User:Sammy.silich/Anti-Stalinist left

The anti-Stalinist left is an umbrella term for various kinds of left-wing political movements and revolts that opposed Joseph Stalin, Stalinism and the actual system of governance Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1927–1953.

These left-wing political movements can be characterized by different eras of critiques of Stalin and Bolshevism. These eras of critiques include the Revolutionary era, the Bolshevik era, the era of the Popular Front, the Post World War era, the New Party era, and finally, the Post-Stalin era.

Revolutionary Era Critiques (Pre-1924)

Main articles: Left communism, October Revolution, and Libertarian Marxism

A large majority of the political left was initially enthusiastic about the Bolshevik Revolution during the Revolutionary era. The Bolsheviks and their policies received much support because the movement was originally painted by Lenin and other leaders in a Marxist-Libertarian light. Prominent Communist-Anarchists and Libertarian Marxists such as Sylvia Pankhurst, Rosa Luxemburg, and Emma Goldman were among the first left-wing critics of Bolshevism. However, the relations between the anarchists and the Bolsheviks worsened in Soviet Russia due to the suppression of movements like the Kronstadt rebellion and the Makhnovist movement. As a result of this repression, it lead to the creation of more anarchist groups.

Rosa Luxemburg's political legacy was criticized by Stalin after he rose to power.

However, the main outspoken critics of Stalinist-Marxist policy during the revolutionary era were Rosa Luxemburg and Emma Goldman

Rosa Luxemburg was heavily critical of the methods that Bolsheviks used to seize power in the October Revolution claiming that it was "not a movement of the people but of the bourgois." Primarily, Luxemburg's critiques were based on the manner in which the Bolsheviks suppressed anarchist movements. In one of her essays published titled, "The Nationalities Question in the Russian Revolution", she explains:

"To be sure, in all these cases, it was really not the "people" who engaged in these reactionary policies, but only the bourgeois and petit bourgeois classes, who - in sharpest opposition to their own proletarian masses - perverted the "national right of self-determination" into an instrument of their counter-revolutionary class policies."

Because of her criticisms toward the Bolsheviks, her legacy was vilified by Stalin once he rose to power. According to Trotsky, Stalin was "often lying about her and vilifying her" in the eyes of the public. Like Rosa Luxemburg, Emma Goldman was primarily critical of Lenin's style of leadership, but her focus eventually transferred to the Stalin and his policies as he rose to power. In her essay titled "There Is No Communism in Russia", Goldman details how Stalin "abused the power of his position" and formed a dictatorship. In this text she states:

"In other words, by the Central Committee and Politbureau of the Party, both of them controlled absolutely by one man, Stalin. To call such a dictatorship, this personal autocracy more powerful and absolute than any Czar’s, by the name of Communism seems to me the acme of imbecility."

Emma Goldman asserted that there was "not not the least sign in Soviet Russia even of authoritarian, State Communism." Emma Goldman remained critical of the Bolsheviks style of governance up until her death in 1940.

Overall, these anarchists during the Revolutionary Era were critical of the statist, repressive, and totalitarian nature of Marxism–Leninism which eventually carried over to Stalinism cult of personality and idolization of Stalin.

Bolshevik Era Critiques of Stalin (1924-1930)

Trotsky (Middle-Left) and Stalin (Front Right) pictured at the funeral of Felix Dzerzhinsky in 1926.

Main article: Trotskyism

Leon Trotsky was one of the main critics of Stalin during the Bolshevik Era. However, Trotsky was not always critical of the movement.

When the Bolshevik party took power in 1917, Leon Trotsky was closely associated with the Lenin and those in Bolshevik movement. Once Vladimir Lenin passed away in 1924, the relation between Trotsky and prominent Bolsheviks like Joseph Stalin soured quickly because of fundamental disagreements on policy.

Trotskyists differ from most other ideological manifestations on the "anti-Stalinist left" in that they, like Marxist–Leninists, also claim to be Leninists. In opposition to the Stalinist Third International, Leon Trotsky and his followers formed the Fourth International.

Aside from forming different organizations, the disagreements between Trotsky and Stalin can be categorized into two main categories, the pace of industrialization and revolutionary tactics.

One of the key differences in policy could be traced to the pace of industrialization. Trotsky believed that there was a need for super-industrialization while Stalin believed in a rapid surge and collectivization in his 5 year plan. Trotsky believed an accelerated global paced surge to be the answer to institute communism globally. Trotsky was critical of Stalin's methods because he believed that the slower pace of collectivization and industrialization to be ineffective in the long run.

Another disagreement between Stalin and Trotsky lies in their methods of revolution. Along with super-industrialization, Trotsky disagreed with Stalin's thesis of Socialism in One Country. Trotsky was against this because he believed that the institution of revolution in one state or country would not be as effective as a global revolution. He also criticized how the Socialism in One Country thesis went against broke the internationalist traditions of Marxism. Trotskyists believed that a permanent global revolution was the most effective method to ensure the system of communism was enacted worldwide.

Overall, Trotsky and his followers were very critical of the lack of internal debate and discussion among Stalinist organizations along with their politically repressive methods.

he Left Opposition were purged in the Moscow Trials in the 1930s. Trotsky saw the Stalinist states as deformed workers' states, where a political structure gave most workers very little power in decision making and used repression and violence as its main method of control.

Popular Front Era Critiques (1930-1939)

The 1930s were a time of anarchy in the Soviet Union. During this time Popular front, any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties united for the defense of democratic forms against a presumed Fascist assault.

By the the time the Popular Front was formed in 1934 to counter the rise of fascism, there

There were numerous Some Anarchists and Stalinist Communists were also in armed conflict during the Spanish Civil War.

