WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!
FOR BOLSHEVISM
INSIDE THE COMMUNIST AND WORKERS’ MOVEMENT
ALL-UNION COMMUNIST PARTY OF BOLSHEVIKS (AUCPB) ВКПБ
NEW! FOR BOLSHEVISM-AUCPB website: http://aucpbenglish website.blogspot .com or google in: for bolshevism-aucpb
No 3 (84) MARCH 2010
DEFEND COMRADES FROM THE ARBITRARINESS OF THE BOURGEOISIE!
Comrades! At a time when the workers are just beginning to organize for the fight for their fundamental interests, the bourgeoisie, confident of impunity for their actions, continue to brazenly attack the rights of workers. Seeing the increasing activity of protest activity of workers, and realizing that in a bourgeois state, money can buy everything – including courts, the representatives of major capital decided to strangle in its infancy, not only all sorts of attempts by workers to defend their rights, but also being able to talk and know the truth.
For already more than half a year has been continuing the trial of the worker, Chairman of the Kirovograd Regional organization of the VSR workers’ union Valery Kovalenko. For an attempt to organize a protest at a factory and distributing leaflets, the owner of the company "Red Star" P. Shtutman filed a lawsuit against this worker for 50 thousand UAH, stating that the distributed leaflets had lies written about the true state of affairs at the plant, and that this information brought material loss to the company.
A similar situation is unfolding at the Kherson machine works. The owner of the plant Oleinik, earlier illegally sacking several hundred people, filed a lawsuit against worker-activist and chairman of the labour collective of the KMW Leonid Nemchonka also accusing him of libel. The fact is that during the press conference dealing with problems at the plant, Leonid Nemchonok quoted the boss talking about impending reductions in the total labour collective and the elimination of the enterprise. Then, under the pressure of workers' actions (the occupying of the plant, rallies, protests, etc.), Oleinik was forced to make concessions and re-employ about 200 people. Now he argues that, speaking about the impending cuts in the labour force, Nemchonok slandered him. And now bourgeois Oleinik is demending from the worker via the court, compensation amounting to 40 thousand UAH and a public apology.
Comrades! We must stop attempts at judicial reprisals against worker-activists who had the courage to confront the owners of factories. This is not simply in order to protect Kovalenko and Nemchonka, it is necessary in order to prevent such actions of the bourgeoisie in the future in relation to other workers.
Only together can we stop the brazen attack by the capitalists!
We call on all progressive organizations, activists and honest people to take part in the campaign of solidarity with Valery Kovalenko and Leonid Nemchonkom.
From the newspaper "The working class” № 44 (483), November 2009
WHAT IS MORE HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC: A HOOD OR A GASMASK?
I am holding a newspaper "2000" (of the “Derzhava” bloc” № 40 (479)). Two articles on the same strip (B6): "Code of Criminal Procedure as a means of inquiry," tells the story of how a detainee was beaten on the head by a CCP booklet in one of the Odessa district police departments, after which he was again beaten (?), and the man confessed. And the second article, "In the grip of democracy" - on torture in U.S. prisons, applied to Islamic terrorists, about "highly scientific and humane torture" perpetrated by the American followers of the SS and Gestapo, since Hitler's Germany: putting on his head a "hood" or "package" or "bag", forcing prisoners to wear diapers and sleep deprivation, eating, etc. Overall - a very ugly picture!
But if you examine all the whole B6 column of the newspaper, in "Derzhava" the impression that it is only the "bad guys" of the Ukrainian police that beat detainees on the head with books, and the "very bad guys" from the CIA and the FBI ... are simply beasts! Many people noticed that the domestic media very modestly describe the whole nightmare that is happening in the dungeons of our enforcement structures. As a rule, journalists separate phrases: "were beaten up", "were beaten on the head", etc. And they never describe in detail what happens to a person held in a police department after his arrest.
I shall breach that criminal modesty and describe what happened to me and my party comrades-accomplice s in a criminal case stitched by the "light" hand of this brutalized country.
I was detained in the evening of Dec. 15, 2002, when I was calmly walking to meet my wife from work. From out of an ordinary "Devyatka" (car) jumped out hefty masked up "Alpha" riot cops and twisted my hands behind my back, simultaneously, my head bent almost to the ground. My spectacles and hat flew onto the Odessa frozen asphalt. They did not throw me onto the ground. Together with the cops, out of the car jumped a well-groomed little man in a mink hat. He slowed down the “Alphas" and so to speak, saved me from the usual violence, which we often see on TV: people lying on the ground face down with hands behind their backs and the riot cops standing over them using their feet to press down the backs and heads of the people lying down.
