Essay:Maoism and the Problem of Stalin
 | This is an essay by Saul Wenger. It contains personal views or rhetoric written or shared by its author. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it a policy or guideline written by Revolupedia. |
Note: Work in progress!
Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, is a controversial figure within a large amount of circles, even including Maoist ones. Ever since Mao Zedong gave his assessment of Stalin as "70% good, 30% bad", followers of Mao (including and particularly Maoists) have fought over the precise historical character of Stalin.
Some Maoists have taken up the erroneous position that Stalin is not one of the great "heads" of Marxism, others even regard his mistakes as being primary to the question of his character and reject him as an outstanding Marxist.
I hope to demonstrate in this writing that all Maoists must uphold Stalin as one of the great thinkers of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and that his errors must be regarded as secondary to his achievements and developments to our body of revolutionary theory.
In doing this, I am not calling for the religious worship of this person, but the recognition of him as a human who performed multifaceted actions which must be critically understood by modern socialists.