Stalinism

The term Stalinism describes a form of Marxism-Leninism associated with Joseph Stalin, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1922–1953) and Soviet Union leader (1929–1953). The style of government based on this ideology was characterized by social and political violence. Stalinism emphasized the annihilation of all dissident voices, often by purges and stage trials, concentration of power in one hand and subordination of worldwide communist movements to the Soviet Union, social engineering, extreme bureaucracy, uncompromising adherence to the Soviet economic principles, and hostile international policies. The term itself was brought to attention during the mid-1930s by Lazar Kaganovich, one of Stalin’s comrades, who reportedly proposed to replace the slogan "Long Live Leninism!" with "Long Live Stalinism!" Although initially reluctant, Stalin embraced its usage later and made it a central component of the cult of personality he developed.

Background

Born in Georgia in 1878, Joseph Stalin became involved in underground Marxist activities at an early age. When Vladimir Lenin formed the Bolshevik Party, in 1903, Stalin joined and showed his readiness to participate in revolutionary politics as well as criminal activities meant to support the faction, being imprisoned several times. At the time of 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin was already a key figure of the party, and during the Russian Civil War (1917–1919) he managed to impose his influence on the military, challenging the decisions of other members of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. He continued to consolidate his political power and in 1922 when the Soviet Union was founded, he became secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, a position that allowed him to build political support.

After Lenin’s death in 1924, the intellectual refinement and charismatic appeal of Stalin’s rivals paled before the power Stalin had consolidated from positions of direct control of the party. By 1929 Stalin’s major opponents were defeated, and his policies were stabilized. Stalin had already become a dictator, establishing a climate of fear where arrests, deportations, and executions took place on a daily basis. Stalin suppressed all dissent and eliminated anything that denoted foreign and especially Western influence. He established communist governments throughout Eastern Europe that have been widely described as totalitarian, and led the Soviets into the nuclear age.

Stalin, who grew increasingly paranoid in his later years, died in 1953. After his death, his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, condemned Stalin’s cult of personality and denounced his policies and the terror instilled by his regime in his Secret Speech to the Twentieth Party Congress in 1956. Considering that Stalinism was a temporary aberration in Soviet socialist development, politicians led by Nikita Khrushchev instituted de-Stalinization and a restricted liberalization within the same political framework. Consequently, some of the world’s Communist parties, who previously praised and followed Stalinism, abandoned it and, to various degrees, adopted the positions of Khrushchev.

Overview

Specific to Stalinism was the doctrine of "socialism in one country," which held that a new type of society, one with no social classes, could be built within Soviet boundaries and despite the influence of a largely capitalist world. Stalin, appealing both to socialist revolutionary frenzy and to Russian nationalism, launched in 1929 a series of five-year plans intended to convert the Soviet Union from a peasant society into an industrial superpower. The development plan was centered on government control of the economy and included forced collectivization and a "class war" declared on the rich farmers in the name of the poor. The measure encountered considerable rural resistance and millions of farmers who refused to cooperate were executed or exiled. Another consequence of collectivization was famine across the Soviet Union that led to millions of deaths.

Heavy industry was emphasized to secure Russia’s future economic independence from its capitalist ideological rivals. In order to do that, Stalin instituted systems of reward that established a socioeconomic stratification favoring the technical intelligentsia.

Stalin ruled by terror and with a totalitarian grip in order to eliminate anyone who might oppose him. While socialist ideology foresaw a progressive retreat of the state as the classless society became a reality, Stalin asserted that the state must instead become stronger before it could be eliminated. Stalin warned against the enemies of socialism who would try to avert the final victory of the Revolution. To prevent this, he expanded the powers of the secret police, encouraged citizens to spy on one another, heavily relied on censorship, and had millions of people killed or sent to the system of forced labor camps that Stalin made an integral part of the Soviet economy.

During the second half of the 1930s, the Great Purge was instituted for the purpose of ridding the Communist Party, the military, and other parts of Soviet society of those considered potentially dangerous to the cause. As part of the struggle against those whom he considered political rivals, Stalin accused political opposition with treason and used this as a weapon in his struggle against Leon Trotsky and Nikolay I. Bukharin and their followers. By February 1939 most of the "Old Bolsheviks" (revolutionaries who in 1917 had begun the Revolution) had been eliminated.

Stalin built a cult of personality around himself. Cities were renamed in his honor, including the important port city of Tsaritsyn (changed to Stalingrad, now Volgograd). Soviet history books were rewritten to give him a more important role in the revolution and give a legendary aura to other aspects of his life. He was the subject of laudatory artwork, literature, and music. Stalin, presenting himself as Lenin’s heir, came to be recognized as the sole infallible interpreter of party ideology, an ideology strongly reinforced by propaganda.

Stalinism was imposed as a political system in countries of the Eastern bloc immediately after the conclusion of World War II. Some of the most notable Stalinist leaders were Valko Chervenkov (Bulgaria), Ana Paulker and Gheorghe Ghorghiu Dej (Romania), Mátyás Rákosi (Hungary), Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovakia), Bolesław Bierut (Poland), and Enver Hoxha (Albania).

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