In recent years, more and more often you hear the statements of politicians and public figures who compare the regime of Stalin's rule with fascism. There is a common between these phenomena, but there are also significant differences. When assessing the events taking place in the world today, it is necessary to take into account the most significant features of these two ideological and political trends.
Stalin's regime: total control
When they talk about Stalinism, they usually mean a system of power based on totalitarian rule that was established in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s and lasted until the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Sometimes the term "Stalinism" also implies the state ideology that prevailed in the USSR at that time.
The main feature of Stalinism is the dominance of authoritarian and bureaucratic methods of managing society, which later became known as the administrative-command system. Power under Stalin was actually concentrated in the hands of one person. The leader of the country enjoyed unconditional authority and supported his regime, relying on the party apparatus and an extensive system of punitive bodies.
The Stalinist regime is total control over society, penetrating into all spheres of life.
The establishment of the regime of Joseph Stalin became possible when deviating from the Leninist principles of building the Bolshevik party and the Soviet state. Stalin was able not only to take over the power, actually pushing the party and Soviet bodies out of it, but also to deal with the representatives of the opposition, who sought to restore those principles of governing the country that were laid down in the years when the Soviets became power.
At the same time, the Soviet Union continued to be a socialist state, and communist ideology dominated the country. However, the dictatorship of the proletariat, which is the cornerstone of Marxist theory, actually turned into the dictatorship of one man, who was a kind of personification of the interests of the working class who won the revolution.
