Contemporary Stalinist “historians”:

Bill Bland (1)

Bill Bland (1916-2001), one of the most ardent defenders of Stalin and Stalinism in recent history, remains a figure held in high regard and promoted in Turkey by Stalinist circles that fully or partly embrace Enver Hoxha’s political line. Since the early 2000s, some of his works have been translated into Turkish, his studies have been presented in glowing terms, and his historical interpretations have been cited as sources in various publications.

Before I began writing this article, I asked myself: “Who exactly is promoting Bill Bland in Turkey, and which political circles do they belong to?” When I looked into who had published his books, praised his work and drawn on his views, I came up with the following list:

[The links in the list below and the following paragraph lead to texts in Turkish.]

• 
  Ceylan Yayınları published his book The Restoration of Capitalism in the Soviet Union (Sovyetler Birliği’nde Kapitalizmin Restorasyonu) in 2005, translated by Tamer Balcı. The book’s description presents Bland’s work as “a collection of documents that simply must be studied”.

• Su Yayınevi published Joseph Stalin: Myth and Reality (Jozef Stalin: Söylence ve Gerçek) in 2009, compiled and translated by Garbis Altınoğlu. In his introduction to the book, also available online, Altınoğlu highly praises Bland’s research and endorses his interpretation that Stalin was not a ruler who wielded absolute authority.

• Teori ve Politika republished Altınoğlu’s introduction on 26 December 2023 under the title “The Reality of Marxism and Stalin” (“Marksizmin Gerçekliği ve Stalin”). In its editorial introduction to the text, the journal offers a favourable assessment of Altınoğlu’s defence of Stalin.

• In its article “Why Has No Sovietologist Emerged from Turkey? - 2” (“Türkiye’den neden Sovyetolog çıkmadı -2”), Evrensel lists Bland among the researchers who produced “very detailed and valuable studies” on the Soviet Union. In an interview with Alfonso Casal published in the newspaper, Bland is presented as a pioneering “anti-revisionist”, described as “a Hoxhaist before Hoxha”.

• On 28 March 2023, Teori ve Eylem published an article by Grover Furr, another ardent defender of Stalin, entitled “Did the Soviet Union Invade Poland in September 1939? No!” (“Sovyetler Birliği Eylül 1939’da Polonya’yı işgal etti mi? Hayır!”). In this article, Furr describes Bland’s study of the 1939 German–Soviet Non-Aggression Pact as “an excellent account”. The interview with Alfonso Casal, in which he speaks favourably of Bland, also appeared in the journal under the title “The United States, Imperialism and American Communists” (“ABD, emperyalizm ve ABD’li komünistler”).

• Kerem Yıldırım’s article “When Was Socialism Defeated in the Soviet Union?” (“Sovyetler Birliği’nde sosyalizm ne zaman yenildi?”), published in Gazete Patika, makes numerous references to Bland’s book on the restoration of capitalism. However, the article also criticises Stalin, so we should distinguish between endorsing all of Bland’s views and using his work as a source while accepting some of his arguments.

• Türkiye Direniyor helps disseminate Bland’s writings by publishing a Turkish translation of his text “The 1939 German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact” (“1939 Alman-Sovyet Saldırmazlık Paktı”).

To these publications we can add some writings by individual authors. For example, in one of his articles from December 2016, the Stalinist writer Hasan Ozan İltemur does not fully accept Bland’s thesis that Stalin was in a minority within the party leadership, but finds it significant in relation to the period after 1945. Another Stalinist writer, İbrahim Okçuoğlu, cites numerous Soviet sources via Bland in his study “Commodity Production and the Law of Value under Socialism (II)” (“Sosyalizmde MetaÜretimi ve Değer Yasası (II)”). Bland thus appears in some writings as an authority whose historical interpretations are endorsed, and in others as a source of quotations and documents.

The list may not be particularly long or impressive, but it should not be dismissed lightly.

Of course, I do not claim that it is exhaustive; I may have overlooked some publications and authors. Even so, I think it gives a clear enough picture of who in Turkey holds Bill Bland in high regard, promotes him and uses his work as a source.

Many of Bill Bland’s essays and books are available in their original English in the Bill Bland archive on the Marxists Internet Archive. Alongside his work in “history” and “theory”, Bland wrote plays, directed two films and created a ballet. The archive also includes his work in art and literature.

A short biography of Bland

Bill Bland

Bill Bland was born into a well-to-do family on 28 April 1916 in Ashton-under-Lyne, in the north of England. After the printing works managed by his father closed during the Great Depression, he left school at fifteen and began working. While working as an optician’s assistant, he continued his education part-time and qualified as an optician himself. He visited the Soviet Union in 1937 and emigrated to New Zealand before the Second World War, later joining the Communist Party there. In Auckland, he served as the party’s district secretary and ran its political education activities.

In 1950, he returned to the United Kingdom, continued to earn his living as an optician and transferred his membership to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). He opposed The British Road to Socialism, the programme adopted by the party in 1951 and endorsed by Stalin. The programme envisaged a peaceful transition to socialism through parliament, which Bland could not reconcile with his understanding of Marxism-Leninism.

Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1956 and the acceptance of criticism of Stalin within the CPGB deepened Bland’s disagreement with the party line. Nevertheless, he did not leave the party immediately. As he became involved in the self-described “anti-revisionist” organisations that emerged in Britain during the 1960s, he retained his CPGB membership for a time.

Bland became chairman of the Marxist-Leninist Organisation of Britain (MLOB), founded in 1967. Following the Cultural Revolution, he began studying the Chinese revolution and Mao’s views, concluding that Mao’s political and theoretical line was “revisionist”. This assessment deepened his disagreements with members of the organisation who remained loyal to Mao.

However, Bland’s opposition to Mao did not end his support for the Albanian leadership, which was then allied with China. He continued to regard Albania under Enver Hoxha as socialist. His stance on Albania was also one of the causes of division within the MLOB. After the organisation split in the mid-1970s, Bland took the lead in founding a group called the Communist League.

Bland rejected Mao’s line but continued to defend Stalin and Enver Hoxha, remaining a supporter of Hoxha for the rest of his life.

To be continued