By the way, there is no operational need for such a procedure for arrest. It's just the normal start of torture - the operation to break down the human will and resistance, humiliation, and preparation for future interrogation.
Thus, the little man in the mink hat saved me from this procedure. But after, everything went along as is in such cases with everyone.
They pulled a black knitted cap over my head and eyes, immediately depriving me the possibility to orient in space and breathe normally, then bundled me into the "Devytka". Again, there was no operational need to hide my face or to stop me seeing where the car was going. I know my home town well, and easily counting the turns and traffic lights, I realized that I was being taken to the USBU (Police Headquarters) of Odessa Region.
I was taken along the inner courtyard and corridors of the monumental building of the SBU, with the cap covering my eyes and handcuffed, occasionally being deliberately bumped into the corners and the door jambs of the building. Again, there was no operational necessity for all these dirty tricks, but psychologically, like any other person falling into their hands, it was necessary for them to break me down and show me that I was helpless and handicapped.
By now, already in the room, after the search and seizure of my belt and laces (also a subtle form of mockery - try walking in trousers falling down and boots falling off, and more-so even when ones hands are handcuffed behind your back!) I was shown a photograph of a beaten, tortured, covered in blood comrade of mine, who was detained two days earlier in Nikolayev. With "kind" smiles, I was told that the same thing would happen, if I did not give the necessary evidence to these non-humans! After that, sad solitary confinement awaited me.
And the next day – the same thing over again - the hat over the eyes, hands in cuffs behind my back. The next stage was to be in Nikolayev. But I did not know this! I was led into the yard and of the SBU and placed like a sack of potatoes, face down, between the seats of a minibus. An "Alpha" sat on a seat and put his feet on me. I guess that was to stop me escaping! Judging from their voices, there were several "Alphas", and they had a lively debate about how they will get nothing out of me, and should be taken to the irrigation fields (there is a marshy place around Odessa near Hadzhibeevskogo Estuary) and shot.
A person with weak nerves, probably, after such threats would have panicked, broken down and began to beg for mercy. But I, at that time, stopped caring. Then came the 2 hour physical torture - lying face down between the seats with hands behind my back and a knitted cap over my face! The awkward position and lack of air had done its work. I started having a heart attack. These Polizei placed me in a normal upright position on the seat of the minibus only after they realized that they would not have driven me away alive. However, no hat over the face or handcuffs were removed. What a "humane", "civilized", "highly scientific" torture!
What is interesting, throughout the journey, these warriors-guards almost all the time were calling by mobile phones some girls, and agreeing about an evening of going to the sauna, having sex and drinking. I was so surprised to hear this then. But later I learned that such talk about sex and vodka and champagne is carried out by the so-called law enforcers for all detainees! So refined, is it not?
You lie there, suffocating, in handcuffs, you were just about to be shot, you do not know where you are been taken, and whether or not you will someday see your wife and mother again – your fate in a complete fog, and then alongside you – you hear about the reckless life of the masters of the situation - vodka, the sauna and female affection ...
Perhaps, this psychological trick makes a shocking impression on many people - they break down, begin to give evidence and to do everything possible to escape from this hell and return to normal life. But this is always self-deception!
After this "jolly exciting" stage I am immediately led to an SBU investigator - Kovalenko. And with a hideous smile I am immediately told that I have relatives that will never see again. Such "news", he has told my wife - saying, that you longer have a husband, and so you can start to look for a lover. And then, shyly casting his little eyes down, Major Kovalenko as a male-satisfactory proposed my wife for himself. What does one call all of this? Torture? Bullying? What is the degree of their "highly scientificness" ? Are there any detailed instructions on carrying out such activities with detainees?
There are many more questions than answers.
But this is only the start of what I described as the "civilized" and "humane" way of torturers, which is how almost every prisoner of the Ukrainian law enforcement system is dealt with.
However, there is sometimes another way of beginning this process.
I was lucky. My comrades detained in the city of Nikolayev on 13.12.2002, were much less fortunate. After they were detained, the "Alpha" men they were immediately taken to the Leninsky ROVD district police department in Nikolayev. What went on in there is very hard for the ordinary law-abiding person man in the street to believe.
