Political thought of Joseph Stalin

Stalinism is the means of governing and related policies implemented from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin (1878-1953). Stalinist policies and ideas that were developed and implemented in the Soviet Union included rapid industrialization, the theory of socialism in one country, a totalitarian state, collectivization of agriculture, a cult of personality and subordination of the interests of foreign communist parties to those of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, deemed by Stalinism to be the leading vanguard party of communist revolution at the time. Stalinism promoted the escalation of class conflict, utilizing state violence to forcibly purge society of the bourgeoisie, whom Stalinist doctrine regarded as threats to the pursuit of the communist revolution. This policy resulted in substantial political violence and persecution of such people. "Enemies" included not only bourgeois people, but also working-class people with counter-revolutionary sympathies. Stalinist industrialization was officially designed to accelerate the development towards communism, stressing the need for such rapid industrialization.