Leninism was how Lenin changed Marxism to fit Russia. Marxism versus Leninism. You often see the philosophies of Karl Marx and Joseph Stalin grouped together under the heading of communism. Theorists of totalitarianism assert that the theoretical, psychological and institutional bases of the Stalinist aspiration for total control over society and individuals was firmly established by Lenin. While the former became undisputed dictator of the Soviet Union, the latter was exiled and was eventually assassinated in August 1940. If the relationship of Leninism to Marxism is a hotly contested matter, so too is the relationship of Leninism to Stalinism. Both Marxism and Stalinism propose political and economic methods of achieving the goal of communism, but the means Marx and Stalin believed would best achieve that goal are different. Like half this forum seems to believe that ML = "Stalinism" just because Stalin came up with the term. Oh, rofl. What is the difference between Marxism and Leninism? By practical I mean the actual differences and not the left wing post Soviets who make up excuses for why Leninism and Stalinism is not socialism/communism or the vague theories of Permanent Revolution (Leninism/Trotskyism) vs. Socialism in one country (Stalinism), but rather how they differed on actual policy to achieve this Socialist State. Marxism-Leninism as an ideology was in active development from the mid-20s until 1989, meaning that the majority of Marxism-Leninism was developed without Stalin and on the basis of the CPSU's post-Stalinist critique of Stalin. Stalin tried to argue that the socialist revolution could survive and prosper in one country with the existence of capitalism in other countries. • Marxism was more of an ideology that Karl Marx created to point out what will happen when the social classes struggle with each other. Like half this forum seems to believe that ML = "Stalinism" just because Stalin came up with the term. Abstract. Stalinism has also been used as a perjorative term to mean someone who is in favor of centralized power and control of everything. Trotskyists frequently bemoan the outcome of the power-struggle between Stalin and Trotsky. Trotskyism, Stalinism: What’s the Difference? Stalinism is an outgrowth of Leninism. Oh, rofl. Marxism-Leninism as an ideology was in active development from the mid-20s until 1989, meaning that the majority of Marxism-Leninism was developed without Stalin and on the basis of the CPSU's post-Stalinist critique of Stalin. Marx’s theory of socialist revolution is grounded on the fundamental principle that “the emancipation of the working class must be the work of the working class itself”.