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Title: Marxism and Problems of Linguistics by Joseph V. Stalin ISBN: 1-4102-0556-8 Publisher: University Press of the Pacific Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.50

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: C Bloggerfeller, Esquire, reviews the Great Cunning Linguist
Comment: Hurriedly recognized on its publication in the Soviet Union in 1951 as the greatest breakthrough in the science of linguistics in this or any other century, Comrade Stalin's book on Marxism and Linguistics has taken a long time to work its unique magic on the West. At the time only the visionary Eric Blair managed to appreciate the immense impact the Great Statesman had made on language in general - he knew that Stalin certainly had his way with words. Treasured by a generation of Eastern European schoolchildren for its fresh and engaging style, the work loses none of its charm in translation. The writing is effortless (it's a pity that reading it isn't quite so effortless but we can't all be geniuses of this stature and the book is definitely worth struggling with). You can easily see why Stalin was soon acclaimed as "Velikii Khitry Lingvist" (which might be translated as the Great Cunning Linguist). I was surprised how many of Stalin's insights were still relevant today, for instance the idea that "All literary works are written in some language or other" was a real discovery for me. I was also relieved to learn that there was no need for language to transform itself completely after the Revolution (as were the members of the audience at the first reading of these lectures who were unaware that they had still been speaking Russian since 1917). I found this book a true re-education. A linguistic work to rank with Chairman Mao's " Norwegian Intransitive Verbs: A Beginner's Guide".

Rating: 4
Summary: Brian Wayne Wells, Esquire, reviews Marxism and Linguistics
Comment: At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was split into two wings separated by ideology. The managerial/technocratic elite that had developed and accumulated political strength in the war years had gained ascendency in the party. This threatened steer the Party away from the class struggle ideology of the pre-World War II era.

Opposing the mangerial/technocratic elite were the party members who, while recognizing the necessity of temporarily putting aside the class struggle ideology in favor of the patriotic/nationalist ideology for the duration of the war, now wished to return to the true-faith of class struggle. A campaign was initiated by "Pravada" the offical newspaper of the Party to support the return to class struggle as the primary ideology.

This article written by Stalin in 1950 served as his endorsement of the "Pravada" campaign. Language and the definition of words served as one of the main battlegrounds in the early stages of this struggle. The article serves as one of the few original pieces avalable in English which provides some light on this post-war campaign in the Soviet Union.