On 30th anniversary
of fall of USSR let us remember that it was a Revisionist state that collapsed
and not the Bolshevik party founded by Lenin. A new epoch was defined with the
Socialist Revolution in USSR with path breaking achievements whose memories
still shimmer in the hearts of the Russian people.
By Harsh Thakor
Last month we commemorated the 30th anniversary of the fall of
the USSR. There is a virtual vendetta launched against Marxism by the Western
media. In actual fact what collapsed 30 years ago was state capitalism or
revisionism, not true Socialism. The path had already been paved by leaders
like Nikita Khrushchev and Mikhail Gorbachev earlier who eradicated the roots
of Marxist or Socialist principles at the very base. Such leaders dismantled
the very base of Socialist Society, by introducing profit motive and private
farming, promoting consumerism and introducing private ownership of party
members within collective farms. What they brilliantly did was to disguise
themselves as Marxists by giving USSR a socialist face. The collapse created a
huge psychological dent in the minds of the world people on the progressiveness
of Communism or Marxism and paved the path for the triumph of consumerism and
market forces worldwide.
USSR from 1917-1956 could boast of achievements unprecedented in
history and giving power to the working class as never before. The first
genuine workers state was established, with workers owing the means of
production. Unemployment was unheard of, literacy was given to all, health
system surpassed that of any bourgeois democracy, production figures attained
record heights. In no place in the world did workers receive as much facilities
for leisure and holidays, better housing, or as adequate transport and
electricity facilities. Through collectivization peasants could integrate to
produce for the collective good and serve the industrial labour community. No
party ever constituted such a strong fraction of members of worker or peasant
origin. Russia industrialized at rate 4 times quicker than any Western power. I
would like readers to refer to books written by E.H. Carr, Alan Taylor, Anne
Loiuse Strong , George Bernard Shaw or Sydney Beatrice Webb, refuting the lies
of the Imperialist media on the USSR and portraying the nation in the correct
light. In more recent times it is worth referring to writers like Grover Furr, Raymond
Lotta, Vijay Singh, Joma Sison, Joseph Ball, Gonzalo, or Bruce Franklin. These
include non-Stalinists or liberals, who vividly recount how Soviet Union
overcame the most hazardous obstacles, to take proletarian welfare to heights
unscaled. Carr delves into the conspiracy of the colonial powers to topple USSR
and how it was imperative for Lenin and Stalin to take certain steps. The
methodology of the Soviet five year plans took production to regions untranscended.
Carr is no Stalinist but morally summarises that USSR did exactly what it had
to do in every step to confront being submerged or encircled by the colonial
powers and Nazi Germany.
The planned economy of USSR was a model for the entire world.
The important features from 1917 to ‘56 were the first establishment of the
Soviets, as an instrument of working class power, Brest Litovsk treaty of 1918,
Civil War of 1918-21 the New Economic policy of 1921 which introduced
capitalism within a workers state, the collectivization of agriculture from
1928, the Great purges of 1933-38, War production from 1935 ,the introduction
of the Constitution of 1935, re-constructing Socialism after 1945, and 1952
self criticism of the party. No doubt major errors or violations of Marxist
practice occurred in Stalin era from the 1930's. Tremendous excesses occurred
in the purges. Innocent party members perished in the purges with democratic
centralism lacking. Revolutionary democracy was suppressed to an extent from
below leading to bureaucratism. Agriculture was neglected to an extent with too
much emphasis on industry. Attention was given single-handedly to the base,
neglecting the superstructure. Instead of persuasion collectivization was
undertaken by force. A strata of a privileged class of party members was
created with wage differentials imposed and a class of technicians created. This
did not reconcile with Marxism Leninism. The Soviets were not able to function
democratically to the full, being completely subordinated to the Communist
party. Harsh treatment was meted out to poets, artists and writers not
conforming with the system, with dissent not given sufficient voice. Stalin
also went overboard in dealing with Scientist Lysenko. Stalin also did not
display dialectical method in re-building the party after 1945. Quoting Raymond
Lotta “By 1934, Stalin and several others in leadership felt it was time to
consolidate the political and social gains of the revolution. The new
proletarian state was facing extreme and difficult objective conditions. War
was looming. There was no prior historical experience for dealing with the
magnitude of the situation. Adjustments were called for. But mistakes were made
in how this dire necessity was dealt with. On the basis of the transformations
in ownership that had gone on, there was a push for greater discipline and
stepped-up production in the factories.
