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Class Struggles in USSR, First Period:1917-1923 $18.95 Class Struggles in the USSR: First Period 1917-1923 by Charles Bettelheim Translated by Brian Pearce Charles Bettelheim's new book is the first volume of what promises to be a work of enormous importance for the world revolution- ary socialist movement. Two further volumes, dealing respectively with the period 1924-1953 and the years since 1953, are to follow. The immediate point of departure for Class Struggles in the USSR was the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Those who consider them- selves Marxists, Bettelheim argues, cannot be content to "condemn" or "regret" political acts: it is also necessary to explain them. In the case of the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Bettelheim deemed it all the more necessary not to limit himself to regrets, since what is at stake is nothing less than what the Soviet Union has become today. Perhaps the central theme of this work, recurring again and again, is the nature and pervasiveness throughout most of Soviet his- tory of the "rigidified Marxism" with which, in Bettelheim's view, "it is necessary to break if historical and dialectical materialism are to regain their true revolutionary character." In this connection he lays particular emphasis on erroneous notions regarding the founda- tions of class relations, the role of productive forces, and the withering away of the state. It is Bettelheim's thesis that in the case of Russia the revolutionary forces were too weak and too lacking in understanding based on Class struggles in the USSR 1 Class struggles in the USSR by Charles Bettelheim Translated by Brian Pearce First period: 1917–1923 Monthly Review Press New York and London From Marx to Mao M L Digital Reprints 2016 www.marx2mao.com Copyright © 1976 by Monthly Review Press All rights reserved Originally published as Les luttes de classes en URSS, copyright © 1974 by Maspero/Seuil, Paris France. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Bettelheim, Charles Class struggles in the U.S.S.R. Translation of Les luttes de classes en URSS. CONTENTS: v. 1, The first period, 1917–1923. Bibliography: p. 1. Russia—Politics and government–1917– 2. Russia—Social conditions—1917– 3. Kommunisti- cheskaia Partiia Sovietskogo Soiuza. 4. Russia— History —Revolution, 1917–1921. I. Title DK266.B4413 302.9′47′084 76-28986 ISB 0-85343-396-9 Monthly Review Press 62 West 14th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 21 Theobalds Road, London WCIX 8SL Contents Preface 9 Introduction to the “first period” 57 Part 1. The October Revolution and the establishment of Soviet power 65 1. The interweaving of the revolutionary processes between February and October 1917 69 2. The dictatorship of the proletariat and class relations on the morrow of October 91 Part 2. Soviet power and the transformation of class relations between 1917 and 1921 133 1. The transformation of relations between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat under the dictatorship of the proletariat 135 2. The transformation of class relations in the towns 143 3. The transformation of class relations in the countryside 210 Part 3. The transformation of the principal instruments of the proletarian dictatorship 251 1. The transformation of the central organs of power and the administrative machinery of state 255 5 6 Contents 2. The changes in the Bolshevik Party, the guiding instrument of the proletarian dictatorship 292 3. The objective character of the process whereby the state machinery of the proletarian dictatorship acquired independence 329 Part 4. The ideological and political struggles inside the Bolshevik Party 345 1. The changes in the Bolshevik Party's relations with the masses 347 2. The ideological and political struggles in the Bolshevik Party before the civil war 368 3. The ideological and political struggles during “war communism” 380 4. The ideological and political struggles at the end of “war communism” and the beginning of the NEP 395 Part 5. The balance sheet of five years of revolution and the prospects on eve of Lenin’s death 437 1. The balance sheet drawn up by Lenin on the period of “war communism” 439 2. The mistakes of “war communism” analyzed 451 3. “State capitalism” 464 4. The changes in Lenin’s conception of the NEP 477 5. The tasks before the Bolshevik Party at the time of Lenin’s death 506 Bibliography 531 Index 539 Key to abbreviations, initials, and Russian words used in the text Artel A particular form of producers’ cooperative Cadet party The Constitutional Democratic Party CLD See STO Cheka Extraordinary Commission (political police) Glavk One of the chief directorates in the Supreme Council of the National Economy or in a people’s commissariat Gosplan State Planning Commission GPU State Political Administration (political police) Kulak A rich peasant, often involved in capitalist ac- tivities of one kind or another, such as hiring out agricultural machinery, trade, moneylend- ing, etc. Mir The village community Narkomtrud People’s Commissariat of Labor NEP New Economic Policy NKhSSSRv National Economy of the USSR in (a certain year or period) NKVD