Lenin
Did you guys know that Lenin believed in the 'withering away' of the state; the abolition of the state? This is pretty damn significant... the popular conception of communist russia is that of a totalitarian system - rightly so, of course - but a totalitarian system which was doomed to be that way from the start, was always going to be that way, and planned to continue that way for the foreseeable future.
However, many of Lenin's writings suggest that in fact he came to power with the intention of falling from power eventually - that the (clearly brutal and iron-handed) things he did when he came to power were merely a means to an end, and that soon enough he would order the dismantling of the state. This of course was all interrupted by Stalin...
The conception of the dictator state in communist theory is that of a Revolutionary State which suppresses those - theoretically the minority of powerful capitalists - who want to destroy the state, but allows freedom for the people elsewhere. Thus we come to another conception of soviet russia - that they were forced into their status of dictators because the powerful capitalists were impossible to reach, external to the country, and thus they had to forever maintain their 'revolutionary dictatorship' to protect the country against the external aggressive powers.
These are interesting newish takes on things (though they have been written about lots of times I think; it's just difficult to get out of the mindset of 'Soviet Russia = always and forever highly dubious, flawed, doomed, evil mindset), however at bottom, even if Lenin had survived, I still think his and Marx's theories were flawed as in how a truly communitarian 'state' - or set of people - should operate.
However, many of Lenin's writings suggest that in fact he came to power with the intention of falling from power eventually - that the (clearly brutal and iron-handed) things he did when he came to power were merely a means to an end, and that soon enough he would order the dismantling of the state. This of course was all interrupted by Stalin...
The conception of the dictator state in communist theory is that of a Revolutionary State which suppresses those - theoretically the minority of powerful capitalists - who want to destroy the state, but allows freedom for the people elsewhere. Thus we come to another conception of soviet russia - that they were forced into their status of dictators because the powerful capitalists were impossible to reach, external to the country, and thus they had to forever maintain their 'revolutionary dictatorship' to protect the country against the external aggressive powers.
These are interesting newish takes on things (though they have been written about lots of times I think; it's just difficult to get out of the mindset of 'Soviet Russia = always and forever highly dubious, flawed, doomed, evil mindset), however at bottom, even if Lenin had survived, I still think his and Marx's theories were flawed as in how a truly communitarian 'state' - or set of people - should operate.