Socialism in one country

   A Soviet slogan summarizing Josef Stalin’s approach in opposition to that of his rival for power, Leon Trotsky who advocated “permanent revolution.” The slogan refers to the policy of building socialism within the borders of the Soviet Union rather than seeking to pursue the revolution immediately abroad. From one perspective the policy represented more of a difference in emphasis, with international revolution still a goal toward which resources were devoted through the Third International, but in another respect the policy represented a vastly different approach, a turning inward and toward nationalism. Without revolution in adjacent countries and in the industrialized countries of the world in particular, the nature of socialism in the Soviet Union inevitably took on a very different character from that envisaged by Karl Marx.