Grr..

Stalin was a communist. He disbanded private property and personal wealth, except for the politicos. He collectivized farming and put industry solely in the hands of government. He completely overthrew the hierarchy and ruling class - well actually his leader Lenin did that but he was a player when that happened. Russian money was worthless, which is a trademark of a communist state.

Hitler's control over people only extended to the political realm. Even during wartime he left industry and most private property in the hands of its owners, and those industry leaders bid for military contracts. His most ambitious social policies didn't even get near the social engineering done during Stalin's reign. The hierarchy and class system was mostly left alone. Hitler had many populist ideas, but he was a traditionalist at heart. He wanted, or said he wanted, all Germans to be happy - but he also loved the traditional German institutions. Stalin throughout his career fought against the Tsarist russian system. (And by the way, I think Hitler went far beyond true fascism into dictatorship, but his government is the best example for comparison because it was based in fascist principles.

I've read a lot about Stalin and he was a true communist at heart in the beginning, and his track record shows that. It seems that he gave communism his best efforts and realized it wasn't working and became much more of a dictator than a true communist.

This is how it always happened. We saw true communist "ideas" attempted in China, Cambodia and a host of other countries. When those "ideas" were shown to be completely detrimental to society, the communist government was forced to become much more dictatorial to stave off the same sort of popular uprising that put them into power.

I must say I don't understand those who say he was a fascist at all. "Other" would be a better option, but certainly not fascist. Its obvious from his early control of Russia he had enough faith in communist ideals to destroy much of his country while trying to implement them.