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''Foundations of Leninism'' is a 1924 collection by
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
of nine lectures he delivered at Sverdlov University that year. It was published by the Soviet newspaper, ''
Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...
''.


Background

After the January 1924 death of
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
, a power struggle began among factions of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspape ...
. Stalin was quick to ally himself with fellow Soviet politicians
Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev, . Transliterated ''Grigorii Evseevich Zinov'ev'' according to the Library of Congress system. (born Hirsch Apfelbaum, – 25 August 1936), known also under the name Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky (russian: Ов ...
and
Lev Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. (''né'' Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. Born in Moscow to parents who were both involved in revolutionary politics, Kamenev attended Imperial Moscow Uni ...
. The book contains the written text of nine lectures Stalin delivered to trainee party activists at Sverdlov Communist University, and was the first work produced by Stalin since the 1917
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...
.


Synopsis

Stalin's nine lectures covered the historical roots of
Leninism Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establish ...
, methods, theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the peasant question, the national question, strategy and tactics (two lectures), and style of work. He focused his first lecture on the issue of the historical roots of Leninism as a form of
Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
. According to Stalin, Leninism is a product of
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic powe ...
and a guiding ideology of the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
. He lists three contradictions which imperialism brings to capitalism: *The contradiction between labor and capital *The contradiction between financial groups and imperialist nations *The contradiction between ruling nations and colonial (dependent) nations and peoples These factors, associated with imperialism, increase the contradictions already present in capitalist countries. The lecture builds on Lenin's writings about the nature of imperialism, particularly 1917's '' Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism''. Stalin opens his second lecture, on methods, with a reference to the period of the
Second International The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second Internatio ...
in which
Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theorist. Kautsky was one of the most authoritative promulgators of orthodox Marxism after the death of Friedrich Engels ...
and other orthodox Marxists adopted "opportunistic" ( revisionist) principles to preserve unity in the social-democratic parties. It was due to this opportunism that Kautsky and the parties did not endorse revolutionary
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
tactics and programs, instead favoring
Eduard Bernstein Eduard Bernstein (; 6 January 1850 – 18 December 1932) was a German social democratic Marxist theorist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Bernstein had held close association to Karl Marx and Friedr ...
's reformism. According to Stalin, the Second International became "antiquated", "chauvinistic", and "narrow-minded" at the onset of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
by supporting the war and opposing violent proletarian revolution; Leninism, with its success in the October Revolution and the
Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...
, became Marxism's main legitimate tendency. He defines the methods of Leninism as: *Testing the theoretical dogmas of the Second International and the restoration of theory and practice *Testing the policy of the parties of the Second International *Reorganization of all party work along new, revolutionary lines, preparing the masses for revolutionary struggle * Self-criticism, with the party a means of regulating opinion and assessing strategy The concept of self-criticism was developed and expanded as an essential component of party politics, with Stalin justifying the doctrine by citing Lenin's '' "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder''. Self-criticism, according to Stalin, should be considered an essential component of Leninist (Marxist–Leninist) political ideology.


Reception

Bolshevik
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
(who led the leftist opposition to Stalin) referred to the lectures in ''
The Permanent Revolution ''The Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects'' is a 1930 book published by Bolshevik-Soviet politician and former head of The Red Army Leon Trotsky. It was first published by the Left Opposition in the Russian language in Germany in 1930 ...
'' as "ideological garbage", "an official manual of narrow-mindedness" and "an anthology of enumerated banalities", characterizing them as part of a propaganda campaign by Zinoviev, Bukharin, and Kamenev. Zinoviev replied to such criticism in '' Leninism: Introduction to the Study of Leninism''. According to Trotskyist historian Isaac Deutscher, ''The Foundations of Leninism'' was withdrawn from circulation due to conflicts between the text and Stalin's recently-developed concept of socialism in one country. Stalin produced a follow-up text, '' The Problems of Leninism'', which presents a corrected conception of Marxism-Leninism in which socialism can be produced by focusing on the industrial economy of a single state. Erik van Ree, a lecturer at the
University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
's Institute of Eastern European Studies, notes that ''The Foundations of Leninism'' contributed to Stalin's developing synthesis of Marxism with Russian nationalism in the form of social patriotism. In contrast to the Trotskyist movement, African American civil rights activist and Soviet politburo member
Harry Haywood Harry Haywood (February 4, 1898 – January 4, 1985) was an American political activist who was a leading figure in both the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). His goal was to connect ...
received the text extremely positively, particularly praising Stalin's theories on the nature of imperialism in relation to
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sou ...
and slavery.


Plagiarism allegation

Historian Stephen Kotkin accuses Stalin of plagiarizing ''Foundations of Leninism'' from Soviet journalist Filipp Ksenofontov.


See also

*
Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the the ...
*
Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and vario ...
* History of the Soviet Union


References


Further reading

* Deutscher, Isaac. ''Stalin: A political biography''. Oxford University Press. (1949) *Service, Robert. ''Stalin: A Biography'' (2004) * Trotsky, Leon. ''Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and his Influence.'' The Universal Library. (1941) {{DEFAULTSORT:Foundations Of Leninism 1924 non-fiction books Books of lectures Russian books Books critical of capitalism Marxist theory Books about Marxism Communist books Books involved in plagiarism controversies Books about the Soviet Union Books about Stalinism Works by Joseph Stalin