Publisher's Synopsis
As for the main contents and opinions, this monograph has formed a relatively reasonable structure and frame of Stalin's socialism thought studies.
Firstly, in the beginning chapter of this book, the development of Stalin's thought on socialism was divided into four stages according to great historical events and the evolution of Stalin's socialism thought. The first stage is the 20 years before the October Revolution, during which Stalin as a professional revolutionary, had researched on and thought about the theories of Russian proletarian revolution and Marxism. Although at this stage, the socialism thought had not been really formed, his basic values on Marxist that were formed in this stage had an important influence on the formation and development of his socialism thought later. The second stage is from the victory of the October Revolution to the year of 1924 when Lenin died and Stalin became the leader of both the party and the nation of Soviet Union, which is the period of tentative exploration of Stalin's socialism thought. The third stage is from 1924 to 1936 when Stalin announced that he had completed the socialist transformation and the Soviet Union had entered into the era of socialist society. This is the stage that Stalin's socialism thought wasformed. The fourth stage is from 1936 to 1953 when Stalin died, which is also the period when the Soviet Union went through the Second World War and the post-war reconstruction. This is the developing stage of Stalin's socialism thought. The latter two stages are the main periods for the evolution of Stalin's socialism thought, which are also the focal point of the study in this book.
Secondly, on the basis of generally summarizing Stalin's socialism thought, in the second and third chapters, this book has made a special effort to study on the philosophy grounds of Stalin's socialism thought and his general idea of socialism. Stalin's philosophic thinking is an important part of Stalin's socialism thought and the grounds of its world view and methodology. Understanding of Stalin's philosophic thinking and his general idea of socialism should be the logical starting point of the study on Stalin's socialism thought.
Furthermore, in this book, the study of Stalin's socialism thought has mainly focused on his though of the economic, political and cultural development. With an emphasis on the mode and system of socialist economy, plan and market, economic growth and development, political system, class and class struggle, construction of the party, development of nations, cultural education and ideology, this book has drafted the basic contents and the main features of Stalin's socialism thought, which are also the contents from Chapter 4 to Chapter 11, the main part of this book.
Lastly, this book has also spent some effortsabout Stalin's theories on the relations between the world economy and politics, international communist movements and practice, which are the contents of Chapter 12 and 13.
It has to be pointed out that Stalin's socialist thought is part of the study of Stalin's thought, even the most important part, but it does not cover all. As a result, other Stalin's important thoughts are not included in the final product of this study.
For the further academic research, the last two appendixes are the comments on the studies on Stalin's thought (mainly his socialism thought) done by scholars both home and abroad.
