Fischer noted that while "Lenin was a dictator, not the kind of dictator Stalin later became", while Volkogonov believed that whereas Lenin established a "dictatorship of the Party", it would only be under Stalin that the Soviet Union became the "dictatorship of one man".
Fischer memberikan catatan bahwa meskipun "Lenin adalah seorang diktator, bukanlah diktator yang seperti Stalin pada kemudian hari", sementara Volkogonov meyakini bahwa meskipun Lenin mendirikan "kediktatoran Partai", baru di bawah kepemimpinan Stalin Uni Soviet menjadi "kediktatoran satu orang".