Igor Danilov, Oleg Alexeyev, Sergei Berdyugin and Nina Polsky were tortured for more than 3 days. "Tortured" - in the medieval sense of the word, and not in the "humane" – American sense!
Igor Danilov spent three days naked in a cold room without sleep or food. But he did not feel the cold and hunger suspended on scrap metal, lowered down on bent knees and handcuffed. His genitals was periodically connected to a electric current and subjected to electric shock. His head was covered by a gas mask, the air pipe squeezed shut, and then opening it, cotton wool soaked in ammonia brought to the opening of it. He vomited straight into the mask. He repeatedly urinated under the pain of the electric shock torture. Needles were driven under his nail (yes, you heard right!). The executioners - employees of the police department sometimes took a rest from their "work" - Igor Danilov was removed from the scrap metal and thrown naked into a corner of the room. Clothes were not given. He was deprived of sleep. When the executioners- butchers saw that he fell asleep despite the cold, he was beaten, they jumped down on his chest and hands that were still in handcuffs. The result of this "highly scientific" treatment - pleurisy from inhalation of ammoniac vapour, and 7 broken ribs, fragments of which punctured the lungs, wrists chopped to the bone by the handcuffs and terrible dystrophy.
The worst thing was that these freaks in uniform did not hide their actions. Doctors ere allowed in to carry out a medical examination of Igor Danilov. And the doctors (and we need to give them their due), recorded all injuries honestly. These certificates are stored in the volumes of the criminal case (vol .9, p. 161-169-171) . But the court did not pay any attention to this dreadful evidence of torture!
Something similar was carried out on Oleg Alexeyev by police pigs. He himself had to knock out an eye with a pen, and only then, the torture stopped. Sergei Berdyugin died in an Odessa prison cell on 11.01.2003, from the rupture of his liver, which occurred as a result of beatings in a fascist police department. Nina Polsky, a 16-year-old girl, was told she would be raped by the entire district police department, if she refused to confess.
Drobot, the head of the Leninsky district police department in Nikolaev, participated in all these torture orgies, then afterwards, he also a wrote a reply in response to questions regarding this matter from the prosecutor: "Facts concerning complaints of torture have not been confirmed."
The Prosecutors remained calm, the court - too. And the medical report screaming of torture, judge Topolev simply "did not notice”.
It is in the Leninsky district police department in Nikolaev, that the executioners- butchers told Danilov, that the Gestapo and the SS in comparison with them - are children!
All this happened in 2002-2003, during president Kuchma’s rule. Under President Yushchenko nothing has changed, just as no change has taken place with any other president in this power structure, safeguarding the existing system of social relations. And do not be fooled into thinking that these facts - are crimes of separate individual "bad cops" (a few bad apples). No, this system – is a well-oiled mechanism designed to suppress and intimidate the people. The majority of Ukrainian prisoners have passed through torture and humiliation of varying severity. Which social class do they belong to? - All of them belong to the poorest. That's well known to everyone. Millionaires and state officials, are sent to prison in extremely rare cases. They, in this country, have bought a "license" to arbitrariness and impunity!
Therefore, there is no need to describe the diapers and hoods in American prisons. In Ukraine, there is more than enough of this!
But one thing is encouraging - soon the patience of the most patient people in the world will run out, and all these "law enforcers, judges, prosecutors, officials, etc. will be where they belong – hanging from the lampposts.
History has shown this. And everything is being repeated.
Andrei Yakovenko, political prisoner
DEFEAT THE NEO-FASCIST NATIONAL BANDERITE FORCES
The first round of presidential elections in Ukraine is over.
As expected, in the second round, representatives of major capital V. Yanukovych (scored 35.32% of the vote, according to preliminary information by the CEC having worked through 100% electronic protocols by the evening of 19.01.) and Yulia Timoshenko (25.05%).
The next three places were taken by S. Tigipko (13.06%), Yatsenyuk (6.9%) and Yushchenko (5.4%).
The current president of Ukraine (Yushchenko) , having taken fifth place, is now descending from the heights of the Ukrainian political Olympus. Occupying fifth place, the current "guarantor of the Constitution" has showed the complete failure of his anti-people anti-national, anti-Ukrainian policy pursued by him over the last 5 years.
