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Does "Stalinism" actually exist?

My dad called me one last week. I told him I'm not even a communist, just a moderate social democrat who likes Soviet symbols for the shock value. (Not true, I'm a Marxist-Leninist, but gotta keep the peace with family, IYKYK.) But now I'm wondering, is "Stalinism" even a thing? Are any of you bears "Stalinists"?

Cowbee [he/him, they/them] - 2day

Stalinism is used by Hoxhaists to self-identify, used by Trots as a pejorative for Marxist-Leninists, or can be used to refer to Stalin's policy in the soviet union (such as socialism in one country). "Stalinism" as an ideology is just Marxism-Leninism, which Stalin synthesized.

Libs and Trots wield the fear of Stalin as a club to silence Marxist-Leninists in public spaces by calling us "Stalinists."

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Alaskaball [comrade/them, any] - 2day

do you think it'd be funny to plunge a know-nothing lib into the deep end of the olde leftist infighting, by saying "I'm not a stalinist, stalinists are Hoxhaists, I'm a Marxist-Leninist! That's like calling a Marxist-Leninist who adheres to Mao Zedong thought a Maoist. You're practically spitting in their face because you're calling them a gonzolite baby bath-water enjoyer or a pot-head!"

"whats a pot-head?"

"someone that hates cities and glasses"

"like a hipster?"

"sure lets go with that."

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GrouchyGrouse [he/him] - 2day

I assume it would be like walking into the Star Wars cantina for them.

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GenderIsOpSec [she/her, kit/kit's] - 2day

friend-visitor-3 "What the fuck is a luxemburgist and why did you just call me a "rosakiller"?"

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Keld [he/him, any] - 2day

Calling soneone a Rosa killing luxembourgist is advanced leftism

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

"Do you want the entire story of scientific socialism starting with Marx and Engels, or do you just want to know why real socialists never trust socdems?"

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

I think it would be hilarious to drag a clueless lib into leftist infighting. Take this random social democrat who wants to learn about the actual left, instead of forcing him to read Lenin until his eyes are bleeding and he still doesn't have any greater understanding, just a bunch of outdated terminology and a pounding headache, drag him into a place where leftists infight and tell him "go talk to people, I need to go to the ladies', I'll be back in ten minutes, don't piss off the cranks", and expect to come out of the toilets just in time to see the Maoists and the Hoxhaists agreeing to throw him out.

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Alaskaball [comrade/them, any] - 2day

you forgot to include the trot calling the sucdem a series of archaic insults in words and sentences that're both dated to silent generation lingo and all the wordy shit they've read from the collective trot library right to their face while pushing them to buy their paper.

also the trot's either fucking ancient or freshly graduated from highschool

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

"You people are the reason the left has no unity." - Guy my dad's dad's age. Not a minute later... "Can we interest you in a newspaper?" - Guy who looks 14 and can't be a day over 19, with a voice squeakier than my kid brother's. Wearing the same party symbol as the guy who insulted me. "This is why I don't go to left unity shit anymore. Come on, buddy. Let's go home and read some theory, you'll learn more doing that than hanging around here." - Me, beyond frustrated at this complete waste of my time, to the guy I dragged there.

Fuckin' Trots. The jokes write themselves. (It is rather funny that the only Trots older than like 20 are old enough to be the younger ones' grandparents.)

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Cowbee [he/him, they/them] - 2day

Excellent bit, lol. Might have to try that next time!

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MeowZedong @lemmygrad.ml - 2day

Pot-head

How have I never heard this term in this context? Too good.

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SoyViking [he/him] - 2day

"Stalinism" is also a pejorative term wielded by western liberals against anyone who is to the left of Hitler and who actually wants to win instead of being good little western leftists who fetichise bourgeois parliamentarism and insists on losing every single time.

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Red_October [he/him] - 2day

A good way to counter that and scare the hoes would be to call ourselves Stalinists.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

I just might do that. I already just say "Yes." when I'm called a "tankie"... yeah, Soviet tanks are cool! And socialist revolutionaries driving tanks through outdated capitalist power structures is super neat! Hell yeah I'm a fuckin' tankie! No shame in that!

Stalin made good points, and I think we as leftists can learn a lot from the USSR's successes! Sure, call me a Stalinist, I think he was right about a lot of stuff!

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Red_October [he/him] - 2day

Congratulations, comrade Lenin would be proud.

Quick note though, communist tanks already did a lot of driving through monarchistic power structures. That’s why we have some semblance of society and you and I are not chained to a wall getting executed by CBT or whatever. Capitalism is a disguise for monarchy. Look into the colleges rich North Americans send their replacements to. Fascism is a tool of monarchy. Liberalism is a tool of fascism.

