Pluralism in the Soviet Union: Essays in Honour of H. Gordon Skilling

192 Pages·1983·18.547 MB·English

by  Susan Gross Solomon (eds.)

PLURALISM IN THE SOVIET UNION
Pluralism in the Soviet Union offers an illuminating and original
discussion of a popular but controversial approach to the study of
the Soviet Union. There is much debate in this volume. Each of
the contributors takes a distinctive stand on the usefulness of the
concept 'pluralism', broadly defined, for the understanding of
Soviet politics and society.
The book begins with a study by Susan Gross Solomon of the
history of the concept of 'pluralism' in Western political science.
She finds that there has been no prototypical usage of the term
within the discipline and suggests that Sovietologists need not be
concerned, therefore, about whether the use of pluralism in their
field extends the concept beyond its accepted meaning in
American studies. Jerry F. Hough laments the fetish of Sovieto
logists with model-building, which in his view deflects attention
from the critical task of empirical research. But if there must be
models, pluralism still has some advantages over its now
fashionable competitor 'corporatism'. Archie Brown adds a new
dimension to the discussion by contrasting Western and Soviet
usages of the concept of pluralism. He shows that while Western
scholars pay attention to the influence on government of societal
groups, some of their Soviet counterparts focus on the relative
autonomy of the state from society. WJodzimierz Brus examines
the implications for Soviet politics of the growing marketization
of the economy in the USSR. Unlike proponents of convergence
Brus does not expect that political pluralism will evolve directly
from the new economic relations. In the concluding chapter
Frederick C. Barghoorn performs a test for the litmus of
pluralism in any society by examining the Soviet regime's
treatment of dissent. He provides fascinating new evidence about
the ways in which the regime's relationship with the dissidents
constrains not just the dissidents but the regime itself.
This volume of essays is a tribute to H. Gordon Skilling -
distinguished pioneer in the field of Soviet and East European
studies. The contributors are drawn from three countries, and
appropriately so. For Skilling was born in Canada, did his
graduate work in England, taught in the United States, and then
returned to his native Canada, there to found and direct for its
first decade the well-known Centre for Russian and East
European Studies at the University of Toronto.
Gordon Skilling Photograph by Rudolf L. Tt>kes
Pluralism in the
Soviet Union
Essays in Honour of
H. Gordon Skilling
Edited by
Susan Gross Solomon
Selection and editorial matter and Chapters
1 and 2 © Susan Gross Solomon 1983
Foreword© John N. Hazard 1983
Chapter 3 ©Jerry F. Hough 1983
Chapter 4 © Archie Brown 1983
Chapter 5 © Wl'odzimierz Brus 1983
Chapter 6 © Frederick C. Barghoom 1983
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1983 978-0-333-34582-5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1983 by
'THE MACMILLAN PRESS L ill
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-06619-3 ISBN 978-1-349-06617-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06617-9
Contents
H. Gordon Skilling frontispiece
Note on the Contributors V1
Acknowledgements vm
Foreword John N. Hazard IX
1 Introduction Susan Gross Solomon 1
2 'Pluralism' in Political Science: The Odyssey of a 4
Concept Susan Gross Solomon
3 Pluralism, Corporatism and the Soviet Union 37
Jerry F. Hough
4 Pluralism, Power and the Soviet Politicial System: 61
A Comparative Perspective Archie Brown
5 Political Pluralism and Markets in Communist Systems 108
Wlodzimierz Brus
6 Regime-Dissenter Relations after Khrushchev: 131
Some Observations Freden"ck C. Barghoom
Major Publications of H. Gordon Skilling 169
Index 173
v
Notes on the Contributors
John N. Hazard is Nash Professor of Law Emeritus at Columbia
University, New York.
Susan Gross Solomon is Associate Professor of Political Science,
at the University of Toronto.
Jerry F. Hough is Professor of Political Science at Duke
University, North Carolina.
Archie Brown is a Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, and
Lecturer in Soviet Institutions at the University of Oxford.
Wlodzimierz Brus is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and
Lecturer in Modern Russian and East European Studies at the
University of Oxford.
Frederick C. Barghoorn IS Professor Emeritus of Political
Science at Yale University.
Vl
Acknowledgements
In the course of preparing this Festschrift, I have benefited im
measurably from the support of individuals and institutions. First
and foremost, Professor Gleb Zekulin, Director of the Centre for
Russian and East European Studies of the University of Toronto,
was a constant source of encouragement from the inception of
this project to its completion. My colleagues Timothy J. Colton,
Richard B. Day, Franklyn J. Griffiths, Donald V. Schwartz and
Peter H. Solomon, Jr, offered sage counsel on a wide range of
matters. Archie Brown of Oxford University took more than a
contributor's interest in this venture. I have no doubt that these
individuals gave of their time the more graciously because the
volume was in honour of H. Gordon Skilling. The same was surely
true of the contributors. Each and every one responded with
warmth to the invitation to be pait of the volume and endured
