Stalinism, in its simplest terms, is the ideology and policies adopted by Joseph Stalin.
It
lays its roots in centralization, totalitarianism, and most importantly; the pursuit of
communism. More than that, however, it also describes Stalin's ways of governing the
USSR from 1927-1953, particularly the totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization,
the major theory of socialism, and annexing the goals and ideals of foreign communist
parties as the USSR's own, as Stalin believed his state to be the leading "vanguard party"
of the Communist Revolution at the time. Under Stalin's regime, society would forcibly
purge itself of what it perceived as threats to itself and its brand of communism, whilst
branding those threats as "enemies of the people," which was a demographic including
but not limited to democrats, the bourgeoisie, non-Soviet nationalists, peasants living
easygoing lives ("kulaks") and "counter-revolutionary working classmen." Due to the
wide range of "enemies of the people," the families of such were repressed en masse,
whether it be through arrests, executions, or imprisonment in gulags. Stalinism also
despised religion; its military was fully atheist; those who had a religion or faith were
purged, either by direct execution or being filtered out and forcefully deported.
By official terms, Stalinism was designed to accelerate the development of Communism.
The need for rapid industrialization in the Soviet Union was emphasized as it had fallen
behind Western powers economically, as well as providing the resources necessary for
Stalin's socialist regime to fight against the internal and external enemies of communism.
This rapid industrialization was accompanied by a mass collectivization of agriculture
and equally-rapid urbanization, which converted many small villages into industrial cities
as a consequence. To accelerate industrialization even further, Stalin imported materials,
concepts, and expertise from Western Europe and even the United States, despite being
figurative rivals with them in the race for world power.
Though Stalinism's basis is indeed Communism, its figurehead Joseph Stalin did not fully
agree with some aspects of communism. For example, traditional communist beliefs hold
that the state will wither away as the implementation of socialism will reduce class
distinction. In Stalin's eyes, however, the fate of "withering away" is merely because the
proletarian state is not strong enough to mount a defense against its threats. For this
reason of seeking strength, communist regimes that borrow ideas from Stalinism are
totalitarians. Communism's ultimatum is the full autonomy of the state, where there is
no more class conflict. For Stalinists, this class conflict will inevitably remain regardless
of state autonomy unless the oppressor is completely eradicated by the oppressed state's
hands.
Stalin's views were criticized very often in the few decades after his death, but in recent
years, the Russian population has turned over a new leaf and believes that his regime was
a better time. The people who believe that Stalin's policies should be re-implemented in
certain aspects of the Russian government are referred to as Neo-Stalinists. It is
currently a very active ideology in various post-Soviet states, and Vladimir Putin, the
current President of Russia, has also been rehabilitating Stalinist ideas into his state. A
large number of Russian citizens believe in Neo-Stalinism and praise Stalin as "one of the
greatest personalities in world history," having "liberated the whole world!" Neo-
Stalinism has not fully laid its roots in modern Russia yet, however, Stalin as a person is
being memorialized as a hero amongst the Russian populace at the time.
Now that you're caught up on the necessary information regarding Stalinism, let's now
discuss its leading political figure. However, as we know, Stalin is dead. We can't have a
"contemporary discussion" about someone who isn't contemporary, so shift your
attention to the most influential Neo-Stalinist of the current era:
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov, the current General Secretary of the Communist Party
of the Russian Federation since 1993, and Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU) since 2001.
Zyuganov is incredibly aggressive with his political views, being openly critical of the
Russian leadership during the 1980s, and played a leading role in the CPSU's attempts to
maintain control over Russia. Even after the efforts failed and the Soviet Union
collapsed, his views did not change whatsoever, as he was now writing highly aggressive
papers criticizing the at-the-time-president Boris Yeltsin and calling for a return to
socialism. After the CPSU's dissolution, he helped form the new Communist Party of the
Russian Federation and became its chairman in 1993.
Zyuganov believes that the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a steep decline in Russia's
living standards, that the economic power was left all within the hands 0f a tiny part of
the population, that crime rates for particularly violent felonies had increased, and that
certain ethnic groups throughout Russia took advantage of the Union's collapse to go on
crusades and earn their autonomy. Quoting Zyuganov directly, "Jesus Christ was the first
communist in history, and the Bible is a socialist book when read with the right eyes." He
also criticized the last leader of the Soviet Union (Mikhail Gorbachev), claiming that his
reign brought "absolute sadness, misfortune and problems for all the peoples of our
country" as Gorbachev had shifted to a democratic mindset towards the end of his
regime.
According to Zyuganov, the "re-Stalinization" of Russian society is a necessary change to
securing the ideal future for the country ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Zyuganov hopes to renationalize all major industries across Russia, and, by his words, the
USSR was "the most humane state in human history" and he wishes to restore modern
Russia to its former glory. When running for president in 2012, he claimed that "a gang
of folks who cannot do anything in life apart from dollars, profits and mumbling, has
humiliated the country" and called for an international alliance to "counter the aggressive
policies of imperialist circles." To him (as seen through his book Derzhava), Russia is a
natural empire that has been dismantled and ransacked from within by terrorists, traitors
and insurgents, whilst also facing onslaught from the outside by capitalists who sought to
dissolve Russia as a whole in order to exploit its resources.
