History of the C.P.S.U. (B): Short Course

Stalin directly led and presided over the editing of a systematic introductory work studying the history of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (B) and the basic theory of Marxism Leninism. From September 9 to 19, 1938, the contents of each chapter of the book were published as a serial in Pravda and published as a single edition in October 1938. The book is about 430,000 words.

In order to put an end to the confusion in the textbooks of history within the C.P.S.U., Stalin had the idea of compiling Party history textbook approved by the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U. (B) in early 1930, but this attempt did not progress smoothly. During 1935-37, Stalin personally drew up the writing outline of the History of the C.P.S.U. (B): Short Course, and wrote the second section of the fourth chapter of the book (see Stalin’s Dialectical and Historical Materialism), and the chapter title and the final draft of the book were also completed by Stalin.

The book consists of an introduction, a main text part and a conclusion part. In the introduction, the book emphasizes that the C.P.S.U. (B) grew up on the basis of uniting with the working-class movement, it has always been guided by the revolutionary teachings of Marxism-Leninism, and further developed and enriched the teachings of Marx and Engels in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution.

The text is divided into 12 chapters, which chronologically narrates the long and arduous process that All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) had experienced from 1883 to 1937, from those Marxist groups and fractions that initially appeared in Russia to the formation of the great Bolshevik party that led the world’s first socialist country of workers and peasants, and it pointed out that the history of the C.P.S.U. (B) is the history of overthrowing the Tsarist system and the regime of the landlords and capitalists, the history of smashing foreign armed interference in the civil war, and the history of building a Soviet state and socialist society in the Soviet Union.

The conclusion part summarizes the history and construction activities of the Soviet Party and points out that the victory of the proletarian revolution and the proletariat is impossible without a revolutionary party of the proletariat; a party of the working class cannot perform the role of leader of its class, cannot perform the role of organizer and leader of the proletarian revolution, unless it has mastered the advanced theory of the working-class movement; a party of working class must wage struggle against the opportunists within its own ranks; a party of the working class must acknowledge its mistakes and frankly and honestly to correct them; a party of working class must keep wide connections with the masses.

The publication of the History of the C.P.S.U. (B): Short Course overcame the chaotic situation in respect to the teaching materials about the Party history of the C.P.S.U. (B), and for a long time it was regarded as the encyclopedia of the basic knowledge of Marxism-Leninism, and became the only model book for the “Comintern” and its branches to learn from the experience of Marxism and the Soviet Union. In 1939, the History of the C.P.S.U. (B): Short Course was translated into Chinese. Since 1940, the History of the C.P.S.U. (B): Short Course was listed as the required reference book for Party members and cadres to study Marxist theory applied to many situations in the history, and also after the founding of the new China, the book became the teaching material for the course of “Basics of Marxism” in the public political theory courses of the colleges and universities of China.