ... It is the absolute truth that without a German
revolution we are doomed." (speech to third congress of soviets 1918).
"We knew at that time ["October" 1917] that our victory would be a
lasting one only when our cause ahd triumphed the world over, and so
when we began working for our cause we counted exclusively on the
world revolution ... we staked our chances on world revolution, and
were undoubtedly right in doing so." (speech to eight congress of
soviets 1919)

One point which I always love to ask Stalinists: What is more likely,
that all the following people were guilty of treason against
socialism, or that Stalin was? Here are some of the top Bolsheviks who
were shot during the Purges and some of the leading positions they had
before Stalin eliminated the "old guard":

 Bukharin (1888-1938). CC member from 1917. Editor of Pravda 1919-29.
  ("Bukharin is not only a most valuable and major theorist of the
  party; he is also rightly considered the favorite of the whole
  party" - Lenin)
 Kamenev (1883-1936). Joined 1901. Chairman of Moscow Soviet 1919-26.
 Kretinsky (1883-1938). Joined 1903. CC secretary 1919-21.
 Mdivani (1877-1937). Head of Georgian Soviet government from 1921.
 Orakhelashvili (1889-1937). Joined 1903. Numerous party positions.
 Ordzhonikidze (1886-1937). Joined 1903. CC member from 1912.
 Pyatakov (1890-1937). Headed first Ukrainian Soviet Government.
   ("As for Pyatakov, he is unquestionably a man of outstanding will
   and outstanding ability" - Lenin).
 Radek (1885-1939). CC member 1919-24. Leading member of the Comintern
 Rykov (1881-1938). Joined 1899. Succeeded Lenin as Chairman of govt.
 Sokolnikov (1888-1939). Joined 1905. CC member 1917-19 and 1922-30.
 Trotsky (1879-1940). Led Red Army 1918-1925. Leading in Comintern.
 Zinoviev (1883-1936). Joined 1901. President of Comintern 1919-26.
(died in prison:)
 Rakovsky (1873-1941). CC member 1919-27. Head Ukrainian govt 1919-23.

Others that were shot include: Smirnov, Evdokimov, Fedorov, Safarov,
Kuklin, Zalutsky and Bakaev, and 1108 of the 1966 delegates to the 7.
Party Congress. Germany communists were also shot: Hugo Eberlein
(delegate to Comintern founding). Heinz Neumann, Hermann Remmele,
Fritz Schulte and Hermann Schubert (all members of KPD Politbureau).
Hans Kippenberger (head of party military apparatus). Leo Flieg
(organisational secretary of the CC). Heinrich Susskind and Werner
Hirsch, editors of Rote Fahne and four assistant editors. After the
Nazi-Soviet pact, about 570 German Communists were sent to Germany
from Russian prisons. All twelve members of the Polish CC present in
Russia were shot, so was Bela Kun, leader of the Hungarian Communist
Party. Leaders of the Yugoslav, Finnish and Rumanian CPs were also
executed. Of all the 21 members of the Central Commitee at the time of
the revolution, only two survived the Purges (Stalin and Kollontai).

The trails themselves were be laughable. No witnesses, no documents,
indeed nothing written ever appeared for court. All evidence was
"spontaneous" and "voluntary" confessions from broken men. Some of the
things the GPU made the defendants confess to was even simply
impossible (like meeting the exiled Trotsky at a hotel that closed
down in 1917). According to the GPU, Trotsky sent five *jews* to
negotiate with the Gestapo (Olberg, Berman-Yudin, David, M Lurye and N
Luryue), and one was even sent before the Gestapo was founded!

Trotsky wrote that according to Stalin
  "the accused were not satisfied with individual terror; they desired

  to restore capitalism. And so strongly did they desire it that they

  established links with German fascism and Japanese militarism! Did
  they think that they and I could have leadership positions in a
  *capitalist* regime? It is hard even to phrase such a question in an

  intelligible way, so senseless is the political basis of the trial."

Indeed. The Purges were not rational, but an act of madness and power
lust from Stalin's part. This can also be seen in the way he treated
Trotsky's relatives in Russia - they were all shot by the GPU even
though many of them never engaged in political activity.

After the Purges, Stalin launched a cult of personality. Bureacrats
eager for promotion - or to save their skin - called cities and towns
after him. In 1937 there were Stalingrad, 10 Stalinos, 4 Stalinskis, 2
Stalinskoes, 2 Stalinsks, Stalinogorsk, Stalin, Stalinstadt,
Stalinabad, Stalinir and so on (cf Tony Cliff, Trotsky 4, p 360). Just
days after the last Purges, Pravda wrote:

 "O great Stalin, O leader of the peoples,
 Thou who broughtest man to birth,
 Thou who fructifiest the earth,
 Thou who restorest the centuries,
 Thou who makest bloom the spring,
 Thou who makest vibrate the musical cords.
 ..."

Stalinism is the sigh of the defeated and oppressed creature, the cold
heart of the heartless world and the spirit of soulless conditions.

Per I Mathisen

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