Socialist Construction and Marxist Theory: Bolshevism and its Critique PDF
Preview Socialist Construction and Marxist Theory: Bolshevism and its Critique
SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION AND MARXIST THEORY Also by Derek Sayer MARX'S METHOD SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION AND MARXIST THEORY Bolshevism and its Critique Philip Corrigan, Harvie Ramsay and Derek Sayer © Philip Corrigan, Harvie Ramsay and Derek Sayer 1978 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1978 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1978 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo Typeset in Great Britain by The Bowering Press Ltd Plymouth British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Corrigan, Philip Socialist construction and Marxist theory 1. Communism - History 1. Title II. Ramsay, Harvie III. Sayer, Derek 355.4'09'034 HX36 ISBN 978-1-349-03133-7 ISBN 978-1-349-03131-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-03131-3 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement Socialist society covers a very long historical period. Classes and class struggle continue to exist in this society, and the struggle still goes on between the road of socialism and the road of capitalism. The socialist revolution on the economic front (in the ownership of the means of production) is insufficient by itself and cannot be consolidated. There must also be a thorough socialist revolution on the political and ideological fronts. Here a very long period of time is needed to decide 'who will win' in the struggle between socialism and capitalism. Several decades won't do it; success requires anywhere from one to several centuries. On the question of duration, it is better to prepare for a longer rather than a shorter period of time. On the question of effort, it is better to regard the task as difficult rather than easy. It will be more advantageous and less harmful to think and act in this way. Anyone who fails to see this or to appreciate it fully will make tremendous mistakes. During the historical period of socialism it is necessary to maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat and carry the socialist revolution through to the end if the restoration of capitalism is to be prevented, socialist construction carried forward and the conditions created for the transition to communism. Mao Tse-tung Fifteen Theses on Socialist Construction Contents Preface IX Introduction Xl 1 MARX 1 1 Production 1 2 The social forces of production 3 3 The social relations of production 4 4 Class and the State 7 5 Marx's critique 13 6 Bourgeois ideology and working-class consciousness 20 2 BOLSHEVISM AND ITS CRITIQUE 24 1 1917 24 2 Bolshevism 27 3 Socialist construction 47 3 LENIN, TROTSKY, STALIN 53 1 Lenin 53 2T~~ ~ 3 Stalin 79 4 MAO 90 1 The important thing is to be good at learning 90 2 Get organised! 93 3 Leaning to one side 96 4 From implicit criticism to inter-Party polemic 98 Bibliographical Appendix 103 5 BOLSHEVISM NOW 105 1 The Bolshevik hegemony 105 2 Bolshevism challenged? 120 6 'NEVER FORGET CLASS STRUGGLE .. .' 145 viii Contents A RESTATEMENT 155 Marx and Engels on Production, Capitalism and Socialism 155 Notes 163 Bibliography 191 Index 223 Preface This book is a collective production. Not only does it result from the combined efforts of its three accredited authors; it also owes much to many others. Its roots lie in our participation in the Political Economy Group which Gavin Williams founded in Durham in 1973. It was in discussions there that we first became aware of the mutual relevance of our apparently quite disparate individual researches, and gained the impetus to write a first draft of this book during 1974. We circulated that draft, both within and outside this Group, and the comment and criticism we received helped us immensely in writing the revised text which follows. The result, we believe, is a better book. At the same time, our revision has involved a good deal of distillation and some excision. Chapter I, for instance, represents a summary of arguments which were originally developed over 150 pages. We attempt to make good such losses in other writings, some of them already published, others still in preparation. In particular, we are writing a volume which will be in many ways a sequel to this, extending our assessment of the theoretical contribution to marxism made by Mao Tse-tung (For Mao: Essays in Historical Materialism, Macmillan, forthcoming). In this connection, we would like to make clear that our discussion in the present volume deals only with the period preceding Mao's death, though we believe that the analysis we offer provides the resources for comprehending the struggles in China which have followed. Finally, we wish to express our particular thanks to Val Gillespie, Sheila Ramsay, Teodor Shanin, Tse Kakui, and Gavin Williams, for their invaluable encouragement, assistance, and criticism throughout. Derek Sayer would like to acknowledge the help of the Social Science Research Council, whose award of a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship has enabled him to work on this project full-time during the last year. PHILIP CORRIGAN HARVIE RAMSAY DEREK SAYER January 1977 Introduction At 10.00 a.m. on 7 November 1917, before attending the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets at the Smolny Institute in what was then called Petrograd, Lenin, on behalf of the Petrograd Military Revolu tionary Committee, issued an appeal 'To the Citizens of Russia' (Akhapkin, 1970: Document 1),1 This, the first text of Soviet power, records that The cause for which the people have fought, namely, the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landed proprietorship, workers' control over production, and the establishment of Soviet power - this cause has been secured. Long live the revolution of workers, soldiers and peasants! The first session of that Congress of Soviets stretched from 10.40 p.m. on 7 November until after 5.00 a.m. of the next day. Shortly after 3.00 a.m. on the morning of the 8th news was received of the storming of the Winter Palace, and the Congress issued an appeal 'To Workers, Soldiers and Peasants' (ibid., Document 2). During its second session, which began at 9.00 a.m. on the same day, Decrees on Peace and Land were adopted, at 10.00 p.m. on the 8th and 2.00 a.m. on the 9th respectively (ibid., Documents 3 and 4). On 27 November the All Russia Central Executive Committee elected by that same Congress promulgated 'Instructions on Workers' Control' (ibid., Document 10). This book is concerned with the struggles which make such actions possible and meaningful. It is as well to recall, right at the start, of whose struggles we are talking. Much in these actions - including the textual content of the decrees - was a descriptive rather than a prescriptive commentary on political events. The workers, soldiers and peasants who were creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had already established the material situation - regarding peace, land, and workers' control-that these political decrees and appeals registered, summarised, and attempted to carry forward to a new generalisation. This is no mere aside - a dramaturgical obeisance to the fact that the world (objective and subjective) was changed at the time that these
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