The Political Tasks of the University of the Peoples of the East

Stalin’s speech delivered at a meeting participated by the students at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East on May 18, 1925. It was first published in Pravda issue No. 115, May 22nd, 1925. The Chinese translation is included in Vol. 7 of the Complete Works of Stalin.

Stalin explained the composition of the students of the University of the Toilers of the East , that is, this University unites representatives of not less than 50 nations and ethnicities of the East and all the students at this University were sons and daughters of the East but the students were divided into two categories: One was from the Soviet East regions where the workers have seized the power, the other group was from the colonial and dependent countries where capitalism still reigned and imperialist oppression was still in full force. This situation determines that the university has two lines of activity: One line having the aim of creating cadres capable of serving the needs of the Soviet republics of the East, and the other line having the aim of creating cadres capable of serving the revolutionary requirements of the toiling masses in the colonial and dependent countries of the East. Then Stalin elaborated two kinds of political tasks of the University corresponding to these two policies:

Firstly, the tasks that face the University of the Toilers of the East. Stalin pointed out that the task of the Communist University of the Toilers of the East was to train cadres for these republics so as to ensure the accomplishment of the tasks of the Soviet Republics of the East.

Stalin pointed out that the Communist University of the Toilers of the East could not be separated from life. It should closely link itself with real life and consider its tasks when training cadres for the Soviet republics of the East. Stalin warned that in order to train true revolutionaries and cadres, we should fight against two deviations: The first deviation lies in simplification, a simplification of the tasks of which I have spoken above, an attempt mechanically to transplant models of economic construction which are quite comprehensible and applicable in the center of the Soviet Union, but which are totally unsuited to the conditions of development in the so-called border regions. The second deviation, on the other hand, lies in the exaggeration of local specific features, forgetfulness of the common and main thing that links the Soviet republics of the East with the industrial areas of the Soviet Union, the hushing up of socialist tasks, adaptation to the tasks of a narrow and restricted nationalism.

Secondly, the tasks of the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in relation to the colonial and dependent countries of the East.

Stalin listed the seven characteristics of the eastern colonies and their affiliated countries and came to three conclusions: (1) The liberation of the colonial and dependent countries from imperialism cannot be achieved without a victorious revolution. (2) The revolution cannot be advanced and the complete independence of the capitalistically developed colonies and dependent countries cannot be won unless the compromising national bourgeoisie is isolated, unless the petty-bourgeois revolutionary masses are freed from the influence of that bourgeoisie, unless the policy of the hegemony of the proletariat is put into effect, unless the advanced elements of the working class are organized in an independent Communist Party. (3) Lasting victory cannot be achieved in the colonial and dependent countries without a real link between the liberation movement in those countries and the proletarian movement in the advanced countries of the West.

Stalin pointed out that the mission of the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in the colonial and dependent countries is to consider all the characteristics of the revolutionary development of these countries, train cadres from these countries, make them real revolutionaries, real Leninists, and ensure the completion of the above tasks. Stalin stressed that two deviations which must be combated if real revolutionary cadres are to be trained. The first deviation lies in an under-estimation of the revolutionary potentialities of the liberation movement and in an over-estimation of the idea of a united, all-embracing national front in the colonies and dependent countries. The second deviation lies in an over-estimation of the revolutionary potentialities of the liberation movement and in an under-estimation of the role of an alliance between the working class and the revolutionary bourgeoisie against imperialism.

Stalin’s speech specifically analyzed the actual situation of the Soviet republics of the East and the colonial and dependent countries, pointed out the situation and tasks faced by the revolution in these countries, which had great guiding significance for the eastern revolution and construction, and for the training of talents in the University of the Peoples of the East.