(The following took their places: P. Simonenko - 3.55%, Vladimir Litvin - 2,35%, O. Tyahnybok - 1,43%, Gritsenko - 1,2%, and other 9 candidates gained less than one percent of the vote. 2,2% of the electorate voted against. The turnout was 66,7%, significantly lower than in previous presidential elections).
Leaders in the costs of their election campaign spent the following money: V. Yanukovych and Tymoshenko. Each of them has spent approximately $ 200 million. The total amount spent on the current election campaign, according to the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, in the first round was about $ 800 million with half of that amount spent on the two favorites in the race, Yanukovych and Tymoshenko. Behind them on the scale of costs were followed by A. Yatsenyuk -$ 125 million, S. Tigipko - $ 100 million, and Vladimir Litvin - 90 million.
This confirms our conclusion that the Ukrainian president is chosen by big business and that workers, no matter who becomes president, will continue to be subjected to ruthless exploitation and oppression.
Yanukovych and Timoshenko represent the interests of the two competing clans of the big bourgeoisie and all their promises to combat poverty, to care about the interests of the people, etc. etc., are nothing more than pre-election verbal tinsel, which they will immediately forget, sitting in the coveted presidential seat.
On the side of Yanukovych – are the largest oligarchs, especially the eastern regions of Ukraine. Akhmetov is the richest man in Ukraine (according to the magazine "Focus", for March 2009, the wealth of R. Akhmetov was estimated at 3.68 billion dollars. And he remained the richest man in Ukraine, despite the loss of approximately 10 billion dollars of his pre-crisis wealth); A. and S. Klyuev (356.8 million dollars), B. Khmelnitsky (246.8 million dollars), B. Landyk (195 million), B. Kolesnikov (189.7 million), G. Skudar (120 million), N. Jankowski (83.8 million), B. Horbal (65.2 million) and others, including, according to many political scientists , provide financial support for Viktor Yanukovych, and Dm. Firtash (626.7 million). It is clear that these gentlemen (and there are only the richest of the sponsors of the party of the regions) found no difficulty in providing $ 200 million in support of their candidate.
No less rich sponsors are those of Yulia Timoshenko who hypocritically proclaims that she is fighting against the power of the oligarchs. Namely: K. Zhevago (969,8 million dollars, 5 th in the list of the richest people of Ukraine as of March 2009 according to the magazine "Focus"); V. Haiduk (704.3 million), S. Taruta (673.8 million). T. Vasadze (290.7 million), S. and A. Buriak (194.9 million), and others. Ally to Yulia Timoshenko, VA is Medvedchuk (120.6 million), former head of the Kuchma Presidential Administration. Despite the controversy that arose, many experts believe that some financial support to Yulia Timoshenko has also been given by I. Kolomoysky (2 billion 294 million dollars, the 3rd richest man in Ukraine). So Mrs Tymoshenko is not constrained in the money, just like her competitor. (Of course, it should be borne in mind that many oligarchs provided and support not only their main candidate, but also the so-called technical ones who as previously understood, did not have any chances in reaching the second round, but showed a more or less satisfactory result. It is possible that some oligarchs also assist the two race favorites at the same time, to enlist the support to any of them, no matter who won.).
From this standpoint, our position taken in the first round of elections, was namely, not to take part in these elections, because they do not express the will of the working people of Ukraine, and will further strengthen the power of major capital, no matter who was the winner of the presidential race, and is absolutely correct.
But the second round of the situation began to change.
Even before the first round, eight so-called national-democratic forces, namely, the People's Rukh of Ukraine Boris Tarasyuk, "People's Self-Defense" Yuriy Lutsenko, the Christian Democratic Union, V. Stretovych and similar right-wing and extreme right-wing parties, expressed support in the presidential election for "a single candidate from the democratic forces Yulia Tymoshenko. Workers in Ukraine are well aware that the Democrats are hiding under the guise of the heirs of the Banderites - toadies of the German fascists, traitors, enemies and executioners of the Ukrainian people. It is clear that Tymoshenko will be supported by many voters who voted for Yushchenko (despite the very acute contradictions between Tymoshenko and Yushchenko), O. Tyahnybok, in many ways - Yatsenyuk and Gritsenko. But voters of O. Tyahnybok, are people who vote for the establishment of a Ukrainian neo-fascist order. Of course, the goal of all true patriots of Ukraine - is not to allow to leave in power these orange-Banderite forces, - replacing only leader – i.e. instead of Yushchenko will be Tymoshenko. Moreover, in the midst of the presidential election campaign Yulia Timoshenko set a higher pension for Yuri Shukhevych, the son of Roman Shukhevych, Abwehr officer, commander of the nationalist Banderite UPA (Ukrainian Insurgency Army) which was formed and nurtured by the Nazis. This gesture of Yulia Timoshenko has clearly demonstrated that she will continue (perhaps not in such an open form) to carry out, if elected, the president of Ukraine, the same nationalistic and pro-banderite policy of Yushchenko.
