Modernize or Perish ~ Joseph Stalin

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_Modernizeor Perish
Joseph stalin (1879-1953) was the communisr leader who made rhe Soviet
Union into a superpower, He was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in
Trans-caucasus Georgia. A rebel from childhood, he was one of Lenin's favored professional revolurionaries, trained in the tough schools of underground agitation, tsarist prisons, and Siberian exile, Unscrupulous, energetic,
and endowed with a keen nose for the realitiec of power within the parry and
the country as a whole, stalin surpassed hir politicd rivds in strength of will
and organizational astuteness. After he was appoinred s€cretnry-general of
the
communist parry (rhen considered a minor post) in 1922, he concenrrared
on
building' amid the disorganizatioo causedby war, revolution, and civil war,
4n
effective party organizarion adapted to the temper of che Russian people.
with
rhis strucrure's help, he established himself as Lenin's successor.stalin, more
powerful and more ruthless than Lenin, was determined to force
his counrry to
overcome rhe economic and polirical weakness that had led ro defeat and
ruin
in 1917. After Lenin's death, stalin preached the ,.Leninist style of
work,,,
which combined "Russian revolutionary sweep" with ,,Arnerican efficiency.,'
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JosephStalin
THE HARD LINE
Firmly entrenched in power by rg29, stalin started a second revorution (cailed
rhe stalin revolution), mobilizing at top speed the potential of the counrry,
however limired the human and material resources available, whatever
the
obstacles, and whatever the human price. The alternative, he was sure, wzul
foreign domination that would totalry destroy his country,s independence.
In
this spirit, he addressed a gathering of industrial managers in 1931, alking
to thern not in Marxist-Leninist jargon, bur in terms of hardJine Russian
nationalism.
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k is sometirnesaskedwherher it is nor possible.
co slow down the temPo a bic, ro pur a check
on rhe rnovemeot. No, comrades,ic is not possible! The cemPornust not be reduced!On rhe
contrary we must increase it as much as is
wirhin our powers and possibiliries.This is
dictared ro us by our obligations to the workers and peasantsof the U'S.S.R. This is dicrated to us by our obligarions to the working
classof rhe whole world.
To slacken the tempo would mean falling
behind. And chosewho fall behind get bearen'
But we do not want to be beaten.No, we refuse
ro be bearen!One feature of the history of old
Russia was che continual beatings she suffered
for falling behind, for her backwardness'She
was bearen by the Mongol Khans. She was
beaten by the Turkish beys' She was beaten by
rhe Swedish feudal lords. She was beaten by
the Polish and Lithuanian genrry. She was
beaten by rhe British and French capitalists'
She was beaten by the Japanesebarons. All
beac her-for her backwardness:for military
capiralisrn and power is in rhe hands of rhe
working class, we have a farherland, and we
will defend irs independence.Do you want our
socialisrfathedand ro be beatenand to lose its
independence?If you do nor want this you
must pur an end to its backwardnessin rhe
shorrest possible rime and develop genuine
Bolshevik rempo in building up its socialist
systemof economy.There is no other way.Thar
is why Lenin said during the Ocrober Revolurion: "Either perish, or overtake and ourstrip
rhe advancedcapialist counrries."
\We are fifry or a hundred years behind rhe
advancedcountries. rVe musr make good this
disrance in ten years.Eicher we do it, or they
crush us.
This is whar our obligations to the workers
and peasanrsof the U.S.S.R.dictate ro us.
backwardness, tbr cultural backwardness, for
polirical backwardness, for indusrrial backwardness, for agricultural backwardness.She
was bearenbecauseto do so was profimble and
could be done wirh irnpunity' Do you remember the words of che pre-revolurionary poet
[Nikolai NekrassovJ:"You are poor and abundanr, mighry and impotent, Mother Russia."
Thesewords of rhe old poet were well learned
by those gentlemen. They beat her, saying:
"You are abundant," so one can enrich oneself
ar your expense.They beac her, saying: "You
are poor and impotenr," so you can be bearen
and plundered wirh impuniry. Such is the law
of rhe exploigsls-gq bear rhe backward and
rhe weak. Ir is the iungie law of capiralism.
You are backward, you are q/sak-gh6ssf636
you are wrong; hence, you can be beaten and
enslaved.You are mighry-cherefore you are
right; hence,we must be wary of you.
That is why we musr no longer lag behind.
In the pasr we had no fatherland, nor could
we have one. But now rhat we haveoverthrown
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