the power of its superior economic and social (i.e., political) class. The lower class, the workers, are not empowered or protected by politics, according to Marx. Further, politics is not about the art of the possible to him. Instead, politics is designed to reinforce the status quo, i.e., a ruling committee designed to protect the interests of the ruling class and its dominance and exploitation of the working class. Communism, slavery, feudalism and capitalism were all examples of politics as class struggle to Marx, but communism encompasses no private property so there are no classes. Marx also argued that once workers revolt socialism occurs, wherein the proletariat guides social change until communism can exist. Communism, to Marx, was the only system of politics in which the people were free and able to fulfill their human potential because all property is communally owned. The state just withers away in such an environment, as perceived by Friedrich Engels. The state did not wither away in the case of Lenin’s communism. Lenin believed in Marx’s theories, but he also believed in working with other authority figures to devise the best course for the communally owned state and property. Stalin, on the other hand, used the power of state authority as a me
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