by MHI
On August 16, 2026, Marxist-Humanist Initiative (MHI) will meet to discuss a new text by Marxist-Humanist theorist Andrew Kliman, provisionally titled “Stalin’s Role in the 1943 Stalinist Revision of Marxian Economic Thought.” This short piece is a draft section of his forthcoming book on Marx as a theorist of socialist society. The meeting is open to the public.
In 1943, the article “Some Questions of Teaching Political Economy” appeared in the Russian theoretical journal Pod Znamenem Marxizma (Under the Banner of Marxism), revising the “law of value” and the concepts of directly and indirectly social labor. It had long been suspected that these revisions were introduced at the direction of the Kremlin bureaucracy, especially Stalin. Archival evidence, made publicly available after the collapse of the USSR, has confirmed that suspicion.
In his draft text, Kliman references key excerpts from minutes of a January 29, 1941, meeting between Soviet leaders, including Stalin, and six economists. The minutes make clear that Stalin and the Kremlin bureaucracy were directly involved in the Soviet revision of Marxian economics. In particular, as Kliman documents, the 1943 Pod Znamenem Marxizma article closely adheres to directives that Stalin issued during the meeting.
Kliman and Theresa Henry will give short presentations at the beginning of the meeting, after which the floor will open for general discussion. The Zoom link and study materials for the meeting are given below. We ask all participants to read at least the three required readings—all of which are short—prior to the meeting.
A disembodied statue of Joseph Stalin’s head on the streets of Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution, 1956. Source: @imstillculture, Instagram
Zoom Link
MHI Public Meeting on Zoom, Sunday, August 16, 2026, 1-3 pm EDT
To join the meeting: https://zoom.us/j/91981877412?pwd=5DFvynY821rUKyt62aclJQtSW6aJvr.1
You may also need to input the following:
Meeting ID: 919 8187 7412
Passcode: 141702
Readings/Recordings
Required
Andrew Kliman, “The Stalinist Revision of the Concepts of Directly and Indirectly Social Labor,” a section of his “Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Program on the Capitalism vs. Communism,” Journal of Global Faultlines 9:2 (2023): 107-126.
Andrew Kliman, “Stalin’s Role in the 1943 Stalinist Revision of Marxian Economic Thought.” Unpublished draft manuscript, Aug. 3, 2026.
Raya Dunayevskaya, “A New Revision of Marxian Economics,” American Economic Review 34(3): 531–537 (Sept. 1944).
Recommended
Theresa Henry, “The Continuing Significance of the 1943 Soviet Revision of the Law of Value,” June 12, 2024, in “‘Karl Marx Had Your Number,’ MHI Panel at NYC Left Conference, June 1, 2024 (1 of 2),” (YouTube video), from 14:46 to 25:56.
Radio Free Humanity, Ep. 109, “Value and Labor Relations in Capitalism and Socialism, Part 1,” January 26, 2024.
Radio Free Humanity, Ep. 110, “Value and Labor Relations in Capitalism and Socialism, Part 2,” February 9, 2024.
Be the first to comment