ABSTRACT
Leninism was an ideology of class struggle. For the Leninists, the class enemy comprised a wide variety of people. The category covered not only foreign imperialists and the defeated Russian bourgeoisie but also parts of the intelligentsia, priests, former policemen and other strata of the “old world” believed to have been in league with the bourgeoisie. Furthermore, there were all those political activists – conservatives, liberals, moderate socialists and oppositionists within the bolshevik party – who were believed to defend a position benefiting the old order. One of the main theses that Stalin became notorious for was that of the inevitable sharpening of the class struggle as socialism is approached. In July 1928, when he was embarking on his course of extraordinary measures in the countryside, the leader noted solemnly:
It has never been seen and will never be seen that obsolete classes surrender their positions voluntarily, without attempting to organise resistance. …the movement towards socialism must lead to resistance by the exploiting elements against this movement, and the resistance of the exploiters must lead to an inevitable sharpening of the class struggle. 1
