Carlos Rodriguez Braun has criticised anti-Stalinist communists following a new edition of Victor Serge novel The Case of Comrade Tulayev by publisher Editorial Capitan Swing.
Writing in a commentary published on 23 August 2026, the commentator argued that socialist critics of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin failed to offer a true alternative to totalitarianism because they refused to blame Vladimir Lenin for the origins of communist repression.
Rodriguez Braun acknowledged receiving the book recommendation from Luis Felipe Castresana before reading the Spanish edition released by Madrid based independent publisher Editorial Capitan Swing. The novel recreates the Moscow show trials conducted between 1936 and 1938 through literary portraits that depict the brutality of the Soviet regime.
Critics and literary historians have frequently compared Serge work to classic anti-totalitarian fiction including Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler and 1984 by George Orwell. Rodriguez Braun noted that while the book displays the misery of real socialism, it ultimately refrains from condemning the fundamental premises of Marxist revolution.
Literary depiction of Soviet purges
Serge joined the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1919 during the early years of the communist revolution following the fall of the Russian Empire. He later emerged as an outspoken critic of Stalin and condemned communist killings both within the Soviet Union and internationally during the Spanish Civil War.
After joining the Left Opposition associated with Leon Trotsky, Serge was arrested by Soviet authorities and placed under state detention. He eventually escaped into exile in Belgium and later relocated to Mexico, where he lived until his death, though several of his family members were unable to flee and were killed by communist authorities.
Historical accounts identify Serge as one of the first political writers to describe the Soviet administration as a totalitarian state. Despite his severe opposition to Stalinist repression, Serge maintained that the Bolshevik leadership had simply committed errors and betrayed the original ideals of the 1917 revolution.
Comparison between Stalin and Trotsky
Rodriguez Braun highlighted that Serge remained a committed anti-capitalist, revolutionary, and Marxist throughout his life without attributing any blame to Lenin. He stressed that the systematic brutality of Russian socialism originated under Lenin rather than beginning solely with Stalin rise to power.
The commentary examined the historical conflict between Stalin and Trotsky, who was ousted from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, forced into exile, and murdered in 1940. Soviet agent Ramon Mercader assassinated Trotsky in Mexico by striking him with an ice axe on Stalin orders.
Rodriguez Braun pointed out that both Trotsky and Stalin shared identical core ideological beliefs, including the total abolition of private property, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the enforcement of communist rule. He contended that if Trotsky had won the Soviet power struggle instead of Stalin, another assassin like Mercader would have been dispatched to kill comrade Joe in Mexico.
Dangers of internal socialist opposition
The article concluded by warning that the enemies of the enemies of freedom are not necessarily their friends, citing how communists fought against Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Rodriguez Braun maintained that internal socialist rivalries produced by Soviet atrocities created misleading figures who opposed Stalin while continuing to uphold revolutionary tyranny.
