OscailtW.E.B. Du Bois and the Fight over His U.S. MemorialAn Anarchist Contribution to African-American History Month2015-02-17T08:04:44+08:00Anarkismoanarkismoeditors@lists.riseup.nethttp://www.anarkismo.net/atomfullposts?story_id=27840http://www.anarkismo.net/graphics/feedlogo.gifWEB DuBois and Stalinismhttp://www.anarkismo.net/article/27840#comment158642015-02-17T08:04:44+08:00Wayne PriceA friend has criticized this essay as downplaying too much Du Bois' later attach...A friend has criticized this essay as downplaying too much Du Bois' later attachment to Stalinism. I tried to present a balanced approach. There is no question that at the end of his years he became an all-out supporter of "Communism," even if he did not agree with everything the Communist Parties advocated. (He continued to reject the idea of a "Black Belt Nation, " a separate country for African-Americans in the US South, long raised by the Communists.) <br />
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In 1953, on the death of Stalin, he wrote (in the National Guardian): "Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He ...knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate." (Marxist Internet Archives)<br />
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That this was a completely false image of Stalin is irrelevant. But like the rest of the review, it left out the key political issues, such as Stalin's solidifying a totalitarian police state and state capitalist economy, through mass murder of millions of workers and peasants. The key problem, to repeat, was not so much Du Bois' misunderstanding of the Soviet Union but his authoritarian view of socialism. This does not challenge my positive view of his overall contributions through the course of his long life.