Searching for the 1 in a billion!

[wowser]

For instance, before Stalinism, Lenin's system of cooperative farming enabled a strong agricultural base in the countryside, and the were well stocked with tools they needed. Sadly, Stalin starved the farmers to feed those in the cities.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Yes, Maoism was Mao's interpretation of Marx, which was actually quite differnt from Marxism. Hoiwever, Lenin's Russia was pretty darn close to a tru Communist state. It didn't work all that badly in the early years, either. I don't mean to rubbish your answer, Lord, but I have done both courses on Russian 20th century history and 20th century Chinese history. Also, as you pount out, dictators can come from any extremist political belief.

I would pick answer 'Stalin' from your list of choices.

Your history there may be stronger than mine - Lenin certainly tried to form a Marxist-inspired state, but he was never able to proceed past the dictatorship of the Proletariat before he died, and thereafter the USSR became increasingly totalitarian - the communist "utopia" and dissolution of the dictatorship never took place. Lenin also developed his own brand of Marxism - "Leninism", which emphasised the need for revolution to establish a new communist state. Mao, on the other hand took Marxist ideals, swapped out the industial workers for rural peasnt farmers as his demographic core, and ran off to his own idealogical la-la land, with catastrophic results.

 

[wowser]

Ha, yes I think you describe it quite nicely, Edmund. We can cafely say there has never been a true Marxist state (though I'm sure many Republicans would like you to believe that the Netherlands, Canada, and a host of other countries are 'Communist'). For the recordy favourite Soviet leader was Nikita Khrushchev.