How did Stalin and Marx differ in their views if government?

Answer 1

Lenin had a powerful army in the biggest country in the world and Marks had only books and words (and a very clever wife!). The difference is always between theory and how they evolve when they face real life.

Answer 2

Karl Marx's conception of socialism was a stage of society and mode of production that would emerge from contradictions within capitalism, arising as a necessity for managing and coordinating economic activity. It would include co-operative ownership of the means of production by the workers who use them, worker's self-management and collective decision-making within the economy, and economic planning in place of market-based allocation for the means of production (but markets would still exist for consumer goods and services).

Another defining feature of Marx's socialism is the view that the law of value, meaning the dynamic laws of capitalism, would not operate under socialism. Socialism would be an entirely different economic system from capitalism.

In contrast, the Stalinist conception of socialism is a more politically-driven system that does not emerge "naturally" out of the contradictions of capitalism, it is imposed on an agrarian society (Russia at the time) as a means to rapidly build up capital and industrialization. As a result, it is authoritarian, based on state ownership of the means of production, a lack of self-management in the economy (Stalinist socialism was based on the same type of management employed by capitalism, called "scientific management" and "Taylorism") and centralized planning of resources.

Unlike Marx's conception of socialism, the Stalinist conception of socialism retains the law of value, and was based on a need to continuously accumulate capital. Hence why many Marxist theorists, economists and sociologists say the Soviet Union was actually "State capitalism" and was never a socialist economy.

Answer 3

Marx advocated for the eventual dissolution of the state in a communist society, while Stalin centralized power and established a totalitarian regime with the state controlling all aspects of society. Marx believed in a stateless, classless society based on common ownership, while Stalin implemented a top-down approach with himself as the ultimate authority.

Answer 4

Stalin created an elite class of leaders