Therefore, we call on all honest people of Ukraine - to take part in the second round on February 7 and vote against Tymoshenko.
It is clear that the vote against Yulia Timoshenko means that we are forced to vote for Yanukovych, a representative of major predatory capital. But, at least, the openly nationalistic pro-banderite policy in Ukraine will be eliminated. There will not be such opposition and smashing of heads btween the working people of western and eastern regions, Catholics and Orthodox Christians, believers and atheists. (Of course, when big business sees that his government faces a real threat, he will do everything possible, including attracting neo-banderitesd to his side to get them to suppress the working class. But to do so, it will be more complicated for the Yanukovich clan representatives to do. Tymoshenko is interwoven with these forces, it they are her natural allies.).
The working class, working people in all regions of Ukraine could then combine their efforts and rise to the decisive struggle for the abolition of the power of capital and the return of their workers’ and peasants’ Soviet power, for the restoration of socialism and the rebirth of the Soviet Union.
A. MAYEVSKY, secretary of the CC AUCPB
------------ --------- --------- --------- -----
CONGRATULATIONS
We congratulate our glorious veterans, all fighters for the revival of the USSR, on the 92-th anniversary of the Soviet Army and Navy. The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the Workers'and Peasants' Red Fleet were formed by decision of V.I. Lenin, in the stormy days of February 1918
Since then, the Soviet Armed Forces, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Lenin, vigilantly stood guard over the achievements of the Great October Socialist Revolution, made a decisive contribution to the defeat of fascism and the liberation of the peoples of occupied Europe from Nazi slavery, and for more than 4 decades after the Great Patriotic War and World War II provided preservation of peace throughout the world.
Currently, the Armed Forces of Russia are a pale shadow of its former might of the Soviet Armed Forces. And the so-called Armed Forces of Ukraine under the leadership of the incompetent Orange Supreme Commander and his predecessors, have been made completely unfit for battle conditions.
However, we do not doubt that the invaluable experience of building the mighty Soviet armed forces and the experience of the invincible Soviet Red Army will necessarily be in demand in the course of the rising class battles.
------------ --------- --------- --------- ------
During the celebration of 130 anniversary of the birth of J.V. Stalin, many party organizations of the AUCPB held scientific-practica l conferences in connection with this date. In her greeting to the organizers and participants of the Moscow conference, held annually by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the AUCPB, N.A. Andreeva underlined "the relevance of the conference on the “Collectivization in the USSR", the importance for an understanding by our contemporaries of the difficult processes of becoming a socialist country under conditions of acute class struggle, and the importance of recognizing by all of us of the deep understanding of Stalin's urgent and pressing need to address them as soon as possible as the greatest issue of any state – the country’s food security - through the collectivization of agricultural production under conditions of socialist ownership, as well as the correctness and optimal use of the ways to solve this most complex problem in the specific historical circumstances.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------
THE BOOK THAT SHARED THE FATE OF STALIN
"A Short Course of the History of the CPSU (b)”
Perhaps, there was not during the years of Soviet power and the Communist Party a book, which would have left such a mark on the life of the party, which the "Short Course of the history of the CPSU (b)” left. And not only in the life of our party, but in the world communist movement, the fate of Communists of the whole world.
Only the "Communist Manifesto", released earlier in the century, can be compared with the "Short Course"... The book, is equal to what was left by Stalin. And the fate of them both ( "Short Course" and Stalin) were largely similar.
"The new powerful ideological weapon of Bolshevism"
The book was published on October 1, 1938 under the editorship of the Central Committee of the Commission of the CC AUCPB (CPSU (b)) and approved by the Central Committee.
