December 21, 2009 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and working and oppressed people around the world will celebrate this historic date. To commemorate the birth of this outstanding proletarian revolutionary here are some quotes, followed by some longer articles, highlighting his achievements and contributions to Marxist-Leninist theory and to the cause of socialism. The Marxist-Leninist would encourage those interested to read the 1947 political biography of Stalin published by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute as well as the other texts below.
For a collection of material on the struggle of the Bolshevik Party against Trotskyism, see Against Trotskyism: A Reading Guide.
Quotations from Revolutionaries on Stalin
“Stalin has further developed Marxism-Leninism through many invaluable theoretical accomplishments. His principal contributions to Marxian theory lie in indicating the path of the actual building of socialism in the U.S.S.R. Thus, his powerful polemics against Trotsky, Zinoviev, Bukharin and their counterrevolutionary affiliates comprised the greatest ideological struggle of our times. They clarified every aspect of the vast and unique problem of building socialism in one country, and surveyed the whole position of international capitalism. They resulted in a decisive victory for the leadership of the Communist Party and, thereby, of socialism.” – William Z. Foster
“Throughout this whole struggle, we Black students at the school had been ardent supporters of the position of Stalin and the Central Committee. Most certainly we were Stalinists – whose policies we saw as the continuation of Lenin’s. Those today who use the term “Stalinist” as an epithet evade the real question: that is, were Stalin and the Central Committee correct? I believe history has proven that they were correct.” – Harry Haywood
“In all spheres of modern life the influence of Stalin reaches wide and deep. From his last simply written but vastly discerning and comprehensive document, back through the years, his contributions to the science of our world society remain invaluable. One reverently speaks of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin—the shapers of humanity’s richest present and future.” – Paul Robeson
“Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also—and this was the highest proof of his greatness—he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.” – W. E. B. Du Bois
“This day was a day of jubilation and joy in republican Spain. In the cities and villages, at the fronts and at the rear, millions of voices, expressing what their hearts felt, cheered Stalin. In the factories and trenches, the workers and soldiers carved the name ‘Stalin’ on their tools and on their gun-stocks. The most beautiful streets of the cities and the most important localities were called: Soviet Union Avenue. And Stalin’s picture had a place of honor in every home and his name, lived in the hearts of all who fought and worked for a Spain freed from its age-old enemies.” – Dolores Ibárruri
“In the so called mistakes of Stalin lies the difference between a revolutionary attitude and a revisionist attitude. You have to look at Stalin in the historical context in which he moves, you don’t have to look at him as some kind of brute, but in that particular historical context . . . I have come to communism because of daddy Stalin and nobody must come and tell me that I mustn’t read Stalin. I read him when it was very bad to read him. That was another time. And because I’m not very bright, and a hard-headed person, I keep on reading him. Especially in this new period, now that it is worse to read him. Then, as well as now, I still find a series of things that are very good.” – Ernesto Che Guevara
“Stalin has died. The ardent heart of the great leader of progressive mankind has ceased to beat. This sad news has spread over Korean territory like lightning, inflicting a bitter blow to the hearts of millions of people. Korean People’s Army soldiers, workers, farmers, and students, as well as all residents of both South and North Korea, have heard the sad news with profound grief. The very being of Korea has seemed to bow down, and mothers who had apparently exhausted their tears in weeping for the children they had lost in the bombing of the [American] air bandits sobbed again.” – Kim Il Sung
“Stalin earned his place among the great classics of Marxism-Leninism with his stern and principled struggle for the defence, consistent implementation and further development of the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin. With his keen mind and special ability, he was able to find his bearings even in the most difficult times, when the bourgeoisie and reaction were doing everything in their power to hinder the triumph of the Great October Socialist Revolution.” – Enver Hoxha
“Congratulating Stalin is not a formality. Congratulating Stalin means supporting him and his cause, supporting the victory of socialism, and the way forward for mankind which he points out, it means supporting a dear friend. For the great majority of mankind today are suffering, and mankind can free itself from suffering only by the road pointed out by Stalin and with his help.” – Mao Zedong
![Russia Stalin Birthday](http://web.archive.org./web/20161221104623im_/https://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/stalin130-moscow.jpg?w=500&h=293)
Stalin’s Accomplishments
From On the Question of Stalin, by the Communist Party of China (1963):
Mao Zedong studying the writings of J. V. Stalin in the Yenan base area during the Chinese Revolution
- Stalin fought tsarism and propagated Marxism during Lenin’s lifetime; after he became a member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party headed by Lenin; he took part in the struggle to pave the way for the 1917 Revolution; after the October Revolution he fought to defend the fruits of the proletarian revolution.
