Quote:
Originally Posted by Za Rodinu
Stalinist theory (simplifying) posited that Communism was very fine and dandy, but it was going to be difficult to generalise to all countries. Therefore as Socialism was already more or less implanted in the Soviet union (as a step towards full Communism), the idea was to lie low for a while and keep working for it where it had already been in it's way to success, and leave the export of Communism abroad (one of the tenets of Trotskyism - the Permanent Revolution) till later, after the Capitalist nations had destroyed themselves through their internal and external contradictions. This was also helped by a realistic view, whereby worker's movements had so far catastrophically failed everywhere, so it would be stupid keeping betting on the wrong horses. All the way the USSR would remain aloof, watching the fight. This line had the apt name of Socialism in One country *
At the very most the SU would keep the pot abroad simmering a bit by agitating and supporting a bit the local Communist Parties, but never daring to go so far as to threaten to take power, as this might provoke a backlash from the Capitalist Powers.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_in_one_country , god bless Wikipedia!
http://www.marxist.com/LeninAndTrotsky/chapter08.html
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It seems to me that here you miss one important thing; the Soviet attack on Finland 13th of September 1939.
Finland was a small, peaceful nation without any territorial claims beyond its own borders.
But the Soviet Union had started its expansion towards the west.
As neighbours we know the finlanders as a though, hardworking people, with a special kind of resilience called "sisu".
I assume Stalin must have executed all his officers knowing this, because the Red Army ended up getting its nose bloodied.
The first Winter War revealed big flaws in the Red Army and its communist leadership.
The rest of the world was disgusted by this attack on a small, peaceful nation.
The poor performance by the Red Army was an important factor in Hitler's decision to attack The Soviet Union.
Regards
RAM