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The historiography of Stalin is diverse, with many different aspects of continuity and discontinuity between the regimes Stalin and Lenin proposed. Some historians, such as Richard Pipes, consider Stalinism the natural consequence of Leninism: Stalin "faithfully implemented Lenin's domestic and foreign policy programs."
Stalin's office was near Lenin's in the Smolny Institute, [123] and he and Trotsky had direct access to Lenin without an appointment. [124] Stalin co-signed Lenin's decrees shutting down hostile newspapers, [125] and co-chaired the committee drafting a constitution for the newly-formed Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. [126]
Robert Service notes that "institutionally and ideologically Lenin laid the foundations for a Stalin ... but the passage from Leninism to the worse terrors of Stalinism was not smooth and inevitable." [47] Historian and Stalin biographer Edvard Radzinsky believes that Stalin was a genuine follower of Lenin, exactly as he claimed himself. [48]
Hannah Arendt in 1933. Hannah Arendt was one of the first scholars to publish a comparative study of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.In her 1951 work The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt puts forward the idea of totalitarianism as a distinct type of political movement and form of government, which "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us, such as despotism ...
A document from the collection of Henri Max Corwin, equating Joseph Stalin with Adolf Hitler. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Soviet Union during the period of Joseph Stalin's rule, along with Nazi Germany, was a "modern example" of a totalitarian state, being among "the first examples of decentralized or popular totalitarianism, in which the state achieved overwhelming popular ...
However, eventually the two figures merged in the Soviet press; Stalin became the embodiment of Lenin. Initially, the press attributed any and all success within the Soviet Union to the wise leadership of both Lenin and Stalin, but eventually Stalin alone became the professed cause of Soviet well-being. [9]
Lenin died on 21 January 1924. Stalin was given the honour of organizing his funeral. Upon Lenin's death, Stalin was officially hailed as his successor as the leader of the ruling Communist Party and of the Soviet Union itself. Against Lenin's wishes, he was given a lavish funeral and his body was embalmed and put on display.
Stalin began work as early as January 1913, though on Lenin's advice, Stalin settled in Vienna to work on the article, as the city was a focal point for the discussion in socialist circles. [25] Lacking a strong knowledge of German, Stalin read Russian translations of key works, and had assistants find material and translate for him. [26]