- Stalin led the CPSU and the Soviet people, after Lenin’s death, in resolutely fighting both internal and external foes, and in safeguarding and consolidating the first socialist state in the world.
- Stalin led the CPSU and the Soviet people in upholding the line of socialist industrialization and agricultural collectivization and in achieving great successes in socialist transformation and socialist construction.
- Stalin led the CPSU, the Soviet people, and the Soviet army in an arduous and bitter struggle to the great victory of the anti-fascist war.
- Stalin defended and developed Marxism-Leninism in the fight against various kinds of opportunism, against the enemies of Leninism, the Trotskyites, Zinovievites, Bukharinites, and other bourgeois agents.
- Stalin made an indelible contribution to the international communist movement in a number of theoretical writings which are immortal Marxist-Leninist works.
- Stalin led the Soviet Party and Government in pursuing a foreign policy which on the whole was in keeping with proletarian internationalism and in greatly assisting the revolutionary struggles of all peoples, including the Chinese people.
- Stalin stood in the forefront of the tide of history guiding the struggle, and was an irreconcilable enemy of the imperialists and all reactionaries.
- Stalin’s activities were intimately bound up with the struggles of the great CPSU and the great Soviet people and inseparable from the revolutionary struggles of the people of the whole world.
- Stalin’s life was that of a great Marxist-Leninist, a great proletarian revolutionary.
Stalin’s Works
![stalin-and-molotov](http://web.archive.org./web/20161221104623im_/https://marxistleninist.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/stalin-and-molotov.jpg?w=300&h=269)
"I know that after my death a pile of rubbish will be heaped on my grave, but the wind of History will sooner or later sweep it away without mercy." - Stalin to Molotov, 1943, as quoted in Felix Chuev's 140 Conversations with Molotov Moscow, 1991
Stalin’s Works takes up a bulky 13 volumes, which span the period only from 1901-1934. When Stalin died in 1953 and Khrushchov came to power, part of the revisionist process of “de-Stalinization” meant the suppression of Stalin’s writings and the discontinuation of the publication of Stalin’s Works. Stalin also published three volumes collecting some of his most important articles and speeches, Problems of Leninism, On the Opposition, and Marxism and the National-Colonial Question. Out of such an enormous theoretical output, it is difficult to highlight essentials, but out of everything Stalin wrote, it is possible to say that Stalin wrote a number of texts that many communists would consider essential reading for any revolutionary Marxist-Leninist. These ten deserve special attention:
- The Foundations of Leninism
- Concerning Questions of Leninism
- Marxism and the National Question
- Trotskyism or Leninism?
- Revolution in China and Tasks of the Comintern
- The Right Danger in the C.P.S.U.(B.)
- Dialectical and Historical Materialism
- Marxism and Problems of Linguistics
- Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR
- History of the C.P.S.U.(B.) – Short Course
These and his other Works make up a great treasury of Marxist-Leninist summation, polemic, and analysis, deeply connected to the practice of revolution, ideological struggle, and socialist construction.
