I do think that's an important part to a potentially successful socialist experiment: having a "capitalist," or industrialization, phase. Marx wrote about the socialist revolution beginning in an industrialized, capitalist(?) country like Germany, the UK, or the US because these people were at the heart of the capitalist, imperialist core and had felt the exploitation.

But, it seems that socialism has mainly arisen within countries that were exploited by those industrialized, capitalist countries through colonialism. I think it's because the people in the imperial-capitalist nations are just comfortable enough to not revolt; while the people being exploited through colonialism live through hell each waking moment. Sure, work's hard and you don't own the means of production, but, you have a house you can go home and relax in. The people in those colonial countries don't have any of that, making the revolution almost inevitable.