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Extract from the Resolution of the 19th Congress of the CPRF “On Restoring Full Historical Justice with Regard to Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin”
July 23, 2025
[Joseph] Vissarionovich Stalin occupies a special place in people’s memory. His image ranks with those of the great ancestors who formed the glory and might of the Motherland and saved our people from enslavement and death. His name is forever inscribed in history side by side with that of the founder of the Soviet statehood, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
Today, even as the collective West and NATO are mounting an aggression against Russia, Lenin and Stalin stand together in the ranks of the fighters for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. The Soviet people have never disowned Stalin. Party members and non- members alike cherish the image of a demanding and just leader and the victories scored under his leadership will forever remain in the history of our country.
Shortly after Stalin’s death, on the initiative of N.Khruschev, a dirty campaign was launched to smear his name and belittle his contribution to the cause of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the recovery of our country. Counting on gaining cheap popularity, N.S. Khruschev roundly criticized the results of the 30 years of Stalin’s rule. His destructive activity in exposing the “personality cult” seriously undermined the international authority of the USSR and became a generous gift to the enemies of Soviet power because it prompted many questions and gave rise to differences among the friends and allies of the [USSR in] the world arena. [And yet the objective lack of materials besmirching] Stalin’s name and cause and the fact of deliberate removal of authentic documents from state archives and planting of fakes in it has been proven. [The fact of “cleaning up” of archive documents under Gorbachev] and Yeltsin has been established. Heavy damage was inflicted on the cause of socialism by the second wave of “destalinization” connected with the decisions of the 22nd Congress of the CPSU.
Marxism-Leninism teaches us that the only right way for the communists is the way of historical truth. It must be known, protected and restored. The life and struggle of Stalin, like those of any historical figure, were not devoid of shortcomings and contradictions. But errors and miscalculations were in many cases rectified on his own initiative to form the basis of further strengthening of socialist legality. Even all the abuses in the life of the party and the country taken together cannot outweigh Stalin’s role in defending the Leninist course, ensuring the unity of communists, building up the industrial might of the USSR and organizing resistance to the Fascization of Europe. His contribution to the Great Victory over German Nazism and Japanese militarism is colossal. Meanwhile as cribbing setbacks to a single person, even an outstanding one, is incompatible with the party or scientific approach to history. The leadership of the party and state was conscious of the fallacy of [Khruschev’s actions]. As a result, he was removed from his posts.
In the years when the party and country were led by L.I.Brezhnev “the personality cult” ceased to dominate the assessment of Stalin’s historical role. Some important steps were afoot on the initiative of K.U. Chernenko on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Great Victory. But full historical justice was not restored. The election of M.S.Gorbachev as [General] Secretary at the March 1985 Plenary session of the CCCPSU marked the starting point of a man-made crisis within the party, followed by a criminal dismantling of the USSR.
The CPRF in its work more than once assessed Khruschev’s “decrowning” of Stalin as politically harmful and morally wrong. True communists and our allies can subscribe to the words of the legendary Stalin Defense Minister, Marshall D.F. Ustinov: “No enemy has done as much harm to us as Khruschev through his policy toward the past of our party and state and the attitude to Stalin.” The CPRF, being an ideological heir to the RSDLP – RSDLP (B)- RCP (B)- AUCP (B)-CPSU –CPRSFSR, is consistently fighting against falsification of the history of the great Soviet era.
The time has come to declare the need to restore the full historical justice with regard to [Joseph] Vissarionovich Stalin. The 19th Congress of the CPRF deems it necessary:
to assess N.S.Khruschev’s report “On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences” delivered to the delegates of the 20th CPSU Congress on February 25, 1956 already after the Congress closed, as erroneous and politically biased. The text of the report contains doctored facts and false charges against [J.V.] Stalin, distorting the truth about his state and party activities;
to recognize that the resolutions and decisions of the 22nd CPSU Congress concerning the assessment of the role and place of Stalin in the history of the party and the country were destructive and caused great harm to the building of socialism in the USSR and the world communist movement;
to call on President Putin of the Russian Federation to return to the city of Volgograd and the Volgograd Oblast their heroic names Stalingrad and the Stalingrad Oblast. The decisions on renaming them were ungrounded. They do not contribute to preserving the historical memory and the solution of Russia’s strategic tasks of defeating neo-Nazism, protecting the sovereignty and national security;
the CPRF committees of all levels and the party’s information services to make active use of this resolution in covering topical issues of ideological struggle. To develop and introduce a relevant study course in the system of party- political instruction;
to carry on the work to immortalize the memory of [J.V.] Stalin, research and propagandize his theoretical and practical legacy and actualize it in the activities of the CPRF and left-patriotic forces at the present stage.