Socialism is a lot like capitalism but with a strong welfare system that still doesn’t always provide for those who absolutely can’t contribute to society and have no one to take care of them. It, unfortunately, causes it to frequently rely on an unemployment base, like capitalism, except that the unemployed have a guaranteed welfare system under socialism. Because they are still treated like people in a society. Or at least they’re supposed to be. It’s not always easy to think about and put into practice right away. It’s frequently very hard. Probably 1/3rd of the world even understands what a communist is right now. All of this has been derived from communal poverty forced on us by a repugnant, blatantly evil parasite class that absolutely will destroy the world soon if they are not stopped. For us tankie communists in 2025, it’s basically just good enough until the worldwide revolution of the proletariat is fully organized.

We also make the best music btw.

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AFineWayToDie [he/him] - 1day

Capitalism is a disguise for monarchy. Fascism is a tool of monarchy. Liberalism is a tool of fascism.

This one is going into The Collection. Thank you.

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Cowbee [he/him, they/them] - 2day

Some do, for sure.

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thelastaxolotl [he/him] - 2day

Hoxhaists call themselfs stalinists

“The modern revisionists and reactionaries call us Stalinists, thinking that they insult us and, in fact, that is what they have in mind. But, on the contrary, they glorify us with this epithet; it is an honor for us to be Stalinists for while we maintain such a stand the enemy cannot and will never force us to our knees.”

– Enver Hoxha, Selected Works Vol. IV, pp. 234-235
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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

Well, in that context, that Stalinism is just anti revisionism, and knowing that I've called myself a Hoxhaist as a bit before (as part of jokes about bunkers, because I live in a basement), I guess I am a Stalinist and the guy wasn't wrong.

(Not that I actually know what Hoxhaism is. Lol. I just think the bunkers are a good bit.)

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MF_COOM [he/him] - 2day

Stalinism means whatever the person saying it wants it to mean. So next time someone says it either roll your eyes and ignore them (what I do) or ask them what they mean by it.

Usually it means that a person who venerates (or minimizes the negative aspects of) a period of Soviet history defined by a high degree of bureaucratization that discourages/ punishes democratic participation. For others it means wanting a police state maintained by violent purges and gulags for political enemies, in which regular people were afraid to speak out. For some both. For others it's just a thought-terminating epithet and they don't really know what it means but it's bad for reasons they've never had to explain like how most people have never had to explain why they think the Nazis were bad.

I will say I think saying something like "Stalinism isn't a thing Stalin was an ML" isn't really helpful. Like Reaganism isn't really a thing either, but it does convey a shorthand and that's how people communicate.

I don't think it's a useful category so I don't call myself a Stalinist but a lot of people in my org probably think I am one.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

I don't say that exact line, I just say "Stalinism doesn't exist, that's what Trotskyists call Marxist-Leninists." And I don't use "Reaganism" as a term either, I call it what it was - Cold War Christianity in an ecumenical alliance with American Civil Religion, and the rise of the Religious Right.

I'd say that the only person who's ever called me a Stalinist to my face probably doesn't actually know what that term means. He doesn't know why the Nazis were bad, either, and he doesn't know what a communist actually is.

I'd say by your definition I'm definitely not a Stalinist. I think that the excessive power of the bureaucracy and the gulag system were some of the black marks on the USSR's history that socialists should learn from and not repeat, while also learning from the USSR's successes, so. Yeah. Definitely not a fan of "Stalinism".

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GalaxyBrain [they/them] - 2day

'Reaganism' is what they called neo liberalism cause he (for all intents and purposes, I know carter did get the ball rolling) started it.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

Oh, that. I've never heard or used that term. I just call it neoliberalism.

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invo_rt [he/him] - 2day

My dad called me one last week.

waow-based

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

Trust me, that man is not based.

Imagine "child of the Cold War, broken by that culture of fear, convinced the USSR still exists, convinced communism is a Russian ethnoreligion not a political and economic stance and the USSR is/was its theocracy, that communists are all ontologically evil, but hey, at least he believes it's impossible for someone born outside the historical Warsaw Pact to be a "genuine communist"... except that he doesn't fully believe that and he treats Western communists the way a very proud anti-semite treats Jewish converts." Now, whatever you've imagined, consider him if he was ten times worse and his only semi redeeming quality was being so rabidly pro capitalist that he thinks his asshole behaviour has a monetary value and buying his familial victims of it gifts and family experiences cancels out the poor behaviour, so at least his wife and kids get nice material things for surviving him and pretending to not mind his emotional and occasionally physical violence, and you might be getting close to a portrait of my dad.

