A homosexual Communist’s letter to Stalin

Harry Whyte

In May 1934, British communist journalist Harry Whyte (1907–1960) wrote a lengthy letter to Stalin, asking a question that few in the Soviet Union would have dared to raise at the time:

Can a homosexual be considered someone worthy of membership in the Communist Party?

Whyte, a homosexual man, was working for the Moscow Daily News in Moscow. He had moved to the Soviet Union in 1932, seeking to escape the homophobic laws in Scotland. After the October Revolution, the Soviet authorities had repealed the Tsarist laws that criminalised homosexuality in Russia, ushering in a period of relative freedom for gay people.

However, in March 1934, Whyte was deeply and justifiably disturbed to learn—through his contacts in the press—that a new law had been quietly introduced, once again criminalising male homosexuality.

In his letter to Stalin, Whyte argued that homosexuality was a natural condition and should not be treated as a crime by socialists. He cited the first edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, which criticised Western states for defining homosexuality as “an incurable condition” and for punishing it. He also quoted psychiatrists who asserted that his sexual orientation required no treatment and even invoked Engels’ views on the subject. Whyte strongly condemned the capitalist system for its oppression and stigmatisation of homosexuals.

In his letter, he emphasised that the progressive gains made in the field of homosexual rights since 1917 had been undone by this new piece of legislation [which Whyte referred to as the “7 March Law”]. He called on Stalin to explain how such a move could be justified.

The first page of Whyte’s letter

The original of Whyte’s letter was unearthed in the Soviet archives following the collapse of the Stalinist regime. A handwritten note by Stalin on the first page encapsulated his regime’s attitude towards homosexuality: 

To be archived. An idiot and a degenerate. J. Stalin.

As the darkness of the Stalinist bureaucratic counter-revolution descended like a nightmare upon the country and the global communist movement, there was also a marked regression in both the rights of homosexuals and societal attitudes towards homosexuality. Not long afterwards, the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia was revised to define homosexuality as “a shameful and criminal” condition. Maxim Gorky published a leading article in Pravda equating homosexuality with “honorary fascism” and calling for it to be “eradicated”.

As a result of this reactionary law, more than 38,000 men were convicted in the Soviet Union, and homosexuality – subjected to brutal repression – was driven underground. Homosexuals were forced to live out their identities in constant fear and anxiety, relying on secret networks to survive.

[Click here to read the full English translation of Harry Whyte’s letter to Stalin, a powerful appeal against the criminalisation of homosexuality in the Soviet Union.]