There is not the slightest doubt that many passages in the works of Lenin may be found which deal in general terms with the impossibility of the ultimate victory of Socialism in a single country, and in Russia in particular. This formula as we understand it, and which we oppose to the Zinoviev understanding of it (of which we shall speak lower down), is absolutely correct.
Before proceeding to this interpretation, however, it must be stated that the quotations made by Zinoviev can be met by other quotations which Zinoviev himself has included in his book. We quote the three following extracts which, from the strictly logical point of view, would appear to contradict the theses upon which Zinoviev's case mainly rests. In Zinoviev's own book, page 269, there is a quotation from Lenin on the law of unequal capitalist development, containing the following argument:
"The victorious proletariat of this country [the country that has taken the path of revolution—N.B.] having expropriated the capitalists and organised Socialist production in its own country, would rise against the rest of the capitalist world, attract to its side the oppressed classes of other countries, raise revolt against the capitalists of those countries, and, if necessary, take up arms against the exploiting classes in those States."
The most interesting part of this quotation is Lenin's idea that the proletariat will not only be victorious, but that it will organise Socialist production in its own country. Hence, Lenin here speaks of the possibility of organising Socialist production; speaking concretely, of the possibility of constructing Socialism in a single country.
