Atlas / Comparisons / Stalinism vs Thatcherism
Stalinism and Thatcherism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on CU, ID. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, AU.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Socialism in one country | Thatcherism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −10 | +09 | 19 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +03 | +06 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +10 | +02 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +10 | +05 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +03 | +03 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +08 | +03 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Socialism in one country · EC −10
Private ownership of productive assets was eliminated outright and allocation was set by physical plan targets rather than prices.
- Documented act or statuteThe first Five-Year Plan from 1928 placed all industry under state ownership and central targets.
- Documented act or statuteCollectivisation from 1929 abolished private farming; roughly a quarter of a million households were deported as kulaks.
Thatcherism · EC +09
Deep privatisation and financial deregulation places this near the market pole.
- Documented act or statuteTelecoms, gas, water, electricity, steel and airports were sold between 1984 and 1990.
- Documented act or statuteCouncil housing was sold to tenants at statutory discounts from 1980.
Socialism in one country · AU +10
The party itself was destroyed as an autonomous body, which places this above ordinary one-party rule.
- Documented act or statuteOf the 1934 Central Committee, roughly two-thirds were shot within four years.
- Documented act or statuteFactions had been banned inside the party since 1921; by 1937 mere association was capital.
Thatcherism · AU +02
Coded +2: parliamentary throughout, with a sharply strengthened central executive.
- Documented act or statuteTrade union legislation between 1980 and 1990 progressively restricted secondary action and required ballots.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Stalinism
1928–1953 · USSR
Forced industrialisation and collectivisation under a single leader identified with the party, the state and history itself.
Thatcherism
1979–1990 · Britain
Roll back the state, break union power, sell public assets, restore the authority of law, order and family.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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