Stalinism: Its Origin and Future. Andy Blunden 1993

The Aftermath – The Class struggle in Russia and Beyond Moscow

Introduction

The fifth volume of this work was misconceived. The work could never be completed, as the formerly homogeneous Stalinist movement rapidly became as diverse as the world in which it lived. Even while writing the fourth volume, I was continually changing the tense of what I had already completed writing from future to present continuous to past tense.

What I have included here is a review of the issues and problems affecting the Soviet working class as it began to find it feet after the victory of capitalism and a sketch of the component republics of the former USSR, as they were in a "snapshot" taken in 1993 / 4 plus a brief look at several "case studies" indicating the various responses of some of the members of the former Communist Parties.

There are also some important documents from this period listed in the index and "Excerpts and Documents." Most of the text of the second chapter of this volume is also simply excerpts from interesting documents and interviews.

At a later time, I will provide a conclusion, summing up the main conclusions of this work. At the time of writing this introduction to the fifth volume (1997), it is four years since I have worked on the material. A summation is overdue.