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Class Struggle in Any Depth https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW A Critical Contribution to an Understanding of the Nature of Soviet Society s j with Special Reference to Working Class Self-Assertion I I' © Neil C. Fernandez June 1995 Institute of Russian and East European Studies A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Social Sciences in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ProQuest Number: 10391333 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10391333 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 \ o i k 3 GIASGOW I 1 , f ' I Abstract Of the various Marxist or Marx-influenced works on the USSR, many have criticised the Soviet system as being based either on capitalism or class exploitation in a new guise. Few, though, have analysed the class struggle in any depth. The principal aim of this thesis is to place an understanding of this struggle at the centre of an understanding of Soviet political economy; and in doing so, to broaden the scope of the Autonomist Marxist critique. First, a description is given of the overall theoretical approach. Described as communist, this is governed by concepts elaborated within the poorly-known political tendency which has consistently fought for the abolition of wage-labour, money, and the State. References are made to works by Marx, Negri, Cleaver, Pannekoek, and Debord. Given that the hull hypothesis' regarding the failure of a wartime revolutionary proletarian movement must be that the production relations remained capitalist, a critique is then made of the various existing theories of Soviet capitalism. (Some depict the system as 'state capitalist'; others do not.) These are shown to offer an inadequately profound understanding of Soviet economic bureaucracy, and an insufficient demonstration of the dominance of the category of capital A new theory is therefore developed. Soviet relations of consumption, distribution, and production are shown to be based on generalised exchange; the form of labour is shown to be wage-labour (abstract labour); and a drive for growth is shown to be intrinsic to the economic system. Categories of value, surplus value, and capital are identified. In relation to the specific functioning of the cycle of investment and production, important new concepts are introduced of bureaucratic exchange-value and bureaucratic money. Attention is then turned to the class struggle. First, various 'sovietological' analyses are shown to fall short of providing an understanding even of the existence of such a struggle. A few broader conceptions have the merit of relating to overall views of the nature of the system, but these hardly amount to critiques of the political economy. Next, various 'Marxist' theories are considered: that is, theories which use Marxian terminology but which neglect to consider the working class as a force independent of representation. (Official 'Communist' theories, not being held to be critical, are not considered). These are categorised according to three theories of the nature of the system: the 'degenerated workers' state,' 'capitalism,' and the 'mode of production sui generis/ Although there are many 'Marxist' views of the political-economic nature of the system, few have brought into their theorisation a consideration of working class struggle. And even the exceptions have not traced the class polarities through with consistent resolution. Then, once it is shown that the class struggle in the USSR has not been paid a great deal of attention by communists either, consideration is given to the theories of Dunayevskaya and James, Castoriadis, and Ticktin. Although Ticktin's theory suggests a profound understanding of class antagonism, it remains restricted by concepts of non-capitalist 'exceptionalism' and capitalist 'decline.' This is the first time that the theories of the nature of the USSR have been criticised in systematic relation to what they say about the working class and its struggle. After a theoretical description is given of the class struggle under capitalism in general — with emphasis on opposition to the control over the circuits of capital and labour-power — an original view is constructed of the relationship between class struggle and capitalist political economy in the USSR. Working class power is discussed not simply in opposition to the control over capital, but also in relation to the problems of that control in the context of capitalist growth. Whilst capitalist domination in the USSR did enter the period of relative surplus value extraction, and wages rose, the form of growth — involving the systemic prioritisation of material investment and 'gross output' — was based merely on increasing productivity, and not also on labour intensification (accelerated turnover). The rulers thus made substantial concessions to the workers' struggle for less hard work, especially in terms of product quality. This ensured that the capitalist subsumption of labour, although 'real' rather than simply 'formal,' was not only inefficient but eventually chronically so. This conclusion is corroborated with reference to the importance ascribed by Gorbachev, Aganbegian, and Zaslavskaia to the 'human factor' and the need to interest (zainteresovat 0 workers in their work. * * * * * 111 Table of Contents ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... il LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................... viü LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................x INTRODUCTION..................... 1 1 Aims of the Thesis..................... 1 2 Structure of the Thesis....................................................................................2 2.1 The Theoretical Approach Adopted..................................................2 2.2 The Nature of Soviet Society............................. 6 2.3 The Class Struggle................................................................................9 2.4 Sum m ary ............. 14 1 A COMMUNIST APPROACH.........................................................................15 1 Class Struggle and Communism........................................................... 16 2 Against Incorporation................................................................................... 25 2.1 Capitalist Politics.................................................................................26 2.2 The Incorporation of Struggle........................... 29 3 Marxism and 'Marxism'................................................................................33 4 Sum m ary........................................................................................................37 2 SOVIET CAPITALISM: A CRITIQUE OF EXISTING THEORIES............ 43 1 'State Capitalism'................................................. 46 1.1 The Socialist Party of Great Britain's Theory........................... 46 1.2 Council Communist Theories........................................................ 51 1.2.1 Riihle's Theory ......................................... 52 1.2.2 Councilist Theory......................... 57 1.3 Buick and Crump's Theory................................................................ 60 1.4 Wildt's Theory....................................................................... 65 1.5 The Johnson-Forest Tendency's Theory.......................................... 68 1.6 Munis's Theory................................................................................... 72 1.7 Cliff's Theory................................. 76 IV 2 SOVIET CAPITALISM: A CRITIQUE OF EXISTING THEORIES (cont.) 1.8 Bettelheim's Theory ................................................................78 1.9 Sapir's Theory..................................................................................... 81 2 'Capitalism' but not 'State Capitalism'. ..................................................86 2.1 Gorteris Theory...................................................................................86 2.2 Castoriadis's
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