Stalin and Economics

Paper Summary:

"Joseph Stalin was not a theorist. But he was a consummate politician and in the 1920s Marxist-Leninist theoretical grounding was a primary mode of legitimation for those who aspired to leadership of the Russian Communist Party.

From the Paper:

"Joseph Stalin was not a theorist. But he was a consummate politician and in the 1920s Marxist-Leninist theoretical grounding was a primary mode of legitimation for those who aspired to leadership of the Russian Communist Party. Stalin was, therefore, always able to elucidate an appropriate theoretical pedigree for whatever he believed was the best course for the new nation or, not incidentally, for his own political ends. Stalin's first Five Year Plan -- adopted, modified, and approved between September 1928 and April 1929 -- was just such a course of action. Having achieved power Stalin's choice of the Five Year Plan was a radical departure from his previously stated intentions. But, like his other politically adroit changes of direction on economic policy, the Plan received in its turn the sanction of Marxist-Leninist thinking as interpreted or applied..."

More papers on Stalin and Economics:

• Essay # 6619 : "De-Stalinization and Nikita Krushchev"
• Essay # 72241 : "The Late Stalin Period"
• Essay # 67135 : "Josef Stalin: The Man and the Ideology"

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