THe Evolution of the Idea of World Revolution in Soviet Politics (The Epoch of the Comintern and Socialism in One Country)

Abstract

The idea of a world revolution, in fact, had always been a leitmotiv in the politics of the Soviet Union. Initially, it called for an immediate overthrow of capitalism on a global scale. However, from the mid-1920s, the catchphrase of “socialism in one country” defined its core and, from the mid-1930s, it began to be identified with Stalin’s theory of the state. In reality, the key ideas behind the philosophy of world revolution were being partially put to practice only in the Soviet Union, where the Bolsheviks had been able to hold on to power, ban private ownership and minimize market relations. Attempts by the Comintern to foment uprisings in other countries were an utter failure. Under the circumstances, by the mid-1930s, the call for a world revolution had been removed from open propaganda but were still preserved within the Red Army. It was the latter that was to be regarded as the main weapon for overthrowing capitalism. Soviet Union foreign policy was aimed at creating favorable conditions for the world revolution and at rocking the Versailles system. By the end of the 1930s some elements of raison d’état had emerged, but they truly finally came to the forefront of the Soviet policy within the context of the anti-Hitler coalition of 1941–1945. Refs. 54.