I wasn't called a Stalinist because I actually know what the hell I'm doing WRT being a principled Marxist-Leninist. I was called a Stalinist because he thinks calling me a commie isn't a harsh enough insult and he doesn't know the word "tankie".

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hotcouchguy [he/him] - 2day

Comrade, these days even the Trotskyists are Stalinists

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

At this point maybe the Hexbear front page should just have a portrait of Stalin displayed. Maybe right above our clock that shows Moscow time, to lampshade everyone who calls us Soviet bots. (Which is funny. The Cold War is over, dude! Move on already!)

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Keld [he/him, any] - 2day

Stalinist is just another way to way marxist-leninist. So no, there is no meaningful stalinism in the west

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purpleworm [none/use name] - 2day

Unless you're a freak like Grover Furr or part of a political faction that is acting in alliance with Stalin or Hoxha, no.

I told him I'm not even a communist, just a moderate social democrat who likes Soviet symbols for the shock value. (Not true, I'm a Marxist-Leninist, but gotta keep the peace with family, IYKYK.)

Why bother displaying Soviet symbols in a context where your dad can see them? You're just making yourself look like a 14 year old. You don't need a bunch of lifestyle merchandise to be a communist anyway. I say this because if the answer is, "I was at a communist rally," then why would a hamsic be the sticking point?

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

I got caught with that kind of junk when I was like 12, needed an explanation, I was stuck and he's not going to ever buy that I outgrew it, at that age he still wouldn't drop cringey shit I was last into when I was like six and he still hasn't, so I couldn't tell him the truth then and claim to be over it as an older teenager or young adult. I needed to tell him something that wouldn't totally fuck me over at 12 and that I didn't mind him believing for the rest of our shared lives.

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GalaxyBrain [they/them] - 2day

Its just Marxist Lenninism

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Red_October [he/him] - 2day

Albeit under even more extreme duress.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

Huh. Maybe I am a Stalinist. In my worst moments, when all I really want is a world where the right side won the Cold War.

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Red_October [he/him] - 2day

If those are your worst moments you should really see what the other guys are doing right now man.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

The other guys?

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Red_October [he/him] - 2day

ICE, Israel, rightwing militias in the U.S., any other number of murder-addict mercenaries pretending to be religious extremists across the globe funded by three letter organizations from the U.S. Your tankie dark moments really aren’t that bad.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

Ah, I see. Even when we are at our worst flashes of "Stalinism", the commies still suck less than every other ideology. Checks out.

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StalinistApologist [he/him] - 2day

stalin-shining

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

Username checks out. Lol.

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Kefla [she/her, they/them] - 2day

Stalinism is when you really like food so you get a really big spoon so you can fit more food in your big fucking mouth like the big ol' slop-loving piggie you are stalin-comical-spoon

Really though, yes and no. Yes Stalinism is a term that could be used in a way that would be meaningful. Stalin was a world leader and he had actual policies, so you could refer to those policies and the philosophies behind them as Stalinism and that would make sense. But among people who know what they're talking about, that set of ideas is usually just called Marxism-Leninism, because that's what Stalin called them when he was actually doing them.

Usually when you hear the term Stalinism, it's from people who don't know what they're talking about and think Stalin was some kind of demon summoned from the underworld to do a genocide worse than the holocaust. So it's kind of a poisoned term at this point.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

I wish we could summon Stalin from the underworld to actually be those cranks' nightmare.

And someone will probably call me a Stalinist for saying that.

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NephewAlphaBravo [he/him] - 2day

stalin was a hologram

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

I didn't ask if Stalin himself existed, I asked if "Stalinism" was an actual communist tendency separate from Marxism-Leninism.

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Nacarbac [comrade/them] - 2day

Computer, turn off holodeck safety protocols.

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PiraHxCx @lemmy.ml - 2day

Yes, and to know if a person is a Stalinist you just have to ask. If he spends the next 6 hours telling you he’s actually a Marxist-Leninist and not a Stalinist, he’s a Stalinist.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

I don't spend 6 hours saying it. But I'm not a Stalinist. I often think it's funny when someone insists I am, though.

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PiraHxCx @lemmy.ml - 2day

You can also put like this... do you prefer Lenin's Constitution that decriminalized homosexuality, legalized abortion and let women initiate divorces unilaterally, or do you prefer Stalin's Constitution that reversed all of that?

