JV Stalin pamphlets, compilations, articles, correspondence and commentaries

Towards Economic Abundance!

Towards Economic Abundance!

More on the USSR

The Great ‘Marxist-Leninist’ Theoreticians

JV Stalin pamphlets, compilations, articles, correspondence and commentaries

A more comprehensive collection of the writings of Comrade Stalin can be found at JV Stalin – Collected Works and more about his life at JV Stalin – Biographies, Reminiscences and Appraisals.

An Interview with the German Author Emil Ludwig, December 13, 1931, (Moscow, 1932), 22 pages.

Problems of Leninism, International Publishers, New York, 1934, 95 pages. An early edition of the pamphlet that is generally known as ‘Foundations of Leninism’.

Marxism vs. Liberalism, an interview by H.G. Wells, July 23, 1934. (NY, New Century Publishers, September 1945), 28 pages.

Letter from Stalin to G. Apresov, Council General in Urumqi, Xinjiang, July 27, 1934, in which Stalin strongly criticizes Sheng Shical, the Governor of Xinjiang, as a ‘provocateur or a hopeless ‘leftist”. Includes original handwritten letter by Stalin. (Wilson Center), 6 pages.

Shaw on Stalin, Russia Today Society, London, 1941, 11 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on Propaganda, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1942, 32 pages.

On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, FLPH, Moscow, 1944, 180 pages.

On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto, 2025, 167 pages.

Marxism and the National Question, (Moscow, FLPH, 1945), 80 pages.

Problems of Leninism, FLPH, Moscow, 1945, 642 pages.

War Speeches – Orders of the Day and Answers to Foreign Press Correspondents during the Great Patriotic War, July 3rd, 1941 – June 22nd 1945, (London, Hutchinson, 1945), 140 pages.

On the Draft Constitution of the USSR – Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the USSR, (Moscow, FLPH, 1945), 86 pages.

On the Draft Constitution of the USSR – Constitutional (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, (Moscow, FLPH, 1950), 130 pages.

Political Report of the Central Committee to the 14th Congress of the CPSU(B), December 18, 1925, FLPH, Moscow, 1950, 176 pages.

Political Report of the Central Committee to the 15th Congress of the CPSU(B), December 3, 1927, FLPH, Moscow, 1950, 144 pages.

The October Revolution and the tactics of the Russian Communists, Preface to the book ‘On the road to October’, FLPH, Moscow, 1950, 67 pages.

Political Report of the Central Committee to the 16th Congress of the CPSU(B), June 27, 1930, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 191 pages.

Report to the Seventeenth Congress of the CPSU(B) on the work of the Central Committee, January 26, 1934, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 131 pages.

On China: Writings from November 1926 to August 1927, (Bombay, Feb. 1951), 114 pages.

Report to the Eighteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.) on the Work of the Central Committee, March 10, 1939. (Moscow, FLPH, 1951), 108 pages.

J.V. Stalin replies to Pravda correspondent on the atomic weapon, Soviet News, London, 1951, 4 pages.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, (Moscow, FLPH, 1951), 56 pages.

Anarchism or Socialism, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 107 pages.

Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, (Moscow, FLPH, 1952), 104 pages.

The law of value under Socialism, from Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, pp18-24

Speech at the 19th Party Congress, October 14, 1952, (Moscow, FLPH, 1952), 20 pages. One of the last public speeches and appearances before his death in March 1953.

Anarchism or Socialism?, (NY, International, 1953), 64 pages.

Five Conversations with Soviet Economists 1941-1952, np., nd., 21 pages.

Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, FLPH, Moscow, 1953, 106 pages.

Marxism and the National Question, FLPH, Moscow, 1954, 115 pages.

Prospects of the Revolution in China, Speech delivered in the Chinese Commission of the ECCI, November 30 1926, with Questions of the Chinese Revolution, Thesis for Propagandists, approved by the CC of the CPSU (B), (Moscow, FLPH, 1955), 100 pages.

Correspondence between the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidents of the USA and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain the Great Patriotic War of 1941 – 1945, Volume 1, Correspondence with Winston S Churchill and Clement R Atlee, (July 1941 – November 1945), (Moscow, Progress, 1957), 403 pages.

Correspondence between the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidents of the USA and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain the Great Patriotic War of 1941 – 1945, Volume 2, Correspondence with Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry S Truman, (August 1941 – December 1945), (Moscow, Progress, 1957), 291 pages.

On Stalin’s ‘Economic Problems’ – Part 1, (Dublin, ICO, 1969), 40 pages. Irish Communist Organisation Pamphlet.

Marxism and Market Socialism – On Stalin’s ‘Economic Problems’ – Part 2, (Dublin, ICO, 1969), 92 pages. Irish Communist Organisation Pamphlet No 16.

Notes and corrections to Marxism and Market Socialism.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, (Dublin, Irish Communist Organisation, 1970), 44 pages.

Stalin on Trotsky, Connolly Books, Cork, 1970, 30 pages.

Foundations of Leninism, International Publishers, New York, 1970, 127 pages.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), 1972, 28 pages.

On the Personality Cult, (Dublin, ICO, 1971), 12 pages.

Marxism and Problems of Linguistics, (Peking, FLP, 1972), 55 pages.

Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, (Peking, FLP, 1972), 101 pages. This is an almost exact reproduction of the Moscow, FLPH version published in 1952 (see above). The only difference is that this version has a couple of pages of Notes.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, International Publishers, New York, 1972, 48 pages.

The essential Stalin, major theoretical writings 1905-1952, edited and with an introduction by Bruce Franklin, Croom Helm, London, 1973, 511 pages.

On Organization, (Calcutta, New Book Centre, 1974), 56 pages. 4 articles. On problems of Organisational Leadership; Cadres decide everything; Selection, promotion and Allocation of Cadres; On Practical Work. Plus 2 Appendices, one by LM Kaganovich and one by G Dimitrov.

The Foundations of Leninism, (Peking, FLP, 1975), 128 pages. Lectures delivered at the Sverdlov University.

