Lenin Followed Marxism, Stalin Did Not

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Marxism was defined by a man named Karl Marx and his associate Fredrich Engels. Basically, Marxism is defined as a conflict theory, as Marx said that society is separated by a conflict between the rich and the poor. Today, when one thinks about Marx’s philosophy, he is often tied as an enemy to Capitalism due to his ties to Communism. Although he did layout the foundry to Communism as we know it, he never saw it to be how it is today. He saw it as a way for social egalitarianism; Equality for the poor and rich (the Proletariat and Bourgeoisie); a classless society. He wanted to the big businesses and factories not to be owned by one man or company as in capitalism, but to be owned by everyone. A concept he called Collective Ownership. He also defined a state of everyone being equal in a classless society to be called “communism”. He saw the system to be set into making the rich richer and the poor poorer. He believed that some members of the Proletariat will eventually take notice of this through means of education. He believed that this change can only be made through the means of revolution and revolution only.

Vladimir Lenin or full name Vladimir IIyich Ulyanov was born on April 22, 1870 in the Russian Town of Simbirsk. Lenin’s Revolutionary ideas sparked up only when confronted with the death of his brother, which was executed for plotting to kill Tsar Alexander III. He studied Law as well as the revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx. Lenin eventually came up to be the leader of the Bolsheviks, the majority of the split half of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In 1917, the Russian Revolution toppled the Tsarist government. Lenin and was quick to make peace with the Germans. In the meantime a group of people c...

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...ven without themselves discussing so. As Trotsky was not afraid of speaking out to Lenin, this made Stalin’s attacks both successful and easy, But he often referred to himself as the “perfect student of Lenin”. Stalinism was a concept based off of “socialism in one country" which demonstrated was an anti-Leninism approach, so an anti-Marxist. In all, Stalin did not allow for creations of the democratic dictatorship to take place through the dictatorship of the proletariat. Stalin made the proletariat to side with the bourgeoisie which in history ended in a complete disaster, so thus completely rejected ideas that of Leninism and therefore that of Marxism.

Works Cited

Studies in East European Thought, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Dec., 2000), pp. 259-308

http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/lenin/summary.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/stalin/summary.html

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