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Abstract. The article analyzes the polemic that unfolded in 1932 in the central printed media of the RSDLP in exile – the journal Socialist Vestnik. The discussion was devoted to the problems of the essence and direction of Stalin’s modernization of Russia, as well as to the prospects for the development of post-Bolshevik Russia. The panelists came to a unanimous opinion in assessing Stalin’s “Great Break”. The productive forces of the country have grown. The traditional agrarian society was destroyed. However, accelerated and artificially planted advanced material and technical base in a backward country led to serious negative consequences, one of which was unprofitability of the Soviet economic model. The discussion revealed three views of Russian Social Democracy on the fate of postcommunist Russia. The left flank was presented by O. Domanevskaya, who believed that the democratic superstructure over the established basis of the Bolsheviks would allow Russia to become a country of socialism. F.I. Dan, A. Yugov and B. Gurevich occupied a centrist position in the discussion. They saw post-Bolshevik Russia as acountry with a mixed economy, with the predominant role of the state and co-operative sectors. Representatives of the centrists were confident that there would be no return to the privately capitalist model in post-Bolshevik Russia. Opponents of F.I. Dan, A. Yugov, B. Gurevich in the unfolded discussion were R. Abramovich, D. Dalin, P. Garvey and G. Aronson. They, in general, recognized the fact that the changes implemented by Stalin’s regime were global, but they rated them as astep backwards, as a regress in the development of the Russian society. The essence of their proposals was reduced to the need for wide privatization. The state should abandon the practice of socio-economic support for industry and cooperatives. They offered to attract foreign capital, capital of Russians abroad, etc., in a large part. In essence, they proposed a liberal-market model of the post-soviet development of the country.
Keywords: revolution, national interests, the Bolshevik experiment, Bolshevik Russia, post- Soviet Russia, industrialization, collectivization.