In the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) of 14.11.1938 "On the formulation of party propaganda in connection with the issuance of the Short course of the history of the CPSU (b)" states: "... the party received a new powerful ideological weapon of Bolshevism, the encyclopedia of the basic knowledge of Marxism - Leninism. It outlines and summarizes the huge experience of the Communist Party, which had no equal and which no party in the world has. "Short course” is an essential tool in solving the problem of mastering Bolshevism, arming members of the party with Marxist-Leninist theory, i.e. knowledge of the laws of social development and political struggle, a means of raising political vigilance by the party and the Bolsheviks, a means of raising the matter of propaganda of Marxism-Leninism onto the appropriate theoretical level.
The Resolution gave a critical assessment of the state of the ideological- political education of the party of Bolsheviks and non-party Bolsheviks, its forms and methods were criticized and specific tasks were set for propaganda.
"By transforming the attending of study circles into in the obligation for members of the party, considering party members as constant primary school pupils who are unable to self-study Marxism-Leninism – as was noted in the Resolution, - party organizations have resorted to a variety of administrative tricks to attract and retain members of the party in the study circles, have taken the Path micromanagement and regulation of the Communists in study circles ... The study circles have rooted misconceptions and methods inhibiting the ideological and political growth of party members, characterized by the ...driving out from the study circles the method of conversation and comradely lively debate."
Thus: the independent study of Marxism-Leninism, rather than bureaucratic over-organization of this work, conversation and friendly debate, and not school-like methods in Party education - is surely not enough evidence of the truly creative approach of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) towards the order of party propaganda in connection with the publication of the “Short course in the history of the CPSU (b)”.
As a propagandist in the network of party education with more than twenty years of experience, I can witness: in the first years after Stalin's death the party organs aimed propagandists at strict execution of the Decisions of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) about the methods of studying the theory of Marxism-Leninism. Then the first day of study in the network of party education (1 October) was devoted to a discussion of this ruling. Everything changed after the Twentieth Party Congress (February 1956), which had "unmasked" the so-called Stalin personality cult. The Resolution and the “Short Course” were an anathema. My calls at the meetings of propagandists to return to the recommended methods of Party education by the Resolution were qualified by local party ideologues as a defence of the Stalin personality cult condemned by the party.
"The book was formed by its iron methodology"
"Short course" played a crucial role in improving the methods of party propaganda, the study of history and the development of historical science. A year after the “Short Course” some of the results were summed up.
The eminent Soviet historian Professor Alexander Pankratov (later Academician, Chief Editor of "Questions of History") in his article "Short course in the history of the CPSU (b) and historical science in the USSR”, wrote: "Under the influence of continuous communication with the theoretical richness of the “Short course in the History of the Communist Party (b)", among historians, interest and taste for the issues of theory grew, and there existed a need in the formulation and development of new scientific problems and questions of history ... The publication of the “Short Course of the History of the CPSU (b)”, above all, helped to frame the ideological weaponry of Soviet historians, and very sharply and firmly set the task concerning theoretical backwardness of our cadres "(Pravda, 08.09.1939).
According to the All-Union Book Chamber, "Short Course" was published in the Soviet Union in one year in 41 languages amounting to 15 020 900 copies. In addition, it was published in the central and local magazines with a circulation o 2,091.3 thousand copies. Many local publishers published separate chapters of the "Short Course" in tens and hundreds of thousands of copies.
Demand for the book was so great that, bookselling organization required more than 10 million copies. In connection with the release of the “Short Course" and the Resolution of the Central Committee of 14/11/1938, the demand for the classics of Marxism-Leninism increased. Millions of non-Party Bolsheviks of our country took to the study of the foundations of Marxism-Leninism from the original sources - wrote "Pravda". Despite the large spread of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, the publication of them at that time still lagged far behind the huge demand. As of October 1952, “Short Course" in the languages of the USSR had published a circulation of more than 40 million copies.
The reasons for the enormous popularity of the “Short Course” was not only that the appearance of this book met the needs of the time, to the task of improving the methods of party propaganda, but also in what language it was written.
