What does history tell us ???

Did Stalin fulfil or betray the revolution that Lenin had begun in 1917? Was he the heir or the betrayer of Lenin? These are not simply academic questions specially thought up by fiendish examiners to terrorise candidates. They relate to a genuine historical debate that continues to cause controversy among politicians and to divide historians.

Probably more books have been written about the Russian Revolution than any other event in the twentieth century. The reason is not hard to find. Despite the collapse of Soviet Communism in the early 1990s, there are Marxists who still believe that the Russian revolution was a unique event in human history. According to this belief, the taking of power by the Bolsheviks in October 1917 marked a momentous stage in the development of human society. The Bolshevik Party represented the proletarian masses whose historical role was to sweep aside their class oppressors. 1917 therefore, was a new dawn in human history. The workers of Russia had taken power for themselves. They had begun a revolution which would rapidly spread worldwide until it had destroyed capitalist governments everywhere and initiated the rule of the workers. We know, of course, it did not happen that way. There was no international revolution. Capitalism was not destroyed and the few communist systems that were created proved incapable of dealing with the economic problems that confronted them.