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An achievement of Stakhanovism: increasing the speed of trains
In a long and important piece on the Stakhanovite movement, Stalin has this to say about the speed of trains. Keep in mind that the movement was part of the extraordinary and rapid transformation...
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The benefits of Stakhanovism: pocket watches
I must admit I have a love of pocket watches, carrying one of my collection around with me at all times. So I was thrilled to read this, an address given to collective farm workers from Tajikistan and...
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Soviet historiography
As I read through History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), commonly known as the Short Course, I am increasingly intrigued by the genre of communist historiography. This was the...
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Only the people are immortal
This observation speaks much not only of role of the communist party (as part of a dialectic of transcendence and immanence), but also of the direction of any veneration: The leaders come and go, but...
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Stalin on veneration and children’s books
In the 1930s, appreciation and even veneration of Stalin was on the rise. One example was a proposed children’s book concering Stalin’s own childhood. He was not impressed. When this item is cited, it...
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A reason for the Wehrmacht’s defeat at Stalingrad: German orderliness
By 1942, the German Wehrmacht had suffered its first and stunning defeat at Stalingrad. Here the tide of the Second World War turned. Stalin reflects at some length on the reasons, one of which he puts...
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Stalin’s advocacy for the United Nations
It is usually suggested that Stalin agreed to let the Soviet Union join the United Nations when Roosevelt offered him the power of a veto at the Yalta conference in February 1945. One should be wary of...
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Stalin on international cooperation
Against the standard position that Stalin saw enemies all around him and was seeking world conquest, it is worth recalling comments like these. This is from 1947, in response to an interview question:...
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Stalin’s reply to Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech
On 5 March, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his infamous ‘Iron Curtain’ speech in Fulton, United States. Soon after Stalin was interviewed concerning his response to the speech. He was,...
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On the completion of reading Stalin
I have at last completed my careful reading of the published works of Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (Stalin). On the way, I have found that few actually do so, for the attitudes to Stalin seem to be...
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First article on Stalin published
I am somewhat thrilled that The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review has just published my first article on Stalin. It appears in issue 42.3 and is called ‘Against Culturism: Reconsidering Stalin on Nation...
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Revised outline of book: Stalin, Philosophy and Religion
It has taken a while, with preliminary studies and articles before I managed to gain a clear sense of this book. So, a revised outline: The focus of the book is the thought of Ioseb Besarionis Dze...
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Which Marxist’s collected works were published first in China?
I am working my way through a fascinating journal series called Marxist Studies in China. The journal began in 2008 and, as one would expect, covers a range of topics. Last night I was particularly...
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Stalin: What Does the Name Stand For?
A new and absolute bumper issue of Crisis and Critique is just out, edited by Agon Hamza and Frank Ruda. It concerns none other than Joseph Stalin. I have a rather long piece in it called ‘A...
View ArticleA vision of the future commune
Was there a goal to which the USSR was striving? It may be called the vision of the future commune, based on the massive collectivisation drive of the late 1920s and 1930s. In between the lines, we may...
View ArticleThe Great Depression and the USSR
Accounts of the Great Depression (1929 to the late 1930s) usually use terms such as ‘worldwide’ and ‘global’. Trade declined by 50%, heavy industry came to a virtual standstill, unemployment went as...
View ArticleTry making a mare: On the value of people
In the midst of the foi furieuse of the Stakhanovite period, when everything was being made anew at extraordinary speed (and with massive disruption), the government of the USSR felt keenly the lack of...
View ArticleThe Bible and Soviet Constitution: Stalin’s Reinterpretation of 2...
The 1936 Constitution of the USSR contains two biblical verses: He who does not work, neither shall he eat. From each according to his ability, to each according to his work. The first is clear enough,...
View ArticleStalin’s Opposition to Anti-Semitism
The accusation that Stalin was an anti-Semite is a strange one. Neither Stalin’s written texts nor his actions indicate anti-Semitism. Indeed, they indicate precisely the opposite, as I will show in a...
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