J.V. Stalin’s Name and Work Are Immortal Just as Immortal Is Marxism-Leninism- Zeri Populitt

From «Zëri I Populitt» the organ of the Central Committee of the P.L.A.

December 21, 1961.

Eighty-two years ago to-day there was born J. V. Stalin, one of the most prominent revolutionary figures whom the great October Socialist Revolution took out, a loyal disciple and close co-operator of Lenin, glorious leader of the Soviet Party and State, a theoretician and educator of the whole world proletariat, a great friend of the oppressed peoples and a resolute fighter against imperialism.

J. V. Stalin traversed a glorious path as a militant revolutionary, beginning with the small Marxist circles and ending with the leadership of the Party Central Committee and the Government of the Soviet Union. His life is closely connected with the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, of the triumph of the October Revolution, the up-building of socialism in the USSR and the victory of the Soviet peoples over fascism, with the liberation of the peoples of the world from fascism.

As a loyal disciple of Lenin and as a Bolshevik of the early days, he took an active part in the formation of the Communist Party and in working out its theoretical and organisational foundations. By his ardent and principled writings, permeated with the Leninist spirit and boundless faithfulness towards the proletarian ideology, through his tireless organisational work among the masses, he made an outstanding contribution to the setting up of the Party organisations in Transcaucasia and throughout Russia. Stalin became very soon one of the distinguished Bolshevik fighters for the overthrow of the Tsarist regime. He was alongside of Lenin in the main group of the Bolshevik leadership which directed the great October Socialist Revolution. At the time of the foreign intervention, when the very existence of the Soviet State which had just come out of the revolution was put in danger, Stalin was sent to various sectors of the front, where he showed his rare military capacities, the great force of his will, his capacity to find his bearings in the most difficult situations, his political maturity and unwavering faith in the victory. It was precisely this long revolutionary path, his talent of a wise political leader, his great organisational capacities, his high ideological training and his boundless loyalty to the cause of the revolution and Marxism-Leninism, that made Stalin enjoy the confidence of the Party which elected him to the post of the secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

After Lenin’s death, when Stalin was brought to the top of the leadership of the Soviet Party and State, his rare talent as organizer and leader manifested itself with a still greater splendour; he knew not only how to defend Leninism from its many foes, but also to develop it further. At this time the Party was attacked by all sorts of enemies and traitors: Trotzkyists, Zinovievists, Bukharinists and other renegades. All of them sought to arouse distrusts towards the Party’s general line, which reposed on the possibility of the up-building and the triumph of socialism in the Soviet Union, which at that time was completely encircled by capitalist states. Defending Leninism, J. V. Stalin developed this theory still further and armed the Party with the unwavering faith in the possibility of the victory of socialism in one single country. This was a great historic merit of his, playing a very important part in the development of the USSR and of the entire communist movement in the later years.

Reposing on the teachings and instructions given by Lenin, Stalin outlined the main theses and practical ways of the socialist industrialisation of the Soviet Union, due to the successful accomplishment of which there was solved also the other big problem of the socialist construction — the collectivisation of agriculture. Stalin perfectly argued the necessity of consolidating the Soviet State under the proletarian dictatorship and completed with new teachings the Marxist theory about the state.

A great merit of Stalin it is that he, by defending and further developing Lenin’s teachings on the up-building of a Party of a new type, correctly described and outlined the place and role of the Communist Party during the period of transition from capitalism to socialism, and especially the leading role of the Party in great issues such as the socialist industrialisation and the collectivisation of agriculture, the accomplishment of the cultural revolution and the defense of the socialist Homeland. Stalin correctly defined the relations and interdependence between the Party’s general line and its organisational work.

Stalin’s name is inseparable from the history of the glorious Soviet Army and its victories. It is especially connected with the epoch-making magnificent victory of the Soviet Union over fascist Germany, achieved by the Soviet peoples under the leadership of the Communist Party and Stalin’s supreme command.

Just as while he was alive, at present after his death, too, Stalin’s theoretical work is of a very great importance to the development and victory of the international communist movement and the cause of socialism throughout the world. It has armed and continues to arm all the communists with the sound Marxist-Leninist principles with regard to such great problems as the proletarian revolution, the proletarian dictatorship, the socialist industrialisation and the collectivisation of agriculture, the solution of the national questions and the victory of the oppressed peoples in the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. J. V. Stalin devoted a very great attention to the creation of a whole system of relations of a new type between the socialist countries, based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, relations of fraternal cooperation and mutual assistance.

J.V. Stalin was irreconcilable with all the enemies of Leninism, not only within the Soviet Union, but wherever they would be. When the Tito group betrayed the cause of socialism, J. V. Stalin did not hesitate to openly expose them and show the true features of this group of renegades as agents of the United States imperialism.

The Albanian communists and the whole of our people, just as the communists and all the progressive men and women of the world, preserve always intact the great respect and veneration towards Stalin, towards his immortal work. His life in the service of the proletarian revolution and for the defense and creative development of Leninism, his relentless struggle for the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union and the triumph of the cause of socialism and peace throughout the world, provide an excellent example to all the communists, inspiring them in the decisive battles for peace and democracy, for the great cause of communism.

