Two Stage Theory

The two stage theory (or "stagism") is the Marxist Leninist political theory which argues that underdeveloped countries, such as Tsarist Russia, must first pass through a stage of bourgeois democracy before moving to a socialist stage. [ [http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/s/t.htm#stagism MIA: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of Terms, "Stagism"] ] The two stage theory was applied to countries worldwide which had not passed through the capitalist stage.

The discussion on stagism focuses on the Russian Revolution. However, Maoist theories, such as New Democracy, tend to apply a two stage theory to struggles elsewhere. In the Soviet Union the two stage theory was opposed by the Trotskyist theory of permanent revolution.

Theory

In Marxist-Leninist theory under Stalin the theory of two stages gained a revival. More recently, the South African Communist Party and Democratic Socialist Perspective have re-elaborated the two stage theory, although the DSP differentiates their position from the Stalinist one. [ [http://www.dsp.org.au/links/back/issue16/Lorimer.html Links | International journal of socialist renewal ] ]

Criticism

Although the two stage theory is often attributed to Marx and Engels, critics such as David McLellan [ McLellan, David, "The thought of Karl Marx", pp134ff] and others dispute that Marx and Engels envisaged the strict application of this theory outside of the actually existing Western development of capitalism.

There is no dispute that Marx and Engels argue that Western capitalism provides the technological advances necessary for socialism and the "grave diggers" of the capitalist class in the form of the working class. But critics of the two stage theory, including most trends of Trotskyism, argue that Marx and Engels denied that they had laid down a formula to be applied to all countries in all circumstances. McLellan and others cite Marx's "Reply to Mikhailovsky". Mikhailovsky, Marx says,

In the Preface to the Russian edition of the "Communist Manifesto" of 1882, Marx and Engels specifically outline an alternative path to socialism for Russia. ["Now the question is: can the Russian obshchina, though greatly undermined, yet a form of primeaval common ownership of land, pass directly to the higher form of Communist common ownership? Or, on the contrary, must it first pass through the same process of dissolution such as constitutes the historical evolution of the West? The only answer to that possible today is this: If the Russian Revolution becomes the signal for a proletarian revolution in the West, so that both complement each other, the present Russian common ownership of land may serve as the starting point for a communist development." Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, Preface to Russia edition of 1882.]

In Russia, the Mensheviks believed the two stage theory applied to Tsarist Russia. They were criticised by Trotsky in what became the theory of Permanent Revolution in 1905. Later when the two stage theory re-appeared after the death of Lenin in the Soviet Union, the theory of Permanent Revolution was supported by the Left Opposition. The Permanent Revolution argues that the tasks allotted in the two stage theory to the capitalist class can only be carried out by the working class with the support of the poor peasantry, and that the working class will then pass on to the socialist tasks and expropriate the capitalist class. The revolution cannot pause here, however but remains 'permanent', in the sense that it must seek worldwide revolution to avoid isolation and thus move towards international socialism.

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