Contrary to Furr’s claims Stalin was indeed a dictator.

(See Jean-Jacques Marie’s Stalin and

Vadim Rogovin’s 7 book series Was There an Alternative) Also, there are several examples of
Stalin removing his opponents and packing important positions with his supporters. An example
of this is the replacement of Leon Trotsky with Mikhail Frunze as the People’s Commissar for
Military and Naval Affairs. Another prior to this would be the replacement of Christian
Rakovsky with Vlas Chubar as the Chairman of Council of People’s Commisars of Soviet
Ukraine and the replacement of Ephraim Skylansky as a member of the Military Revolutionary
Committee by Mikhail Frunze. Whatever Furr may contend, Stalin’s actions compromised
revolution in England, China,Spain and France.
(https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2017/10/GORODETSKY/57974) (Diplomacy,From
ideology to realism) (Le Trotskysme et les trotskystes) (The Spanish Revolution – 1931-1939)

Stalin had turned comintern as a mere instrument of the Soviet state’s foreign policy instead of
being an agent of world revolution. Also, Furr has no proof of Trotsky’s supposed collaboration
with militarist Japan and Nazi Germany. Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev’s confessions were
obtained by threats and deception hence they do not constitute any legitimate evidence.
(https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/1937-stalin-year-of-terror-vadim-rogovin/02.html)
(1937 Stalin’s year of Terror) Nikolai Krestinsky’s confession is also invalid as he was tortured
and forced to confess in court. (Rehabilitation. Political Processes of the 30s-50s, the book cites
the testimony of the witness Rosenblum (interrogated in 1956), the former head of the medical
unit of the Lefortovo prison of the NKVD of the USSR, he stated that in the medical unit of the
prison he saw many of those arrested in a serious condition after beatings inflicted on them: “...
Krestinsky was taken to our medical unit in an unconscious state after interrogation. He was
severely beaten, his entire back was a continuous wound, there was not a single living place on
it. As I remember, he lay in the medical unit for three days in a very serious condition”) Also,
Nikolai Bukharin’s family was threatened leading to him “confessing” at the third Moscow Trial.
(Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution)

Most of the old secretaries in the Soviet nomenklatura, including many from the revolutionary
generation (albeit with few exceptions), were purged from February 1938 onwards according to
the historian Oleg Khlevniuk. (Nomenklatura Revolution. Regional Leaders in the USSR in
1936-1939) Stalin, Yezhov and the top brass of the Soviet nomenklatura were responsible for
most of the mass repressions in 1937-38. (Top Down vs. Bottom-up: Regarding the Potential of
Contemporary “Revisionism”) The ban on homosexuality under Stalin also represented a retreat
from the revolutionary fervor and the truly progressive nature of the October revolution which
led to the legalization of homosexuality in 1920. A reason for the ban on abortions was to make
up for the population loss during the 1932-33 famine by increasing the birth rate in the USSR
while as Furr says it’s true that social support for birth giving mothers was introduced. (See
Stalin by Jean-Jacques Marie) Contrary to Furr’s claims the ban on abortions was not caused by
popular demand but was imposed against popular demand. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_J_9LJr0Owk&pp=ygUpbWFyeGlzdCBodW1hbmlzdCBpbml0aWF0aXZlIGxlc2xpZSByaW
1tZWw%3D) Also, USSR under Stalin moved far away from the collective management of
household chores (especially through creches) and eating practices (cafetarias) of its early days
and women under Stalinism had the dual burden of house work and working their jobs.

However, some of the facts Furr mentions are interesting like significant Soviet aid to the
Spanish republic and the falsification of Bukharin’s Last Plea. So are his contentions about Beria
and his death even though Beria was involved in torturing prisoners and repression and Furr’s
attempts to whitewash his image are futile. (Stalin before the pygmy court) Furr’s arguments
about mortality in GULAG camps are also interesting and worthy of consideration till an extent.
He has interesting things to say about the role of Western powers during the Spanish civil war
but falsely labels the Barcelona May Days as a stab in the back for the Spanish republic instead
of a conflict in the Republican camp between revolutionary and reformist forces.
The removal of wage limits (called partmaximum) under Stalinism in 1932 (a fact Furr himself
mentions in one of his lectures) after being increased in 1929, which were introduced in 1921
along with the NEP for communists (Life in Lenin’s Russia) also symbolized the moving away
of USSR from its initial revolutionary goals and its newfound lack of commitment towards social
equality. Furr also foolishly contests the fact that Tukhachevsky’s confession had bloodstains and
was (atleast in part) achieved through torture.

Some of the achievements Furr mentions for the USSR were achieved after Stalin’s death (like
social benefits and pensions being universalized in the USSR) and many were hardly
achievements and some achievements like collectivisation and industrialization came with their
own costs. Also, the revolutions in Vietnam,China, Albania and Yugoslavia had nothing to do
with socialism but were all left nationalist and state capitalist revolutions in communist disguise.

WORKS CITED

Marie, Jean-Jacques. Staline. Fayard. 2001.

Marie, Jean-Jacques. Vivre dans la Russie de Lenine(Life in Lenin’s Russia).Vendemiaire. 2020

Marie, Jean-Jacques. Le Trotskysme et les trotskystes. Armand Colin. 2004.

Emelyanov, Yuri Vasilyevich. Stalin before the pygmy court. Yauza. 2008.

Khlevniuk, Oleg. Nomenklatura Revolution. Regional Leaders in the USSR in 1936-1939.

Khlevniuk, Oleg. Top Down vs. Bottom-up: Regarding the Potential of Contemporary
«Revisionism » . Cahiers du Monde Russe. 2015.

Rehabilitation. Political Processes of the 30s-50s. Ed. Political Literature. 1991.

Rogovin, Vadim. 1937: Stalin’s Year of Terror. Mehring Books. 1998.

Gorodetsky, Gabriel. Diplomacy, From ideology to realism. Le Monde Diplomatique. October
2017.

Broue, Pierre. The Spanish Revolution- 1931-1939. 1973.

Cohen, Stephen Frand. Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution. Oxford University Press. 1980

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_J_9LJr0Owk&pp=ygUpbWFyeGlzdCBodW1hbmlzdCBpbml0aWF0aXZlIGxlc2xpZSByaW
1tZWw%3D