An international seminar 'Stalin Today' was held in Moscow on November 5th and 6th, 1994. It was organised by the International Committee for the Restoration of the Soviet Union with the aim of contributing to the scientific evaluation of the Stalin epoch. The seminar had the support of Nina Andreyeva of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) and Victor Anpilov of the Russian Communist Workers' Party. Amongst the Russian organisations represented in the Seminar were the AUCP(B), the RCWP, the Komsomol, the Congress of Soviet Women and the Bolshevik Young Guard. From outside Russia a number of parties and organisations participated including the Revolutionary Movement 8th October (Brazil), "Workers' World" (U.S), "Alliance" (U.S. and Canada), the Communist Party in Denmark, the Association of Communist Workers (U.K.), The Communist League (U.K.), the Communist Party of Germany, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Foundation (Turkey and North Kurdistan), Lotta per la Pace e Il Socialismo (Italy), and the Organisation for the Reconstruction of the Party of the Italian Proletariat. The Communist Party of Albania sent a message of greetings to the seminar. Papers and messages of support were received from the Workers' Party of Bangladesh, "Proletarian Path", India, and the New Zealand Marxist-Leninist Collective. The New Communist Party (U.K.), the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey, "L'Uguaglianza", Italy, the International Committee for the Restoration of the Soviet Union, Spain, Michael Lucas of the Concerned Friends of Soviet People and "North Star Compass" (Canada) regretted their inability to attend.
The seminar was inaugurated by the Soviet poet Feliks Chuyev who read his poem on Stalin and spoke on the theme of Molotov, Stalin and questions of culture, based on the forthcoming international edition of his book "One Hundred and Forty Conversations with Molotov". The revolutionary poet, Boris Gunko, Secretary of the Moscow Committee of the RCWP, gave a reading of his poem dedicated to Stalin. Alexei Golenkov, AUCP(B), gave an exposition based on his recent brochure "I Propose to 'Explain' Stalin", and Aleksandr Lapin, Secretary, AUCP (B), spoke on the significance of Stalin for the contemporary communist movement in Russia and the world over. The paper on the question of the "cult of personality" by W. B. Bland of the Communist League, on the basis of a wide range of contemporary evidence, gave a critique of the views enunciated by Khrushchev at the 'secret session' of the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956. In the paper "Stalin and Science", Haresh Kirpalani (Alliance, Canada) refuted the arguments of bourgeois critics who said that scientific debate was not permitted under Soviet socialism and that Stalin had destroyed the biological sciences and physics. In its presentation the New Zealand Marxist -Leninist Collective argued that Stalin's notion that the class struggle intensifies under socialism had been vindicated by the destruction of the USSR. Khrushchev had relaxed vigilance against the internal and external enemies of socialism. The key tactic of all revisionists is to prepare for their assault on Marxism -Leninism by attacking Stalin. In the paper "Stalin and Collectivisation", John Puntis (Communist League) indicated that kulak resistance was responsible for falling grain collection after the 1928 harvest. The CPSU(B) saw the Urals-Siberian method as the key to ensuring grain procurement by involving the party, the Komsomol and the labouring peasantry. In the long run the only solution was the voluntary collectivisation of agriculture. After a long discussion in the party it had been decided to exclude the kulaks from the membership of the collective farms as they were likely to disrupt the kolkhozy. H.A. Khan Rano (Workers' Party of Bangladesh) in his paper stressed the colossal political and economic achievements of the Stalin period. Stalin's views on the utilisation of the market mechanism in a restricted manner had been reversed by Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev. Ubaldo Buttafava (Organisation for the Communist Party of the Italian Proletariat) noted that history had restored Stalin alongside Spartacus, Robespierre, Marx and Engels. Under socialism the contradiction with imperialism was reflected in the internal politics of the party. Thought is a form of matter so that revisionism in state power means that the bourgeoisie is in power. The Russian comrades he said have to examine the restoration of capitalism under Khrushchev, how the means of production and labour power became commodities. The "economic reforms" meant that the enterprises gained unlimited freedom for production, distribution and capital investment. Under Brezhnev the rate of exploitation of the working class increased. Thomas Krautheim (Communist Party of Germany) stated that it was not possible to ignore the development of social imperialism in the USSR after Stalin. In his paper N. Aydin (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party Foundation, Turkey and North Kurdistan) pointed out that for the bourgeoisie Stalin meant the shameful defeat of the Nazi hordes, the revolutionary organisation of the international communist movement and the victory of socialism in one-sixth of the world. Today the bourgeoisie is still haunted by the spectre of communism and feel themselves compelled to attack socialism and its personification, Stalin, even more viciously.