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purpleworm [none/use name] - 2day

Lenin's Constitution that decriminalized homosexuality, legalized abortion and let women initiate divorces unilaterally

Lenin wasn't a king, it's the 1918 Constitution, which did not have the features you describe. For example, the decriminalization of homosexuality was a characteristic of the 1922 Criminal Code, not the Constitution. The other two were decrees, not the Constitution (then the divorce policy was put in the 1918 Family Code, so again law, a year after its decree).

Stalin's Constitution that reversed all of that

Though they happened around the same time, they are not features of the 1936 Constitution, they are all laws.

You can just say "Under Lenin" and "Under Stalin" and be both more concise and more accurate. Hell, even the "Lenin Regime" and the "Stalin Regime." Yes, I am being pedantic, but this talk about the respective "Constitutions" is a senseless affectation.

But what you are talking about, besides eliding the entire content of the Constitutions, is simply not useful on a fundamental level because no one here is going to argue that we should be implementing either Constitution wholesale and will obviously disagree with those actions under Stalin. But again, this isn't from either Constitution, so how am I supposed to answer? The Constitutions with these laws tacked on? Why these laws specifically, and why bring the Constitutions into it? I disagree with the laws you tacked on, but the 1936 Constitution has many good provisions in it that the previous did not have regarding economic rights and the like, not that I'm even blaming Lenin (mostly*), since I think all of these Constitutions were written in response to current conditions and there's only so much you can do to declare a better society by fiat (though I grant you the mentioned laws under Lenin are a good example of it, though you're missing of course that abortion was also free, and that cannot be merely declared but requires infrastructure, and so was only guaranteed because they could provide it).

*I said "mostly" because I broadly believe in universal suffrage and there were people the 1918 Constitution banned from voting who I don't think it was very helpful to ban, not that I'm kept up at night by the injustice of it. I just think it's minimally a mild detriment without a real benefit, at least in some cases.

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hello_hello [comrade/them] - 2day

True communism is when gay people.

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purpleworm [none/use name] - 2day

I can't wait to see the good faith interpretation they have of this comment

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

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Sickos [they/them, it/its] - 2day

At one point, like the 1948-1953 range, yes, absolutely. Now the term has been heavily diluted, and most "stalinist" schools of thought have been subsumed by arachno-bidenism--specifically aligning with the jonkler tendency.

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RedSturgeon [she/her] - 2day

Yes it's when I show people a painting of comrade Stalin to see what the reaction is. But no, there are no significant groups of people who identity as a Stalinist.

There were definitely Stalin supporters when he was in power, but idk if they even called themselves Stalinists.

But I do wonder what does Wikipedia have to say about Stalinism?

Политическая система характеризуется:

- диктатурой (личной властью) Сталина;
- тоталитарным режимом (абсолютным контролем государства над всеми аспектами общественной и частной жизни)
- массовыми политическими репрессиями;
- сращиванием государственных органов и правящей коммунистической партии;
- цензурой
- пропагандой, культом личности Сталина, вождизмом и демонизацией врага;
- борьбой с религией в период 1929—1942 годов;
- фальсификацией истории;
- изоляционизмом в науке;
- борьбой с космополитизмом в период 1948—1953 годов.
Characteristics: 

- Dictatorship in accordance to Stalins rule.
- Totalitarianism regime. (Absolute control of the state, over every aspect of public end private life.)
- Political repressions on a grand scale.
- Having every part of the state departments serve the communist party's leadership. 
- Censorship
- Propaganda, Cult of personality, Leaderism and demonizing of the enemy. 
- Fight against religion from 1929 -1942. 
- Historical revisionism
- Scientific Isolationism 
- Fighting against cosmopolitanisms from 1948 - 1953 

looks down in the sources

dean-sussy

The sources are bourgeoisie history books, so of course what's essentially slave owners will think you are the most evil person alive, that you are worse than Hitler, if you try to take it away from them. I'm hardly literate and even I know that much.


DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT EQUATING STALINISM = MAOISM

It's kind of like Maoism I guess? Mao was not a Maoist, it's a concept that came after him.

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT EQUATING STALINISM = MAOISM


So ultimately it means what the last person told you it means. But in everyday spaces Stalinism is a manufactured concept, by Western powers, with the goal of demonizing USSR, to encourage anti-Soviet activity, to discredit their victory over the Nazis.

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

My reaction would be "He looks like someone's dad. Can I have a dad hug?"

Like this:

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trot [he/him] - 2day

just a moderate social democrat who likes Soviet symbols

Yes, that is what Stalinism is (see for example KPRF, CPUSA, all of the Comintern immediately after WW2...)

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alexei_1917 [mirror/your pronouns] - 2day

So by calling me a Stalinist, he's calling me exactly what I told him I am. Lol, that's good.

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