Principles of Party Organization, (Calcutta, Mass Publications, 1975), 47 pages. Thesis on the Organization and Structure of Communist Parties, adopted at the Third Congress of the Communist International in 1921. It was on this basis of this thesis that JV Stalin based his lectures reproduced in ‘The Foundations of Leninism’.

Stalin’s Speeches on the American Communist Party, (San Francisco, Proletarian Publishers, 1975), 39 pages. 3 articles. Speech delivered in the American Commission of the Presidium of the ECCI (May 6, 1929). Speech delivered in the Presidium of the ECCI on the American Question (May 14, 1929). Second Speech delivered at the Presidium of the ECCI on the American Question (May 14, 1929).

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, Mass Publications, Calcutta, 1975, 40 pages.

Stalin on Lenin, FLPH, Moscow, 1939, reprint by Red Star Press, London, 1975, 68 pages.

On October Revolution, (Calcutta, Mass Publications, 1976), 107 pages.

Lenin, (Peking, FLP, 1977), 56 pages.

Mastering Bolshevism, Speech to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, March 3, 1937. 19 pages.

The Stalin Question, (Calcutta, Kathashilpa, 1979), 400 pages. An Anthology on the question of Stalin. Edited by Banbehari Chakrabarty. ‘Brings together most of the relevant materials – adequately prefaced and annotated – highlighting the basic aspects of the question as reflected in the writings of Lenin, Mao, Khrushchev, Voroshilov, Zhukov, Togliatti, Tito, Garaudy, Hoxha, Trotsky and Stalin.’

Stalin on The October Revolution, Socialism and Industry, the Cold War, Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), London, 1982, 24 pages.

My Dear Mr Stalin – the complete correspondence between Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph V Stalin, ( New Haven, Yale, 2005), 382 pages.

Compilation from ‘Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR’, directdemocracy4u.org, 2009, 158 pages.

The Kremlin Letters, Stalin’s Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt, edited by David Reynolds and Vladimir Pechatnov, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2018, 693 pages.

Anarchism or Socialism and Trotskyism or Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2020, 152 pages.

Stalin’s Works – an annotated bibliography, compiled by Robert H McNeal, Hoover Institution, n..d, 197 pages.

Dialectical and historical materialism, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto, 2022, 63 pages.

Economic problems of Socialism in the USSR, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto, 2022, 123 pages.

JV Stalin – Last writings, 1946-1953, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa, 2024, 746 pages.

JV Stalin, Selected works, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa, 2023, 769 pages.

Letters to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto, 2022, 88 pages.

Compilations from the works of JV Stalin with other great Marxists

From the First to the Second Five-Year Plan, a Symposium, J Stalin, V Molotov, L Kaganovich, K Voroshilov and others, Co-operative Publishing Society of Foreign Workers in the USSR, Moscow, 1933, 490 pages.

A Handbook of Marxism, with selections from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1935, 1082 pages,

Strategy and Tactics of the Proletarian Revolution, (N.Y., International, 1936), 95 pages. Consists of a series of brief extracts mostly from the works of Lenin, Stalin and from some reports of the Comintern.

The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, articles and extracts from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, compiled and arranged by V. Bystryansky and M. Mishin, ‘Readings in Leninism’ series, (NY: International, 1936), 132 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on Youth, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1940), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty One, 48 pages.

Ten Classics of Marxism, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1940, 785 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on The State, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1942), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty Three, 48 pages.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, edited by LL Sharkey and S Moston, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, 1945, 152 pages.

Selections from V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin on the National and Colonial Question, (Calcutta, 1970), 244 pages.

Marxism and the Liberation of Women, Quotations from Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, VI Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, Union of Women for Liberation, London, n.d., mid-1970s?, 64 pages. Includes a statement of aims of the Union of Women for Liberation.

Marx, Engels and Lenin: On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, a collection of quotations, (Peking: FLP, 1975), 52 pages. (Some underlining.) This collection also appeared in Peking Review on February 28, 1975.

The Woman Question, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1977, 96 pages.

On the Communist Press, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tsetung, Canadian Communist League (Marxist-Leninist), n.d., 200 pages.

Last letters and articles of VI Lenin and On Lenin by JV Stalin, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa, 2022, 152 pages.

V.I. Lenin and J.V. Stalin, Marxism and Revisionism, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto, 2022, 119 pages.

In Spanish

El Marxismo y los Problemas de la Linguistica, (Peking, FLP, 1976), 55 pages.

The Death of Stalin

The Death of Stalin – An investigation by ‘Monitor’, (London, Allan Wingate, 1958), 144 pages. This is a strange one. I assume, but am not definite, that this was a publication of the Christian Science Monitor organisation. It’s certainly not a ‘pro-Stalin’ nor pro-Soviet approach towards the death of JV Stalin. However, the conclusion that Stalin was almost certainly murdered is interesting. Or one of the earlier ‘conspiracy theories’?

About Stalin

Stalin’s Library – a dictator and his books, Geoffrey Roberts, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2022, 259 pages.

Stalin and the struggle for democratic reform – Part 1, Grover Furr, Cultural Logic, 2005, 31 pages.

Stalin and the struggle for democratic reform – Part 2, Grover Furr, Cultural Logic, 2005, 17 pages.

 

More on the USSR

The Great ‘Marxist-Leninist’ Theoreticians

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – individual works, compilations, biographies – including earlier Collected and Selected editions

Lenin in the Smolny

Lenin in the Smolny

More on the USSR

The Great ‘Marxist-Leninist’ Theoreticians

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin – individual works, compilations, biographies and including earlier Collected and Selected editions

This page will include individual pamphlets of the works of VI Lenin as well as a more information about his life and work. Available elsewhere on the site are the Collected Works – a total of 47 volumes – which is the most extensive resource in the English language of the ideas of the leader of the Bolshevik Party and the first Socialist State.

(This is an on going project and other material will be added as and when it becomes available in a digital format. If you are after a particular pamphlet and it is not here at the moment then it might appear in the future.)

Collected and Selected Works

Collected Works of V. I. Lenin, 1930s International Publishers Edition, New York,

Volume 13, Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, 1927, 347 pages.

