When the Tsarist regime in Russia was overthrown and the Bolshevik party under Lenin ruled as a single party government, it was claimed by many that a Marxist regime had been established. Many within the Bolshevik party were firm believers in the Marxist theory and thought that the Soviet state would agree with Marx's ideas. There are some modern historians who agree with this view, embracing the ideas of equality and fraternity and believing that the Soviet state was the living embodiment of these beliefs. There are also those who see that the Soviet state was something quite different from what Marx and indeed Lenin had intended it to be. To find out whether the Soviet state defied Marxist theory or not, is hardly a simple task of comparing the elements of the Soviet state with that of an ideal Marxist state. …
