Iosif Stalin - role of the state

Iosif Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, describing the need of a period of time where there would be a strong state prior to the evolution of society to the point where the abolition of the state could be done and completion of the communist revolution with the stateless communist society that the founders of communism Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels conceived of.

These kinds of statements speaking of the necessity of a strong state by Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky are regarded by many Western political scientists and historians as the beginning of the establishment of a totalitarian state in the Soviet Union.

On this important political issue of the need for a strong state both Stalin and his rival and enemy Trotsky were essentially in agreement (see here: Leon Trotsky - role of the state). In spite of their hatred of each other both of them did hold a number of similar views but the political animosity between Stalinists and Trotskyists means that the factions emphasize their differences.