Collected Articles on Stalin’s Contributions
Here are some articles by various revolutionaries from around the world highlighting Comrade Stalin’s contributions:
- Lenin and Stalin as Mass Leaders, William Z. Foster (Communist Party of the United States)
- On Stalin, W. E. B. Du Bois (leader of the African American national movement)
- To You Beloved Comrade, Paul Robeson (African American actor/singer/activist)
- The Victory of the National Policy of Lenin and Stalin, Lavrenti Beria (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)
- Comrade Stalin, Leader of Progressive Mankind, Georgy Malenkov (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)
- The Great Theoretician of Communism, Dmitry Manuilsky (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)
- The Contribution of J. V. Stalin to Marxism-Leninism, M.B. Mitin, M.D. Kammari, G.F. Aleksandrov (Academy of Science of the USSR)
- Stalin, Leader of Peoples, Man of the Masses, Dolores Ibárruri (La Passionaria) (Communist Party of Spain)
- Stalin, Friend of the Chinese People, Mao Zedong (Communist Party of China)
- On the Question of Stalin, Mao Zedong (Communist Party of China)
- With Stalin, Enver Hoxha (Party of Labor of Albania)
- Tribute to Stalin, Jawaharlal Nehru (Indian Independence Movement)
- Stalin and the Political Economy of Socialism, Vijay Singh (Revolutionary Democracy, India)
- Fifty years after the death of Joseph Stalin, Ludo Martens (Workers Party of Belgium)
- Another View of Stalin, Ludo Martens (Workers Party of Belgium) [download as .pdf in three parts: part 1, part 2, part 3]
- Lies Concerning the History of the Soviet Union, Mario Sousa (Communist Party of Sweden)
- Stalin’s Legacy, James Klugmann (Communist Party of Great Britain)
- Stalin: The Myth and the Reality, Bill Bland (Communist League, Britain)
- Stalin and the Chinese Revolution, Harpal Brar (Communist Party of Great Britain – Marxist-Leninist)
- Lenin and Stalin on the Relationship of Democratic and Socialist Revolutions in Colonial and Semicolonial Countries, Jose Maria Sison (founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines)
- The Record of Stalin, Armando Liwanag (Communist Party of the Philippines)
Finally, The Marxist-Leninist would like to encourage readers to make use of the resources available from the Stalin Society.
Thanks for the great post.
It is good to quote Mao and CPC, as a some people are trying to say you can have the contributions of Mao without those of Stalin.
Stalin is the “bridge” between Lenin and Mao.
Dear Comrade,
Thanks for Great Post.
Taking Up the Greatness of Comrade Stalin’s need on History is very need .
Even the Third World Communist Parties are looking Stalin as Dictator (Capitalist Word Stalinism) comparing to Nazism.
We must take his Greatness and His Work in the Path World Communist History to People.
Yes He Lead USSR in the Path of Marx-Lenin.
Long Live the Universal Contributions of Comrade Joseph Stalin !
Long Live Revolution !
Thank you for upholding Stalin and with him the banner of Marxism-Leninism. Remembering Stalin for what he actually did is essential when combating anti-Communism dressed up as anti-Stalinism.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks for this grat post comrade!
I have also written a anniversary text on my blog. Its in Swedish and hard to understand if you are not swedish or scandinavian. I have also taken the liberty to link to this post and your “points on Stalin and (Mao)”, if thats okej:)
http://klassmotklass.blogg.se/2009/december/stalin-var-en-stor-revolutionar.html
Long live comrade Stalin!
Stalin, Captain,
Protected by Chango and sheltered by Ochun.
At your side free men sing as they walk:
The Asian, breathing with volcanic lungs,
The Black, with white eyes and beard of pitch,
The White, with green eyes and beard of saffron.
Stalin, Captain.
Europe’s map of stone and coal trembles.
A thousand centuries collapse and roll about emptily.
The North and South winds blast like cannons.
Heads and decapitated heads encircle.
The sea burning like a lake of tar.
Mouths which yesterday sang of Truth and Good
Today lie under four metres of bitter sleep…
Stalin, Captain.
But the future is grounded, lifting its hopes
There in your red land where bread is joyous
And lofty breasts, armed with a single song,
Deter and will deter the vulture’s wings
There in your icy sky of powder and fuse,
Stalin, Captain.
A jar of magnolias, Buddha’s floral heart
Extends its ecstatic gesture;
A continent turns upon the Sea of Japan:
A crude bloc of blood from Siberia to Ceylon
And from Smyrna to Canton…
Stalin, Captain.
African drums with resonant beat
sound their vivid alert over jungles and deserts,
fiercer than the lion’s metallic roar;
and raising its stormy forehead to Mount Pichincha
America convokes its pumas and alligators,
yet also greases its engines and rails.
The blind German will see hatred all around:
the dove, the airplane,
the toucan’s beak,
a vast indignant river of life,
poisoned arrows, carried by cyclone winds
their targets will strike…
Stalin, Captain,
Protected by Chango and sheltered by Ochun.
At your side free men sing as they walk:
The Asian, breathing with volcanic lungs,
The Black, with white eyes and beard of pitch,
The White, with green eyes and beard of saffron…
Stalin, Captain.
