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. Though promoted at the time as an ideology of necessity, not core belief, the theory came to define the course of political construction within the Soviet Union throughout its history.
Background
The defeat of several proletarian revolutions in countries like Germany and Hungary, ended Bolshevik hopes for an imminent world revolution and began promotion of "Socialism in One Country" by Stalin. 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: the "proletariat can and must build the socialist society in one country". In April 1925 Nikolai Bukharin elaborated the issue in his brochure "Can We Build Socialism in One Country in the Absence of the Victory of the West-European Proletariat?" The position was adopted as the state policy after Stalin's January 1926 article "On the Issues of Leninism" (К вопросам ленинизма).
1925-6 signaled a shift from the immediate activity of the Comintern, the Communist International, from world revolution towards a defense of the Soviet state. This period, up to 1928, was known as the "Second Period", mirroring the shift in the USSR from war communism to the New Economic Policy. [ [http://www.marxists.org/archive/hallas/works/1985/comintern/ch5.htm Duncan Hallas "The Comintern", chapter 5] ]
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 and others to argue that Lenin shared his view of "Socialism in One Country".
The theory of Socialism in One Country was vigorously criticized by Zinoviev and Trotsky. In particular, Trotskyists often claimed, and still claim, that Socialism in One Country opposes both the basic tenets of Marxism and Lenin's particular beliefs[ "The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government" by V.I. Lenin (1918). "Lenin' Collected Works" 4th English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972 Volume 27, pages 235-77] that the final success of socialism in one country depends upon the revolution's degree of success in proletarian revolutions in the more advanced countries of Western Europe. However, It is important to note that Trotsky was not necessarily opposed to socialist revolutions occurring in a single "industrialized" country, such as Germany (where such a revolution earlier failed); only in a single "non"indusrialized country, such as Russia. Similarly, Trotskyists viewed the Chinese Revolution with some suspicion because it followed the "Stalinist" Socialism in One Country model of socialist construction solely within Chinese borders.]Anti-revisionists, or those who choose to recognize Stalin and Mao as the proper ideological descendants of Marx, Engels and Lenin, often countered Trotsky's arguments then, and continue to do so today, by saying that the Trotskyist view is basically the same as asking the world's working class to "wait" while socialism is constructed in the most powerful and industrialized nations first, "before even attempting" socialist revolution in non-industrialized areas, even if class tensions are at a good point for revolution in the latter. Anti-revisionists still insist they want world revolution, but they are willing to see revolution begin in socially and economically "backward" areas first and to have those areas stabilize themselves and grow, rather than to, as they see it, willingly deny the concept of unevenness in development by expecting rapid world spreading of the revolution or expecting it would happen in the most advanced and industrialized countries first.
Moreover, world examples of socialist (or at least self-proclaimed socialist) construction have indeed all taken place thus far in so-called "less developed" nations, including Russia and China, which were originally massive lands of vast underdevelopment until socialist economic planning began to change them rapidly. No previously industrial society has ever moved into advanced industrial socialism as Marx thought it would. This lends another blow to the Trotskyists, lending credence to the notion that they are asking too much in a too-short period of time. Trotsky believed that the development of the international division of labor made economic isolation from the world, reactionary in its own right; yet, Trotsky also acknowledged that dependence upon the international capitalist market leads to economic plans becoming subordinate to world capitalism. He elaborated on these theses in his works "The Draft Program of the Communist International: A Criticism of Fundamentals" and "Permanent Revolution".
Relation to Leninism
Stalin claimed that his theory of "Socialism in one country" is a further development of Leninism. In his February 14, 1938 "Response to Comrade Ivanov" ("Ответ товарищу Иванову, Ивану Филиповичу"), formulated as an answer to a question of a "comrade Ivanov" mailed to "Pravda" newspaper, Stalin splits the question in two parts. The first side of the question is in terms of the "internal relations" within the Soviet Union: whether it is possible to construct the Socialist Society by defeating the local bourgeoisie and fostering the union of workers and peasants. Stalin quotes Lenin that "we have everything necessary to construct the complete socialism" and claims that despite the claims of Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev ("who later became spies and fascist agents", in Stalin's words), the socialist society has for the most part been indeed constructed. The second side of the question is in terms of "external relations": whether the victory of the socialism is final, i.e., whether capitalism cannot possibly be restored. Here Stalin cites Lenin that the final victory is possible only on the international scale and only with the help of the workers of other countries.
In other words, Stalin draws a line between the "victory of socialism or the victory of socialist construction in one country" and the "ultimate victory of socialism" stating that the latter problem cannot be solved only by internal efforts.
On the question of socialist construction in a single country, Engels wrote:
:"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."ndash Friedrich Engels, "The Principles of Communism", 1847
Notes and references
External links
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1928/3rd/index.htm The Draft Program of the Communist International: A Criticism of Fundamentals] , Trotsky, Leon, 1928 (also know as "The Third International After Lenin")
* [http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/faq/why_socialism_in_one_country_impossible.asp Marxist.com on 'Socialism in one country']
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1874/refugee-literature/ch05.htm On Social Relations in Russia] Engels, Frederick 1874
