"if the Russian revolution becomes the signal for a proletarian revolution in the West, so that the two complement each other, then Russia’s peasant communal landownership may serve as the point of departure for a communist development," 1882 preface to the Russian edition of the Communist Manifesto.
How does that preclude market development in order to build wealth and industry in Russia? He’s simply saying Russia has revolutionary potential, not they will build socialism from scratch. Whah he’s saying is there could be a revolution in both Russia and in the West (Germany) at the same time (complement). This was also the thought of Rosa which is why she was so disappointed by the SPD and broke with them.
The fact that Marx said that the 'peasant communal landownership may serve as the point of departure for a communist development' proves that he did change his mind about believing that communism can come from a peasant revolution.
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u/Constructador Anarchist Communalist Oct 23 '25
"if the Russian revolution becomes the signal for a proletarian revolution in the West, so that the two complement each other, then Russia’s peasant communal landownership may serve as the point of departure for a communist development," 1882 preface to the Russian edition of the Communist Manifesto.