Stalin in the context of "Five-year plans of the Soviet Union"

Marxism–Leninism (Russian: марксизм-ленинизм, romanized: marksizm-leninizm) is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist governments throughout the 20th century. It was developed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by Joseph Stalin and drew on elements of Bolshevism, Leninism, and Marxism. It was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World during the Cold War, as well as the Communist International after Bolshevization.

Today, Marxism–Leninism is the de jure ideology of the ruling parties of China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as many other communist parties. The state ideology of North Korea is derived from Marxism–Leninism, although its evolution is disputed.

Joseph Stalin's cult of personality became a prominent feature of Soviet popular culture. Historian Archie Brown sets the celebration of Stalin's 50th birthday on 21 December 1929 as the starting point for his cult of personality. For the rest of Stalin's rule, the Soviet propaganda presented Stalin as an all-powerful, all-knowing leader, with Stalin's name and image displayed all over the country.

The administrative-command system (Russian: Административно-командная система, romanized: Administrativno-komandnaya sistema), also known as the command-administrative system, is the system of management of an economy of a state characterized by the rigid centralization of economic planning and distribution of goods, based on the state ownership of the means of production and carried out by the governmental and communist party bureaucracies ("nomenklatura") in the absence of a market economy.

The term is used to describe the economy of the Soviet Union and the economies of the Soviet Bloc which closely followed the Soviet model. In his 2004 book The Political Economy of Stalinism: Evidence from the Soviet Secret Archives, Paul Roderick Gregory argues that the collapse of the Soviet Union was due to the inherent drawbacks of the system, namely poor planning, low expertise of planners, unreliable supply lines, conflict between planners and producers and the dictatorial chain of command. Gregory writes that "the system was managed by thousands of 'Stalins' in a nested dictatorship".

The Interim Peace (Finnish: Välirauha, Swedish: Mellanfreden) was a short period in the history of Finland during the Second World War. The term is used for the time between the Winter War and the Continuation War, lasting a little over 15 months, from 13 March 1940 to 24 June 1941. The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940 and it ended the 105-day Winter War.

In the aftermath of the Winter War, both the Soviet Union and Finland were preparing for a new war while Stalin pressured the Finns politically. In early 1940 Finland sued for an alliance with Sweden but both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany opposed it. Nazi Germany occupied Denmark and Norway in April 1940 and defeated France in June 1940. Then, Stalin occupied the Baltic states. In 1941, Finland negotiated its participation in the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union.

The Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was the state created as the successor to the Khanate of Khiva in February 1920, when the Khan abdicated in response to pressure. It was officially declared by the First Khorezm Kurultay (Assembly) on 26 April 1920. On 20 October 1923, it was transformed into the Khorezm Socialist Soviet Republic..

On 27 October 1924 the Khorezm SSR was divided between the Uzbek and Turkmen SSRs and the Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast as part of the delimitation of Central Asia according to nationalities. The history of this short-lived republic remains murky and the way its government functioned is not largely clear. The government officials fervently opposed the delimitation plans of the Khorezmian Republic (which had to be carried out under Stalin’s orders) but in the end they were forced to concede.

Marxism–Leninism (Russian: марксизм-ленинизм, romanized: marksizm-leninizm) is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist governments throughout the 20th century. It was developed in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin and drew on elements of Bolshevism, Leninism, and Marxism. It was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World during the Cold War, as well as the Communist International after Bolshevization.

Today, Marxism–Leninism is the de jure ideology of the ruling parties of China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as many other communist parties. The state ideology of North Korea is derived from Marxism–Leninism, although its evolution is disputed.

The 1987 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive general election victory for the Conservative Party, who won a majority of 102 seats and second landslide under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1820 to lead a party into three successive electoral victories.

The Conservatives ran a campaign focusing on lower taxes, a strong economy and strong defence. They also emphasised that unemployment had just fallen below the 3 million mark for the first time since 1981, and inflation was standing at 4%, its lowest level since the 1960s. National newspapers also continued to largely back the Conservative government, particularly The Sun, which ran anti–Labour Party articles with headlines such as "Why I'm backing Kinnock, by Stalin".