On Sat, Mar 7, 2026 at 12:24 PM, Charles wrote: > > Was the DDR "Stalinist" in 1953? When Trotsky---s use the insult-word > "Stalinism"...
I don’t think it's insulting the Soviet and GDR party leaders and members who long supported Stalin and mourned his death and organized genuine mass outpourings of grief in 1953 to describe them as Stalinists any more than I have a problem with anyone describing those who have tried to embody Trotsky's program in a Fourth International as Trotskyists. It’s political shorthand to describe these tendencies. Moreover, their adherents often proudly assert their identities as such. On the other hand, to continue to call those who have publicly distanced themselves from Stalin, beginning with Khrushchev and his associates in 1956, as “Stalinist" is as misleading as characterizing those who broke with the Fourth International as “Trotskyist". Our reading may have inclined us to be more sympathertic to the personalities and policies of one side or the other of that historical debate, but as a practical matter, I can say on the basis of my own experience that I’ve encountered serious Marxists in equal measure in both camps, and that the political programs which were fashioned in a period of elevated class struggle a century ago have little if any relevance for the circumstances in which we find ourselves today. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40988): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40988 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/118178757/21656 -=-=- 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]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