J. V. Stalin and his work, many times after Lenin’s death, have been object of fierce attacks both on the part of the imperialistic reaction and its ideologists and on the part of the different renegades of Marxism-Leninism. The glorious history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union shows that Trotzky, Zinoviev, Kameniev, Bukharin and many other enemies of communism began their fight against the Communist Party, against Leninism and socialism, in the first place by attacking Stalin and his work. Why was Stalin’s discrowning the first aim of their hostile activities? This is explained by the fact that Stalin was a loyal follower of Lenin’s work, that he was a resolute defender of Leninism, that he was a sworn enemy of the renegades and imperialism. Formerly, after Marx’ and Engels’ death, the enemies of Marxism, in order to fight the revolutionary doctrine of the proletariat, in order to revise it, directed their main attacks on Lenin, who was an ardent and determined defender of revolutionary Marxism. And what did they not say about Lenin? They described him also as an agent of the German militarism. This notwithstanding, history covered the renegades with shame, whereas Lenin won. Lenin, as a faithful leader of proletariat, as a great educator of the oppressed people, is recalled with respect and glory by all the communists and working people in the world and his teachings are studied with a great thirst. Following Lenin’s death, Stalin objectively became the great defender of Marxism, of Leninism. Therefore, the enemies of the Party and communism could not fight Marxism, could not dethrone Leninism, without «getting rid» of Stalin and his work. The enemies, however, were again covered with shame, whereas Stalin, as the defender of communism, is being studied and recalled with respect and veneration by all and every communist.

In this aspect, not only the communists, but also every honest man in the world have met with deep contempt and misgivings N. Khrushchev’s attacks on J. V. Stalin personally and his work. N. Khrushchev and his group are seeking to convince the world that Stalin has allegedly «forgotten Lenin’s memory», whereas Stalin’s entire life, his whole theoretical and practical activities, show the direct opposite. J. V. Stalin is known as a defender of Leninism, as an executor of Lenin’s teachings, as a determined enemy of the enemies of Leninism. Whole pleiads of revolutionaries among the ranks of the communist and workers’ parties in the world have been tempered and educated for years in succession, through Stalin’s teachings and example, as real Leninists. N. Khrushchev is seeking to describe Stalin as a «despot» and «terrorist», who has allegedly «damaged the defensive might of the Soviet Union», and who has allegedly been «a simpleton and has had confidence in the German fascists», whereas Stalin’s entire life, his whole theoretical and practical activities show the opposite. J. V. Stalin is known as the outstanding leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet State. Under his leadership, the first land of socialism, notwithstanding the countless difficulties resulting from both the great backwardness inherited from the czarist regime, and from the total capitalist encirclement and the obstacles raised by the struggle of the domestic and foreign enemies, within a short period of time was converted into a powerful socialist country. The might of this State found its magnificent expression in the Great Patriotic War. J. V. Stalin is known by the whole world not as a «simpleton» with regard to imperialism and fascism, but as a consistent and determined fighter against imperialism and fascism, as the man who always called for vigilance and discovered the aggressive schemes and aims of various imperialists against the peoples in general and against the Soviet Union in particular. Even today also, everybody may be convinced of this; suffice it to read Stalin’s works.

Just because he was such, J. V. Stalin enjoyed the great love and respect of the various communist; and revolutionaries in the world; he enjoyed the love of all the oppressed men and women. With Stalin’s name on their lips they were on the front ranks of the demonstrations and barricades, their love for and faith in Stalin were not shaken either by the prisons and concentration camps or by the fiercest court trials framed up by the capitalist bourgeoisie and fascism. Stalin had become a symbol of force, bravery and resistance for the ordinary people, fear and terror for the class enemies. How many communists and various patriots from all the countries, how many comrades of ours when they were going before the firing squads or to the gallows were proudly declaring that they were Stalin’s «sons» and facing their death shouted «Long live Stalin»? And the enemies were shivering from fear.

These feelings were not artificially created in the different men and women, in the conscience of every communist or real patriot and revolutionary. These feelings of love and respect were a result of J. V. Stalin’s revolutionary activity, of the enthusiasm aroused in the ordinary people of the world by the magnificent successes of the Soviet Union which was led by J. V. Stalin and his comrades. The peoples of the Soviet Union, under the leadership of the Communist Party headed by Stalin, accomplished miracles and unprecedented heroic feats, converting backward Russia within a short period of time, into a big world socialist power. There were unleashed the compressed energies of the free men and women who, inspired by the communists whom Stalin headed, led the soviet economy from victory to victory, won the admiration of the working people throughout the world and aroused the rage of the imperialists. They built up the huge Dneproges or Magnitogorsk, opened the White Canal and set up Kuzbas, transformed the backward and scattered agriculture into a collective and modern one. The Soviet Union was converted with rapid strides from a backward country into an advanced one where whole armies of scientists came into being and grew up and which later, reposing on the economic potential whose foundations were laid under the first five-year plans, took the Soviet man to the space, gave to the world the rockets, or the first in the world paved the way to the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. Under the leadership of the Communist Party headed by Stalin, the Soviet Union, this country which prior to the revolution was called as a prison of nations, was transformed into a socialist multi-national State where every nation was freely breathing, developed its own national culture, its economy and life, providing an excellent example to all the countries that have suffered or are still suffering under the hoof of colonialism.

