National question discussion in the Bolshevik party by example of I.V. Stalins Marxism and the National Question

In his research I. Stagis, basing on theanalysis of the political situation in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century and after studying the Bolshevik Party program documenton the national issue, tries to find answers to the question: what the reasons for the creation of this document were. The researchcarried out shows that Stalin, while not questioning the thesis of damage of nationalism for the socialist movement, tries to overcomeBolsheviks critical attitude to nations. The analysis of the documents shows that it is built on two concepts of the Bolsheviks nationalpolicy: the negation of nationalism and the principle of ignoring the national Synopsis. Stalin believed confronting nationalism is not theright but the duty of every Bolshevik. First, nationalism divides a single working-class movement, which, of course, harms the socialdemocraticparty whose future depends on the success of this movement. Second, Russian nationalism at that time becomes a firm partof the ideology of the main opponents of the Bolsheviks - the Black Hundreds. Finally, nationalism is contrary to the program of theSocial Democratic Party, which was very important in the confrontation between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, which waged astruggle for the right to represent the interests of all social democracy of the Russian Empire. Based on these factors, the Bolsheviks hadto agree with Stalin and recognize the struggle against nationalism as their direct responsibility. However, the changing socio-politicalsituation required the development of a strategy rather than a simple denial of the objectivity of the nation as a form of ethnic organization.The main purpose of Stalins work Marxism and the National Question was to attract the attention of the Social Democrats - theBolsheviks - to the problems associated with the nation, the rationale for the study of the national question. Citing examples, widelyreflected in the Bolshevik press, he drew attention to the changing socio-political context, showing how nationalism is destroying thebasic values of the Bolsheviks, first of all - the unity of the socialist movement. Creating a positive image of social democracy as theonly force that can deal with nationalism, can overcome the possible pessimism. At the same time the structure of the preface does notmake it clear what the theory of the nation, Stalin's proposal, will be. Only one thing is clear - it will be built on the controversy with theconcept of national-cultural autonomy, popular among social democrats of the Russian Empire. This fact itself further contributed to thetransformation of Marxism and the National Question into the fundamental work on this issue.

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