Neo-Stalinism

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Neo-Stalinism is a term used to describe historical revisionism in favor of Stalinism and/or Joseph Stalin. In the Marxist-Leninist movement, neo-Stalinism is associated with anti-revisionists.

In February 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced the cult of personality that surrounded his predecessor, Joseph Stalin, and condemned crimes committed during the Great Purge.

In October 1964, Khrushchev was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev, who remained in office until his death in November 1982. During his reign, the truth about Stalinism was suppressed, leading to the exile of many dissidents, most notably Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. According to Alexander Dubček, "The advent of Brezhnev’s regime heralded the advent of neo-Stalinism, and the measures taken against Czechoslovakia in 1968 were the final consolidation of the neo-Stalinist forces in the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, and other countries."[1]

Mikhail Gorbachev took over in March 1985. He introduced the policy of glasnost (openness) in public discussions – in order to liberalize the Soviet system. The full scale of Stalinist repressions was soon revealed, and the Soviet Union fell apart. Still, Gorbachev admitted in 2000 that "Even now in Russia we have the same problem. It isn't so easy to give up the inheritance we received from Stalinism and Neo-Stalinism, when people were turned into cogs in the wheel, and those in power made all the decisions for them." [2].

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