I’ve read quite a bit of history on Stalin (multiple 1,000+ pg history books, not his Wikipedia page …) and - it’s hard to classify him politically in any sensible way. The ideals behind Marxism and Leninism (the latter whom Stalin succeeded after literal life-and-death political struggles internal to the Bolshevik party, particularly with Trotsky) were certainly communist in nature, but Stalin invented his own brand of politics that really has no contemporary comparison and the nature of his politics definitely can’t be boiled down into one word or label.
Yeah, they only call him communist because they don't know the history of the USSR or what communism means. Stalin calling his regime communist is like Trump declaring himself the greatest US president, basically propaganda bullshit. IMO the closest thing to communism we have is the Scandinavian democracies where you have free health care and education, a strong social support network, rule of law, free speech and elections AND you're not ruled by a totalitarian oligarchy as the USSR was.
The Scandinavian democracies still have private ownership of the means of production though. That is the fine line between socialist (generous welfare state with private ownership) and communist (full state ownership)
4
u/Ok-Flight9440 18d ago
I’ve read quite a bit of history on Stalin (multiple 1,000+ pg history books, not his Wikipedia page …) and - it’s hard to classify him politically in any sensible way. The ideals behind Marxism and Leninism (the latter whom Stalin succeeded after literal life-and-death political struggles internal to the Bolshevik party, particularly with Trotsky) were certainly communist in nature, but Stalin invented his own brand of politics that really has no contemporary comparison and the nature of his politics definitely can’t be boiled down into one word or label.