Socialism in one country: Vollmar?

[Die Neue Zeit]

Marxist-Leninists have been saying that for years that there is little that Stalin added to Lenin's theory he did not even ''invent'' socialism in one country, it was an orthodox Marxist position since 1878 by Georg Vollmar in his work the Isolated Socialist state.

Indeed - even Trotsky mentions him in his Appendix to The Revolution Betrayed (http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/ch12.htm).

Wasn't Vollmar in Bernstein's revisionist wing of the German SPD, though - and not in the Kautsky's "pronouncedly revolutionary" wing (as if the German SPD really had an organized revolutionary wing :( )?

[gilhyle]

Vollmar was a Munich based former German Army Officer who operated as the leader of the 'opportunist' wing of the German party long before Bernstein moved in that direction. For example he sought to oppose the Erfurt programme but was in danger of being thrown out of the party as a result by his own Bavarian branch had to prove his loyalty by proposing a motion of unquestionning approval of the programme which everyone knew was hypocritical. Strangely I dont think he was linked to the Lassalleans.

[Die Neue Zeit]

From the New Communist forum:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/time-some-theory-p1123703/index.html

For some reason, the RevLeft Search function is down right now, but there is an old thread on the extremes of socialism in one country and absolute global socialism (I think by Edric O). The premise there is that most workers can proceed to the labour-time / socialist mode of production without social-proletocratic revolutions in isolated little islands (like Fiji or some other isolated Pacific island), but obviously autarkic idiocy for smaller countries (HINT: Albania) is to be avoided.

Talk in that thread revolved around continental socialism as a possibility (North America or Europe plus Asia).

Anyhow, since LZ brought up the semantical differences between socialization and socialism (http://www.revleft.com/vb/lenins-conception-socialism-t74699/index2.html), what about socialization in one (big) country?

[I'm of the Bordigist opinion that revolution must, save for isolated little islands, be made on a global scale like blitzkrieg, coordinated by an international social-proletocratic party proper (not just a hodge-podge "international") (http://www.revleft.com/vb/why-not-international-t59122/index2.html). To say that each country has its own "particular" characteristics ignores the global circulation of capital (thus enabling currency devaluations) and is a slippery-slope argument that can result in non-racial national socialism (ie, "socialism in one country").]

[gilhyle]

Whatever might have once been true, time will make the Bordiga-ist view true, though not particularly Bordiga-ist. What is at issue however, in the real world is what is to be done when one country progresses to a workers state with no immediate prospect of an international revolution. Vollmar was not really dealing with that but playing with the ideas of State Socialism as pushed by Bismarck.