The 8th volume of the Collected Works of J. V. Stalin contains works written from January to November 1926—a period marked by intense developments and discussions within the USSR, within the Communist Party (B.), in the international environment, and in the Communist International.

1926 was the first year of the struggle undertaken on a broad scale by the Bolshevik Party for the practical implementation of the general line of the Party and the Soviet power for the socialist industrialization of the country.

Among the most significant works in this volume are those in which Stalin presents an assessment of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and key directions for further steps in the country's industrialization, develops Lenin's positions on the possibility of socialism winning in separate countries, establishes the possibility and necessity of building a socialist society in the USSR, and highlights the international significance of socialist construction in the USSR as a support and example for the revolutionary movement in other countries.