First Published: The Marxist, No. 15, Autumn 1970.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Sam Richards and Paul Saba
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We would very much like to see a discussion in The Marxist on the role of Stalin. We do not think that modern revisionism can be understood unless the period of Stalin’s leadership is opened up for discussion. Revisionism can hardly be said to date from 1956. We ourselves are ex-CPers who were fighting the revisionist British leaders in the years 1947-9. We left the CP but continued for some years after that to support Stalin and the Soviet Union.
It was the apparent approval of the CPSU for the revisionism of the Western Parties which made us feel that further struggle for an anti-revisionist party in Britain at that time was useless.
Although certain corrections of the policy of Looking Ahead were made after the Declaration of the Nine Parties, the publication of The British Road to Socialism in Pravda in 1951 seemed to endorse its revisionism. If Mao today can boldly come out against revisionism why did Stalin fail to do so in his life-time?
We are very disturbed when we find writers in The Marxist classing Stalin with Marx, Lenin and Mao. Surely it must be understood that serious discussion is urgently required on the whole period of Stalin’s leadership.
We very much appreciate The Marxist and wish it every success.
Hilda and Edward Upward