How Did Joseph Stalin Rise To Marxism

‘The Soviet leadership thus portrays itself as socialist to protect its right to wield the club, and Western ideologists adopt the same pretense in order to forestall the threat of a more free and just society. This joint attack on socialism has been highly effective in undermining it in the modern period.’(Chomsky Chomsky.info) While many see the Soviet Union’s rise to the status of superpower under the leadership of Joseph Stalin as one of the great triumphs of Marxism, the Stalinist state system functioned in contradiction to Marxist theory and was a proletarian success more in name than in practice. In this essay, I shall analyze Stalin’s social, political and economic reforms, and contrast them with the writings of Marx and Engels to

However instead of handing over control of the countries to the previous governments, Stalin systematically arranged the rise of communist parties in each of the countries to positions of complete control. This process was part of Stalin’s vision of spreading communism, by creating a soviet sphere of influence. However, one of the first steps Stalin took to ensure obedience amongst the Eastern European countries was to introduce the Cominform (Communist Information Bureau). Through Cominform, Stalin organized and monitored the workings of the communist parties within the Eastern Bloc in order to ensure that only his line of communism was enforced in each country, and hence extending his cult of personality throughout the Eastern Bloc. Such a system is different from Marx and Engels had imagined when they spoke of the spread of communism globally. Marx and Engels believed that as communism spread, states and governments would wither away and hence a global communist society would form. This they called the sixth stage of historical materialism or pure communism. They envisioned a world with statelessness, classlessness and without any private property. What Stalin did was to essentially further strengthen the soviet state, as well as implement the soviet state centered system throughout Eastern Europe. These puppet regimes were very repressive and

Propaganda produced by the state created the image of Stalin as the savior and guardian of the Soviet Union and the Communist movement. Historical facts and images were altered to exaggerate Stalin’s role in the Bolshevik revolution, and any alternate lines of view were censored by the state. Stalin’s image was projected through music, movies as well as art. This was important to cement his rule as supreme dictator of the Soviet Union. Many towns and cities were renamed after Stalin, like Stalingrad, and Stalin’s name even appeared in the national anthem. He accepted titles like ‘the gardener of human happiness’, while at the same time millions were suffering in Gulags. Stalin often attempted to justify the brutality of his regime by making measures such as Gulags appear necessary for the strength and wellbeing of the Soviet Union. This propaganda reached its peak after World War Two, where Stalin was portrayed to have single handedly brought about the defeat of Germany. Hence such measures cemented Stalin’s role as the supreme decision maker within the Soviet Union, while literature opposing his policies was banned or censored by the state censor board and such writers were often sent to Gulags as punishment. Such an autocratic regime centering on the decisions of a single man cannot be interpreted as communism of any sort, as Marx had imagined a society where everyone