ABSTRACT
At first Bolshevism placed its hopes in the world revolution, which is as far off as ever. Then it hoped for aid in the form of capital and credit from abroad, and soon after the close of the civil war it would have been ready to make very big concessions to foreign capital. This aid has only been forthcoming in driblets, and thus the Bolshevists have been obliged to work out their own salvation, with the equanimity of the Russian who travels calmly by passenger train, which takes longer, when an express train is not to be had. A real improvement has set in since the end of the civil war, and upon this the security of the system is based. An improvement did indeed take place after 1921, but since the end of 1927, since Stalin has again veered to the Left, in the course of a conflict between economic betterment and the enforcement of socialism.
