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Theory developed by Bukharin and Stalin and intended as a rebuttal of Trotsky's model of permanent revolution. Despite the failure of European revolutions, Russia could still build socialism through control over the commanding heights of the economy and under the political leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
— Geraldine Lievesley
The question of whether socialism could be built in the USSR provoked a great ideological and political debate in the Soviet Union that lasted from 1924 to 1927. In response to Leon Trotsky, who, on the basis of his theory of "permanent revolution," believed that "the genuine rise of socialist economy in Russia will become possible only after the victory of the proletariat in the most important countries of Europe," Josef Stalin first propounded his doctrine of "socialism in one country" in a newspaper article of December 1922. The difference between the two theories was based on a distinction between the processes of making a socialist revolution and a socialist economy. Every Bolshevik believed that the revolution that had proved victorious in October 1917 was a socialist revolution, but according to party doctrine it was impossible to build a socialist economy in a lone backward country, even though it was now clear that the foundations of a socialist economy were being laid. Stalin did not deny the importance of the international revolution or its likelihood in the near future because of the crisis in capitalism. But seizing on a few scattered passages of Lenin, including, from the last speech Lenin ever made, the quote, "NEP [New Economic Policy] Russia will become socialist Russia," Stalin argued that because the "dictatorship of the proletariat" had been established in Russia through the peculiar conditions of the 1917 revolution - the alliance of the proletariat and the peasantry - the complete organization of a socialist economy in the USSR was possible, as part of the process of building socialism. He qualified this by saying that "for the final victory of socialism, for the organization of Socialist production, the efforts of one country, particularly of a peasant country like Russia, are insufficient" (Problems of Leninism, 1926), and, moreover, that the victory of socialism could not be considered secure while the USSR was encircled by hostile capitalist powers.
Stalin developed the theory over the next two years, particularly in Problems of Leninism (1926). It was a very effective formula. Politically it was used as a stick with which to beat Trotsky, the Left, Leningrad, and United Oppositions: Stalin condemned his critics for lack of faith in the possibility of building socialism in the Soviet Union. Economically it was used as a basis for the industrialization of the USSR through the Five-Year Plans and the collectivization of agriculture, and it came to mean the opposite of NEP. It provided a slogan expressive of Bolshevik self-confidence after victory in the civil war and the establishment of the new regime, and in contrast to "permanent revolution" held out the prospect of stability. Its appeal lay partly in its reawakening of national pride in the self-sufficiency of the Russian revolution of 1917 and in the potential and destiny of the Russian people to become the progenitor of a new civilization. Through "socialism in one country" Stalin established himself as an ideologue, and the theory became the supreme test of loyalty in the Stalinist party and state.
Bibliography
Carr, Edward Hallett. (1970). A History of Soviet Russia: Socialism in One Country, 1924 - 1926, Vol. 2. Harmondsworth, UK: Pelican.
Deutscher, Isaac. (1966). Stalin: A Political Biography. Harmondsworth, UK: Pelican.
Stalin, Josef Vissarionovich. (1959). Works, Vol. 8: 1926, January - November. Moscow: Foreign Language Publishing House.
—DEREK WATSON
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Socialism in One Country was a thesis developed by Nikolai Bukharin in
1925 and adopted as state policy by Joseph Stalin. The
thesis held that given the defeat of all communist revolutions in Europe from
1917–1921 except in
Russia, the Soviet Union should begin to strengthen itself internally. This theory
was in an opposition to Lenin's beliefs that while a revolution may happen in one
country, the final success of socialism in one country, especially in such a backward one as Russia is impossible without proletarian revolutions in other, advanced countries of Western Europe (see
"World revolution"). Mensheviks and Trotsky also came to the same conclusion, basing on Trotsky's theory of
According to Stalin and his supporters, the idea of socialism in one country was strengthened by the defeat of several proletarian revolutions in countries like Germany and Hungary, which ended Bolshevik hopes for an imminent world revolution. Following those defeats, the Soviet Union changed the focus of its external policy from the Third International to trade and peaceful relations with capitalist states.
In the first edition of the book Osnovy Leninizma (Foundations of Leninism, 1924),
Stalin was still a follower of Lenin's idea that revolution in one country is insufficient. But by the end of that year, in the
second edition of the book, his position started to turn around. "...proletariat can and
must build the
In his 1915 article "On the Slogan for a United States of Europe", Lenin stated the following: "...Uneven economic and political
development is an absolute law of capitalism. Hence, the victory of socialism is possible first in several or even in one
capitalist country alone. After expropriating the capitalists and organising their own socialist production, the victorious
proletariat of that country will arise against the rest of the world ...". After Lenin's
death, Stalin used this quote to argue that Lenin shared his view of Socialism in One Country. Despite Stalin's stance,
the Soviet government under his leadership did provide aid to sympathising communists in other countries at various times.
The theory of Socialism in One Country was vigorously criticized by
This was why, when it proved possible to build certain aspects of socialism in the Soviet Union despite such objections, it
temporarily threw Stalin's opposition into disarray. He later characterized Trotsky's position of Permanent Revolution as asking
the world to "wait" for Western workers and "simultaneous" global revolution, a position still carried by
anti-revisionists and other
Stalin established several "communist states" in Eastern Europe after World War II, though some argue that this action was motivated more by the desire to create Russian "satellite states" than to spread the workers' revolution. In any case, neither the supporters of Stalin nor those of Trotsky succeeded in starting a revolution in the West.
"Will it be possible for this revolution to take place in one country alone?
No. By creating the world market, big industry has already brought all the peoples of the Earth, and especially the civilized peoples, into such close relation with one another that none is independent of what happens to the others. Further, it has co-ordinated the social development of the civilized countries to such an extent that, in all of them, bourgeoisie and proletariat have become the decisive classes, and the struggle between them the great struggle of the day. It follows that the communist revolution will not merely be a national phenomenon but must take place simultaneously in all civilized countries—that is to say, at least in England, America, France, and Germany. It will develop in each of the these countries more or less rapidly, according as one country or the other has a more developed industry, greater wealth, a more significant mass of productive forces. Hence, it will go slowest and will meet most obstacles in Germany, most rapidly and with the fewest difficulties in England. It will have a powerful impact on the other countries of the world, and will radically alter the course of development which they have followed up to now, while greatly stepping up its pace. It is a universal revolution and will, accordingly, have a universal range."
Friedrich Engels, The Principles of Communism, 1847
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This section should be balanced out by including analyses of this concept from a Stalinist and/or Maoist perspective. |
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 | Political Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Russian History Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Russian History. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Socialism in One Country". Read more |
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