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Stalinism is the means of governing and related policies implemented by Joseph Stalin. Stalinist policies in the Soviet Union included: state terror, rapid industrialization, the theory of socialism in one country, a centralized state, collectivization of agriculture, cult of personality, and subordination of interests of foreign communist parties to those of the Communist Party of the Soviet Uniondeemed by Stalinism to be the most forefront vanguard party of communist revolution at the time.[1]

Stalinism promoted the escalation of class conflict, utilizing state violence to forcibly purge society of claimed supporters of the bourgeoisie, regarding them as threats to the pursuit of the communist revolution that resulted in substantial political violence and persecution of such people.[2] These included not only bourgeois people but also working-class people accused of counter-revolutionary sympathies.[3]

Stalinist industrialization was officially designed to accelerate the development towards communism, stressing that such rapid industrialization was needed because the country was previously economically backward in comparison with other countries; and that it was needed in order to face the challenges posed by internal and external enemies of communism.[4] Rapid industrialization was accompanied with mass collectivization of agriculture and rapid urbanization.[5] Rapid urbanization converted many small villages into industrial cities.[5] To accelerate the development of industrialization, Stalin pragmatically created joint venture contracts with major American private enterprises, such as Ford Motor Company, that under state supervision assisted in developing the basis of industry of the Soviet economy from the late 1920s to 1930s.[6] After the American private enterprises completed their tasks, Soviet state enterprises took over.[6]

The term came into prominence during the mid-1930s, when Lazar Kaganovich, a Soviet politician and associate of Stalin, reportedly declared, "Let's replace Long Live Leninism with Long Live Stalinism!"[7] Stalin initially met this usage with hesitancy, dismissing it as excessively praiseful and contributing to a cult of personality.[7]

Stalinism is used to describe period Stalin was acting leader of the Soviet Union while serving as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party from 1922 to his death in 1953.

Stalinism usually denotes a style of a government, and an ideology. While Stalin claimed to be an adherent to the ideas of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx, and hence purported that his policies were merely a style of government, critics say that many of his policies and beliefs were different or in direct opposition to those of Lenin and Marx.[9] Stalin's idea of Socialism in one country, and his turn to overt centralization were all in stark contradiction to the theories put forth by Lenin or Marx.[9]

From 1917 to 1924, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin often appeared united, but had had discernible ideological differences. In his dispute with Leon Trotsky, Stalin de-emphasized the role of workers in advanced capitalist countries (for example, he considered the U.S. working class as "bourgeoisified" labour aristocracy). Also, Stalin polemicized against Trotsky on the role of peasants, as in China, whereas Trotsky's position was in favor of urban insurrection over peasant-based guerrilla warfare.

While traditional Communist thought holds that the state will gradually "wither away" as the implementation of socialism reduces class distinction, Stalin argued that the state must become stronger before it can wither away. In Stalin's view, counterrevolutionary elements will try to derail the transition to full Communism, and the state must be powerful enough to defeat them. For this reason, Communist regimes influenced by Stalin have been widely described as totalitarian.

Soviet puppet Sheng Shicai extended Stalinist rule in Xinjiang province in the 1930s. Stalin opposed the Chinese Communist Party, and Sheng conducted a purge similar to Stalin's Great Purge in 1937.[10]

Stalin blamed the Kulaks as the inciters of reactionary violence against the people during the implementation of agricultural collectivisation.[11] In response, the state under Stalin's leadership initiated a violent campaign against the Kulaks, which has been labeled as "classicide".[12]

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Stalinism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia