Calcutta Remembers Stalin With great Reverence


With due solemnity, the 51st death anniversary of Comrade Stalin, the great leader of the proletariat was observed on 5th March, 2004. To commemorate the occasion a meeting was organized at the University Institute Hall, Calcutta which was presided over by Comrade Manik Mukherjee, member of West Bengal Secretariat and Central Staff. Comrade Provash Ghosh, member, central committee and Secretary, West Bengal State Committee was the main speaker. Also seated on the dais were Comrades Anil Sen, Sukomol Dasgupta and Asit Bhattacharyya, all central committee members.
At the outset of his speech, Comrade Provash Ghosh said, on this day the teachings and contributions of Comrade Stalin are remembered with reverence all over the world from Russia, China to East Europe, Latin America and Asia. He was held in high esteem not only by the communist revolutionaries but even great humanists of his time like Romain Rolland, Bernard Shaw, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindra Nath Tagore, H. G. Wells and others.
Comrade Provash Ghosh, inter alia, said that it was Stalin who led Russia from a backward to an industrially advanced country, where each and everyone was guaranteed a job, as well as education and medical benefits, free of cost.
In the newly framed constitution of 1936, known as ‘‘Stalin Constitution’’, the ‘right to recall’ was introduced, whereby an elected representative could be called back from power by the people if he fails to discharge his duties. This was referred to by Romain Rolland as the proper realization of the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity, for the first time.
Again, in the backdrop of the Second World War, which involved Britain, France, America together conspiring to destroy Russia through Germany, while the people of the world were apprehensive about the protection of the Soviet Union, it was Stalin who led the Red Army and the people to its victory against Hitler, who invaded Russia and was drawing nearer to Moscow. Turning down requests to leave Moscow in the face of impending danger, Stalin served as a living inspiration to the Red Army and the people in the battle.
Comrade Ghosh also said, Stalin’s name was interlinked with each and every movement against imperialism, fascism, war and so also in support of peace. This is why, reactionaries looked upon him with apprehension and aided and abetted by revisionists, tried, though in vain, to tarnish the glorious image of Stalin in their attempt to resist revolutionary movement in the world.
Comrade Provash Ghosh then reiterated what the great Marxist thinker Comrade Shibdas Ghosh had taught us when he showed that allegations of personality cult were wrongly posed against Stalin. Stalin hated self-propaganda. It was the low level of consciousness of workers which turned their respect for Stalin to individual worship which he never wanted.
Right back in 1956, when revisionist Khrushchev leadership started its slandering against Stalin in the name of fighting personality cult of Stalin, Comrade Shibdas Ghosh had forewarned that demeaning Stalin’s leadership would mean denouncing authority itself in communist movement and would invariably pave the way for revisionism. This has been proved pathetically to be true.
Sometime before his death Stalin had observed that lack of ideological struggle would cause irreparable damage to the party and revolution. In Russia, during war, ideological struggle was neglected and the harm was done. However, socialism being the only option, people in Russia within a few years after the fall of socialism, are again out on the streets with portraits of Lenin and Stalin. Waves of working class movement are surging up in many other countries of the world, reverberating with slogans like ‘‘Down with imperialism’’. Comrade Provash Ghosh went on to assure that Marxism being science can never be destroyed and the downfall of the Soviet Union does not prove that Marxism is futile. Socialism which changes the age-long history of exploitation may take time for a final victory. But working class will inevitably bring about revolution. In our country, too, revolutionary movement will have to be developed, enriched with teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and also with the guideline provided by Comrade Shibdas Ghosh on the basis of applying their teachings on Indian soil. The more our party will gain in strength, the better will it serve the cause of world revolution. In paying homage to Stalin, this is the pledge we should take today.
In his presidential address, Comrade Manik Mukherjee pointed out that the character of a great communist leader like Stalin cannot be properly assessed by humanist outlook. Communist ethics has to be acquired. He said Stalin was a person to whom nothing was dearer than revolution, socialism and party of the proletariat.
The meeting ended with the ‘‘Internationale’’.