Comparing Leninism and Stalinism
Comparing Leninism and Stalinism
Most Stalinists don't seem to think it was a bad idea, but we don't even have to delve into the writings of Trotsky (who made it crystal clear that socialism in one country cannot work!) to learn that socialism can never be national. As far back in 1848 in the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels closed with the phrase "workers of the world UNITE" not "workers of Germany UNITE!" or "Workers of India UNITE!". It is impossible for it to be kept in one nation! Never mind Leon Trotsky (who many Stalinists still discount), but Marx, Engels, Lenin and even Stalin (up to 1924) rejected the notion of "socialism in one country".
One argument of many Stalinists is: "If Trotsky had taken power instead of Stalin, it's very possible Germany would have defeated the USSR in WWII." This is one of the most absurd speculations I have ever heard. In the first place it was very possible Stalin could have lost the war since he purged all the old Bolshevik generals who served during the civil war, leaving him with a very impotent military staff. Secondly, had Trotsky been head of the CPSU it is quite probable that the ferment in Germany would not have taken the reactionary form of fascism, but on the contrary guided by genuine Marxist internationalism under Trotsky would have lead to the German Proletarian Revolution. Trotsky did not even have a fair chance of protecting the USSR against deformation in the first place. History doesn't just happen by chance, Stalin was not just a madman, if it was not Stalin in the USSR it may have been someone else. The reason by the USSR became a deformed workers' state was based in historic reasons, Russia was still a semi-feudal country, the proletarians only made up about 10% of the population. History simply was not on Trotsky's side.
Yet many Stalinists believe that Stalin focused all of his attention on building up a "socialist" nation within the borders of the USSR, because he knew that the world proletarian revolution was not coming. How could he "know" that?! They justify the notion of "socialism in one country" in effect by saying: "good thing Stalin industrialized the USSR instead of wasting his time with that silly world proletarian revolution! Because you know if he didn't, Hitler would have run right over the un-industrialized USSR!" As...