Soviet theories of Third World development gave socialist dissent in the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras an unusually clear focus, because the USSR’s involvement in a global Cold War competition for external influence meant that the Stalinist holders of power required real knowledge of trends in the developing world. The two most distinctive Soviet theories of Third World development were created by Nodari Simoniya and Marat Cheshkov. Sharing a critical attitude toward Stalinist repression, they theorised in different yet complementary directions. Simoniya’s approach combined a historical understanding of profound structural differences between capitalist development in primary capitalist countries (such as the UK) and later developing countries (including Russia) with strong knowledge of Lenin’s theory of the very limited prospects for a transition toward socialism in backward Russia. Cheshkov’s theory focused on the peculiar “statocratic” character of the ruling elite in Stalinist societies, including its tendency towards historical stagnation. Both these theories engaged implicitly with the consequences of the defeat of socialism in the USSR under Stalin, and were seen by apologists for Stalinism as challenging the official dogmatic repression of socialist thought. This paper will explain the major contributions of Simoniya and Cheshkov to formulating a coherent socialist view of why resurrecting a socialist movement in Russia has been so hard. Extensive use will be made of articles and books published by Simoniya and Cheshkov after the relaxation of official censorship during 1987, as well as of their earlier major works.
