Storia del partito comunista (bolscevico) dell'URSS

by Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Mikhail Kalinin

Joseph Stalin's history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, first published in 1938. Colloquially known as "the Short Course," it was the most widely disseminated book during the reign of Joseph Stalin. It's commonly cited along with "The Foundations of Leninism" as the most important work expressing the ideology of the USSR under Stalin. The original Russian edition was sold at a price equivalent to that of 1.5 liters of milk.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Russia, Philosophy

413 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Joseph Stalin, originally Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, was a Soviet revolutionary, politician and statesman who became the leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941–1953).

Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he consolidated power to become an informal dictator by the 1930s. Ideologically adhering to the Leninist interpretation of Marxism, he formalised these ideas as Marxism–Leninism, while his own policies are called Stalinism.

Reviews

[Andrew Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very difficult Soviet classic to rate. My studies and experience in social struggles causes me to continue to reject the bourgeois claim that socialism is a false ideological turn and to continue with renewed urgency to reject the incredible contention that capitalism is "working for the people".

To the text itself - On the one hand "The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): Short Course" as an unapologetic propaganda text, its stated aim is to show the Soviet social and economic conquests over the exploiters. So the text highlights real Soviet social and economic achievements the Western nations have yet to achieve in citizen literacy, a social equality where there actually existed a relative equality of Soviet citizens,the decisive role of the Soviet state in the struggle against imperialism, in liberation from clerical paternal landlordism. Its peace policy also put a breaking force against imperialism’s tendency to military aggression; provided universal access to all levels of education K-postgrad,etc.

At the same time it contains a schematic telling of the history of the CPSU's achievements that omits the deficiencies and anti-democratic errors of the era of Stalin, viz, the failure to maintain the independent democratic character of Soviet trade unions as the self-defence organisations of Soviet workers; the Soviet Party's merging with the state functions; the violations of socialist legality against innocents by administrative methods; and the erosion of true and real inner-party democracy.

So read the text for what it is and attempt to investigate on your own the Soviet experience with all its conquests and deficiencies.

[Chet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't been too active on Goodreads lately cus I've been chunking my way through several longer books. This was one of them. It's still the authoritative entry on Bolshevik history despite endless (and sloppy) academic attenpts to undermine that status. Thankfully uncompromising scholars such as Grover Furr have helped cement this text's reputation for a 21st century readership. Historical Communism is in the process of being vindicated. Patience comrades.

[Deepak Raja Nadarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was suggested by one of a writer(Dima Vorobiev) who I follow on Quora in his blog(https://dimavorobiev.com/author/ru/pa...)
The book has all you would expect from a propaganda book. If I did not start with the knowledge that it is a propaganda book, it may have actually convince me about the goodness of Marxist socialism. Anyway, I found it interesting. It gave insights into the thinking of Lenin and Stalin during the period of revolution and how they viewed their enemies within the party and outside of it. But as mentioned by Dima in the blog, the correct way of reading it is:
1) Dismiss all theorizing, build a timeline with factual events placed on it
2) Assume that everything mentioned in the book really happened
3) Assume that everything written about every particular event is a lie
4) Build a hypothesis of what exactly is misrepresented and formulate an assumption for why Communists lied about the event and the people involved in it.
5) Test your assumption, reading any other contemporary book of your choice.

[Sinan Öner]

Soviet Georgian Leader Joseph Stalin's "History of the Communist Party of Soviet Union" is one of the best histories of Soviet Communist Party between 1900 and 1950. Stalin tells the story of the formation of Communist Party leaving from Russia Social Democrat Worker Party by Lenin and the Soviet October Revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party of Lenin. Stalin wrote about the structure of the Communist Party in history, Stalin explains the Leninist party model and "democratic centralism" in the Communist Party of Soviet Union. Stalin defines the Communist Party of Soviet Union in detail and Stalin thinks for the Communist Party of Soviet Union in the history of Soviet Revolution.

[Sinan Öner]

President Joseph Stalin's "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)" is one of the best books about the history of Russian-Soviet Communism! Stalin's history bases on the studying on the written documents which relates with concrete, material facts of Russian-Soviet history since the foundation of Russia Social Democrat Labour Party under the leadership of Plehanov, Lenin, Martov, others in 1902 Congress to the Bolshevik Coalition after the 1917 Soviet October Revolution. Stalin writes the story of Bolshevik Party objectively - in the conditions of the world of 20. Century. Stalin's history is the best table of Soviet Bolshevism. It is possible to learn one of the causes of Soviet victory of 2. World War in 1945 with the President Stalin's "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)" - the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was one of the winner leaders of war.

[Gonzalo Rozas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro que explica en parte la historia de Rusia y el PC(b)URSS. A pesar de ser un texto histórico en el sentido de contar la historia de, también es histórico porque es fil reflejo de un momento determinado, el momento de lucha del estalinismo contra el trostkismo. A pesar de aquello, pareciera ser más un libro propagandistico que uno de historia.

Buena lectura.

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manual historiográfico de acción hacia el progreso

[Timothy Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fundamental text on the history of the Russian Revolution and the early Soviet Union. Extremely detailed, and I highly recommend it to anybody who is interested in the nuances of Russian political movements in the early 20th century.

[Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is indeed lengthy, but it is a great read for anyone who is interested in this topic and time. Stalin accurately discusses history and theory, and I did not notice any mistakes committed by him. It was absolutely outstanding, and I saved many many quotes from it.

[Odhran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting insight into what the Bolshevik Party was thinking in 1938. Interesting to see the retroactive justification of the purges.