ABSTRACT
In the Soviet Union, as in other Leninist systems, any policy change must be related by its makers to the broader context of official ideology. Stalin reversed the Leninist concept of a worldwide Communist revolution with his notion of “socialism in one country” in the 1930s, allowing him to direct more resources to the development of a Soviet industrial base. As several scholars have pointed out, developed socialism was significant in terms of Soviet domestic policy and was particularly useful in providing an ideological framework for political change. Besides its importance in Soviet foreign policy under Brezhnev, developed socialism was also a crucial aspect of another key policy goal: distancing the Brezhnev regime from that of both Khrushchev and Stalin. The initial response of the Brezhnev regime to the crisis over Vietnam was to initiate a conciliatory policy toward the Chinese. Developed socialism reappeared in Soviet ideological literature in 1969, probably to signal renewed Soviet strength after Czechoslovakia.