On the second day of the seminar Pavel Byvlevskii (Komsomol) indicated that Stalin had been the most consistent defender of Leninism, his teachings were an important guide to understanding the destruction of the USSR. The paper of Claudi Campus (Revolutionary Movement 8th October, Brazil) analysed the views of Stalin on the question of the sphere of operation of commodity-money relations under socialism. He underlined the significance of the views of N.A. Voznesensky as a pioneer of 'market socialism' who served as the model for the views of Khrushchev. Ella Rule of the Association of Communist Workers, U.K., in a presentation entitled 'Trotskyism or Leninism' outlined the sharp differences which Lenin and Stalin had with Trotsky on such questions as the vanguard party, "permanent revolution" and the construction of socialism in one country. Trotskyism had been virtually extinct until it was given a fresh lease of life by Khrushchev through the "Secret speech" at the 20th Congress of the CPSU. At a later stage trotskyism gave its support to perestroika and its proponent, Gorbachev. Harry Kirkland (Alliance, Canada), in a paper entitled "Upon the Relation of Enver Hoxha to Joseph Stalin," argued that Albania had been the only people's democracy which had established socialism. He traced the relationship of the CPSU(B) and the Party of Labour of Albania in the anti-fascist war, the construction of socialism, the attitude to the national liberation struggle in Greece and the struggle against Titoism. The paper of Moni Guha ("Proletarian Path", India) entitled "Socialism in Several Countries and the Yugoslav Question" outlined the importance of Lenin's views on proletarian internationalism and the formation of the Communist International and the state form of international unity namely the World Federation of Socialist Republics. The establishment of Cominform in 1947 indicated the importance which Stalin attached to proletarian internationalism. Titoism represented the nationalist attempt to establish "Socialism in one country" in a period when a democratic camp of nations had been formed.
Three resolutions were unanimously passed. The participants of the seminar resolved to uphold the banner of Stalin which was indispensable for the defence of socialism and communism. They condemned the assault on democratic rights in the former USSR and eastern Europe, called for an end to the restrictions on the activities of Communists, and the release of political prisoners in Albania and Lithuania. The seminar condemned the imprisonment of Communists and workers in Turkey and North Kurdistan.
Participants of the Seminar "Stalin Today" took part in the November 7th demonstration which marched from October Square to Dzerzhinsky Square. In 1993 the demonstration in October Square had been "unauthorized" and people had been driven into the Metro station by the truncheons of the militia. A larger demonstration of some 30,000 had congregated in North Moscow under the banner of the RCWP. In 1994 some one hundred thousand people demonstrated, mostly under the banner of the RCWP, carrying a sea of red flags and hundreds of large placards of Lenin and Stalin. The slogans reflected the events of October 1993 when hundreds of communists and militants had been massacred in cold blood after the assault on the House of the Soviets. The key slogans were : "Yeltsin - Murderer!", "All Power to the Soviets!" and "For Lenin, For Stalin, For Motherland!" Participants in the seminar were invited to address the public rally at Dzerzhinsky Square. They stressed the necessity of restoration of genuine socialism on the lines of Lenin and Stalin in Russia and the need to establish ties of solidarity of the working class the world over.
1. Upholding the Revolutionary Heritage of J.V. Stalin.
The historical events in the Soviet Union and the People's Democracies of Central and Eastern Europe have shown that negating the role of Stalin leads to anti-Marxism and anti- Leninism and the destruction of the socialist mode of production. The question of Stalin is not the problem of a particular personality, confusion about this has prevented development of revolutionary communist parties of the world. The anti-Stalin campaign formed an anti-Marxist view of the entire epoch of Socialism, Socialist Industrialization, Collectivization, the defeat of Fascism in the Great Patriotic War, the creation of a democratic camp of nations, were amongst the greatest achievements of this epoch. Under the leadership of Stalin the workers and peasants ruled the USSR. The epoch of Stalin was the epoch of the Socialist revolution in the ascendent. Imperialist reaction seeks to deny these heroic achievements. The positive re-evaluation of the role of Stalin within the Russian communist movement has stimulated a similar reevaluation amongst the communists internationally. Participants of this international seminar "Stalin Today" resolve to uphold the banner of Stalin, which is indispensable for the defence of socialism and communism. They insist on the deep scientific study of the epoch connected with the name of Stalin from the standpoint of the Marxist-Leninist theory, in order to restore and maintain the historical truth on that epoch.
2. Against the Persecution of Communists.
After the events in the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe the bourgeoisie is celebrating its momentary victory with an attack on the democratic rights and freedoms. The obvious violations of the fundamental democratic principles are: the bloody assault on the Parliament and the massacre of the defenders of the Constitution in Moscow in October 1993; the attempts to illegalize the Communist parties in the former socialist countries, or to exclude these parties from participating in political life; and the arrests and persecutions of the Communists in Albania, Lithuania and other states. Since the beginnings of the communist movement, communists have been shot, driven underground, imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. Nevertheless communism is still alive and will remain alive so long as the working class exists, as Marxism -Leninism expresses its fundamental interests.. The laws of historical development operate in such a manner that communism is inevitable. Those who today persecute the communists would do well not to forget this. The participants of the International Seminar "Stalin Today" express the solidarity with the communists and revolutionaries undergoing persecution. We demand:
An immediate end to any restriction of any activity of the Communists;
The immediate release of Comrade Nexhmije Hoxha and other political prisoners in Albania;
The immediate release of Comrade Aleksandr Smotkin and other political prisoners in Lithuania. The future stands for communism!
3. On the Political Prisoners in Turkey and North Kurdistan.
This International Seminar "Stalin Today" condemns the imprisonment of hundreds of Communists and workers in Turkey and North Kurdistan. It calls upon the Government of Turkey to respect their democratic rights.
Moscow, November 6, 1994.
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