“We realize that the methods of manipulation by omission, used by the PCRM and elucidated in this article, were practiced by a number of TV stations and other media outlets whose activity was limited on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, in the context of the war that is being waged by Russia against Ukraine. But we also need to test other, more effective methods of combating manipulation and disinformation. Would it be useful to inform citizens what is being done about this? Or will we really let billion-dollar thieves and nostalgic Stalinists to decide the fate of the country?..."
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A Stalinist plagiarist confronts Solzhenitsyn... 

This week marks 90 years since the completion of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik), which was held from January 26 to February 10, 1934. The Congress took stock of the first five-year period (1928-1932), dedicated to the industrialization of the USSR, and proclaimed the construction of socialism in the USSR. The meeting was categorized as the congress of victors because it would have ascertained the implementation of the provisions of the doctrine regarding the possibility of building socialism in a single country, formalized back in 1925, during the 14th Congress.

Nowadays, anyone can ask: what is the point of referring to the so-called Congress of Victors 90 years later? It makes sense. This is because the pro-Stalinist propaganda in Moldova does not stop misinforming the citizens, using clichés from revised Russian history textbooks about Stalin – an effective manager. This is what the official press of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) does as it has recently begun to reflect the importance of the 17th congress of the so-called victors. It is noteworthy that  the article dedicated to this topic was also reproduced on other Communist and Komsomolist websites, representing a real sample of intellectual theft – plagiarism and shameless manipulation.

First of all, the article signed by the permanent author of these Communist electronic publications – Sergei Ivanov – is plagiarized in the proportion of 79% of the article signed for the Soviet Encyclopedia by Boris Gaubikh. Anyone can verify and see that 12 paragraphs out of 15 are copied verbatim. The point is the author of the original article died over 40 years ago and cannot protest. Surely, we cannot exclude that Sergei Ivanov is the reincarnation of Boris Gaubikh and, if this is so, we will apologize to him.

Secondly, the 19% of the uncopied text, although we cannot be sure of this, of the article that was fraudulently signed by Sergei Ivanov, as befits an inveterate Stalinist, is only a philippic against Nikita Khrushchev, who exposed Stalin’s cult of personality, the crimes committed by him, at the 20th congress of the CPSU, as well as against the “traitor”, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who allegedly slandered Soviet realities into its opposites, ignoring historical facts and documents. But why is the plagiarist Stalinist so angry with Khrushchev and Solzhenitsyn? Because the information and documents made public by them allegedly suggested to malicious critics to call the 17th congress not the congress of victors, but the congress of the shot ones.

Victors shot

If the plagiarist Stalinists of Moldova do not trust the statements of the former General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU or Nobel laureates, at least they could trust Stalin’s beloved minister – Anastas Mikoyan, who was People’s Commissar for Foreign Trade and Supplies, including during the industrialization period. And he was very knowledgeable. By the way, Mikoyan was instrumental in the development of Soviet-American economic and trade relations, contributing to the modernization of the Soviet light industry by copying successful models of American consumer products.

Thus, in Chapter 48 “The Twentieth Congress. About the victims of Stalinism” of Mikoyan’s memoir, entitled Life Given to the People, we learn that the author requested an informative note from which we can glean the following: “A commission consisting of Pospelov, Aristov, Shvernik and Komarov carefully studied archival documents from the KGB and sent a long note. The commission’s note of February 9, 1956 contained scary figures about the number of Soviet citizens repressed and executed on charges of “anti-Soviet activity” in 1935–1940 and especially in 1937–1938. The note shows that in a number of regional committees and district executive committees of the party, two-thirds of the leadership were arrested. Moreover, out of 139 members and candidates for members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Bolsheviks elected at the party’s 17th Congress, 98 people were arrested and shot over the years. It is striking that for all members and candidates for members of the Central Committee of the All-Union All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks who were tried, only one punishment was chosen - execution. In total, out of 1,966 delegates to this congress with a casting and advisory vote, 1,108 people were arrested on charges of counterrevolutionary crimes, of which 848 were shot. The facts were so frightening that in particularly difficult parts of the text, it was difficult for Pospelov to read and once he even burst into tears.”

So, from the memoirs of Stalin’s beloved minister, we learn that 64% or about 2/3 of the members and candidates for members of the Central Committee, participants in the 17th congress, were shot. Respectively, of all delegates to the congress, 56% were arrested and 43% were shot. In such circumstances, it is natural to ask – who is right, the Stalinist plagiarist from the PCRM, who titled his article Congress of Victors, or those who, studying the proceedings of the 17th congress, titled their articles, for example, Congress of the victors shot by Stalin or slightly differently? In fact, the 17th congress was the prelude to the great terror of 1936-1938, which had as its motive the murder, on December 1, 1934, under extremely suspicious circumstances, of the leader of the Leningrad communists, Sergei Kirov, suspected of having become Stalin’s rival in the struggle for power. 

