Is Stalinism Really Dead?

Geared to a Soviet readership, this humanistic brief for perestroika by a Soviet philosopher offers a salubrious self-examination of the crimes of Stalinism. Tsipko calls for economic democracy, open dialogue, free-market reforms and toleration of personal diversity. He condemns Karl Marx's justification of violence, his contempt for the ``peasantry'' (farmers) and opposition to religion. But he glosses over the damage done to his country by Lenin, whom he gingerly criticizes yet keeps on a pedestal, and demonizes Trotsky and other ``leftist adventurers.'' Tsipko can be long-winded, yet his critique offers us an intriguing on-the-scenes glimpse of current reappraisals in the Soviet Union. (Dec.)