In the Marxist tradition I come from, especially the Yugoslav current associated with the Praxis group and the Korčula Summer School, the terms Stalinism and Stalinist were used in a precise analytical sense. They were not meant as insults or rhetorical weapons, but as conceptual tools for understanding a very real historical and social formation. In that tradition, Stalinism referred to the specific political and economic model that developed in the USSR under Stalin and was later reproduced in most of the so-called socialist states aligned with Moscow. This model was marked by the consolidation of a single, centralized party, the suppression of workers’ self-management, the elimination of socialist opposition, and the transformation of the revolutionary movement into a bureaucratic ruling apparatus. Crucially, what was called Marxism-Leninism was understood as the ideological codification of that system. It was a doctrine that did not exist in Marx’s writings and was not systematized under Lenin. It was formulated, defined, and imposed under Stalin both within the USSR and through the Comintern in all Communist parties that adhered to Moscow’s line. For that reason, in the Yugoslav critical-Marxist perspective, those who advocate this doctrine were referred to simply as Stalinists, not as a slur but as an accurate designation. The term makes clear that the doctrine and the system are historically inseparable from the Stalin era in which they took shape. Meanwhile, those who tried to remain faithful to Marx’s original emphasis on workers’ democracy, human emancipation, and the critique of bureaucratic domination used the simpler and older label Marxists. That distinction was important, because Marx’s own work contains no blueprint for a one-party state or a bureaucratic command economy. >From this standpoint, avoiding the term “Stalinist” today does not change the >historical reality: the ideology called “Marxism-Leninism” was created and >codified under Stalin, and its political content reflected the social >structure of the Stalin-era USSR. If someone identifies with that doctrine, >then the historically correct term for their ideological position is >“Stalinist,” regardless of personal preference. In short: the term is descriptive, not derogatory. It names a specific ideological and historical tradition. To reject the word because it feels unpleasant is understandable on a personal level, but it does not change the history of how the doctrine arose or what it represented.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39177): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39177 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116179785/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
