ABSTRACT
Stalinism is a complex political phenomenon. It is therefore not surprising that historians and political scientists have found it so difficult to define and to analyse Stalinism. Few would be satisfied with a simple dictionary definition such as ‘the political theories and practices of Josef V. Stalin’. 1 But experts differ about its relation to Marxism and Leninism, about its relation to Russian traditions, about whether it was revolutionary or counter-revolutionary, about whether it was a Russian or an international phenomenon, and about its essential characteristics. These differences reflect the different political positions of their authors as well as different theoretical perspectives and preoccupations. This will become clear from a study of the definitions listed below:
Stalinism, as an ideology and practice, gathers together in one tight knot, the authoritarianism that the workers were compelled to use in their efforts to revolutionize their situation in society; it develops these authoritarian means into absolutes which are then used as means against the very people they are supposed to serve . . .
Stalinism is more than a purely Russian phenomenon. 2