with unfailing good humour the queries and red pencillings of the
editor.
Generous financial assistance for this volume was provided by
the Centre for Russian and East European Studies and the Office
of Research Administration, both of the University of Toronto.
Edith S. Klein was an invaluable assistant. She did research,
editing and correspondence with a rare intelligence. On
numerous occasions, she served as sounding board. Only she
knows how much I depended on her.
Gloria Rowe typed the final manuscript with speed and
accuracy. The assistance of Jana Oldfield of the Centre for
Russian and East European Studies was also much appreciated.
Finally, a special word of thanks to my children, Rafi and
Rachel, who took pleasure in the involvement of their mother in
this project.
S.G.S.
Toronto, May 1982
Vll
Foreword
Few scholars seeking understanding of Soviet and Eastern
European politics have sampled as many countries or inquired as
deeply into the social structures of polities as H. Gordon Skilling.
Born a Canadian and educated at the University of Toronto in
the early 1930s and immediately afterwards, in England, first as a
Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, and then at the
University of London, he seems to have absorbed something of
the famed English sense of scholarly balance in probing to the
bottom of things without passion. It has never been his practice to
crusade in the popular mode of the day, nor has he permitted his
work to be swayed by the winds of the time.
Skilling has demonstrated the courage necessary to strike out in
new directions, to explore the possibility that popular North
American analyses of communist-oriented systems have been
misdirected, and to develop something novel as an approach. In
no area has this inquisitive bent been so marked as in his call to a
re-evaluation of the wellsprings of Soviet politics and the impact
of these politics upon the USSR's neighbours. This volume is
testimony to his adventure. It has been devised by its dis
tinguished editor to honour Skilling's innovative approach.
Friends and colleagues from the international scholarly com
munity have presented essays which reflect the influence of his
innovative explorations begun at the outset of the 1960s.
Skilling's presence has been characterized by modesty. He
carries his torch high, but without fanfare, presenting in his
lectures often quite novel ideas with a quietness of voice and
understatement that seem to conceal from his listeners the full
impact of his ideas until they appear in print. Some scholars of
prominence have been stimulated to combat his ideas with
vigour, marshalling what they conceive to be the relevant facts
differently from Skilling. Such a conflict of views was most
evident after Skilling attacked the thesis so popular in the 1950s
that the Soviet system of government could be best analysed as
lX
Foreword
X
totalitarian, guided by one man with a few comrades-in-arms
oblivious to popular pressures.
In an innovative study, Skilling suggested that the 'group
theory' could be used to examine Soviet politics, even though that
theory was not totally compatible with the monopoly party system
in the USSR. For the post-Stalin phase of Soviet history, Skilling
found public manifestations of the influence of special interests in
policy formulation and interpreted these as clear proof of the
correctness of his approach. And he raised the possibility that
even Stalin had been unable to rule a polity in disregard of the
interests of all save himself and his immediate coterie. Even as he
put forward his novel view, Skilling made clear his reservations in
using group theory. He declared unequivocally, 'To avoid
misunderstanding, it should be stated at once that this is not an
attempt arbitrarily to apply to the Soviet system interest group
theories which have been developed in the West in the past sixty
years.' And a few pages later in his introduction to Interest
Groups in Soviet Politics he added, 'The application of the group
concept to political behaviour in the USSR, it should be stressed,
does not necessarily involve an interpretation solely in terms of
interest groups and group conflict.'
Not all scholars agreed with even this careful formulation.
Skilling's willingness to listen to the arguments of his critics rather
than to enter into polemics with them is characteristic of his
nature. Thus he was content to work on his innovative study of
Soviet interest groups with a colleague who questioned his
position, proposing another term to explain Skilling's findings.
Skilling did not approach the study of the USSR from the
West, vaulting over Central Europe as so many other scholars
have done. He came to the study of Soviet politics across the
bridge of Central Europe. His articles in the early 1950s
concerned Czechoslovakia. Undoubtedly his interest was fired by
his study in England with the legendary R. W. Seton-Watson,
from whom he learned to admire the Czechs and Slovaks for their
struggle against the forces of the Habsburg Empire, and for their
continuing struggle to survive as an independent entity in Central
Europe between the two great wars. If Skilling were asked today
to identify his great love, I suspect the answer would still be
Czechoslovakia. His many scholarly works, and most especially his
magnum opus, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution, testify
to that.