People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs OGPU Unified State Political Administration (politi- cal police) Orgburo Organization Bureau of the Bolshevik Party Politburo Political Bureau of the Bolshevik Party Rabfak Workers’ Faculty Rabkrin See KI RCP(B) Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik): official 7 8 Charles Bettelheim name of the Bolshevik Party, adopted by the Seventh Party Congress in March 1918 RKI Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection RSDLP Russian Social Democratic Labor Party RSDLP(B) Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bol- shevik) RSFSR Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic Skhod General assembly of a village Sovkhoz State farm Sovnarkhoz Regional Economic Council Sovnarkom Council of People’s Commissars SR Socialist Revolutionary STO Council of Labor and Defense Uchraspred Department in the Bolshevik Party responsi- ble for registering the members and assigning them to different tasks Uyezd County Volost Rural district VSNKh Supreme Economic Council VTsIK All-Russia Central Executive Committee (or- gan derived from the Congress of soviets) Zemstvo Administrative body in country areas before the Revolution Preface It seems to me essential to explain to the reader why and how I have written this book and how it relates to my previous writings. The simplest procedure is undoubtedly to begin by show- ing how the book began and how what was at first a project of limited scope developed into a more ambitious one. What gave the immediate impetus to this work was the invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet forces. Those who claim to be Marxists cannot confine them- selves to condemning or deploring political acts; they have also to explain them. Regrets and wishes may help the people to endure their woes, but they do not help them either to perceive their causes or to struggle to get rid of them or to prevent their reemergence. By explaining the reasons for something that does indeed deserve condemnation from the standpoint of the interests of the working people, we can contribute, however, to causing political forces to evolve in such a way that the “regrettable” events do not recur. In the case of the invasion and occupation of Czecho- slovakia, I thought it all the more necessary not to confine myself to expressions of regret because what was at issue was, besides the fate of a people which had already suffered many occupations, the judgment to be passed upon what the Soviet Union has become today, since it was Russian forces, together with their “allies,” that carried out this act of violence. If I felt justified in dealing with the problems of the Soviet Union, this was because I have been studying that country for nearly forty years and because I believe that everything con- cerning it has worldwide significance and implications. That was my opinion in 1934, when I began to learn Russian; in 9 10 Charles Bettelheim 1936, when I visited the USSR to study Soviet planning; in 1939, when I published a book on the subject; in 1946, when I published another book dealing with the theoretical and practi- cal problems of planning; in 1950, when I published a book on the Soviet economy; and since then, in several visits to the country and in other books on planning1 and on the transition to socialism.2 Basically, my interest in the Soviet Union since the mid- 1930s has been determined by identification of what was hap- pening in that country with the first experience of socialist construction. Without being blind to the difficulties and con- tradictions that marked this process (how could I be, when I was in Moscow in 1936, at the time of the first of the “great trials,”3 and was able to sense every day the confusion into which the city’s inhabitants had been thrown and the fear of voicing their opinions that was felt by the most ordinary people as well as by old members of the Bolshevik Party and the Communist International?), I nevertheless considered, not only that the October Revolution had opened a new era in the history of mankind (which I still believe), but also that the economic and social development of the Soviet Union pro- vided a sort of “model” for the building of socialism. The difficulties and contradictions accompanying this develop- ment seemed to me, despite their seriousness, to be due above all to the special historical conditions of Russia. I thought there was no reason why they should reappear elsewhere, or should prevent Russia from continuing to advance toward socialism and communism. The undeniable economic successes achieved by the USSR, especially in the industrial field (from the five year plans onward), the Red Army’s victory over Hitlerism, the rapidity with which economic reconstruction was carried out after the war, the improvement in the Soviet people’s standard of liv- ing, the help rendered by the government of the USSR to socialist China, all seemed, moreover, to confirm the apprecia- tions and forecasts I have mentioned, even though the social inequalities that developed during the first five year plans were tending not to diminish but rather to intensify.
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