The people cannot forget all these things, irrespective of the fierce and slanderous attacks of N. Khrushchev and his group under the mask of the fight against J. V. Stalin’s «personality cult». They cannot forget them, for even if there have been committed some errors, these do not represent Stalin’s main feature. Anyone may commit errors; therefore, Stalin, too, may have committed taking into account also the complicated conditions in which the socialist construction has been carried out in the Soviet Union, the difficult moments and the constant hostile acts of imperialism and its agents. But the men and women of spotless conscience cannot help arriving at the conclusion that J. V. Stalin has not bequeathed to history any eventual mistake of his own, but he has bequeathed to it that which has represented the content of his life. And the content of Stalin’s life is his struggle for the defense of Marxism-Leninism, his tremendous work for the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union, his boundless loyalty towards the cause of the working class, his large contribution to the development and consolidation of the international communist and workers’ movement, his struggle for the triumph of peace and communism, and not «the crimes», «tortures», «murders» and other dirty fabrications framed up and offered by N. Khrushchev for consumption to the simpletons.

This content of Stalin’s life, this legacy which he has left to history, the remembrance and respect which the working people in the world nourish for Stalin, cannot be tarnished by any black colour with which Khrushchev is seeking in vain to stain the figure of Stalin. It is in vain to accuse Stalin of having supported «massive terror», «arbitrariness» or «unlawfulness»; it is in vain to call him also a «murderer», a «despot». The imperialists have done and are doing this every day. But the conscience of the honest people has not accepted and will not accept such charges, at times overt and at times covert, for they are convinced that the working class, the collective farm peasantry or the Soviet intelligentsia, the Party of Lenin’s Bolsheviks of the three revolutions and the international proletariat would not have followed Stalin and made of his name the banner of their victories had he pursued a policy in contrast with their will, desires and fundamental interests.

Hundreds of thousands and millions of men and women not only in the Soviet Union, but also in all the countries occupied by fascism went to the war fronts with confidence in the final victory because they were convinced that the famous Soviet Army, under J. V. Stalin’s command, would rout Nazi Germany. And the feelings and confidence of the peoples were not deceived. The Soviet Army and its commander-in-chief, J. V. Stalin, destroyed fascism and brought freedom to the peoples, our people included. Let N. Khrushchev and his group attempt to persuade the world that the man who worked for the creation and consolidation of the Soviet Army, who mapped out its strategy and tactics and who finally led it in the biggest war known to history, was a man who allegedly «had no idea of the military art», that «had not prepared the country to defend itself from the Hitlerite attack», that he was a «coward» so that «during the war he had rather impeded than helped». The men and women who fought with Stalin’s name on their lips, who saw for themselves their comrades rushing toward; the enemy and falling while acclaiming Stalin, all those who have listened to or read his speeches during the Patriotic War, think quite differently In the conscience of the honest men and women irrespective of everything, J. V. Stalin remains the legendary commander-in-chief of the Soviet Army under whose leadership fascism was routed and the peoples gained their freedom. The attempts to deny Stalin’s role, presenting a «new hero and strategist», another «architect of the Patriotic War», as it was proceeded during the ceremonies on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of fascist Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, not only run counter to history, but are also very much ridiculous; therefore they cannot be successful.

J. V. Stalin’s name and memory and his work will live in centuries, as long as Marxism-Leninism itself lives and will live. And there is no and there will be no force in the world to tarnish it, to uproot from the hearts of the people their respect for and memory of him. N. Khrushchev and his followers can demolish monuments and busts to Stalin and keep up standing monuments to the czars and kings; they can change the names of the cities and revenge themselves even in the most inhuman way by removing also Stalin’s corpse from the mausoleum; they can launch «destalinisation» campaigns and curse other people calling them «Stalinists». By this they only unmask themselves and show their anti-Marxist aims. They will never be able to take Stalin’s name and work out of the hearts of the honest men and women in the world, to whom Stalin and Stalingrad represent an inseparable symbol which, as always, call on the peoples and, first and foremost, on the communists, to courageously and resolutely struggle for the cause of communism, for the cause of the triumph of Marxism-Leninism, for the cause of peace and against the imperialist enemies and all their allies.

The Albanian communists, just as the whole of our people, led by their Party of Labour, will be grateful for ever to J. V. Stalin, who had always loved and resolutely defended our country, our Party. Stalin’s memory will live forever in our hearts and his work will always be a source of inspiration in our sacred struggle for socialism and communism, for peace and the prosperity of our homeland.