Volume 18, The Imperialist War, 1930, 499 pages.

Volume 21, Book 1, Toward the Seizure of Power, 1932, 305 pages.

Volume 21, Book 2, Toward the Seizure of Power, 1932, 353 pages.

VI Lenin: Selected Works, in 12 volumes, International Publishers, New York, late 1930s, arranged by period and by topic.

Although the later 45-volume Collected Works is more complete and more carefully prepared, this earlier set provides alternate translations which may be helpful in some cases. Plus, this set may facilitate identifying references to Lenin’s specific writings which point to these volumes. Further to that they were also produced at a time when the Soviet Union was following the Socialist Road and the translations were not subject to a Revisionist interpretation, which is the possibility with the versions published in the 1970s.

Volume 1: The Prerequisites of the Russian Revolution (1891-1899), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 564 pages.

Volume 2: The Struggle for the Bolshevik Party (1900-1904), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 587 pages.

Volume 3: The Revolution of 1905-1907, International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 649 pages.

Volume 4: The Years of Reaction and of the New Revival (1908-1914), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 465 pages.

Volume 5: Imperialism and Imperialist War (1914-1917), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 409 pages.

Volume 6: From the Bourgeois Revolution to the Proletarian Revolution (1917), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 679 pages.

Volume 7: After the Seizure of Power (1917-18), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 535 pages. Different scan, Volume 7: After the Seizure of Power (1917-18), Lawrence & Wishart, London, 1936, 536 pages.

Volume 8: The Period of War Communism (1918-1920), International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 473 pages.

Volume 9: New Economic Policy; Socialist Construction, International Publishers, New York, 1937, 521 pages.

Volume 10: The Communist International, International Publishers, New York, 1938, 345 pages.

Volume 11: The Theoretical Principles of Marxism, International Publishers, New York, n.d. 1930s, 779 pages.

Volume 12: Theory of the Agrarian Question, International Publishers, New York, 1938, 351 pages. Different scan, Volume 12: Theory of the Agrarian Question, International Publishers, New York, 1938, 349 pages.

VI Lenin: Selected Works, in 12 volumes, Lawrence and Wishart, London, late 1930s and mid 1940s. (Not complete set.)

Selected Works – Volume 3, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1936, 630 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 4, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1943, 338 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 6, Lawrence and Wishart, London, ND, late 1930s/mid 1940s?, 660 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 8, Lawrence and Wishart, London, ND, late 1930s/mid 1940s?, 460 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 9, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1946, 505 pages.

Selected Works – Volume 10, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1938, 333 pages.

VI Lenin: Selected Works in Three Volumes, Progress Publishers, Moscow 1970/71.

Volume 1, 1970, 890 pages.

Volume 2, 1970, 818 pages.

Volume 3, 1971, 866 pages.

The Essential Lenin in two volumes, Volume 1, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1947. 768 pages.

VI Lenin – Selected works in one volume, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1969, 798 pages.

Individual books and pamphlets

The War and the Workers, speech May 27 1917, International, New York, 1929, Little Lenin Library No 24, 36 pages.

The Teachings of Karl Marx, International Publishers, New York, 1930, 48 pages.

The War and the Second International, (London, Martin Lawrence, 1931), Little Lenin Library, Volume Two, 63 pages. Two documents written in 1914, ‘The Collapse of the Second International’ and ‘The War and Russian Social-Democracy’.

The April Conference, International, NY, 1932, 62 pages. Little Lenin Library, Volume Ten. The Conference actually took place from 7th to the 12th May, 1917 (the backward Tsarist state used the Julian calender which was – in 1917 – 13 days adrift from the Gregorian calender used in most of Europe, hence the ‘April’ Conference of 24th to the 29th Old Calender took place in May).

Lenin on Religion, Martin Lawrence, London, N.D. 1930s?), Little Lenin Library, Volume Seven, 56 pages.

State and Revolution, Martin Lawrence, London, 1933, Little Lenin Library, Volume Fourteen, 96 pages.

‘Left wing’ Communism – an infantile disorder, an attempt at a popular discussion on Marxist Strategy and Tactics, Little Lenin Library, Volume 16, Martin Lawrence, London, 1934, 95 pages.

The Paris Commune, Martin Lawrence, London, 1935, Little Lenin Library, Volume Five, 62 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, a collection of articles, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1936, 225 pages.

The Letters of Lenin, Elizabeth Hill and Doris Mudie, Chapman and Hall, London, 1937, 495 pages.

The Teachings of Karl Marx, Martin Lawrence, London, 1937, Little Lenin Library, Volume One, 47 pages.

Women and Society, an early collection of articles and excerpts, International, New York, 1938, 36 pages.

New data for VI Lenin’s ‘Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism’, E Varga and L Mendelsohn, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1938, 322 pages.

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1939, 127 pages. Little Lenin Library, Volume Fifteen.(My copy is seriously damaged, particularly in one place, and so it was impossible to scan pages 82 and 83. In their place I have scanned the missing text from pages 709-711 from ‘The Essential Lenin in Two Volumes, Volume 1, London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1947’. It’s not exactly the same but the closest to the 1939 text I have been able to find.)

War and the Workers, International, NY, 1940, 32 pages. Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty Four. A reprint of a lecture delivered by VI Lenin in Petrograd on May 27th, 1917, about a month after his return from exile. The manuscript was not discovered until twelve years afterwards and was published for the first time in the Moscow Pravda on April 23rd, 1929.

Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder, a popular essay on Marxian strategy and tactics, International Publishers, New York, 1940, 95 pages.

Ten Classics of Marxism, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1940, 785 pages.

The Tasks of the Proletariat in our Revolution, Lawrence and Wishart, ND, 1940?, Little Lenin Library, Volume Nine, 52 pages.

On Britain, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1941, 316 pages. Marxist-Leninist Library, Volume Eighteen, with two Prefaces by Harry Pollitt (1934 and 1941).

The Deception of the People by the Slogans of Equality and Freedom Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1942, Little Lenin Library, Volume Nineteen, 47 pages.

