IB History Stalin's Position as General Secretary Key Definitions

Leon Trotsky's theory of socialist revolution, developed before 1917 and central to the succession debate of the 1920s. Trotsky argued that because Russia was economically underdeveloped, a socialist revolution there could only survive if it spread to the more advanced industrialized countries of Europe, especially Germany. A socialist Russia in isolation, he argued, would be too weak to build socialism. This was in contrast to Stalin's doctrine of "Socialism in One Country," which held that the Soviet Union could build socialism on its own. Stalin used Trotsky's permanent revolution doctrine to portray him as defeatist about Russian socialism and as subordinating Soviet interests to an international revolution that had failed to materialize.

Stalin's doctrine, articulated from 1924, holding that the Soviet Union could build socialism on its own without waiting for revolution in the advanced capitalist countries. Stalin argued that the Soviet Union had the material and human resources to complete socialist construction domestically, regardless of whether revolution spread to Western Europe. This was directly opposed to Trotsky's "Permanent Revolution" theory, which argued that Soviet socialism could not survive in isolation. "Socialism in One Country" had enormous political appeal because it offered Soviet citizens hope and purpose without depending on uncertain foreign events. Stalin used it effectively to brand the Left Opposition as defeatist and insufficiently patriotic.