About industrialization and its effects

No one doubts that the industrialization of the USSR took place and was extremely important. The problem is that Stalinists avoid talking about who were the real actors of industrialization  and what price the citizens of the USSR paid, especially the peasantry, who were subject to Holodomors to cover the costs of industrialization. In fact, the industrialization of the USSR occurred under certain circumstances, due to the economic crises that began in the West after the crash of the New York Stock Exchange on October 24, 1929, when a number of highly-qualified specialists found themselves without work and accepted the invitation to come to the USSR and participate in its industrialization. Respectively, almost all Soviet factories during the first five-year period were built by foreign engineers with the use of foreign equipment. For example, a special role in industrialization was played by the company Albert Kahn Associates, Inc, which was hired to draw up designs for industrial buildings and train Soviet engineers and specialists, transferring to them the necessary skills. For this purpose, a branch of the mentioned company, called Gosproektstroy, was opened in Moscow and was responsible for training about 4,000 specialists, participating in the construction of more than 500 industrial facilities. This information can be found right on the website of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). But, obviously, many other companies from the US, Germany, Italy, etc. were also involved.

Obviously, nothing in the huge volume  of information about industrialization is publicized and not even reference is made to such materials by Stalinist propagandists who have no other concern than to glorify the bloody tyrant as the sole author of industrialization. This is done in order to evoke the totalitarian model built by Stalin as one worthy of eventual reconstruction, which we can glean from the series of articles signed by the mentioned plagiarist. And this method is nothing else but manipulation by omission, that is ignoring of the context and concrete facts in order to distort sociopolitical phenomena and mislead the public for the benefit of the eventual attempt to resuscitate the defunct Soviet empire.

Conclusions

Plagiarism and manipulation by omission must be vigorously combated in order to secure the information space of the Republic of Moldova from the danger of disinformation. When manipulators try to explore nostalgic pro-Soviet sentiments, sometimes it is enough to remind them of the assessment of the USSR’s successes in the economic field made by the President of the Russian Federation himself, Vladimir Putin, who found that the USSR’s industry, in the 70 years of existence of the Soviet empire, was unable to produce anything more valuable for general consumption than galoshes, which were required by the inhabitants of African states to protect themselves from the hot sand on the black continent. Obviously, this is an exaggeration of the exponent of the corrupt clan of ex-President Yeltsin, who seized power in Russia. But in this exaggeration there is a lot of truth, if we remember that the USSR was the country of a chronic shortage.  

Even if the PCRM has become a 3% party, its manipulative effort should not be ignored. The PCRM is part of the main opposition force in Moldova - the parliamentary group of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BCS). It is also important that BCS, for now, separately from Shor’s clones, started protests against the current rulers, seeking their dismissal in order to replace them. It is normal that the opposition protests against the government and it is good that it does it. The problem is that we are in a situation when the pot is calling the kettle black, wanting to replace it. Let’s not forget that the PSRM leader Igor Dodon also wants to return to the top of Moldovan politics, after comparing himself two years ago with Mahatma Gandhi himself, trying to convince us that he organized a kind of congress of victors, different from the Stalinist one. In such circumstances, it is natural to ask – will the Moldovan citizens really replace a government lacking capacity and experience with political forces led by thieves of billions and supporters of Stalinism and Russian imperialism? We cannot know, but this danger persists and something must be done.

Recommendations

A. For the PCRM. For the sake of healthy political competition, healthy and decent political forces are needed. In this respect, if the PCRM wants to have any role in Moldovan politics, then it should take measures against plagiarism and manipulative authors in the service of the party. If anyone thinks that the article dedicated to the congress of victors is the only sample of plagiarism, then they are sorely mistaken. Recently the same author published another article, dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II, which in the proportion of 49% is copied from the website of the Presidential Library of the Russian Federation. We can surely admit that the plagiarist has the consent of Putin himself to plagiarize texts written by others. Or, why not, the agreement was obtained through third parties, for example, at the meeting of PCRM MP  Constantin Starysh with the Russian dictator. If so, then we apologize. However, this must be communicated to the public. 

B. For the rulers. We realize that the methods of manipulation by omission, used by the PCRM and elucidated in this article, were practiced by a number of TV stations and other media outlets whose activity was limited on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, in the context of the war that is being waged by Russia against Ukraine. But we also need to test other, more effective methods of combating manipulation and disinformation. Would it be useful to inform citizens what is being done about this? Or will we really let billion-dollar thieves and nostalgic Stalinists to decide the fate of the country.