ABSTRACT
In V. I. Lenin's essay on the Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution and his thesis on The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination, one can find the basic premises of the revolutionary strategy that he developed for the transition to socialism in underdeveloped societies. In Latin America, only the Cuban experience conforms in general to Lenin's idea of a two-stage revolution, that is, a national democratic stage followed by a socialist stage. In fact, the Cubans use these concepts to describe the history of the revolutionary struggle in their country. The Sandinistas believed that the conditions prevailing in their country precluded an immediate transition to socialism and necessitated a prolonged period of preparation. In El Salvador, the revolutionary movement considered itself through-out the 1980s to be engaged in a national democratic revolutionary struggle based upon an alliance of the popular classes.
