Russia Under Stalin

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23000, 20 April 1940, Page 14

Russia Under Stalin

Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism. By Boris Souvarine. An;us and Robertson. 622 pp. (15/-.)

[Reviewed by N. DANILOW.]

This book deserves special attention from all those who are interested in the practical development of Communistic ideas in general and in contemporary historical events in eastern Europe in particular. The author is a Frenchman, formerly a leading official of the French Communist Party. In his comprehensive historical research Souvarine brings forward the striking, characteristic features of different leading men of Russia, most of whom , he knew personally. The book is a brilliaht biography of Stalin and at

the same time a true picture of the recent revolutionary period of Hussian history. Discussing the outstanding events of the Russian revolution and the history of the Bolshevik Party since its original organisation m 1903, Souvarine lays special stress on the following points. Contrary to Western Europe, Russia never possessed a strong middle class which would serve as a natural link between the aristocracy and the large masses of the population. The very origin of the proletariat in Russia is different from that of the Western Europe. Whereas in Europe the proletariat was in the main part recruited from the urban population, educated and used to a public life, the Russian proletariat consisted mostly of illiterate peasants, easily influenced by any political ideas. This accounts for the extreme radicalism of the revolutionary development in Russia. “Ignorance,” said Lenin, “has surely in a measure facilitated the revolution by preserving minds from the contamination of bourgeois ideas.” Speaking of the origins of the Russian revolution, Souvarine proves that although different revolutionary parties and organisations existed both in Russia and abroad, they never actually started a revolution. The people themselves rose up in 1905 as well as in 1917; and the revolutionary leaders, taken by surprise, had only the task of adapting themselves to the elementary movement of the nation. By their pliability to the wishes and ideals of the moment, the Bolsheviks soon became masters of the situation. Leninism Describing the organisation- of the Bolshevik Party, Souvarine rightly points out the outstanding role of Lenin. Without his personality no Bolshevik Party would ever have existed. Lenin was the first partisan of the policy of a strong hand: “What we need is a military organisation.” He possessed two remarkable qualities of a great leader: first, he was capable of a sincere self-

criticism; second, once he recognised a mistake he did not hesitate to change his policy entirely. Abstract theoretician of the party as he was, he possessed a very delicate sense of the needs of the moment. For instance, having realised that the War Communism of the first years of the revolution had severely damaged the economy of the country, he partly abandoned the socialising programme and inaugurated the socalled New Economic Policy, which restored a limited and controlled capitalism. As long as Lenin lived he was able to keep the party together. Stalin’s Rise and Methods Stalin did not belong to the brains of the revolution as did Lenin, Trotsky, Bukharin, and many others. He was the “mailed fist” of the movement, a resolute man always ready to execute an arduous practical task. His methods were those of violence and of successful intrigue. So long as Lenin was alive, Stalin never ventured in the broad light of publicity. In the shadow he gradually rose in high positions until he became the general secretary of the party. This post gave him the-chance to unite in his hands all the threads of administration. Having acquired absolute control of the powerful party machine, Stalin declared war on all his original colleagues—the faithful discioles and followers of Lenin. In a few years he succeeded in eliminating and destroying all political competitors who could have endangered his autocracy. There remained, finally, only two representatives of the old leading group of 1917: Trotsky, in exile in Mexico, and Stalin, the Red Tsar of Moscow. Reaction Stalin’s policy of centralisation not only stopped the progress of the revolution but converted the movement into a reaction. The present policy of Stalin is one of oppression. The political police rules the State. Working conditions are much worse than those of the so-called capitalistic countries: the sweating system flourishes. Different small nationalities under Russian rule are again oppressed by an ultra-nation r alistic policy. Russia has returned 1o the cruel despotism of the Middle Ages and Souvarine compares Stalin l with Ivan the Terrible, the coutem-

porary of Henry VIII. In this connexion he quotes an interesting prophecy of a great revolutionary writer, Plekhanov, on the Bolsheviks: “At the bitter end everything will revolve around one man who will, ex providentia, unite all power in himself.” This man is Stalin. This development helps to explain the unexpected rapprochement between Russia and Germany, based on striking similarities in the two systems. As the book was written before the Russo-German agreement it naturally does not treat this question; and it would be very useful if the author, in later editions, could add a chapter on recent events. Souvarine’s book can be warmly recommended to anyone who wishes to have a more intimate knowledge of the contemporary history of Russia.