The peoples awaken, and march at your side!
–Nicolas Guillen, Afro-Cuban poet.
I absolutely love that you included a link to La Pasionaria’s archive on MIA. I set this up a few years ago and although it is still a little lean on material, it is one of my favorite archives ever and it makes me happy to see it appreciated.
Great post I have read recent times.
i can follow your blog regularly..
Raju
Andhrapradesh
India
Here is an excerpt from a document called the Programmatic Proclamation of the Soviet Revolutionary Communists. The English translation was published in London by Red Star Press in 1975. To all those who would demonize Stalin, they had this to say:
But who would dare to accuse the dictatorship the proletariat of causing victims? Forty centuries of the human history known to us is the history showing how the oppressors used to kill, to rob, to torture and violate the oppressed; during 40 centuries the oppressors did nothing else but try to suffocate the conscience of the oppressed depriving them of their elementary development, of the elementary habits of social activity. And now, when the oppressed finally seized power, when they were under the most difficult conditions of total blockade, lacking knowledge, experience, and sufficient material resources, when under the threat of an exterminating war, they were compelled to build there own society, they are required to do this without mistakes, with white gloves. Who else can think of such a demand except the oppressors, except the bourgeoisie which after its defeat suddenly became an ardent defender of humanism and moral purity. If the Soviet power is guilty before some of its worthy sons, in this case, you gentlemen, have no reason to come forward among them. These sons had been willing at any moment to lay down their lives for the Soviet power. And if they could hear you today, you would not be in a very good position.
Outstanding! Thanks for that, David.
Communist Party of China nowadays is the worst revisionist party and the running dogs of western capitalism & Authoritarian Politburo!
We shall not forget thoughts by Chairman Mao ze dong & mainstream path of Communism!
My opinion of Stalin is that while one may not like Stalin’s methods or philosophical outlook (I have my own problems with it). One must recognize the inner greatness (as Zizek would say) of Stalin and consider him part of the leftist legacy.
Long Live comrade Stalin.
Stalin the great leader. we the people of Nepal, the country of Mt Everest always respect him. no Trotetasky, but joseph Stalin. It is our Slogan. now we are waiting for that book of Grover Furr- Anti stalin Villany. thanku.
Comrade Stailin for the communist world .Therefore all types of reactionaries are against him. And he is a hero of 2Nd world war against Nazism.
STALIN IS THE PEOPLE’S LEADERS AND WE, FILIPINOS ARE PROUDLY LOOK AT HIM FOR OUR REVOLUTIONARY CAUSE AGAINST IMPERIALISM IN THE US
Super post! Please contact me as to how I can send you a book to review. Best wishes and fraternal greetings!
May the Revolutionary Contributions of Comrade JV Stalin live forever
I’m not going to get into the values and ideologies of Stalin. But in praising him caution has to be given. No matter where your political alliances sit, one has to admit that Stalin is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, and such a man such not be idolised on such a level. I understand this article is not saying that Stalin’s mass murder of his own people is good, but instead considering his contributions to the Marxist train of thought. But still I think some note has to be made of the dark side of Stalin, as the amount of people who were murdered or simply “disappeared” is too great a number to be ignored, even more than during the years of Nazi rule in Germany.
Long Live Stalin.You are our great marxist-leninist.
Long Live Marxism Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.
From Henry Ward:
****
No matter where your political alliances sit, one has to admit that Stalin is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, and such a man such not be idolised on such a level.
****
And
****
But still I think some note has to be made of the dark side of Stalin, as the amount of people who were murdered or simply “disappeared” is too great a number to be ignored, even more than during the years of Nazi rule in Germany.
****
This is absolutely not the case. Stalin did not kill millions of people. This is so much bourgeois propaganda. Look into where these allegations come from: British propaganda agents like Conquest or Ukrainian fascists looking to justify their collaboration with Hitler.
The total number of people executed during the purges comes to about 800,000, according to the Soviet archives and to researches such as Arch Getty.
