ABSTRACT
The transformation of socialism into totalitarianism in Russia was not, however, due only to Russian backwardness or Leninism. Leninism was the product of a revolution whose first goal was to begin the primitive accumulation necessary to achieve capitalism and yet it became a beacon for a generation of radicals. Lenin's earlier explanation was unknowingly resurrected in 1940 by a remarkable and undeservedly obscure figure in the radical movement—Lewis Corey. The tensions between the autocratic state, which resulted from the failure of the German bourgeoisie to complete their revolution, and the capitalist economy fueled the growth of German socialism. Curiously, during the years he compared American socialism favorably to Germany's, Lenin was urging Russian radicals to help direct Russia down the American rather than the Prussian path of development. The theory of imperialism provided a coherent rationale for the weakness of American socialism.
