Stalin did not betray Lenin's ideals

Thank you. I'd like to start the debate by giving an exert from Khrushchev's secret speech at the CPSU congress in 1956,'The great modesty of the genius of the revolution, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, is known. Lenin had always stressed the role of the people as the creator of history, the directing and organizational role of the party as a living and creative organism, and also the role of the central committee......Comrades, the cult of the individual acquired such monstrous size chiefly because Stalin himself, using all conceivable methods, supported the glorification of his own person. This is supported by numerous facts. One of the most characteristic examples of Stalin's self -glorification and of his lack of even elementary modesty is the edition of his Short Biography, which was published in 1948.' Source: http://www.fordham.edu... This shows the apparent disgust of Khrushchev at Stalin's crimes, but in reality Khrushchev's system of centrally planned economy, police state, mass organisation, party bureaucracy and over-the-top propaganda surrounding the Communist Party was really the successor the Leninist and ultimately Stalinist system.Nevertheless, let us looked at how the early Leninist system, as well as small elements of the old Tsarist system which Lenin inherited influenced Stalin's system.First and the most obvious and indeed the most infamous of the entire history of the Soviet system is of course, the police state. As you know, Lenin had the 'Cheka'. The Cheka was of course exceptionally brutal, executing 800 people without trial for vague and/or made up crimes (e.g. 'counterrevolution'). The Cheka was given almost unlimited power in searching, questioning and arresting suspected 'enemies of the revolution' without proper trial. The paranoid secret police also kept a list of potential 'saboteurs'. They are unaccountable and will answer to only the top leadership of the Communist Party. The Cheka also issued permits, internal passports (a bit like medieval serfdom) as well as being responsible for extensive control of Russian society. This system of a large, all pervasive police state was copied by many Soviet-styled socialist states like Poland, East Germany and Romania and of course, Stalin himself.Source: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...As you can see, the Red Terror and the paranoid and ruthless Cheka gave many 'inspirations' that will become Stalin's OGPU, NKVD and NVD among various others. The only difference being that Lenin executed more people than all the Tsars' and Kerensky in 5 years, whereas Stalin killed more than Lenin, the Tsars and Kerensky in a single day! Having mentioned the police state, Lenin had a totalitarian system. Aside from the obvious one-party state where all the other parties have been outlawed, the totalitarian system had an extensive top-down bureaucratic system, a bit hypocritical when Marxists always quote Lenin as having said that, 'when there is state there can be no freedom, but when there is freedom, there will be no state.' Source:https://libcom.org... And you can guess what happened. I am sure you know of 'War Communism'. That was when the state seized everything, forced everyone to overwork while paying them exactly the same. The result is that Russia's industrial output fell, agricultural production fell and 7 million people starved to death (AQA GSCE History B). The economy was planned from the top, Lenin got his idea from early socialists and Taylorism, where the workers are like drones and the economy ran like a clockwork. Then Stalin came around with his Five Year Plans, which are just like Lenin's War Communism (i.e. the state running the economy like a clock). Although it worked better than Lenin's 'first go', it was developed under the influence of the Leninist system.Aside from that, we have other elements from the Leninist state:-Purges and show trials-Labour camps for 'enemies of the revolution' (later Gulag for 'enemies of the people')-The destruction of independent trade unions-The end of rule of law, whereby law is used for political control-Red Terror vs the Great Terror-'Democratic' centralism in both Lenin and Stalin's system (Stalin later added a sham 'Constitution of 1936')-Prolekult (Lenin) and Socialist Realism (Stalin), both are propaganda campaigns designed to promote the Marxist Leninist causeSource: M. Lynch, Stalin' Russia, Fourth Edition, Hodder Education, page 4Furthermore, in Simon Sebag Montefiore's Young Stalin (an autobiography of Stalin), Stalin was said to be the main source of income for the party, responsible for the 1907 T'blisi heist where Stalin and co. (mostly his friend 'Kamo') stole around 347,000 roubles.Lastly, have a look at these pictures: Caption: 'Hold up the banners of Marx, Engels, LENIN AND STALIN!' 'Long live the Young Pioneers- worthy follower's of LENIN-STALIN Komsomol' These posters not only show Stalin's reliance on Lenin's ideals and influence, but also how Lenin shaped Stalin's system. Even talking theoretically, both Lenin and Stalin envisaged their own communist utopia, to be achieved using whatever means necessary.I now turn to my opponent...