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Stalinism
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Today we mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall by publishing an article from the current edition of Socialist Appeal which analyses why the events of 1989 have not had the outcome which the West expected. You can also download an audio file on the subject by clicking 
The Third International has been
officially buried. In the most undignified and contemptible fashion it would be
possible to conceive, it has passed off the stage of history. Hurriedly and
without consultation with all the adhering parties, not to speak of the rank
and file throughout the world, without any democratic discussion and decision,
as the result of the pressure of American imperialism, Stalin has perfidiously
abandoned the Comintern.
Alan
Woods was recently interviewed by the Argentine magazine Sudesta on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. He deals with
the gradual political degeneration of the Revolution and its usurpation by the
Stalinist bureaucracy, discussing the political issues raised in the course of
the struggle. Unease at the rise of bureaucratic rule was signalled by Lenin in
his last years and by Trotsky. As Alan says, “In 1923 Trotsky launched the
Platform of the Opposition, based on a defence of the Leninist principles of
workers' democracy and proletarian internationalism. He began a struggle
against bureaucratic tendencies in the state and Party. This was the beginning
of the Left Opposition in the Soviet Union and internationally. The struggle
between the Left Opposition and the Stalin faction was at bottom a class
struggle, which reflected the contradictory interests between the working class
and the rising bureaucracy.”
The intervention of Russian tanks temporarily
halted the movement in Czechoslovakia. But, as Alan Woods pointed out at the
time, "The rule of the bureaucracy now represents an absolute fetter on the
development of the planned economies of Russia and Eastern Europe. The needs of
the people can no longer be met by a system whose every pore is choked by
bureaucracy, mismanagement and waste."
In 
To mark the 40th
anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia,
we are here reprinting an article by Alan Woods, first written on September 4,
1968, and published in the Winter edition of the Spark, in which he clearly
relates the momentous events that shook the Stalinist regimes and explains
their significance.
The Third International was created by Lenin and Trotsky as an
instrument of world revolution. However, as Ted Grant wrote in 1943,
the Comintern under Stalin quickly degenerated "into a kept whore of
the Stalinist bureaucracy, applying its policy according to the
changing moods of Kremlin policy. In reality the creation of the
International was not a question of sentiment or convenience, but arose
directly from the objective tasks posed in front of the international
working class."
Milions of workers came out on strike in defence of their pensions. This was the biggest such action for decades. The fight goes on!