It is a striking fact that I was fortunate to learn from the published in the third issue of the Belarusian magazine "Neman" in 1987 "A Tale For Myself" by Boris Mikulic. The author of "The Tale" was convicted in 1937 on false charges of "counterrevolution" While serving a ten-year sentence, it is clear from his diary, he assesses the injustice carried out without the slightest anger, and does not generalize the negative life events of that time, even in the local system and often wrote respectfully about the man standing for thirty years at the head of the Party and state. After passing the trials of the camp, he kept his honesty, purity of heart and soul, and never lost faith in the correctness of our revolution.
All these qualities are evident in the following striking fact. While serving out his sentence in the camp, depriving himself of tobacco, he bought for 25 rubles the "Short Course" (the price of this book at the time was 5 rubles.) and, as he says, seriously, with a pencil, took to studying, reading, rereading, and underlining and rereading again, and without any extraneous thoughts, the interest keeps growing. “This book, - said Boris Mikulic - "was formed by iron methodology’.
A man wrongly convicted, in the tenth year of serving his sentence, depriving himself of basic necessities, pays five times the price of the book, and, rising above his personal wound, finds in it evidence of his faith in the ideals of the revolution, in the correctness of the path of building socialism chosen by the party and the people.
"Short Course" crosses the border
The best answer to the slanderers of the era of "perestroika" against the "Short Course" are the data contained in the published in Pravda of 9.09.1939 article by the Secretary of the Excecutive Committee of the Comintern, D. Manuilskogo "Short Course" overseas ". This is what was reported in this article.
Since the arrival of the “Short Course” it only took 4-5 months before it was in the main foreign languages. The book was published in 31 foreign languages and in 17 languages with a total circulation of 700 thousand copies. The printed edition is available in 7 languages, and the translation of the book into another 7 languages. The "Short Course" is published in European and many Eastern languages.
Of the printed 700 thousand copies, 500 thousand were sold, which is unusual for the capitalist countries. Thus, in France, the "Short Course" in 4 months 155 thousand copies were sold, where the circulation of the most popular political books rarely reaches 10 thousand copies. Only a few works of outstanding writers of the classics, Zola, Balzac and others reached the circulation, equal to the circulation of the “Short Course”, and even then not in 3-4 months but for 50 years and more.
In the U.S., the Communist Party hoped to distribute 100 thousand copies of the "Short Course". 4 months later, after publication, this figure was exceeded. Preparation for a new edition of 150 thousand copies was underway. In England, the Communist Party believes that the "Short Course" would sell no less than 100 thousand copies that is, 5 times greater than the number of party members. In 5 months, 31 thousand copies were already sold out. In China, the first two editions of the “Short Course” went immediately, and a new edition was now being prepared.
This suggests that the emergence of the Short Course was a major political event in the life of the communist parties of the world labor movement. With the advent of the Short Course an unusually broad interest had grown among the working masses in the theory of Marxism-Leninism, in the classics of Marxism. In some countries, such as in the United States, the demand for the classic Marxist works, primarily on the writings of Lenin and Stalin sharply increased. Success of the "Short Course" became all the more significant that its appearance was greeted by a conspiracy of silence by social democracy organized by the leadership of the II International by their boycotting of the book.
How can it be explained that the "Short Course" caused such a tremendous response in the ranks of the communist movement in the capitalist countries? This book shows the working people of all countries, how the Bolshevik Party led the country from the grip of capitalism and transferred it to the socialist path, and how the peoples of the Soviet Union built in a hostile capitalist encirclement, a new socialist society. That's why the Communist Party, the legal and illegal, mobilized around the "Short Course". In countries such as England, France, USA, Holland, Belgium and other party organizations with great enthusiasm and interest study the "Short Course". The "Short Course" provided the strongest influence on social-democratic parties. In England, France and Sweden the number of Social Democrats, who after reading the "Short Course" apply for the transition to the ranks of the Communist Party increased.
To promote the "Short Course" to the masses, the Communist Party had to break the blockade of the book by bourgeois governments, to break the sabotage of the Social-democratic apparatus which had been doing everything to prevent the spread of the book among the workers.
"Short course" made a great impression on party cadres, turned them into the fire of its propagandists, raised a new wave of love for the USSR and the Communists intensified their compulsive quest to master the theory of Marxism-Leninism.
In countries with reactionary regimes, for the distribution of the “Short Course” Communists are sentenced to death. In these countries, a copy of the book or even a separate chapter rewritten is regarded as a most precious treasure, passing from hand to hand, and are printed on hectograph, typed, copied by hand, and read until the lines and letters are unreadable.