This is still a tremendous number, far more than any possible number of actual counterrevolutionary plotters. But a materialist explanation of that has to go much deeper than “Stalin’s dark side.” It obviously has something to do with the actual existing counterrevolutionary plots and the general atmosphere of paranoia and terror that the country suffered under in the early stages of World War II — since, after all, World War II didn’t begin in Poland, but rather in Spain and Manchuria. It also related to an excessive reliance on confessions and a poor judicial and investigatory process in general. Further, people such as Yezhov were allowed far too free a rein in the security apparatus.
As to the “Ukrainian famine…” It has been shown fairly clearly that:
1. There was a shortage of food throughout the country.
2. This was not a deliberate ploy by Stalin but a side effect of the war on the kulaks.
Further, as to how many people died as a result of that, no one actually knows. Demographic information for the Soviet Union in that era is nowhere near reliable enough to tell us, and the people giving you numbers are picking and choosing the ones which are best suited to attack Stalin, without the slightest regard to objectivity.
Also, you might keep in mind that a Russian researcher has concluded that millions of people died as a result of the American dust bowl and the accompanying evictions. I don’t know whether he is right or not, though undoubtedly SOME people died because of it, and it is true that the U.S. government did very little to save them. They died in many cases in the midst of plenty in California, unable to buy the food which was growing all around them.
But the kind of demographic analysis which Conquest applies to the Soviet Union under Stalin and others now apply to Mao’s China is not applied to capitalist nations. If it were, I suspect that:
1. The number of Hitler’s victims would triple or quadruple.
2. Many, including Churchill, would quickly top five million dead. The Bengal Famine of 1943 cost about 4 million lives, and Churchill’s policy was hugely implicated in that.
I congragulate your website for upholding this immortal Revolutionary who made a historic contribution to mankind by leading U.S.S.R to a historic win in World War 2 and defending and saving the Socialist State against the threat aof enemies all over and no other Socialist country existing to support it.Today several trends deride Com.Stalin like the Kasama project and even the R.C.P,America.Maoism is seperated from Leninism and Com.Mao’s contributions are seperated from Com.Stalin or even analysed to be counter to Stalinism.No doubt.Stalin made gross errors but remember the historic achievements of the Soviet State in literacy,health,education and employment.Com.Stalin has to be defend tooth and nail as counter to forces like Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and Kasama.Grover Furrs work and Joseph Ball’s articles are useful.I suggest you publish work on how Soviet Union won the World War under Com.Stalin.
We need to study the root causes of revisionism and the serious errors of Stalin who failed to initiate democratic movements from below and was responsible for the killing of innocent party members.However let us remember the crisis the U.S.S.R faced in the 1930’s and the post World War 2 phase.
Stalin did actually talk about relying on the masses at times (look at the “Mass Line” part of the study guide on this site) and attempted to apply the mass line and initiate mass movements, most obviously during the collectivization campaign as Ludo Martens shows – http://marxism.halkcephesi.net/Ludo%20Martens/node19.html#SECTION00700000000000000000
It was guys like Yezhov and Yagoda who were responsible for the killings of innocent party members during the purges, not Stalin. Indeed, it was Stalin who specifically had Beria brought in from Georgia to correct the gross injustices that occured under Yezhov.
long live to comrade Stalin
Wonderful
Stalin was a great leader who led the Soviet Union with great courage and vision. He is often disparaged today but that is done by people who are ignorant of his accomplishments. We need more leaders like him today who are not afraid to do what has to be done. His writings are illuminating as well as he sought to understand and apply Marxism to benefit his country from its alienation. Long Live Comrade Stalin!
Red salute com reds
If Capitalists and capitalism in general ever say something good about Stalin then, one must begin to doubt the greatness of Stalin.
Their hatred of Stalin simply tells the truth.
Long live Stalin!
Stalin’s achievements are undeniable, but so are his crimes. he bought the progress of his nation and its economy with totalitarian and millions of innocent deaths, which replaced Lenin’s fledgling workers state with a dictatorship, not built upon the achievements of the people but of Stalin. i would have preferred Lenin to rule instead of him and perhaps history would be different if it had been so.
Comrade Stalin is a true leader and a good teacher of the working class.
Through out history It’s the parasitic class and the vultures who thrive on exploitation vulgarise the people’s heroes. They propagate all sorts of slanders to erase the heros’ images from the minds of new generations.
It’s the working people again who study the mistakes, the good and the bad of their leaders, draw correct lessons and preserve their legacy.