this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
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Stalin did as much as he could to distance himself from Lenin and to minimalize him. He was just a jackboot dictator. Calling anything stalinism would just be a reference to being a mass murderer probably. Dude had zero principals. Marx was a philosopher (economics didn't used to really be separate from philosophy), Lenin based much of his beliefs on Marxist theory, but was a revolutionary and then political leader.
Stalin was just a vicious power hungry idiot who siezed power after Lenins death. Lenin would of never chose him. He should never be mentioned in the same breath as Marx. He was involved in Lenins government so, some association can be made there.
People really need to read some Marx. Especially his earlier works which are mostly (still very valid and relevant) critiques of the capitalist system. There's too much stigma because of all the red scare bullshit and he just gets tied to every communist dictator ever because he is like the godfather of communist ideas.
~Sincerely, Some weird guy who reads too many books on econ theory
Lenin was a Marxist when it was convenient, but not when it didn't gain him power. Certainly after joining with Trotsky it gets very difficult to call him Marxist. Obviously the Mensheviks never considered him a Marxist, with mixed feelings from the SRs. I think following the machine gunners of kronstadt is the easiest way to tell when he's being a Marxist vs something else. They were pretty reliablely Marxist the entire revolution.