Intensification of the class struggle under socialism

The aggravation of the class struggle along with the development of socialism is a component of the theory of Stalinism.

The theory was one of the cornerstones of Stalinism in the internal politics of the Soviet Union. Although the term class struggle was introduced by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and the aggravation of the class struggle was an expression originally used by Vladimir Lenin in 1919 to refer to the dictatorship of the proletariat,[1] the theory itself was put forward by Joseph Stalin in 1929 and supplied a theoretical base for the claim that ongoing repression of capitalist elements is necessary. Stalin believed that residual bourgeois elements would persist within the country and that with support from Western powers they would try to infiltrate the party.

A variation of the theory was also adopted by Mao Zedong in China as the Continuous Revolution theory.

  1. ^ Thesis and Report on Bourgeois Democracy and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (4 March 1919). "Address to the Comintern". "The main thing that Socialists fail to understand—which constitutes their shortsightedness in matters of theory, their subservience to bourgeois prejudices, and their political betrayal of the proletariat—is that in capitalist society, whenever there is any serious aggravation of the class struggle intrinsic to that society, there can be no alternative but the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie or the dictatorship of the proletariat".

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