The Internationalism

Internationalism No. 88, June 2026 Page 8 In her essay Economia di guerra e inquadramento della società in URSS ( The War Economy and Social Control in the USSR ), Rebecca Manley writes that initially the German advance in Russia was welcomed by the local population and threatened the legitimacy of the reigning power , while party leaders, officials, and factory managers often jumped ship , with the abandoned populace openly cursing them [A. Aglan and R. Frank, La guerra-mondo 1937-1947 ( The World War 1937-1947 ), Einaudi, 2015-16]. Her account goes on to describe the government's gradual reassertion of control: The cost in human lives was increasing and shortages were continuing to worsen [...] it was only with the victory of Stalingrad that Stalin and the Soviet system recovered a central role in war propaganda . Overall, according to this author, the war years saw a surge of popular patr...

Internationalism No. 87, May 2026 Page 14 We return to the question of the "defence of the USSR" advocated by the Trotskyist movement during the Second World War. An outpost of the international revolution – a country where power has been seized before anywhere else, as was the case in Russia in 1917 – must of course be "defended", even if, in order to remain in power, it must act as a State among States, signing treaties and trading with them. The correctness of any choice, including in foreign policy, lies in the will and concrete commitment to advancing the revolutionary process at the international level, subordinating to this task even the fate of the "State" that was the first to be "conquered". Lenin, Trotsky, the vanguard of the Russian and international proletariat, pursued this line with determination and immense sacrifices, despite the delays ...