Michael P. refers us to the historians Deutscher, Daniels, and Losurdo, each having suggested that the Moscow trials were primarily based on objective threats to Stalin’s regime rather than, as is often claimed, his supposed paranoid personality
There is no question but that the regime faced serious organized opposition across the political spectrum. At one end were the agents of the old czarist order and imperialist powers who had bitterly opposed the Bolshevik Revolution and wanted to restore capitalism in the USSR. At the other end were the Old Bolsheviks who made no secret of wanting to remove Stalin - by force, if necessary - but in the interests of the revolution they had themselves organized and led. Their goal was a political rather than a social revolution, a change of regime rather the destruction of social and economic foundations of the new Soviet society. Stalin and his subordinates were therefore justified in fearing these threats, particularly from the Old Bolsheviks. Both the Right and Left Opposition had supporters within the party, the bureaucracy, and the military, the latter including Marshal Tukhachevsky, who was among the notables purged and executed as a “Trotskyist”. This is the context in which Deutscher, Daniels, and even Losurdo viewed the Moscow Trials. But none AFAIK gave any credibility or provided any evidence to support the official justification for them - that the Opposition within the party was allied with the revanchist White reactionaries and fascist powers outside of it. Above, I mocked the most ridiculous of the regime’s claims - that the roots of the conspiracy were traceable to plotting by Bukharin and others to assassinate Lenin in the midst of the civil war. Poor Lenin! Such a hard-headed and brilliant political tactician and student of world affairs, but such a poor judge of human character! Lenin the innocent who surrounded himself with those most bent on destroying him - notably Trotsky, the future leader of the Left Opposition, whom he entrusted with command of the Red Army, and Bukharin, the future leader of the Right Opposition whom Lenin called " a most valuable and major theorist ...rightly considered the favorite of the whole Party”. In fact, as we know, Lenin was an astute observer of the strengths and weaknesses of Trotsky, Bukharin, Stalin and others within the Bolshevik leadership and, together with his associates, would have quickly unmasked any mortal enemies within it. The 1918 plot can’t be seen apart from the 1938 trials, as Vyshinsky insisted under Stalin’s direction and doubtless with his approval. They rise or fall together as part of the same narrative, and it is the spectacular fabrication about Old Bolshevik traitors in Lenin's midst planning to take his life which gives conspiracy theorists like Furr the most difficulty. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39850): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39850 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116918463/21656 -=-=- 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]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
