Stalin vs Lenin Essays

Stalin vs Lenin Essays Stalin vs Lenin Essay Stalin vs Lenin Essay Throughout the short history of the Soviet Union there had been many rulers who led the Soviet Union into a superpower. Lenin and Stalin, two of the most controversial dictators of the Soviet Union, were those dictators that brought the Soviet Union to that position. Though their social policies were the same, the way they ruled the country and their economic policies differed greatly. The aspects of Stalin and Lenin’s rule which made them so similar were that they both rules were similar. They ruled the Soviet Union under the laws of Marxism and socialism. They adopted the Marxist ideas and adjusted them to Russian realities so that the Marxism would be successful in the Soviet Union. Also, when Lenin first became dictator of the Soviet Union he made it the first communist nation. After Lenin’s death, Stalin became dictator, and ruled the Soviet Union the same way Lenin did, T hey believed in a communist state that almost every aspect from religion to distribution of resources would be equal. Also, they both had created a secret police force that carried out the dirty work of the dictator and kept strict control of the country by keeping the people in fear, without the secret police the public would not be scared to revolt and the revolution would have continued. In addition, both dictators had a hard time in coming to power, because both had to use cunning to become dictator. Lenin led the Bolsheviks to victory with the help of Germany, while Stalin had to get rid of Trotsky by isolating him from the party and became the party leader and eventually the dictator. While both of these dictators were ruled identically, they differed just as much. The ideology of both Stalin and Lenin show that both these dictators came from different backgrounds and their policies were different. First, Lenin was the first dictator and followed a policy of a light communism and leaned more toward socialism, so his dream of a pure communism state was never achieved. While on the other hand, Stalin followed a more pure communism by taking control of industry and agriculture, which leads to another difference between the two men. When Lenin was in charge, He followed an economic plan that was the NEP. The NEP was a policy that took control of big businesses, banks, and foreign, also he encouraged small businesses. For agricultural purposes he gave the farms to the peasants because Lenin knew that peasants wouldn’t revolt if they could sell their own crop and everything would be stable. While Stalin unknowingly created the Five Year-Plan, which had the goal of making the Soviet Union a industrial power, but started from nothing. It took control of all aspects of the economy, which included taking control of agriculture. Angering the peasants, the kulaks revolted and ultimately burned their fields rather than giving control to government. As a result, the grain supply rapidly dwindled, so famine returned and the economy was hit hard. However, the social changes differed between both leaders; Lenin gave suffrage to all over the age of eighteen and introduced a classless society at the beginning of his dictatorship. Stalin increased women’s rights so that they can take jobs and let them become educated which increased literacy within the Soviet Union. While both Stalin and Lenin might have been the first dictators of the Soviet Union but the differences between them lead to the success of the Soviet Union being a world power. So when it comes into question how Lenin and Stalin are similar and different, it is their economic, social policies and differences in their dictatorship.