A Dictionary of Terms and Quotations – Compiled from the Works of VI Lenin by Thomas Bell, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1942), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty Five, 45 pages.

One step forward, two steps back, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1948, 115 pages.

Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, critical comments on a reactionary philosophy, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1948, 391 pages.

The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 79 pages.

The National Pride of the Great Russians, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 15 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 577 pages.

A Characterisation of Economic Romanticism, Library of Marxist-Leninist Classics, FLPH, Moscow, 1951, 232 pages.

The State and Revolution, FLPH, Moscow, ND, 1951?, 218. (Some markings.)

On Britain, FLPH, Moscow, 1959, 624 pages.

Report on Peace – delivered at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, October 26 (November 8) 1917 and Home and Foreign Policy of the Republic – report of the All-Russian Ventral Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars to the Ninth All-Russian Congress of Soviets December 23, 1921, FLPH, Moscow, early 1960s?, 290 pages.

In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the birth of VI Lenin the Foreign Languages Press in Peking produced a series of books with quotations from the extensive works of the leader of the October Revolution and First Socialist State on various topics pertinent at the time of the struggle against Soviet Revisionism and the restoration of capitalism in the USSR.

This approach to the works of Lenin, where significant quotations were taken from longer works, was the principal that was followed later with the production of the ‘Little Red Book’ of quotations from the works of Chairman Mao at the beginning of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

We are aware of six volumes in this series.

On War and Peace, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 84 pages.

On Proletarian Revolution and Proletarian Dictatorship, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 89 pages.

On the National Liberation Movement, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 58 pages.

On the Struggle Against Revisionism, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 98 pages.

On Imperialism, the eve of the Proletarian Social Revolution, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960 91 pages.

On the Revolutionary Proletarian Party of a New Type, 2nd ed., FLP, Peking, October 1960, 79 pages.

The National Liberation Movement in the East, FLPH, Moscow, 1962, 348 pages.

Lenin’s Fight Against Revisionism and Opportunism – compiled by Cheng Yen-shih (Peking, FLP, 1965), 275 pages

Against dogmatism and sectarianism in the working class movement, Progress, Moscow, 1965, 235 pages.

On War and Peace – Three articles, FLP, Peking, 1966, 108 pages.

On Culture and Cultural Revolution, Progress, Moscow, 1966, 297 pages.

What the ‘Friends of the People’ are and how they fight the Social-democrats, Progress, Moscow, 1966, 218 pages.

Essential works of Lenin, edited and with an introduction by Henry M Christman, Bantam Books, New York, 1966, 372 pages.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, a biography, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1966, 590 pages.

Karl Marx, a Brief Biographical Sketch with an Exposition of Marxism, FLP, Peking, 1967, 63 pages.

On Youth – Selection of articles from VI Lenin’s Works, (Moscow, Progress, 1967), 298 pages.

The Right of Nations to Self-determination, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 80 pages.

A characterisation of economic romanticism, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 143 pages.

Socialism and War, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 55 pages.

Lenin’s Prediction on the Revolutionary Storms in the East, FLP, Peking, 1967, 15 pages.

On the National and Colonial Questions – Three articles, FLP, Peking, 1967, 40 pages.

On the so-called Market Question, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 51 pages.

Socialism and Religion, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 7 pages.

May Day. May Day action by the Revolutionary Proletariat, Progress Moscow, 1968, 31 pages.

Lecture on the 1905 Revolution, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 19 pages.

Revolutionary Adventurism, Progress Moscow, 1969, 40 pages.

The Tasks of the Youth Leagues, this speech includes Lenin’s most extensive comments on morality and the Marxist-Leninist view of ethics, (Moscow, Progress, 1969), 19 pages.

Party work in the masses, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 170 pages.

On Religion, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 85 pages.

One step forward, two steps back, the crisis in our Party, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 231 pages.

What is to be Done? Progress, Moscow, 1969, 207 pages.

On the Road to Insurrection, N. Lenin (sic), Communist Party of Great Britain, London, n.d., late 1960s?, 519 pages.

The State, (Peking, FLP, 1970), 25 pages. A lecture delivered at the Sverdlov University, July 11th, 1919.

Lenin, Comrade and Man, Progress Publishers, Moscow, ND., 1970s?, 193 pages.

Lenin on Ireland, Irish Socialist Library, New Books, Belfast, 1970, 35 pages.

Letters on Tactics – a Collection of Articles and Letters, (Moscow: Progress, 1970), 104 pages.

‘Left-wing’ Communism – An infantile Disorder, FLP, Peking, 1970, 133 pages.

On the Paris Commune – Selection of articles from VI Lenin’s Works, (Moscow, Progress, 1970), 141 pages.

Two tactics of Social-democracy in the Democratic Revolution, FLP, Peking, 1970, 167 pages.

On Workers’ Control and the Nationalisation of Industry, Progress, Moscow, 1970, 260 pages.

On Lenin, (Dublin, ICO, 1970), 28 pages. 4 articles. The organiser and leader of the Russian Communist Party (On the Fiftieth Anniversary of Lenin’s Birth). Sketches (Comrade Lenin’s Convalescence). On the Death of Lenin (Speech delivered at the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR, 26th January, 1924). On Lenin (Speech delivered at a Memorial Evening of Kremlin Military Students, 28th January, 1924). Irish Communist Organisation.

On Utopian and Scientific Socialism, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1970, 254 pages.

Two tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, Progress, Moscow, 1970, 132 pages.

Two tactics of Social-democracy in the Democratic Revolution – selected quotes.

Where to Begin. Party Organisation and Party Literature. The Working Class and its Press – 3 Articles. Progress, Moscow, 1971, 54 pages.

Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 63 pages.

The Third International and its place in history, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 51 pages.

Speeches at the Eighth Party Congress, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 86 pages. Held in Moscow from 18th – 23rd March, 1919.

On Peaceful Coexistence, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1971, 144 pages.

Between the Two Revolutions, Articles and Speeches of 1917, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1971, 558 pages.

Marxism on the State, (Moscow, Progress, 1972), Preparatory material for the book ‘The State and Revolution’. 134 pages.

Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, FLP, Peking, 1972, 466 pages. Lenin’s major study of materialist philosophy together with strong criticism of its idealist opponents within the Russian revolutionary movement, published in 1908.

About the Press, a collection of articles and excerpts, International Organisation of Journalists, Prague, 1972, 483 pages.

The Revolutionary Phrase, ‘Left-Communist’ mistakes at the Brest Peace, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1972, 171 pages.

Lenin about the press, International Organisation of Journalists, Prague, 1972, 483 pages.

Speeches at Congresses of the Communist International, 1919-1922, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972, 158 pages.

The State and Revolution, FLP, Peking, 1973 The Marxist teaching on the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution. 151 pages.

Lenin and Gorky, letters, reminiscences, articles, Progress, Moscow, 1973, 432 pages.

On the Foreign Policy of the Soviet State, Progress, Moscow, 1973, 481 pages.

How Lenin wrote for the Masses, Three articles, including one from Chairman Mao Tse-tung and one from Nadezhda Krupskaya and one from VI Lenin, (New Era Books, London, 1974), 26 pages.

Marxism and the Liberation of Women, Quotations from Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, VI Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, Union of Women for Liberation, London, n.d., mid-1970s?, 64 pages. Includes a statement of aims of the Union of Women for Liberation.

A caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism, (Moscow, Progress, 1974) 61 pages.

Marx, Engels and Lenin on the Irish Revolution, Historical reprints No. 3, Ralph Fox, Cork Workers Club, Cork, 1974, 36 pages.

Lenin on the Jewish Question, International Publishers, New York, 1974, 160 pages.

Economics and Politics in the era of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, (Peking, FLP, 1975), 14 pages.

What is to be done?, FLP, Peking, 1975, 252 pages.

What is to be Done, an alternative digital version, n.p., n.d., 129 pages.

On Marx and Engels, FLP, Peking, 1975, 98 pages.

The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, 145 pages.

The Tasks of the Youth Leagues, FLP, Peking, 1975, 22 pages. Speech delivered at the Third All-Russian Congress of the Russian Young Communist League, October 2nd, 1920.

Against Right Wing and Left Wing Opportunism, Against Trotskyism, Progress, Moscow, 1975, 600 pages.

On bourgeois democratic revolution, Novosti, Moscow, 1975, 135 pages.

On the Soviet State Apparatus, articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1975, 447 pages.

On the struggle against Revisionism, Proletarian Publishers, San Francisco, 1975, 98 pages. (Markings throughout.)

Differences in the European Labour Movement, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 11 pages.

One step forward, two steps back, FLP, Peking, 1976, 316 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, Progress, Moscow, 8th rev. ed. 1968 [1976 printing], 515 pages. Most pages well-scanned; a small number too light but mostly legible.

Against revisionism, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 600 pages.

On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 370 pages.

Speeches at Party Congresses, 1918-1922, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 383 pages.

On Scientific Communism, Marx, Engels and Lenin, Progress, Moscow, 1976, 537 pages.

A Great Beginning, FLP, Peking, 1977, 32 pages. Heroism of the Workers in the Rear, ‘Communist Subbotniks’.

The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism, published in March 1913, (Peking: FLP, 1977), 18 pages.

Last letters and articles, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 70 pages.

Lenin – Selected Works, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 782 pages.

Marx, Engels, Marxism, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 180 pages.

On Dialectical Materialism, Marx, Engels and Lenin, Progress, Moscow, 1977, 422 pages.

The Woman Question, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1977, 96 pages.

On the emancipation of women, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977, 136 pages.

Lenin and National Liberation in the East, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1978, 468 pages.

Alliance of the Working Class and the Peasantry, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 447 pages.

On Literature and Art, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 335 pages.

On Trade Unions, a collection of articles and speeches, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 540 pages.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (The Crisis in Our Party), Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1978, 230 pages.

The Revolutionary Phrase, ‘Left-Communist’ mistakes on the Brest Peace (Articles and Speeches), Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1978, 171 pages.

Against imperialist war, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 397 pages

On Participation of the People in Government, a collection of articles and excerpts, Progress, Moscow, 1979, 302 pages.

On the development of heavy industry and electrification, Progress, Moscow, 1979, 203 pages.

On Britain, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1979, 541 pages.

On the Slogan for a United States of Europe. The Military Programme of the Proletarian Revolution, (Moscow, Progress, 1980) 29 pages. Two articles.

On the October Revolution, Novosti, Moscow, 1980, 120 pages.

On the question of dialectics, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1980, 126 pages.

On Organization, Proletarian Publishers, Chicago, ND – 1980s?, 235 pages. (Lots of markings and underlining throughout.)

Lenin versus Trotsky and his followers, Novosti, Moscow, 1981, 127 pages. (Pages 106-107 missing.) A late Revisionist compilation of quotes from VI Lenin attacking the ‘enemies from within the Party’.

On the United States of America, a collection of articles and excerpts, Progress, Moscow, 1982, 636 pages.

On State Capitalism during the transition to Socialism, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1983, 269 pages.

On State Capitalism during the transition to Socialism – selected quotes

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Progress, Moscow, 1983, 127 pages.

For those who find 127 pages too much here are some selected quotes from this edition of ‘Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism’.

On Religion, Progress, Moscow, 1984, 83 pages.

Marxism on the State, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984, 134 pages.

Lenin’s ‘On Co-operation’, S Serayev, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984, 75 pages.

On Lenin’s ‘The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky’, VM Gavrilov, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984, 116 pages.

About the Younger Generation, Novosti, Moscow, 1985, 55 pages.

Experience of the CPSU, its world significance, Progress, Moscow, 1985, 588 pages.

On Socialist Ideology and Culture, Progress, Moscow, 1985, 223 pages.

Some selected quotes from ‘On Socialist Ideology and Culture’.

On national liberation and social emancipation, Progress, Moscow, 1986, 342 pages.

Introduction to Marx, Engels, Marxism, Progress, Moscow, 1987, 109 pages. Poor scan, some crooked pages, but fully legible.

