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Domenico Losurdo on Stalin: A Dialectical and Comparative Perspective on a Controversial Legacy

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Abstract

This article explores the insights of the Italian Marxist philosopher Domenico Losurdo on Stalin, with a focus on his controversial work: Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend. Losurdo sheds light on the metamorphosis of Stalin’s image from a revered leader into a “human monster” and challenges the equation of Stalin with Hitler (the “twin monsters theory”). He advocates for a balanced perspective that refutes the veneration–demonisation dichotomy and offers original criticism on various facets of the “black legend”: Stalin’s alleged self-cult of personality; the common juxtaposition of Soviet Gulags with Nazi camps; and accusations of genocide against Ukrainians (known as the Holodomor) and antisemitism. The article also highlights Losurdo’s methodology, consisting of a comprehensive comparative approach that calls into question the liberal tradition to reveal parallels between its darker aspects and Nazism. Losurdo demonstrates how the twin monsters theory eventually serves to bolster liberalism’s claim of moral superiority. Moreover, his work extends beyond Stalin to provide a wider assessment and criticism of most of the contemporary historiography’s themes and approaches, revealing how history is often manipulated for political reasons.

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Notes

  1. While in the USA liberalism is commonly intended as a left-oriented movement that combines (or dilutes, according to its critics) individual freedom with state intervention, broadly (and “Europeanly”) speaking, liberalism represents a wider tradition that developed in 17th-century Europe through influential thinkers like John Locke.

  2. As Canfora (2023, 328) puts it, if the magazine “Time in 1944 proclaimed Stalin ‘man of the year’ there must be a reason. If during the years of Nazi-fascist danger European anti-fascism paid him [Stalin] frank words of appreciation and recognition, there must be a reason”.

  3. As revealed by the Levada Center (2019), an independent survey agency, not only the consensus around Stalin has not died with him, but it has increased over the last few years: 70 per cent of Russians appreciate his role in Russian history and 51 per cent show feelings of admiration, respect, or fondness.

  4. For a concise and commemorative summary of Losurdo’s vast production and contribution, I refer to Azzarà (2019).

  5. For a review of War and Revolution, I refer to Azzarà and Pegoraro (2016). Fuga dalla storia? is an agile study encompassing both the Russian and Chinese communist revolutions and primarily directed at the Italian communist audience, while offering reflections applicable to Western communists in general.

  6. Losurdo examined Hegel in several texts, challenging the conventional portrait of a conservative or moderate thinker and demonstrating, on the contrary, how radical and democratic his thought was. One of these texts is available in English: Losurdo (2004a, b).

  7. Outside of Italy, Jünke (2000, 2014) condemned what he referred to as Losurdo’s “Neo-Stalinism”. Worth noting are also the debates between Trotskyist scholar Marie (2011) and Losurdo (2011a), and between anti-communist scholar Werth (2012) and Losurdo (2012).

  8. Losurdo briefly mentions Tottle (1987), acclaimed by the Stalin Society (see Puntis 2016), but remains silent on Martens (1996). Nor does he refer to Grover Furr’s work. However, Furr (2018) has appreciated Losurdo’s book on Stalin. The two scholars met in New York and they have kept in contact since then. Losurdo (2015) wrote a short introduction to the Italian edition of Furr (2011).

  9. Strauss (1953, 42–43) introduced the phrase “reductio ad Hitlerum” as a variant of “reductio ad absurdum”. It refers to a tactical tool utilised in the absence of compelling and logical arguments.

  10. A vast literature has continued to propagate this theory, from the seminal Alan Bullock (1991) to, for instance, Rees (2021). A well-known and acclaimed case is represented by Snyder (2010), which, incidentally, has been rebuked by Furr (2014). The prevailing narrative that describes Stalin and Hitler as two sides of the same coin is not confined to historiography. For example, the same narrative influences legislative resolutions. The European Parliament's resolution in April 2009, titled European Conscience and Totalitarianism, severely condemned “totalitarian” crimes committed by Nazi, fascist, Stalinist. and communist regimes. For an in-depth analysis see, Neumayer (2018). These legislative initiatives show why historical truths should not be determined through legal means and law courts. Instead, history should be a subject for examination and discussion in university classrooms or other cultural arenas.

