Anti-Stalinist left

The anti-Stalinist left is a term that refers to various kinds of Marxist political movements that oppose Joseph Stalin, Stalinism, Neo-Stalinism and the system of governance that Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1924 and 1953. This term also refers to the high ranking political figures and governmental programs that opposed Joseph Stalin and his form of communism, such as Leon Trotsky and other traditional Marxists within the Left Opposition. In Western historiography, Stalin is considered one of the worst and most notorious figures in modern history.[1][2][3][4]

In recent years, it may also refer to left and centre-left wing opposition to dictatorships, cults of personality, totalitarianism and police states, all being features commonly attributed to Marxist-Leninist regimes that took inspiration from Stalinism such as the regimes of Kim Il Sung, Enver Hoxha and others, including in the former Eastern Bloc.[5][6][7] Some of the notable movements with the anti-Stalinist left have been Trotskyism and Titoism, anarchism and libertarian socialism, left communism and libertarian Marxism, the Right Opposition within the Communist movement, and democratic socialism and social democracy.

  1. ^ Dunn, Dennis J. (1 January 1998). Caught Between Roosevelt & Stalin: America's Ambassadors to Moscow. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 6, 271. ISBN 978-0-8131-7074-9.
  2. ^ Creveld, Martin van (26 August 1999). The Rise and Decline of the State. Cambridge University Press. p. 402. ISBN 978-0-521-65629-0.
  3. ^ Taylor, Jeremy E. (28 January 2021). Visual Histories of Occupation: A Transcultural Dialogue. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-350-14220-6.
  4. ^ Service, Robert (2005). Stalin: A Biography. Harvard University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-674-01697-2.
  5. ^ Dennis H Wrong The American Left and Cuba Archived 23 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine Commentary FEB. 1, 1962
  6. ^ Julius Jacobson Reflections on Fascism and Communism. Socialist Perspectives, Edited by Phyllis Jacobson and Julius Jacobson, 1983.
  7. ^ Samuel Farber, Cuba since the Revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment Archived 23 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2011