ABSTRACT
"Stalinism" stands for so much political abuse, terror, and criminal regression that one would reasonably expect strong motives both to link it as firmly as possible with Marxism and, on the other hand, to disassociate the two altogether. Stalinism and Marxism differ essentially both in their critique of capitalist society and in their approach to socialism. However, Stalinism has some roots in Marxism, not only genetically but also in so far as it offers a simple and invariably conservative, ahistorical interpretation of a number of puzzles present in Marx's theory. Marx's critique of capitalism is very deep and radical, embracing structures of different levels of generality and reaching the very basic roots of irrationality and dehumanization present in that system. There are three important aspects in which Marxist and Stalinist conceptions of the socialist revolution are essentially different. These are: the objectives of revolution, the conditions under which revolution is possible, and the nature of the negation of capitalism.
