History, Politics and Economy turns one!

Today, History, Politics and Economy marks its first anniversary. In celebrating this first year, I have no intention of making grand statements or overstating the importance of the blog. Quite the opposite: my aim here is simply to make a modest contribution to correcting some of the major distortions that have, for many years, obstructed and poisoned socialist thought in Turkey.

The long-standing dominance of Stalinism over the socialist left in Turkey led to a severe and systematic distortion of historical reality. In the name of practical politics -within the left itself and even within organisations’ own ranks- this influence resulted in the normalisation and entrenchment of violence ranging from punishment and killing to, at times, torture, as well as bullying, dishonesty and deceit among people who called themselves socialists or communists. Although the dominance of Stalinism over the socialist left has largely waned across the world, the situation in these lands remains markedly different.

The circles and organisations in Turkey that define themselves as Trotskyist have, of course, for years waged a struggle -with limited means and with varying degrees of success- against the lies of capitalism, capital and imperialism. Yet when it comes to reckoning with the historical falsehoods and distortions produced by Stalinism, they often adopt an exceedingly “timid” and hesitant stance. I believe this is driven primarily by a concern not to jeopardise their relations with Stalinist organisations and by a search for “new forms of unity” with them.

I categorically reject this opportunist approach. Like Trotsky, I believe that between the Bolsheviks and the Stalinists there exists not merely a boundary drawn in blood, but a vast river of blood. It is precisely here that I see the core mission of History, Politics and Economy: to confront the distortions of Stalinism in a systematic, documented and forthright manner, and in doing so to make -even if only a modest- contribution to the defence of historical truth.

Why 21 December 2024?

I was able to launch History, Politics and Economy much later than I had hoped, towards the end of 2024. Only at that point did I manage to extricate myself from the intensity of my professional commitments and create the time required for this project. Even so, over the past year there were periods when, due to workload, I had to neglect the blog for several weeks; I fear that similar situations may arise in the coming year as well.

Nevertheless, I believe that, aside from such brief and unavoidable interruptions, the blog will not face any real problem of continuity. The body of work accumulated so far already demonstrates that the blog has found a sustainable rhythm of its own.

A summary of the first year

To date, I have published 166 “pieces” or “items” on History, Politics and Economy (excluding this text). I use these terms because some of the writings consist of multiple sections; consequently, the number of standalone articles is slightly less than 166.

Thirty-seven of these pieces are translations from English into Turkish. Some of them were published in Turkish for the first time. Where texts had previously been translated by me or by others, I reviewed them meticulously and corrected them line by line.

Sixty-five pieces consist of original texts written by me. I translated all of them from Turkish into English in order to reach beyond the borders of Turkey. (I drafted the articles in Turkish and made a point of publishing their English translations with as little delay as possible, usually within a day or two.) As a result, the blog publishes in two languages in a genuinely bilingual sense, independently of the automatic translation tools provided by Blogger.

Visitor statistics

The total number of page views stands at 8,409. Although I instructed Blogger not to count my own visits, the system recorded the initial clicks, meaning that around 350 visits need to be deducted from this figure. This leaves roughly 8,000 “genuine” visits.

The list showing the countries from which visitors connect cannot be regarded as a reliable statistic, since extensive VPN use largely obscures the real distribution. It is quite clear that Singapore, which appears in second place after Turkey, reflects not a “surge of readers” in that city-state but rather the widespread use of VPNs.

As for reader comments, unfortunately History, Politics and Economy has not received any comments so far. We shall see whether this changes in the year ahead.

Final words

History, Politics and Economy is neither a school nor an organisation, nor a platform with grand ambitions. If what I write and translate helps, even in a small way, to broaden the horizons of those interested in the history of the socialist movement in Turkey, and to bring into view certain historical truths obscured by Stalinism, then this blog can be said to have fulfilled its purpose.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who has visited the blog and taken the time to read it over the past year.