Lenin’s ‘What Is To Be Done?’, V. P. Filatov, Progress, Moscow, 1987, 116 pages.

Materialism and empirio-criticism, Progress, Moscow, 1987, 384 pages.

On Lenin’s ‘The State and Revolution’, V. Gavrilov, (Moscow, Progress, 1988). A revisionist interpretation of one of Lenin’s most important works. 106 pages.

On Lenin’s ‘Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, I Rudakova, (Moscow, Progress, 1988). A revisionist interpretation of one of Lenin’s most important works. 106 pages.

The Civil War in France: The Paris Commune, Karl Marx and VI Lenin, International Publishers, New York, 1988, 182 pages.

Lenin’s Economic Writings, edited by Meghnad Desai, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1989, 372 pages.

Learning with Lenin, selected works on education and revolution, Derek R Ford and Curry Malott, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, 2019, 651 pages.

Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, Foreign Languages Press, Paris, 2021, 149 pages.

On the Communist Press, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tsetung, Canadian Communist League (Marxist-Leninist), n.d., 200 pages.

The teachings of Karl Marx, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto 2022, 47 pages.

On religion, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa 2023, 83 pages.

The Life of VI Lenin

Leninism or Trotskyism, Grigory Zinoviev, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev, originally published by the Workers’ Party of America, Daily Worker Publishing, Chicago, 1925. This version FLPH, Moscow, 1949, 75 pages.

Reminiscences of Lenin, Clara Zetkin, Modern Books, London, 1929, 78 pages.

Lenin, by R Palme Dutt, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1933, 96 pages. A short biography by a British Communist.

Lenin on the Woman Question, Clara Zetkin, International Publishers, New York, 1934, 31 pages.

Lenin in action, the early days of Soviet power, personal reminiscences of Lenin in the Revolution of October 1917, by J Stalin and others, Martin Lawrence, London, 1934, 64 pages.

Lenin, D Manulisky, International Pamphlets Number 2, Modern Books, London, 1939, 16 pages.

We have met Lenin, compilation of reminiscences from those who had meetings with Lenin, FLPH, Moscow, 1939, 75 pages.

Lenin – A Biography, Hutchinson, London, ND, early 1940’s?, 204 pages. Prepared by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute, Moscow. Published by authority of ‘Soviet War News’. Issued by the Press Department of the Soviet Embassy in London. The closest to an official Soviet biography of VI Lenin available.

My Recollections of Lenin, Klara Zetkin, FLPH, Moscow, 1956, 92 pages.

Reminiscences of Lenin, NK Krupskaya, FLPH, Moscow, 1959, 570 pages.

Pages from Lenin’s life, L Fotieva, FLPH, Moscow, 1960, 220 pages.

VI. Lenin – a Short Biography, translated into English from the 6th Russian edition prepared by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, CC of the CPSU, 1968. Progress, Moscow, 4th revised edition 1969, 234 pages.

They Knew Lenin, reminiscences of foreign contemporaries, Progress, Moscow, 1968, 287 pages.

Lenin and the Revolution in the East, Novosti, Moscow, 1969, 120 pages.

Lenin through the eyes of the world, letters and comments from abroad, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 184 pages.

Leninist Standards of Party Life, I Pronin and M Stepichev, Progress, Moscow, 1969, 146 pages.

Fine Drawings of Lenin, a collection published by the Communist Party of Germany on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin (1970). 12 pages (missing two drawings).

Lenin as head of government, V Drobizhev, Novosti, Moscow, 1970, 179 pages.

Lenin, James Maxton, Men of Destiny, Heron Books, London, 1970?, 173 pages.

Lenin and India, edited by G Adhikari et al, People’s Publishing House, Delhi, 1970, 236 pages.

Lenin and the Russian Revolution, Christopher Hill, Penguin, London, 1971, 180 pages.

Lenin’s Teachings and Cause are Immortal, from the record of the Scientific and Theoretical Conference held in Moscow in January 1974 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Lenin’s death, Novosti, Moscow, 1974, 40 pages.

Lenin – Life and Work, by V. Zevin and G. Golikov, (Moscow, Novosti, 1975), 228 pages. A revisionist biography of VI Lenin. Second edition, 1977.

Lenin and Modern Natural Science, edited by M. E. Omelyanovsky, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 432 pages.

Lenin: Life and Works, a chronology of Lenin’s life, by Gerda and Hermann Weber, MacMillan, London, 1980, [Originally published in Munich in German in 1974], 240 pages.

Leninism and the agrarian and peasant question, Volume 1, Lenin’s agrarian programmes for the Three Russian Revolutions, Progress, Moscow, 1981, 514 pages.

Leninism and the agrarian and peasant question, Volume 2, historical experience of the CPSU in carrying out Lenin’s co-operative plan, Progress, Moscow, 1981, 597 pages.

The Central Lenin Museum, Moscow – a guide. (Moscow, Raduga, 1986), 160 pages. A guide to the now destroyed Museum dedicated to the life and work of VI Lenin.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Pages from his life, Volume 1, with reminiscences of his associates, Novosti, Moscow, 1990, 174 pages.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Pages from his life, Volume 2, The First Russian Revolution 1905-07, Novosti, Moscow, 1990, 173 pages.

On the so-called ‘Lenin Testament’. A pamphlet produced by W.B. Bland (then of the Communist League UK) of a presentation given to the Stalin Society (UK) in 1991. The ‘Lenin Testament’ was a document that was used by Trotskyites and other anti-Bolsheviks in an attempt to usurp the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik) after the death of Comrade Lenin in 1924. In an effort to maintain Party unity the document was presented to 13th Party Congress in May 1924 where it was overwhelmingly rejected as having no importance in the choice of the Party leadership, with not even Trotsky voting for it.

Reminiscences of Lenin, Nadezhda Krupskaya, International Publishers 1970, this version published as an e-book by the Anarcho-Communist Institute, 2015, 425 pages.

VI Lenin – on the Woman Question, Clara Zetkin’s recollections of Lenin, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa 2023, 47 pages.

