Stalinism
Has the dictatorship over needs ended in eastern Europe?
By Laszlo Andor
Among state socialist countries, Hungary distinguished itself from the 1960s by introducing comprehensive economic reforms. These reforms, together with the so-called Prague Spring of Czechoslovakia, were typically interpreted as attempts to establish "socialism with a human face". A major feature of this new face was that the New Economic Mechanism[1] abandoned the Stalinist bias for forced accumulation and heavy industry, and improved the conditions of consumption and agriculture.
Theories of the USSR in light of its collapse
By Barry Sheppard
The collapse of "really existing socialism" in the USSR and Eastern Europe a decade ago came as a shock to all tendencies in the workers' movement and the political representatives of the capitalist class worldwide. No-one predicted such an outcome beforehand—no-one alive, that is. Why was this so?
To answer this question, it would be useful to review the differing views on the character of the USSR.
Stalin and his heirs claimed that the USSR had achieved socialism in the 1930s and was a classless society. The regime claimed, "We have not yet, of course, complete communism, but we have already achieved socialism—that is, the lowest stage of communism"1
'Political capitalism' and corruption in Russia
By Boris Kagarlitsky
What remains of Soviet culture?
By Boris Kagarlitsky
The Bolshevik Party and 'Zinovievism': Comments on a caricature of Leninism
By Doug Lorimer
- 1921 Comintern resolution
- Public debate
- Party discipline
- Ideological heterogeneity
- Lenin's struggle for a Marxist party
- Notes
The disintegration of the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union opened an important debate within the Marxist movement about how to evaluate the history of the socialist movement, and especially of the Bolshevik Party, the party that led the world's first successful socialist revolution. One of the central aims of Links has been to provide a forum for such debate.
It is obviously important to carry out this evaluation in a way that does not make the mistake of confusing Stalinism with the theory and practice of the Bolsheviks when Lenin was the foremost leader of that party. Moreover—as was only to be expected—there are different views of what constituted the theory and practice of Bolshevism. Some of these differences have revolved around the role of Grigory Zinoviev.
China: Our views and opinions of the current political landscape
A letter to General Secretary Hu [Jintao] from a group of veteran CCP
members, veteran cadres, veteran military personnel and intellectuals.
October 2004
Translated for Links with an introductory explanation
by Eva Cheng.
CONTENTS
A great opportunity to adjust the line
Not a question of 'ruling capability' but a question of the line
Our opinion on what sort of adjustment is needed on certain issues
Socialism and the market: China and Vietnam compared
By Michael Karadjis
This article first appeared in Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal, No. 27, January-April 2005.
By Armando Hart
Armando Hart is the former minister of culture of Cuba. Our translation largely relies on a CubaNews translation by Ana Portela.
These thoughts are intended as a tribute to all revolutionaries, without exception, who suffered the great historical drama of seeing the socialist ideas of October 1917 frustrated. We write this with admiration and respect for the Russian people, who were the protagonists of the first socialist revolution in history and who defeated fascism decades later under the leadership of Stalin. The same Russian people, 130 years before, defeated the military offensive of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Fundamentally, I have the experience of fifty years of working for socialist ideas in the beautiful trenches of the Fidel and Martí-inspired Cuban Revolution, that is to say, the first revolution of Marxist orientation that triumphed in what has become known as the West.