The Transformation of Marxism into Stalinism
Why and How Did It Become Inevitable?
Hayashi Hiroyoshi 17 July 1983 Marxist Workers' Alliance Official Newspaper “Spark” No. 598 A hundred years have passed since Marx's death, and 135 years since the publication of The Communist Manifesto. However, the struggle for the liberation of the working class and the revolutionary communist movement have not led to a global victory but, on the contrary, have entered a period of deep crisis over the past half-century. It is clear that this crisis was brought about by the transformation of Marxism into ‘Stalinism.’ We will now discuss why and how this transformation occurred, and what its significance is. The Application of Marxism to ‘Backward Countries’ The transformation of Marxism into ‘Stalinism’—this is a historical phenomenon that is more significant than the transformation of Marxism into opportunism and revisionism at the turn of the century, yet it is also far more complex. Without a proper understanding of this fact, the working class...