Against Vulgarising the Slogan of Self-Criticism

Stalin wrote this article for the Bolshevik Party to better carry forward the fine tradition of self-criticism of the Communist Party and carry out the movement of self-criticism within the Party. It was first published in the Pravda, issue No. 146, on June 26, 1928. The Chinese translation is included in Vol. 11 of the Complete Works of Stalin and Vol. II of the Selected Works of Stalin .

According to Marx and Lenin’s discussion, Stalin expounds the significance and requirements of self-criticism as well as the existing problems of self-criticism within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Stalin first pointed out that is a specific method of training the forces of the Party and of the working class generally in the spirit of revolutionary development, and it is a Bolshevik method. He criticized the view that self-criticism is dangerous and harmful to a party which has already come to power, or against which an exposure of its weaknesses revealed by the Communist Party may be exploited by its enemies, and he pointed out that just because Bolshevism has come to power, just because Bolsheviks may become conceited owing to the successes of our work of construction, just because Bolsheviks may fail to observe their weaknesses and thus make things easier for their enemies.

Stalin put forward specific requirements for developing self-criticism: (1) To develop proletarian democracy in the party and oppose bureaucracy. Stalin pointed out that “the bureaucracy of our apparatus is one of the most serious obstacles, if not the most serious of all.” To eliminate this malady, we need to promote the vast masses of the workers and peasants to the task of criticism from below, of control from below. (2) It is not just any kind of self-criticism that we need, we need such self-criticism as will raise the cultural level of the working class, and enhance its fighting spirit. (3) Self-criticism is needed to strengthen labor discipline. (4) Self-criticism is needed to strengthen leadership. (5) By strictly distinguishing the destructive and anti-Bolshevik “self-criticism” attitude from the Bolshevik self-criticism attitude, Stalin affirmed the positive role of self-criticism in the party: mobilizing the enthusiasm of the masses, improving economic work, developing democracy in mass organizations, and making press more lively and vigorous.

At the same time, Stalin pointed out the problems existing in the self-criticism movement, that is, the phenomenon of distorting the slogan of self-criticism. Stalin pointed out that we do not resisted at once, may give rise to the danger of self-criticism being vulgarized. These phenomena are as follows: (1) From the criticisms of shortcomings in our socialist construction to the field of ostentatious outcries against excesses in private life. (2) Some organs of the press are devoid of the ability to criticize correctly, inclined to criticize for criticism’s sake, turning criticism into sensation-mongering. (3) There is a tendency in many organizations to turn sell-criticism into a witch-hunt against our business executives, into an attempt to discredit them.

At the end of the article, Stalin stressed that criticize the shortcomings in our constructive work, but do not pervert the slogan of self-criticism, and do not substitute for mass criticism from below “critical” fireworks from above; let the working-class masses display their creative initiative in our constructive work.

Stalin’s article played a positive role in the construction of inner-party democracy of the Soviet Communist Party at that time, inheriting the fine style of self-criticism of the Communist Party, and affecting the construction of ruling parties in socialist countries including China, which has important theoretical and practical significance. However, Stalin himself did not adhere to the party’s fine tradition of criticism and self-criticism, and eventually formed the Soviet Socialist model characterized by centralization.