The article focuses on the counter-revolutionary role of Stalinism during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). It argues that the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union, through its influence on the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) and the Comintern, actively undermined the revolutionary potential of the Spanish working class and peasantry.
The article contends that rather than supporting a socialist revolution, the Stalinists prioritized maintaining an alliance with bourgeois Republican forces against Franco’s fascist rebellion. This strategy involved suppressing revolutionary initiatives, such as the collectivization of land and factories by workers and peasants, and persecuting Trotskyists and other revolutionary elements who advocated for proletarian power.
The PCE, under the direction of Moscow, consolidated its power through political assassinations, propaganda, and control over military supplies from the Soviet Union. They targeted the POUM (Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification), an anti-Stalinist Marxist party, framing them as fascist agents to justify their liquidation.
The article emphasizes that the Stalinist policies ultimately demoralized the revolutionary forces, weakened the Republican war effort, and paved the way for Franco’s victory. The counter-revolution led by the Stalinists crushed the revolutionary aspirations of the Spanish workers and peasants. The article highlights the tragic consequences of Stalinism in suppressing a revolutionary movement to preserve a strategic alliance with capitalist powers.
find the original article here: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/09/26/opjp-s26.html