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thelinguist.uberflip.com DeceMBer 2015/JANuArY 2016 The Linguist 13 FEATURES mainly by forces organised around Leon trotsky, the former leader of the red Army. this was a time of fierce political and ideological battles. the two sides articulated opposing models of economic and political development in the uSSr, and distinct analyses of the prospects of international revolution, based on markedly different readings of Marxist theory. Stalin's victory was decisive for the future of the international labour movement and world politics. the emergence of the uSSr from WWII as a superpower, a society allegedly built on Marxist principles, secured the prevalence of this interpretation of the theory. In pre-war times, Stalinism had been contested in Greece by sizeable trotskyist organisations. Although these had disintegrated by 1951, they had once threatened the dominance of the kke in the Greek labour movement. In response, the kke's central committee had made efforts to plan and control Marxist discourse. In 1927, it decided to translate and re- translate theoretical texts by Marx, engels and Lenin (often referred to as 'the classics', which for the kke included Stalin's works) in order to sideline translations that had been issued by its political rivals on the Left and hegemonise Marxist discourse. Although it made progress until the mid-1930s, the project was delayed by repressive regimes, the occupation of Greece during WWII and the civil War. Now, the relatively stable political environment in romania made it possible. the translation of the Selected Works was the result of collaboration at both international and local level, requiring substantial organisation and resources. As the historian eric hobsbawm notes, resources for translations were provided by the uSSr. 1 to coordinate all translation activity, the kke established a translation Division, which was part of its Publishing Section, and, within it, a department for the translation of the classics. In 1951, translations amounted to 50.8% of the kke's publications (the 'classics' alone made up 28.9% of production), a rate projected to rise to 53% in 1952. 2 translation, with a clear emphasis on the classics, was key. this shows how ownership of the theory was still a priority for the party, even after the defeat of its political adversaries on the Left. Translators as a trusted cadre With the publication of the Selected Works, the kke consolidated its authority over the translation of Marxist theory into Greek, as the only expert. the process and organisation of translating were very important. In its foreword, the Publishing Section of the kke stated that the translations had been carried out from the original German or english texts by a team of people. this included translators, revisers, typists and proofreaders, whose work was overseen by the head of the Department of the classics. those engaged in translating and revising were a trusted cadre. these groups were professionals in the sense that they were employed by the party for the sole purpose of translating, or otherwise contributing to the making of the translations, and that they were paid for their work. Previously, translation had been carried out by individual members in addition to other responsibilities. translating and related editorial work were organised on the basis of annual production plans and individual production quotas for each employee. the organisation of activities was hierarchical; revisers were above translators who, in turn, were above other collaborators. translations were the product of a complex process of collaboration at horizontal and vertical level, incorporating several stages: each translator undertook the rendering of segments of the same text; after completion it was passed to typists, revisers and proofreaders for comments and corrections. Several drafts were completed until the final product was deemed suitable for publication by the head of the Department. this process of collaboration added authority to the translations. claiming that they had been carried out directly from the original ruled out the danger, inherent in relay translation, of repeating errors of meaning transfer. It suggested a more rigorous approach to translating. the texts were not only translated but also checked and corrected by different people, encouraging the assumption that errors of meaning transfer were minimised and that the renderings were accurate. collaboration suggested quality, textual reliability and trustworthiness – a mark of authority and expertise. today, we may take translations of Marxist texts for granted, but looking at their history we can see a more complex picture of political battles, priorities and agendas, which have shaped our understanding of Marxist theory. A collaborative translation process was central to establishing the authority of the translations – an important aspect of a larger project to control the interpretation of Marxist theory. This article is based on Christina Delistathi's talk at the 'Translation as Collaboration: Translaboration?' symposium at the University of Westminster on 18 June. Notes 1 hobsbawm, e (2011) How to Change the World: Tales of Marx and Marxism, London, Little, Brown 2 Mattheou, A and Polemi, P (2003) Η Εκδοτική Περιπέτεια των Ελλήνων Κομμουνιστών. Από το Βουνό στην Υπερορία: 1947-1968, Athens, Vivliorama, 64 LEGACY: The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) at a pre-election demonstration in 2014 in Aristotelous Square, Thessaloniki This was a time of fierce political and ideological battles. The two sides articulated opposing models PROPAGANDA: Marshall Stalin, c.1944