Stalinism: Its Origin and Future. Andy Blunden 1993
This third volume in the series has brought us to the mid-1980s when Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the leadership of the Soviet Communist Party.
We have seen that by this time the international Communist movement had completely disintegrated. There was no longer an “international movement” as such at all. In most countries of the world where the Communist Party was not in power, it was either quite marginalised or was simply playing the role of a second Social Democratic Party. In the Philippines and South Africa and some other countries, the Communist Parties still led significant popular movements against the right-wing dictatorships in their countries. But nowhere was there any real prospect of a new overthrow.
There had been “trouble” in Poland, but at this time Jaruzelski appeared to be quite firmly in control. Elsewhere in the Stalinist bloc, the Stalinist governments appeared to be absolutely firmly in command. Opposition had been completely eradicated. All attempts by imperialism to sabotage or foster counter-revolutions had come to absolutely nought. From time to time, crises would lead to a reshuffle of the leading clique, but the system itself never seemed to be under any kind of threat.
Astute observers of events in the Soviet Union were excited by the election of Gorbachev. Some people foresaw a modernisation and a real liberalisation as possible in the Soviet Union. Even in China there were signs of a mild thaw. Such signs of positive change under progressive Stalinist leaderships were of course the most positive possible signs that Stalinism was here to stay.
Almost no-one foresaw what was to transpire in 1989 - 91.
In the fourth volume of this series we will trace the conditions and events which led to the collapse of the Stalinist states in Eastern Europe and of the USSR, and the restoration of capitalism in China under Communist Party rule.