This article was published in September 1939. After three months the American newspaper The Daily Worker wrote: "The Stalinist history of the CPSU (b) is becoming a real guide for the people."
A striking fact from the military biography of the “Short Course”. Writer Boris Polevoy in an article devoted to gifts of Stalin in connection with his 70 th birthday, he wrote: "... here and "A Short course in the History of the CPSU (b) ", was clandestinely published in Albania during the war. In the book – there are bullet holes. The book the unknown Albanian guerrillas wore on his chest until his last hour, and the fascist bullet, penetrating him had pierced the book too"("Pravda" 08,12.1949).
The triumphant march of the “Short Course” across the world continued. In history there has never been a political book with such a happy fate. Here are details on the distribution of the “Short Course" in some foreign countries during the 10 years since its emergence. In France, this book was distributed to a total circulation of about 400 thousand copies.; In Italy - about 300 thousand Nearly one million copies of the book were published in Romania, about 200 thousand - in Czechoslovakia. In Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria a new edition of the book came out ("Pravda", 02/10/1948).
As of October 1952, "Short Course" in foreign countries was published in more than 11 million copies. English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish, Turkish, Iranian, Chinese, Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Czech, Albanian, Mongolian, Romanian, Korean and other languages.
The slanderers of Stalin could not bypass this book
In the “perestroika" years that began from April 1985, this book has taken a significant place in the media campaign waged by anti-Stalinist hysteria and has become the target of attacks not only by historians, but also journalists, writers, - all who formed their political capital on "revelations" of Stalin. Criticism of the “Short Course" had the character of unsubstantiated cries such as "product of the cult of personality" , "Procrustean bed of Stalin's schemes and formulas", "vulgarization of Marxism-Leninism ", etc. There was not a single article, which would have been an attempt to give a detailed proven criticism of the concept of the "Short Course", or of its individual chapters and sections.
Revelations of the enemies – are in Volume III of my book "The case of Stalin – the "criminal" and his defence."
I.T. Shekhovtsov, historian and propagandist, Kharkov
KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION (KFA)
The Korean Friendship Association( KFA) was founded in November 2000 with the purpose of building international ties with the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.It has several thousand members from 120 different countries.
The KFA has full recognition from the government of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and is the world-wide leading organisation of its supporters.
The KFA recieves official information from Pyongyang and is in contact with the Korean Committee For Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the Korean Commitee For Solidarity with the World People.
The Main Objectives of the KFA are:
Show the reality of the DPR Korea to the world
Defend the independence and socialist construction in the DPR of Korea
Learn from the culture and history of the Korean People
Work for the peaceful unification of the Korean peninsula
Comrade Kim Jong Il leader of the Korean people said
“our Republic has been established and developed as a genuine country of the people, as a Juche-oriented socialist country, the first of its kind in history, and our people, who were oppressed and maltreated for centuries, have become able to enjoy, in the embrace of the Republic, the pride and happiness of a genuine life in which they exercise full rights as masters of the State and society.....
Our Republic, which incorporates the great Juche idea in its State building and State activities, is a people-centered socialist country in which the people are regarded as God, an independent socialist State with a strong Juche character and national identity, and an invincible socialist power that prevails over any enemy, however formidable”
DEFEND THE DPRK!
JOIN THE KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION
WWW.KOREA-DPR. COM
EMAIL KOREA@KOREA- DPR.COM OR UK@KOREA-DPR. COM
Supporters of the AUCPB (All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks) can visit the FOR BOLSHEVISM-AUCPB website at http://aucpbenglish website.blogspot .com
Join the online supporters group / discussion forum For BolshevismAUCPB by e-mail at http://uk.groups. yahoo.com/ group/ForBolshev ismAUCPB
or email: zabolsh@yahoo. co.uk
Russian AUCPB website address: vkpb.ru
FIGHTING FUND – Comrades and Supporters of the AUCPB and Subscribers to "FOR BOLSHEVISM INSIDE THE COMMUNIST AND WORKERS' MOVEMENT" and other material of the AUCPB, please make a donation towards the further publication of AUCPB material translated into English from Russian by sending donations to our fighting fund account "FOR SOLIDARITY WITH WORKERS OF THE EX-USSR" sort code 30-93-60, Account Number: 02312361 (Lloyds TSB).
Many thanks to all our comrades and supporters for their material support!
