J. V. Stalin and The British Road to Socialism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Joseph Stalin exerted substantial influence over the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), the largest Communist party in the U.K. between 1951 and 1991, as well as its intellectual successor, the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), which has operated since 1988. This article explores Stalin’s impact upon The British Road to Socialism (BRS), the official programme of the CPGB and CPB. It does so by examining primary documents from the CPGB and Russian State archives – especially the minutes of meetings and letters between Stalin and CPGB General Secretary Harry Pollitt between 1950 and 1951. These documents reveal that Stalin was not only instrumental in changing the scope of the CPGB strategy, from short-term electoral platforms to a long-term programme. He was also influential in determining the content of this programme, which became the BRS. All of Stalin’s suggestions were implemented in the BRS when it was published in 1951. Stalin’s ideas were inherited by later editions as well. Although some were revised in 1958 and 1977, his core policies have returned in the most recent edition of the BRS, published by the CPB in 2020. This indicates that Stalinism is alive and well in the Communist Party of Britain.