But the development of the productive forces came to be seen as
the guarantee of socialism. Leadership relied less on the conscious activism
and initiative of the masses. The radical social and cultural experimentation
of the 1920s and early 1930s was reined in – and things got consolidated in a
way that strengthened more traditional relations. Socialism in the Soviet Union
had to be defended. But the Soviet leadership tended to see the defense of the
Soviet Union as being one and the same as the interests of the world revolution
without any contradiction – and thus increasingly promoted national patriotism
instead of proletarian internationalism.” “He relied on purges and police
actions to solve problems--rather than mobilizing the masses to take up the
burning political and ideological questions on the overall direction of
society. Mao was critical of Stalin’s approach and pointed out that Stalin had
a tendency to mix up two fundamentally different types of contradictions: the
contradiction between the people and the enemy, and contradictions among the
people themselves. Repression, which should only have been directed against
enemies, was used against people who were not enemies but merely were making
mistakes or expressing disagreements with the policy of the government.” It is
worth pointing out how many foreign spies or saboteurs infiltrated the USSR
within the party itself either of Western nations or Trotskyites, with
imperialist nations engulfing the Soviet Union. Many of the orders of the
purges were delivered by the far right opposition within the Bolshevik party. I
justify Stalin's stand towards Bukharin, Sergie Kirov, Zinoviev and Kamanev who
were all conspirators in dethroning the Russian state. I maintain that USSR won
the war against the German Nazis led by Hitler only because it adhered to
Socialist ideology. Morally it is USSR that won World War 2 and not the Western
allies. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad was arguably the greatest turning
point in the last century. Historian Geoffrey Roberts testifies this. After
1956 hypocritically Khrushchev launched a tirade against Stalin and derailed
Russia from Socialist path. A private plot, profit motive concept was
introduced, with economy decentralised. Managerial structures were
re-introduced within factories. In 1964 Khrushchev was ousted and Brezhnev
attempted to reverse it through some initiatives but all his methods were
superficial. Gorbachev through Perestroika and Glasnost from 1985 gave
revisionism another shape. Till the final official fall all these leaders
virtually undid what Lenin and Stalin installed. Still even revisionist USSR
posessed semblances of a Socialist state in terms of employment, literacy,
health facilities, sports facilities and child care. It was less racist than
any Western democracy. On the International level Stalin did display big
brother treatment towards Eastern European Countries and China in his time and
took a wrong stand in advising the CCP to adopt path of urban insurrection.
After 1956 USSR advocated peaceful co-existence and compromised on national
liberation Struggles. It took reactionary steps like supporting emergency in
India, which invaded Afghanistan in 1982, invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, supported
martial law in Poland in 1982, and adopted approach of detente towards USA.
Through Comecon it virtually treated East European countries as Satellites and
gave no effective moral support to 3rd world liberation movements. Still I maintain
it was more progressive than America. USSR gave a sustained resistance to
Apartheid in South Africa, supported Palestinian liberation against Israel,
gave moral support to Cuba, supported anti-colonial movement of Angola and
strongly supported Vietnam in the war against America. Today Russia is an
imperialist country, even though it challenges hegemony of superpower America.
It has suppressed Islamic movements exhibiting chauvinism. Internally unemployment
and inflation have reached sky high levels. The most balanced analysis on
Stalin is by Chairman Mao Tse Tung who evaluated that Stalin was 70% correct,
and 30% wrong. Tooth and nail Mao upheld Stalin's contribution to building a
Leninist state but was critical of Stalin's abuse of democratic centralism,
neglecting superstructure and inability to invite democratic movements from
below. Enver Hoxha's writings are enlightening, but still place no criticism of
Stalin. A writer I profusely recommend is George Thomson who sums up that
Stalin dealt with reactionary forces only through medium of police, terror, and
failed to encourage democratic initiative of the people. The Red Paper’s
publication of “How Capitalism was restored in the USSR” is a classic in illustrating
how USSR morally turned capitalist with the Party turning into a new class. It most
extensively portrays the essence of revisionist politics in every sphere of
life The Introduction of Bruce Franklin in “The essential Stalin;: Major theoretical writings, 1905-52”
is also very insightful and factual.’’ ‘Set
The Record Straight’ blog by Raymond Lotta to gives a balanced critique of
Soviet Russia’s errors under Stalin. It is worth mentioning how even today the
memories of Lenin and Stalin shimmer in the hearts of Russians, with rallies of
thousands staged in their memory. On their birthdays, many Russians still feel
in the main Lenin and Stalin were right and revere their contribution. Even an
anti-Stalinist like Issac Deutscher upheld USSR as a workers state under Lenin
and Stalin. Deutscher maintained that Stalin could never be classed with a
dictator like Hitler as he promoted a progressive ideology in contrast to a
fascist one, and still left behind important ingredients of Russian culture, in
sphere of literature and arts. Today majority of Russians feel conditions were
better when it was formally USSR. I can't forget the rallies staged by Russians
in 1992 in Georgia, upholding Stalin. Today many intellectuals, including
Marxists and Maoists, vilify Stalin. I recommend readers to refer to Enver
Hoxha on 'When Kruschev lied' which traces how he bred a revisionist party. I
strongly believe that Lenin would not have tolerated certain methods of Stalin,
which in my view were incoherent to Marxism Leninism. However I doubt Lenin
could have led USSR in the manner Stalin did during the war, to save the world
from being enslaved by Hitler's fascist Nazi rule. I recommend readers to
understand how Leon Trotsky was essentially anti-Marxist and conspired to
sabotage Socialist USSR. I praise Stalin for his self –criticism in 1952 of the
party. I have strong conviction that the base of reversal in Soviet Union lay
in Stalin's errors, with the army delivering no effective resistance to
Khrushchev’s takeover. Historians have a herculean task in what led to the
overthrow of the genuine Bolshevik party and what sowed the seeds of
revisionism. Some of the most commendable work has come out in recent times
defending Socialist USSR from 1917-56, by journal Revolutionary Democracy and
outstanding research of Grover Furr.
Notes:
Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR)/ Союз Советских
Социалистических Республик (CCCP)
Leaders named:
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