Socialism in one country
Socialism in one country was the catchphrase of a doctrine in the Soviet Union . After Lenin's death, Stalin directed it against Leon Trotsky , an internal competitor for power. In the 1930s, the doctrine became the state doctrine of the Soviet Union.
In a speech in which he announced the new program, Stalin referred to an article by Lenin from 1915, but took this quote out of context. Lenin's statements that the success of socialism in Russia depended on the world revolution were more numerous and clearer . In the autumn of 1924, Stalin first put forward the thesis that socialism could be built in one country. Bukharin took up Stalin's thesis and justified it in his brochure, published in April 1925, Can we build socialism in one country without a victory for the western European proletariat? After Stalin's article On the Questions of Leninism (К вопросам ленинизма) appeared in January 1926, this position became the official party doctrine. The recognition or rejection of Stalin's theorem split the old Bolshevik party into two factions and formed the dividing line between Stalinists and Trotskyists . With the defeat of the Left Opposition on the XV. CPSU party congress in 1927, Stalin's doctrine finally prevailed as a party line. His doctrine then became an ideological foundation of the doctrine of Stalinism and subsequently the basis and standard for domestic and economic policy for building socialism in the Soviet Union.
The doctrine was justified with the law of the unevenness of the economic and political development of the capitalist countries . The intensification of the contradictions between the capitalist countries as a result of the uneven development weakens the world front of imperialism, therefore the chain of the imperialist front can be broken at its weakest link, and socialism can triumph in a few countries, or even in one country. According to Marxist-Leninist theory, "socialism in one country" is the only true form of internationalism , as this first socialist country (USSR) is assumed to serve as the "headquarters" for socialist revolutions in other states. So that means that the USSR should serve as the starting point for an international revolution. But this also includes rapid industrialization in order to strengthen the economy and overcome backwardness. According to Lenin's plan to industrialize the Soviet Union , electrification and heavy industry must be massively expanded to protect against foreign, imperialist invasions. Under Stalin, the first five-year plan from 1928 to 1932 was allegedly fulfilled a year earlier and more than 300 percent.
Leon Trotsky went into his series of articles Capitalism or Socialism? on the basis of the possibility of starting socialism in one country, however, rejected a Soviet form of nationalism for a long period of time. Trotsky warned that if capitalism continued to exist in the world, "socialism in a backward country would immediately face the greatest dangers". Socialism in Russia, Trotsky said in September 1926, had an important symbolic effect on world victory. In his opinion, socialism could be "built" in Russia if the working class came to power in revolutionary struggles in other countries. His speech to the 15th Party Congress on November 1, 1926 represented a general attack on the perspective of "socialism in one country".
Individual evidence
- ^ Isaac Deutscher: Stalin . P. 366.
- ^ Isaac Deutscher: Stalin . P. 366.
- ^ Leon Trotsky : Left Opposition and IV International 1923-26 , Schriften Vol. 3.1, Hamburg 1997, p. 439.
literature
- Isaac Deutscher : Stalin. A political biography. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-320-01551-6 , pp. 366-381.