Compilations from the works of VI Lenin with other great Marxists

A Handbook of Marxism, with selections from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, International Publishers, New York, 1935, 1082 pages,

Strategy and Tactics of the Proletarian Revolution, (N.Y., International, 1936), 95 pages. Consists of a series of brief extracts mostly from the works of Lenin, Stalin and from some reports of the Comintern.

The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, articles and extracts from the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, compiled and arranged by V. Bystryansky and M. Mishin, ‘Readings in Leninism’ series, (NY: International, 1936), 132 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on Youth, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1940), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty One, 48 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on The State, (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1942), Little Lenin Library, Volume Twenty Three, 48 pages.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism, edited by LL Sharkey and S Moston, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, 1945, 152 pages.

On Scientific Communism, Marx-Engels-Lenin, Progress, Moscow, 1967, 537 pages.

Selections from V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin on the National and Colonial Question, Calcutta, 1970, 244 pages.

Selected Writings by Marx, Engels, and Lenin On Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism, International Publishers, New York, 1972, 362 pages.

K. Marx F. Engels V. Lenin On Historical Materialism – a collection, Progress, Moscow, 1972, 751 pages.

Marx, Engels and Lenin: On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, a collection of quotations, (Peking: FLP, 1975), 52 pages. (Some underlining.) This collection also appeared in Peking Review on February 28, 1975.

Marx, Engels, Lenin On Communist Society – a collection, Progress, Moscow, 1978, 157 pages.

Last letters and articles of VI Lenin and On Lenin by JV Stalin, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa, 2022, 152 pages.

V.I. Lenin and J.V. Stalin, Marxism and Revisionism, November 8th Publishing House, Toronto, 2022, 119 pages.

Lenin and Stalin on the development of the National Question, M.D. Kammari, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa, 2023, 153 pages.

More on the USSR

The Great ‘Marxist-Leninist’ Theoreticians

May 9th 1945 – Victory Day in the Soviet Union (Russia)

The triumph of the Conquering People - Mikhail Khmelko

The triumph of the Conquering People

More on the ‘Revolutionary Year’

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May 9th – Victory Day in the Soviet Union (Russia)

Whilst much of western Europe commemorate May 8th as the official end of the Second World War in the Soviet Union the date for the end of the Great Patriotic War was, and has been since 1945, May 9th. After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 the celebrations have been sporadic but in recent years Putin has realised there’s political capital to be made out of the event and it has now become a major affair, especially in Moscow, and under normal circumstances there would have been hundreds of thousands of Moscovites, covering four generations, on the streets today. It was only in the middle of April, when the covid-19 outbreak started to really take hold in Russia, that the planned parade was cancelled.

Soviet Troops - Berlin - 9th May 1945

Soviet Troops – Berlin – 9th May 1945

Why the difference in the end of the same war?

When the defeat of the Nazi forces was only a matter of time the Fascist leadership after the death of Hitler started to play a bit of a game – deadly for those needlessly killed in the last 6 or 7 days of the conflict.

The Red Army was coming from the east like a steamroller, destroying everything in its path. The British/American et al were making equally fast progress from the west. By the beginning of May it wasn’t a matter of when the Fascists had to surrender it became to whom – and when. The Fascists knew they would be able to get the best deal for themselves if they negotiated with the allies coming from the west – after all British and American capitalism wasn’t that far removed from German Fascism. They knew they would get short shrift from the Soviets.

The Soviet flag flies above the Brandenberg Gate, Berlin

The Soviet flag flies above the Brandenberg Gate, Berlin

Somehow (and I don’t know if anyone ever discovered exactly how this was allowed to happen – the documents coming into German hands during the Ardennes Offensive – also called the Battle of the Bulge which came to an end in January 1945) the Fascists got hold of a map that had been drawn up which showed how Germany would be divided between the allies. With that knowledge Karl Dönitz’s, Hitler’s ‘appointed successor’, main task was to let the war drag on for as long as possible so as many Fascists as possible could escape into those sectors that would be under the control of the British, American or French forces.

To get an idea of Dönitz’s ideology a couple of quotes from national radio broadcasts in the early part of May 1945.

On 1st May, just after the broadcast of the news of Hitler’s death, Dönitz added the following;

‘My first task is to save Germany from destruction by the advancing Bolshevik enemy. It is to serve this purpose alone that the military struggle continues.’

For ‘Germany’ read as many as possible Nazis and Hitlerites.

A public broadcast, so these words and intentions would have been known by all the Allies’ commanders. Added to this Dönitz had never made a secret of his sympathies, being a staunch supporter of Hitler (so much so that even the normally paranoid and suspicious ‘Führer’ had designated him ‘heir apparent’), anti-Communist and anti-Semite.

(To show how correct the new Fascist leader was in his approach to surrender he was only given a 10 year prison sentence at the Nuremberg Trials (arguing the ‘just obeying orders’ defence) – then surviving till 1980 – whilst of those sent to negotiate with the western allies one (von Friedeburg) committed suicide and two (Jodl and Keitel) were hung.)

Soviet flag flies over the Reichstag, Berlin, May 1945

Soviet flag flies over the Reichstag, Berlin, May 1945

After the end of hostilities he wasn’t arrested in Flensburg (almost in Denmark), by British forces, until 23rd May. Why it took so long demonstrates the attitude of the western allies to the Nazis especially as, on the day the unconditional surrender was signed, he had made the following broadcast.

‘Comrades, we have been set back as thousand years in our history. Land that was German for a thousand years has now fallen into Russian hands … [but] despite today’s military breakdown, our people are unlike the Germany of 1918. They have not been split asunder. Whether we want to create another form of National Socialism or whether we conform to the life imposed upon us by the enemy, we should make sure that the unity given to us by National Socialism is maintained under all circumstances.’

But back to the machinations of the Nazis, in efforts to save as many of their kind as possible, and the collaboration in this by the top commanders of both the British and American armed forces. By Montgomery sticking to protocol (and sending the Fascist envoys to Eisenhower – the Allied Supreme Commander) and then Eisenhower giving the Nazis an extra 48 hours before borders were closed) an untold number of war criminals were allowed to escape to and then later prosper in the parts of the country controlled by the western allies. Although not breaking the letter of the agreement with the Soviets it certainly went against the spirit of those agreements. But then what do you expect?

