Ludo Martens

Ludo Martens (12 March 1946 – 5 June 2011) was a Belgian activist and historian who founded and served as the first leader of the Workers' Party of Belgium. He wrote several works on the political history of Central Africa and the Soviet Union.
In 1968, Martens founded the group "Alle macht aan de arbeiders" ("All Power to the Workers"), which became the Workers' Party of Belgium in 1979. He served as president of the Workers' Party until 2008. Martens was the last foreigner to meet North Korean president Kim Il-sung before his death on 8 July 1994.
According to a press release by the Workers' Party, Martens died on the morning of 5 June 2011 after a long illness.
"Another View of Stalin".
In 1994, Martens published "Another View of Stalin" (""), a positive biography of Joseph Stalin that challenges in particular the commonly accepted view of collectivisation in the USSR and the Great Purge. He explained his motivation for writing the book in the introduction: "Defending Stalin's work, essentially defending Marxism-Leninism, is an important, urgent task in preparing ourselves for class struggle under the New World Order." The current leadership of the Workers' Party of Belgium, particularly president Peter Mertens in 2016, clearly distanced himself from Martens' vision on Stalin, whom they call "a dictator."