The following are economic statistics from the Soviet Union’s First and Second Five-Year Plans with my commentary giving some context and helping you better interpret the numbers. The four periods depicted in these statistics are the following: 1) The last Czarist census of 1913. This represents the height of the economic development of the Russian Empire. The economyContinue reading “The Soviet Industrial Revolution: the Results of the First and Second Five-Year-Plans”
Category Archives: Life in Socialist Countries
Molotov on Khrushchev
“MOLOTOV: Khrushchev opposed Stalin and Leninist policy. He wanted changes in the Leninist policy pursued by Stalin and ultimately by all of us who supported Stalin. You know what the rightists were after? In the party? The rightists wanted to block us from pressing for the liquidation of the kulaks; they were champions of aContinue reading “Molotov on Khrushchev”
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia on the Great October Socialist Revolution
Great October Socialist Revolution the first victorious socialist revolution in history, accomplished in 1917 by the Russian working class in alliance with the poor peasantry under the leadership of the Communist Party (formerly, the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party [Bolshevik]), headed by Lenin. The name “October” comes from the date October 25 (November 7, newContinue reading “The Great Soviet Encyclopedia on the Great October Socialist Revolution”
J.V. Stalin on the Final Victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.
Ivan Philipovich Ivanov, staff propagandist of the Manturovsk District of the Young Communist League in the Kursk Region of the U.S.S.R., addressed a letter to Comrade Stalin requesting his opinion on the question of the final victory of Socialism in the Soviet Union. IVANOV TO STALIN Dear Comrade Stalin, I earnestly request you to explainContinue reading “J.V. Stalin on the Final Victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R.”
Bill Bland: The Soviet Campaign Against Cosmopolitanism: 1947-1952
A paper presented to the Stalin Society, London, on 1 November 1998 by Bill Bland. First Published on the web February 2000 by ALLIANCE ML (NORTH AMERICA) INTRODUCTION IN 1946-1952 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION CARRIED ON AN INTENSIVE CAMPAIGN AGAINST COSMOPOLITANISM. “The word ‘cosmopolitan’ is derived from two Greek words, ‘kosmos’ meaningContinue reading “Bill Bland: The Soviet Campaign Against Cosmopolitanism: 1947-1952”
Alliance Marxist-Leninist: The Problem of Pablo Picasso
The Problem of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) CONTENTS Introduction Pablo Picasso — Early Years Developing Cubism Guernica — The Bombing Guernica — The Painting Impact of Picasso and Guernica on Russian Discussions Upon Socialist Realist Art Post Second World War – ‘Becoming a communist, Picasso hoped to come out of exile’. Conclusion Bibliography Introduction Picasso posesContinue reading “Alliance Marxist-Leninist: The Problem of Pablo Picasso”
Communist Party Alliance: Bourgeois Democracy and Proletarian Democracy
A talk given to the Stalin Society on 24th July 2005 By Wilf Dixon This title embraces far more than I realised when I first thought to suggest making it the subject of a talk here at the Stalin Society. As communists we have a responsibility to explain to workers, class conscious youth and allContinue reading “Communist Party Alliance: Bourgeois Democracy and Proletarian Democracy”
The Berlin Wall: Another Cold War Myth
by WILLIAM BLUM November 9 will mark the 25th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The extravagant hoopla began months ago in Berlin. In the United States we can expect all the Cold War clichés about The Free World vs. Communist Tyranny to be trotted out and the simple tale of how the wallContinue reading “The Berlin Wall: Another Cold War Myth”
Soviet Democracy and Bourgeois Democracy
This pamphlet is a translation of an essay published in the symposium Soviet Socialist Society prepared by the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. and published by the Gospolitizdat, Moscow 1949. The question of democracy, of how it is to be correctly understood, of the fundamental distinction between Soviet socialistContinue reading “Soviet Democracy and Bourgeois Democracy”
Revisionism in Russia: Trotsky Against the Bolsheviks – Part Two: 1914-1917
This is the second part of a study of the development of revisionism in Russia, and covers the period from the outbreak of World War I in 1914 to the victory of the socialist revolution in November 1917. Read part one here. The First Imperialist War In August 1914, the First Imperialist War began. AlmostContinue reading “Revisionism in Russia: Trotsky Against the Bolsheviks – Part Two: 1914-1917”
Andy Beckett: The Forgotten Story of Chile’s ‘Socialist Internet’
When Pinochet’s military overthrew the Chilean government 30 years ago, they discovered a revolutionary communication system, a ‘socialist internet’ connecting the whole country. Its creator? An eccentric scientist from Surrey. Andy Beckett on the forgotten story of Stafford Beer During the early 70s, in the wealthy commuter backwater of West Byfleet in Surrey, a smallContinue reading “Andy Beckett: The Forgotten Story of Chile’s ‘Socialist Internet’”
Fidel Castro on the Character of the Cuban Revolution
“At any rate, you wish to write that this is a socialist revolution, right? And write it, then… Yes, not only did we destroy a tyrannical system. We also destroyed the philoimperialistic bourgeois state apparatus, the bureaucracy, the police, and a mercenary army. We abolished privileges, annihilated the great landowners, threw out foreign monopolies forContinue reading “Fidel Castro on the Character of the Cuban Revolution”
Bruce Cumings on the North Korean Economy
“My spirits brightened, however, when former Congressman Stephen Solarz, long interested in Korean affairs, found a ‘brilliant and breathtaking’ study by a CIA analyst and concluded it was for North Korea ‘what the Rosetta Stone was to ancient Egypt’. So rare and privileged was the author’s knowledge that it took him a decade to getContinue reading “Bruce Cumings on the North Korean Economy”
Grover Furr: Trotsky’s Lies – What They Are, and What They Mean
The personality and the writings of Leon Trotsky have long been a rallying point for anticommunists throughout the world. But during the 1930s Trotsky deliberately lied in his writings about Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. My new book, Trotsky’s ‘Amalgams’, discusses some of Trotsky’s lies that have fooled people, and demoralized honest communists, forContinue reading “Grover Furr: Trotsky’s Lies – What They Are, and What They Mean”
Stalin & the Myth of the ”Old Bolsheviks”
Introduction One often hears Trotskyists, Anarchists and bourgeois propagandists accuse Joseph Stalin of killing all or at least most of the so-called ”Old Bolsheviks” and thus being able to allegedly distort the true meaning behind Bolshevism/Leninism. Here I won’t be getting into a thorough debate about what is or is not the real core ideologyContinue reading “Stalin & the Myth of the ”Old Bolsheviks””