See: Lenin: Collected Works, Vol. For Marxist-Leninists, socialism in one or several countries is a stage in the world revolution. Trotskyites argued that the policy of building socialism in one country was opposed to Marxism. The Marxist-Leninists argued building socialism in one country was an integral part of world revolution and, in fact would serve this process, in aiding the development of the latter.
Or, with Lenin out of the way, following his death in , Trotsky sought to impose his Permanent Revolution theory on the party. The Trotskyites sought to impose an industrialisation and collectivisation policy on the communist party at a time when the party and the dictatorship of the proletariat were in a weak position.
Marxist-Leninists around Stalin wanted to wait until the party and the state had gathered enough strength to oversee such a policy. This meant defending the mixed economy of the NEP period until the party had strengthened itself in the working class and in the countryside.
This bureaucracy would undermine the revolution and to forestall this a political revolution would be necessary to remove the bureaucracy from power. In addition, Marxist-Leninists rejected the Trotskyite theory of a counterrevolutionary bureaucracy as completely one-sided, and argued that what was needed was not a political revolution to overthrow a supposedly counterrevolutionary bureaucracy, but rather there was a need to expose and purge the counterrevolutionary elements from the bureaucracy.
Soon after coming to power the Bolshevik communists, led by Lenin pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the capitalist states. The thinking behind this was to force the capitalist States, particularly the imperialists States, to live in peace with socialism, as far as foreign relations were concerned. This was not only based on the recognition that combined the imperialists States were by far stronger than the Socialist State, it was also because socialism, unlike capitalism, is not a warlike system.
It is capitalism which needs war to increase profits for the monopolists, not socialism. This counterrevolution was begun by Khrushchev and completed by Gorbachev. Some way had to be found to accommodate rising non-Russian nationalism. Stalin backed down. But by the time the Congress was called to order, Lenin disappeared from sight. The year-old leader of the Bolsheviks, who had fought tooth and nail for the creation of the Union, stayed put in his Kremlin apartment, a short walk from the Bolshoi Theatre, where the Congress was holding its sessions.
Eight days earlier, on December 12, he had suffered a major stroke and lost control of his right hand and leg. Although Stalin and many of his supporters, such as Ordzhonikidze and Dzerzhinsky, were non-Russians Stalin and Ordzonikidze hailed originally from Georgia, Dzerzhinsky from Poland , Lenin accused them of Russian chauvinism. But the stroke prevented him from taking any decisive steps against them. But they also served a political purpose.
Barred from attending the congress and not trusting Stalin to fully implement his line, the paralyzed Lenin resolved to dictate his thoughts on the nationality question in a document to be passed on to the party leadership.
Lenin was prepared to replace the Union he had originally proposed with a looser association in which the centralized powers might be limited to defense and international relations alone. Stalin visiting Lenin in Gorky in Lenin, who was in semi-retirement after suffering his second stroke, died the following year, making way for Stalin to succeed him as leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin did his best to isolate Lenin from the rest of the leadership and keep his last letters secret.
When Lenin heard of it, he became furious and demanded an apology. Stalin wrote back saying he apologized, but did not know what Lenin wanted of him—he had just been protecting the leader from unnecessary stress. The next day, he suffered his third stroke, which left him permanently paralyzed. He died on January 21, Ultimately, the Soviet Union, created in the midst of a battle between Lenin and Stalin, became a compromise between two visions and approaches.
In this position he contributed greatly to the survival of the Bolshevik rule, facing the danger of civil war. In the following their roles in establishing a communist state will be compared and contrasted in three distinct time periods: The revolution and its aftermath, the Russian civil war and the post civil war period.
It can be stated with certainty that the Party is indebted primarily and principally to Comrade Trotsky for the rapid going over of the garrison to the side of the Soviet and the efficient manner in which the work of the Military Revolutionary Committee was organized. On the 23 of September , shortly after being released from prison during the Kerensky-Kornilov affair, Trotsky was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. On order of the Provisional Government, Trotsky set up the Military Revolutionary Committee, which should execute the seizure for power.
This led to the Garrison changing sites and fighting for the Soviets, which was vital for the successful overthrow of the Provisional Government. However the contribution of Lenin in the October Revolution was rather in gaining support for the Bolsheviks through his speeches. So in general it is fair to argue that Trotsky did the immediate organisational work, leading to the revolution, although Lenin did his part mainly beforehand through working out the ideological basis for the revolution and gaining the support of the masses through his writings from exile, which were red by many workers.
Both, Lenin and Trotsky tried to establish popular support for the communist cause after the revolution. But while Lenin continued doing this, Trotsky was soon heading a Bolshevik delegation to discuss a peace treaty with Germany. When civil war broke out, and the Whites and numerous European armies threatened Bolshevik Rule, Lenin and Trotsky decided that their old idea of a peoples army was not going to be effective enough for the threat the Bolsheviks were facing.
So on the 8 April Trotsky became commissar for war. Under his supervision, the Red Army, which only included a — man in March was mobilised to a force of men in August.
He saved Bolshevik rule not only through setting up an enormous army to defend it but also took personally charge in critical battles, for example when Red Army units were facing advancing Czechs and Whites at Sviyazhsk.
During most of the Civil War, Trotsky was travelling all through Russia, from front to front in his own train, carrying not only him but also supplies. He played an extremely important part in ensuring its military preparedness and, in the long run, in ensuring its victory in the war. Thatcher, however says that this should not be exaggerated. There were instances in which his forecasts were mistaken and his strategic advice misplaced. In the spring of , for instance, Trotsky underestimated the threat the White forces led by Denikin posed in the south.
Nor was Trotsky always the chief tactician. Given that he was often en route, much depended on the local commanders, several of whom were exceptionally able. During the period of Civil War Lenin once more took a rather political role, which however, proved crucial for the Bolshevik war effort.
He introduced the economic reform of War communism. According to Soviet historiography , this policy was adopted by the Bolsheviks with the aim of keeping towns and the Red Army supplied with weapons and food , in conditions when all normal economic mechanisms and relations were being destroyed by the war. Under War Communism, all industry was nationalized and strict centralized management was introduced, state monopoly on foreign trade was introduced, discipline for workers was strict, and strikers could be shot.
Further more obligatory labour duty was imposed onto "non-working classes",. Prodrazvyorstka , the requisition of agricultural surpluses from peasants in excess of absolute minimum for centralized distribution among the remaining population was introduced; food and most commodities were rationed and distributed in a centralized way.
Private enterprise became illegal and a military-like control of railroads was introduced. Summarising it can be said that both, Lenin and Trotsky both contributed greatly in the consolidation of the communist state in Russia.
Trotsky was once again taking a more practical role, while Lenin was rather politically active. However, as D. Thatcher suggests, the role of Trotsky during the civil war is not to be exaggerated. Although being victorious in the civil, the Bolsheviks lost public support, because of their harsh policy of War Communism they ruled with during the war.
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