Post World War Two Critiques (1939-1953)

Main article: Titoism

Josip Broz Tito became one of the most prominent leftist critics of Stalin after World War II. At first, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the regime it established was modeled on that of Soviet Union, but Tito was considered to be "Stalin's most faithful pupil". However, in 1948, the two leaders broke apart and Tito's aides (most notably Edvard Kardelj, Milovan Đilas, and Moša Pijade) began a theoretical effort to develop a new brand of Socialism that would be both Marxist–Leninist in nature and anti-Stalinist in practice. The result was the Yugoslav system of socialist workers' self-management, also known as Titoism, based on the organizing of every productive activity of society into "self-managed units".

New Party Era Critiques (1953-1991)

Following the death of Joseph Stalin, many prominent leaders of Stalin's cabinet sought to seize power. Thus, a Soviet Triumvirate was formed between

During this era, a major critic during this time was the American non-communist left. CIA was heavily critical and spread much propaganda in opposition to the

Post-Stalin Critiques (1991-Present)

Many of the Anti-Stalinist movements that have taken place in the

Trotsky and Trotskyism

Followers of Leon Trotsky were organized in the Left Opposition within the Communist parties before they were purged in the Moscow Trials in the 1930s. Trotskyists differ from most other ideological manifestations on the "anti-Stalinist left" in that they, like Marxist–Leninists, also claim to be Leninists. In opposition to the Stalinist Third International, Leon Trotsky and his followers formed the Fourth International. Trotsky saw the Stalinist states as deformed workers' states, where a political structure gave most workers very little power in decision making and used repression and violence as its main method of control.

Trotsky and his followers were very critical of the lack of internal debate and discussion among Stalinist organizations and societies and political repression enacted by Stalinist governments (i.e. the Great Purge); nationalist elements of Stalinist theory such as the Socialism in One Country thesis (for example, adopted by Stalin as state policy), that led to a very poor revolutionary strategy in a world setting (which broke the internationalist traditions of Marxism); and its totalitarian, bureaucratic, obscurantist, personalistic, and highly repressive methods. Less orthodox Trotskyists and other critics of Stalin have seen it as a new form of class state, called bureaucratic collectivism (James Burnham, Milovan Đilas and Max Shachtman) or as state capitalist (Tony Cliff, C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya).

Left communism and libertarian Marxism

Main articles: Left communism and Libertarian Marxism

The communist left was initially enthusiastic about the Bolshevik Revolution, but lines of tension between the communist left and the leadership of the Communist International. Left communists and libertarian Marxists such as Sylvia Pankhurst and Rosa Luxemburg were among the first left-wing critics of Bolshevism.

Titoism

Main article: Titoism

At first, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and the regime it established through the successful war of liberation against the Axis invaders by the partizans was modeled on that of Soviet Union, and Tito was considered to be "Stalin's most faithful pupil". However, in 1948, the two leaders broke apart and Tito's aides (most notably Edvard Kardelj, Milovan Đilas, and Moša Pijade) began a theoretical effort to develop a new brand of Socialism that would be both Marxist–Leninist in nature and anti-Stalinist in practice. The result was the Yugoslav system of socialist workers' self-management, also known as Titoism, based on the organizing of every productive activity of society into "self-managed units".

Đilas, particularly, wrote extensively against Stalinism and was radically critical of the bureaucratic apparatus built by Bolshevism in the Soviet Union. He later grew critical of his own regime as well and became a dissident in Yugoslavia. He was imprisoned but later pardoned.

Anarchism

Main article: Anarchism

Notable Anarchists such as Emma Goldman were initially enthusiastic about the Bolsheviks, particularly after dissemination of Vladimir Lenin's pamphlet State and Revolution which had painted Bolshevism in a libertarian light. However, the relations between the anarchists and the Bolsheviks soured in Soviet Russia (for example, in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion and the Makhnovist movement). Anarchists and Stalinist Communists were also in armed conflict during the Spanish civil war. Anarchists are critical of the statist, totalitarian nature of Stalinism and Marxism–Leninism in general as well as its cult of personality around Stalin and subsequent leaders seen by anarchists as Stalinists such as Kim Il-sung or Mao Zedong.

Democratic socialism

Main article: Democratic socialism

A significant current of the democratic socialist movement has defined itself in opposition to Stalinism. This includes George Orwell, H. N. Brailsford, Fenner Brockway, Michael Harrington and the Independent Labour Party in Britain (particularly after World War II). There were also a number of anti-Stalinist socialists in France, including writers such as Simone Weil and Albert Camus as well as the group around Marceau Pivert. In America, the New York Intellectuals around the journals New Leader, Partisan Review and Dissent saw Soviet Communism as a form of totalitarianism in some ways mirroring fascism.

Anarchism

Main article: Anarchism

Many notable Anarchists such as Emma Goldman were initially enthusiastic about the Bolsheviks, because it was originally proposed by Lenin in a Libertarian light. However, relations between the anarchists and the Bolsheviks worsened in Soviet Russia due to the suppression of movements like the Kronstadt rebellion and the Makhnovist movement. As a result of this repression, it lead to the creation of more anarchist groups. Anarchists and Stalinist Communists were also in armed conflict during the Spanish civil war. Anarchists like Emma Goldman were critical of the statist, repressive, and totalitarian nature of Stalinism and Marxism–Leninism in general as well as its cult of personality around Stalin. Also, later anarchists were critical of subsequent leaders seen as Stalinists, such as Kim Il-sung and Mao Zedong.

I have also reorganized the article and made changes. I don't know how to add good photos though.

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