How does Social Democracy understand the Nationalism Question?

These ideas first appeared in an illegal Bolshevik pamphlet or newspaper (in Tiflis) dated September 1, 1904. Stalin traced the history of Georgian nationalism and showed how bourgeois and feudal movements had failed the peasantry. He then turned to “the proletariat’s national question,” arguing clearly that the revolutionary goal was to unite Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Jewish and other workers against autocracy. Stalin wrote: “for the victory of the proletariat all the workers, irrespective of nationality, must be united… Demolition of national barriers… is a necessary condition for the victory of the proletariat of all Russia”. This content summarized his class-based solution: the emancipation of one nationality could only come through the liberation of the entire working class.

Historically, this essay became the foundation of Stalin’s later nationalist theory. Originally circulated among Caucasus Bolsheviks, it gained wider attention after 1917 as Stalin rose to leadership. In the Soviet era it was commemorated as the first clear statement of “Marxism and the national question,” contrasting with other Marxist thinkers on ethno-federalism. While the piece has no alternative English title in common use, it is sometimes cited by lines or translated names (e.g. Social-Democratic View on the National Question). Its significance lies in introducing Stalin’s perspective that multiethnic unity must be forged under Marxism – a perspective that informed Bolshevik policies in Russia’s borderlands and republics.

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.