For many – the Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany to the USSR was the Victory of the Communist ideology over that of the hate filled ‘reactionary’ thinking as embodied in Hitler’s Mein Kampf – an anti-intellectual tract that certainly does not get better with age (or subsequent re-readings). In short, from an academic perspective their is no ‘hidden meaning’. This Hitlerite anti-intellectualism is the exact opposite to the reality of the philosophical texts as constructed by Marx and Engels. This still holds true when elaborating the texts of Lenin, Stalin and Mao (amongst others) are critically assessed. Joseph Stalin’s leadership of the Soviet System from 1933-1945 should form a separate study on its own – as he had to lead the Soviet people (following numerous re-elections into the post of ‘General Secretary’) during what must be termed the ‘Hitler Years’ – although the rise of Mussolini (1922-1945) [the more inept of the two fascist world leaders] must also be taken into account, as the emergence of the Catholic-based totalitarianism in Italy manifested on the world scene when Lenin’s health started to fail.
