Stalinism has many purposes.

Stalin started a number of reforms as soon as he took office in 1927. These changes created the groundwork for Stalin's own style of communism, Stalinism, despite the fact that they were intended to be a continuation of Lenin's own brand of communism, Leninism.

Stalinism was initially focused at boosting Soviet industry by enacting measures like collective farming and industrial quotas, despite being economically identical to Leninism. Stalinism will gradually start to implement cultural reforms as well. For instance, the most well-known of them was Lenin's use of secret operatives to monitor the purging of non-communists and counter-revolutionaries.

In addition, Stalin would start to create a personality cult around both Lenin and himself, viewing them as "men of the people" in a manner akin to Julius Caesar and his Caesarism. Stalinism will be abolished in the Soviet Union and all other communist nations after his death in 1953. Even yet, other forms of communism, particularly Korean Jucheism, would be greatly influenced by Stalinism.

Leninism gave rise to Stalinism, whereby Stalin did not coin the phrase "Marx-Leninism-Stalinism," but he did permit others to do so. He first conceived of this concept in December 1924 and explored it further in his writings from 1925 to 1926. According to Stalin's theory, socialism could be implemented in Russia, but its ultimate triumph there could not be guaranteed due to the fear of capitalist intervention. For this reason, he continues to subscribe to the Leninist viewpoint that a global revolution is still necessary to guarantee socialism's eventual triumph.