Richard D. Wolff

Marx was more concerned with criticizing capitalism than building socialism. In his writings he established that worker ownership would result in a classless society. This would be a natural consequence of capitalism’s exploitative nature. This could occur peacefully or otherwise. The term coined in his writing is Permanent Revolution, a concept that Trotsky idealized in his writings and subsequent criticisms of Stalinism. Stalin essentially believed that capitalism was a necessary agent to develop the industry which would support socialism. This resulted in the State-Capitalism that defined the Soviet Union. Lenin is a little bit more complicated. I have not read enough of his work to interpret it. For that matter the other things I said are gross oversimplifications, but you did ask for plain English. I would also appreciate more information on this subject if possible.