Stalin´s opening shots

"The foundations of Leninism" from 1924 is a quintessentially boring, dry and relatively uninteresting work, dealing with some basic tenets of the Communist message. It has been translated and reprinted for one reason only. "The foundations of Leninism" was written by Joseph Stalin.

Yes, *that* Joseph Stalin.

Stalin apparently held a series of lectures at the Sverdlov university in Moscow dedicated to the Lenin levy, the massive Bolshevik recruitment campaign after the death of Lenin. "The foundations of Leninism" is based on these lectures.

Most of the text is Communism 101. Stalin explains why the socialist revolution took place in Russia rather than in the advanced Western nations, attacks the reformists of the Second International (the Social Democrats) and emphasizes the need for a dictatorship of the proletariat led by a Communist vanguard party. The author expresses strong support for the prohibition of factions within the Communist Party. Stalin never mentions the existence of other parties within a socialist republic, thereby implying one party rule (surprise!).

The text also contains explicit and implicit attacks on Trotsky and his supporters. Stalin condemns the theory of permanent revolution (associated with Trotsky but probably not upheld by him in 1924), and explains the difference between this theory and Marx' talk about permanent or uninterrupted revolution.

A large part of the book is devoted to the peasant question. Stalin has a relatively positive view of the peasantry as an ally of the proletariat and the socialist revolution. This reflects the political situation in 1924, when the Bolsheviks had stabilized the situation in the Soviet Union through concessions to the peasantry in the form of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Internationally, the Communist International was wooing peasant support through the Red Peasant International or Krestintern. This policy had a brief success in Croatia, Poland and even the United States. Of course, around 1929 Stalin had begun to sound a very different note, since the NEP had strengthened kulaks and proto-capitalists, thereby undermining Soviet power. The liquidation of the kulaks as a class and forced collectivization of the entire peasantry was to follow. But in 1924, this was still in the future. In "The foundations of Leninism", Stalin sounds the more familiar note of accusing certain unnamed opponents (probably Trotsky & Co) of underestimating the peasantry.

Stalin's book also contain a very positive appraisal of national liberation movements in the colonies. They are said to be objectively revolutionary, even if led and dominated by reactionary elements such as the emir of Afghanistan or the Egyptian merchant class. On this point too, Trotsky would later deviate in a more "leftist" direction.

The theory of "Socialism in one country" is mentioned only in passing in this book, or perhaps not at all.

On a more humorous note, Stalin says that American efficiency is part of the Leninist style of party work! (Lenin was more into the German post office...)

"The foundations of Leninism" isn't a particularly exciting document. However, it may be of some interest to very advanced students of Soviet history, since it's Stalin's first important work after the death of Lenin, and one of the first shots in the intra-party struggles following it.