After all the time wasting, game playing and vacillation the first unconditional surrender was signed in Rheims on 7th May. However, there was a very large and angry Red Army coming in from the east and on Stalin‘s insistence any final capitulation had to be signed in the presence of the Commander of the Red Army in Germany, Marshal Zhukov.

That unconditional surrender was signed just before midnight Central European Time on 8th May – which was already 9th May in Moscow – hence the difference in dates.

Celebrations in Moscow

News of the surrender was broadcast over the radio at around 02.00 Soviet time and people congregated in Red Square soon after. Although you rarely see pictures of the reaction to news of the end of the Great Patriotic War by the citizens of the Soviet Union Red Square was as full that day as Trafalgar Square in London or Time Square in New York.

For Motherland, for Stalin - 9th May 1945

For Motherland, for Stalin – 9th May 1945

Red Square - 9th May 1945

Red Square – 9th May 1945

Red Square - 9th May 1945

Red Square – 9th May 1945

I have read reference to, but haven’t been able to confirm it or seen photographic proof, that there was a simple ceremony later in the day of the 9th when captured standards of the Nazi army were thrown down on to the ground in front of the Lenin Mausoleum with Soviet leaders on the podium. This did happen, but the only time I know for certain when it did was during the Victory Parade which took place on 24th June 1945.

Early on the day of the 9th May, Comrade Stalin issued the following Order of the Day;

ORDER OF THE DAY, No. 369, OF MAY 9, 1945,

Addressed to the Red Army and Navy

ON May 8, 1945, in Berlin, representatives of the German High Command signed the instrument of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces.

The Great Patriotic War which the Soviet people waged against the German-fascist invaders is victoriously concluded. Germany is utterly routed.

Comrades, Red Army men, Red Navy men, sergeants, petty officers, officers of the army and navy, generals, admirals and marshals, I congratulate you upon the victorious termination of the Great Patriotic War.

To mark complete victory over Germany, to-day, May 9, the day of victory, at 22.00 hours (Moscow time), the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, shall salute the gallant troops of the Red Army, the ships and units of the Navy, which have won this brilliant victory, by firing thirty artillery salvoes from one thousand guns.

Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the fighting for the freedom and independence of our Motherland!

Long live the victorious Red Army and Navy!

J. STALIN

Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union

Moscow

[30 salvoes from a thousand guns – that’s quite a firework display!]

The end of the Great Patriotic War celebrated in Moscow's Red Square, May 9, 1945

The end of the Great Patriotic War celebrated in Moscow’s Red Square, May 9, 1945

Joseph Stalin’s Victory Speech

Broadcast from Moscow at 20.00 hours (Moscow time) on May 9, 1945

COMRADES! Men and women compatriots!

The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has acknowledged herself defeated and declared unconditional surrender.

On May 7 the preliminary protocol on surrender was signed in the city of Rheims. On May 8 representatives of the German High Command, in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied troops and the Supreme Command of the Soviet Troops, signed in Berlin the final act of surrender, the execution of which began at 24.00 hours on May 8.

Being aware of the wolfish habits of the German ringleaders, who regard treaties and agreements as empty scraps of paper, we have no reason to trust their words. However, this morning, in pursuance of the act of surrender, the German troops began to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops en masse. This is no longer an empty scrap of paper. This is actual surrender of Germany’s armed forces. True, one group of German troops in the area of Czechoslovakia is still evading surrender. But I trust that the Red Army will be able to bring it to its senses.

Now we can state with full justification that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of the great victory of our people over German imperialism has come.

The great sacrifices we made in the name of the freedom and independence of our Motherland, the incalculable privations and sufferings experienced by our people in the course of the war, the intense work in the rear and at the front, placed on the altar of the Motherland, have not been in vain, and have been crowned by complete victory over the enemy. The age-long struggle of the Slav peoples for their existence and their independence has ended in victory over the German invaders and German tyranny.

Henceforth the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace among peoples will fly over Europe.

Three years ago Hitler declared for all to hear that his aims included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the wresting from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands and other areas. He declared bluntly; ‘We will destroy Russia so that she will never be able to rise again.’ This was three years ago. However, Hitler’s crazy ideas were not fated to come true-the progress of the war scattered them to the winds. In actual fact the direct opposite of the Hitlerites’ ravings has taken place. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is celebrating Victory, although it does not intend either to dismember or to destroy Germany.

Comrades! The Great Patriotic War has ended in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe is over. The period of peaceful development has begun.

I congratulate you upon victory, my dear men and women compatriots!

Glory to our heroic Red Army, which upheld the independence of our Motherland and won victory over the enemy!

Glory to our great people, the people victorious!

Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!

[Personally I would have liked Comrade Stalin to have added;

Long Live Socialism,

Long Live Marxism-Leninism.]

Soviet Victory Parade

Soviet Victory Parade

Victory Parade, 24th June 1945

The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 was a held by the Soviet army (with a small squad from the Polish army) after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. It took place in the Soviet capital, mostly centring around a military parade through Red Square. The parade took place on a rainy June 24, 1945, and it was during this parade that the Nazi standards were definitely thrown on the ground in front of the Lenin Mausoleum, with Stalin and other Soviet leaders of the podium.

The fate of Nazism

The fate of Nazism

Some of these standards were, for many years, inside a huge glass case on the floor of one of the rooms of the Revolution Museum in Moscow, close to the then Pravda offices and the Mayakovsky Metro station.

After 1991 this museum went through a number of changes and has little to merit a visit today (or at least it didn’t at the end of 2017). I understand that some (or all) of these standards are currently in the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow. If or how they are displayed would be interesting. When I saw them in the early 1970s I liked the idea they were in a jumble (thought well organsiaed jumble) on the floor – as they were at the Victory Parade in 1945. ‘Trophies of war’ are often displayed in the way they would have been when in the hands of their original producers – that was not the fate for the Nazi symbols in the Soviet Union.

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