Even after the bitter defeat of War Communism, Lenin never doubted that socialism entailed the abolition of trade and money. The Soviet doctrine of "socialist commodities" did not enter the picture until the 1950's. Compelled to preside over the encouragement of the market, Lenin continues to assert: "Exchange is freedom of trade; it is capitalism." He wrings his hands, complaining that "capitalism must grow out of this soil of free trading."
As he explains the need to permit the growth of trade, he continually has to remark upon the unheard-of novelty of socialists doing any such thing. "Communism and trade?! It sounds strange. The two seem to be unconnected, incongruous, poles apart." Like many Marxists he believes that capitalism requires a gold standard. He naturally draws the conclusion that compromise with capitalism requires acceptance of gold. "When we are victorious on a world scale I think we shall use gold for the purpose of building public lavatories in the streets of some of the largest cities of the world." But "for another decade or two" it is necessary to work slowly towards that goal. "Meanwhile, we must save the gold in the R.S.F.S.R., sell it at the highest price, buy goods with it at the lowest price. When you live among wolves, you must howl like a wolf. ..." In due course, however, all the wolves will be exterminated.
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