The 11 characteristics of Stalinism + highlighted

Some people throughout history become so relevant that their own name is used to name a current of thought, an example of this being Stalin. Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union for years, and during this time he instilled a variation of Marxism-Leninism whose name was Stalinism and which spread through different regions. To talk about it in this lesson from a TEACHER we will explain the main characteristics of Stalinism.

Before talking about the main characteristics of Stalinism, we must comment on its history, to understand its origin and the situation that produced this change in the Marxism existing until that time in communism.

At the beginning of the 20th century Russia's situation was very precarious compared to that of the rest of the nations of the world, since the society was very rural and hardly any importance to the industry. All this, together with the absolute government of the tsars, brought a series of popular movements throughout the country, the main causes of these movements being the

Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The two groups were characterized by their confrontation with Tsar Nicholas II and by wanting to promote socialism, although the former were more radical and the latter more moderate.

In October 1917 the Russian Revolution, a movement by which the tsars were overthrown, bringing a total change in the State and being led by, among others, Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. The first leader of the new Russia was Lenin, who modified Marxism and created the Leninism, changing the model from communism closer to industry to one closer to the agricultural sector. These movements were mostly driven by the Bolsheviks, thus being great radical changes.

Stalin's rise to power

Throughout the revolutionary period, StalinIt was member of the Bolshevik groups who fought against the regime of the tsars, but it was not until years after the start of the revolution that he came to power fully. His arrival at the General Secretariat and the death of Lenin, eventually made him the most important person in the USSR, starting on Stalinization process to the Russian state.

The Communist Party and Stalin started a totalitarian political system that monopolized the legislative, executive and judicial powers. The Russian government took over the industry, properties and lands with which they sought to turn the USSR into a great world power, in which there was no private property.

For years, Stalin tried to influence countries in the area, seeking that Stalinism spread throughout the planet, and ending this in a Cold Warbetween the US and the USSR. This influence was such that, even after Stalin's death, many regions, including the USSR, maintained this system for years.

To continue with this lesson on one of the most important branches of the communism, we should talk about the characteristics of Stalinism, in order to understand its main elements and be able to compare it with other types such as Leninism. The main characteristics are the following:

1. The political system was totalitarian and the government had control of everything, centralizing all powers. The legislative, executive and judicial powers were centralized in a government that had the supreme power.
2. The private property was prohibited, so the companies became state owned.
3. Both the agriculture as industry they became of the State. Agriculture suffered a great setback and the farmers who had supported Lenin suffered, but the industry became one of the most powerful in the world.
4. The media were controlled by the government, not existing any type of freedom of the press. All the media were censored so that they could not criticize Stalinist politics.
5. It was important to cult of the leader, so the mass media were used to raise Stalin as the sole leader of the USSR. Representations in books or other iconographic means were common to extol the figure of Stalin especially among children.
6. The repression was constant against those who stood up to the Stalinist ideology, committing thousands of murders. Like other dictatorships, Stalinism brought thousands of deaths due to ideology, although over the years, sending to forced labor was more normal than murder.
7. Society is militarized, giving great importance to the military aspect and increasing the relevance of Russia's military history. Soviet society had to be fully protected militarily, since they were always prepared for a possible attack by the United States.
8. Wanted end all forms of figure worship that do not correspond to Stalinist ideals, an example being the demolition of statues of Mongolian leader Genghis Khan.
9. Importance was given to energy to get its own supply system without having to depend on other nations. The construction of infrastructures for these energies occupied a large part of the money of the first years of the Stalinist governments.
10. Creation of forced labor camps known as gulags, being a place to which those who faced the regime were sent.
11. They were looking for a egalitarianism among all social classes, all Soviets had to be the same. This in practice was never achieved, since the ruling classes always had more power than the rest of the population.