Glava 3: Partiya (str. 107-142)

Sekciya 1: Voprosy idejno-politicheskogo rukovodstva (str. 110-128)

« Delat' otsyuda vyvod, chto socializm trebuet uravnilovki, uravnivaniya, nivelirovki potrebnostej chlenov obshchestva, nivelirovki ix vkusov i lichnogo byta, chto po planu marksistov vse dolzhny xodit' v odinakovyx kostyumax i est' odni i te zhe blyuda, v odnom i tom zhe kolichestve, - znachit govorit' poshlosti i klevetat' na marksizm. Pora usvoit', chto marksizm yavlyaetsya vragom uravnilovki. Eshche v "Manifeste Kommunisticheskoj partii" bichevali Marks i E^ngel's primitivnyj utopicheskij socializm, nazyvaya ego reakcionnym za ego propoved' "vseobshchego asketizma i gruboj uravnitel'nosti". E^ngel's v svoem "Anti-Dyuringe" posvyatil celuyu glavu bichuyushchej kritike "radikal'nogo uravnitel'nogo socializma", vydvinutogo Dyuringom, kak protivoves protiv marksistskogo socializma. [...] Burzhuaznye pisateli oxotno izobrazhayut marksistskij socializm, kak staruyu carskuyu kazarmu, gde vse podchineno "principu" uravnilovki. »(str. 119, 120)

« To draw from this the conclusion that socialism calls for equalization, for the levelling of the requirements of the members of society, for the levelling of their tastes and of their personal, everyday life -- that according to the Marxist plan all should wear the same clothes and eat the same dishes in the same quantity -- is to utter vulgarities and to slander Marxism. It is time it was understood that Marxism is an enemy of equalization. Already in the Manifesto of the Communist Party Marx and Engels scourged primitive utopian socialism and termed it reactionary because it preached "universal asceticism and social levelling in its crudest form."[127] In his Anti-Dühring Engels devoted a whole chapter to a withering criticism of the "radical equalitarian socialism" put forward by Dühring in opposition to Marxist socialism. [...] Bourgeois writers are fond of depicting Marxist socialism in the shape of the old tsarist barracks, where everything is subordinated to the "principle" of equalization. »

Editor's note:
This cartoon confused us at first. The original edition only included the last paragraph ("bourgeois writers...") as a caption, making us think the target was conformist writers (aesthetes who smell flowers only on command). Going back into the speech, however, we realized it was an attack on "left-wing Communism," the notion that equality should extend to all aspects of life. We prefixed two earlier paragraphs to the caption to make this clear.

Links to text of I.V. Stalin, Otchetnyj Doklad 17 S"ezdu VKP(b) o Rabote CK VKP(b)