Anarchism or Socialism?

Originally issued in installments in 1906 newspapers in Tiflis (such as Akhali Tskhovreba and later Akhali Droeba), this essay was written in Georgian and later translated. Anarchism or Socialism? is the actual series of articles Stalin wrote in late 1906–early 1907. The phrase “The core of modern social life is the class struggle” is simply the opening line of the introduction to that series. Some later editors or translators pulled that sentence out and used it as a separate title.

It systematically compares the “essence” of anarchism to Marxism. Stalin argues that anarchism’s cornerstone is the free individual, whereas Marxism’s cornerstone is the collective proletariat. He declares anarchists to be “real enemies of Marxism” and says the dispute is not a minor quarrel but a matter of fundamentally opposing principles. By examining anarchist and Marxist ideas side by side (on dialectics, materialism, the socialist revolution, etc.), he concludes that anarchism actually repudiates the dictatorship of the proletariat and so cannot be genuine socialism. The work has been translated under titles like “Anarchism or Socialism?” and often published together with his later “Trotskyism or Leninism?” as part of his early polemical writings.

This work’s importance lies in showing Stalin as a theoretician on ideological debates of the time. While it had limited impact beyond Georgian Bolsheviks when first released, it was later anthologized and praised by Soviet commentators as a classic Marxist refutation of anarchism. Historically it documents the intra-left conflicts of 1905–06 and Stalin’s early rhetorical style. Decades later, Soviet-era publications cited it to demonstrate that Stalin was defending proletarian dictatorship from the beginning. It remains a notable example of how he used plain language to distinguish Bolshevik socialism from other radical currents, at a time when these debates were very much alive among workers.

This modern Critical Reader’s Edition includes an illuminating afterword tracing Stalin's intellectual relationships with revolutionary philosophers and politicians (including Hegel, Feuerbach, Engels, and Ricardo), containing unique research into his intellectual development and economic-metaphysical theories, religious impulses masquerading as materialism, a comprehensive timeline of his life and works, a glossary of Lenin-Stalinist terminology, and a detailed index of his work works. Combined with the scholarly amplifying material, this professional translation is an indispensable exploration of Stalin’s world-changing philosophy which he manifested into one of the most terrifying authoritarian regimes ever created.