  11. See for example Moorhouse (2014). The title of his book is of importance for its explicit and literal demonisation of Stalin.

  12. The Munich Agreement (signed one year before the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) between Nazi Germany, Britain, France and Italy is omitted from or belittled by dominant narratives. Often neglected is also the fact that Britain and France turned down the Soviet Union’s offer for a non-aggression pact. For a recent and illuminating assessment, I refer to Carley (2023).

  13. For a concise and detailed critique of the category of totalitarianism, see also Losurdo (2004b).

  14. For a comparative analysis of Indigenous genocides in these four countries, see Pegoraro (2019).

  15. Ex Associate Māori Affairs Minister Turia (2000) was the first to refer to Māoris’ plight in terms of a “holocaust” (although with a lower-case “h”).

  16. Note that in Losurdo (2023, 322) the translators likely translated J.S. Mill directly from Losurdo’s original (Italian) text and opted for “junior” races instead. The term utilised by the liberal philosopher in his On Liberty is “nonage”. It refers to the alleged immaturity of non-European peoples, whom he also labelled as “barbarians” to encourage and justify British colonial and despotic rule over them (see Mill 1956 [1859], 13–14).

  17. Losurdo (2011b) provides a comprehensive critique of liberalism, a recurring theme in his writings (including his book on Stalin).

  18. Far-right Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera (1909–1959) advocated for a racially united and independent Ukraine. His faction, known as the Banderites, collaborated with the Nazis and massacred Jews and Polish. Despite this, Bandera is still celebrated by many (especially Western) Ukrainians as a hero for his fight against the Soviet Union. Zelenskyy has recently corroborated this view by stating that “Stepan Bandera is a hero for a certain percentage of Ukrainians, and this is a normal and cool thing” (as cited in Budrytė 2021). The USA also supports this anti-Russian discourse by whitewashing Ukrainian Nazi collaborators as freedom fighters. As Diesen (2022, 220) highlights, since 2013, the USA has voted against a UN resolution aimed at condemning and contrasting the glorification of Nazism. In November 2021, the USA and Ukraine were the only two countries in the world to vote against it.

  19. More recently, Wheatcroft (2018, 469) has reiterated that “Stalin’s policy was brutal and ruthless and […] its cover up was criminal, but we do not believe that it was done on purpose to kill people and cannot therefore be described as murder or genocide”.

  20. In 2006, the Ukrainian parliament charged the Soviet Union and Stalin with genocide through legislation (see Verkhovna Rada 2006). Zelenskyy has reinforced this view in more recent years (see Interfax Ukraine 2020). The USA had already backed up this narrative in 1998 when the US Commission on the Ukraine Famine (US CUF 1998) classified the Holodomor as a genocide. Two decades later, the US Senate (2018) passed a resolution reaffirming this classification and highlighting the famine’s “deliberate and premeditated deadly nature”.

  21. Stalin remains a significant Marxist-Leninist theorist and an architect of socialism in power, regardless of whether his legacy is accepted or not. For an analysis of Stalin’s intellectual output, originally scrutinised through a theological lens, I refer to Boer (2017). Boer’s latest book (2023) expands upon the theme of socialism in power—the fifth and sixth chapters delve into the Soviet Union and specifically Stalin’s rule.

  22. For instance, Losurdo (2023, 293, 299) cites the bestseller Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday as an example of Mao’s demonisation. For an in-depth and critical assessment of this book, see Benton and Chu (2010).

  23. As Moosa (2003, viii, 272) critically pointed out, “what is known as ‘rule-based international order’ is a system where the West sets the rules for the Rest to follow, but Western countries do not have to follow the same rules. […] the international community encompasses the West and members of the Rest that observe the rules set by the West and follow them blindly […]. Thus, Russia is not a member of the international community, but Kosovo is. Iraq was not a member of the international community when it was intact before the bombing campaigns, but occupied Iraq was granted membership. Israel, a serial breaker of international law and the biggest violator of human rights, has always been and will remain a member of the international community. The exceptional West determines the countries that deserve and those that do not deserve to be members of the international community”.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to an anonymous reviewer whose comments helped me improve the readability of the manuscript.

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    Leonardo Pegoraro

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Pegoraro, L. Domenico Losurdo on Stalin: A Dialectical and Comparative Perspective on a Controversial Legacy. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-024-00403-6

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