Western Marxism and the Soviet Union
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Western Marxism and the Soviet Union LINDEN_F1_i-xi.indd i 5/11/2007 5:46:15 PM Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Paul Blackledge (Leeds), Sébastien Budgen (Paris), Michael Krätke (Amsterdam), Stathis Kouvelakis (London), Marcel van der Linden (Amsterdam), China Miéville (London), Paul Reynolds (Lancashire), Peter Thomas (Amsterdam) VOLUME 17 LINDEN_F1_i-xi.indd ii 5/11/2007 5:46:17 PM Western Marxism and the Soviet Union A Survey of Critical Theories and Debates Since 1917 by Marcel van der Linden Translated by Jurriaan Bendien LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 LINDEN_F1_i-xi.indd iii 5/11/2007 5:46:17 PM The English translation has been made possible with the nancial support of the Netherlands Organization for Scienti c Research (NWO). This book is printed on acid-free paper. ISBN 978 90 04 158757 ISSN 1570-1522 © Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS LINDEN_F1_i-xi.indd iv 5/11/2007 5:46:17 PM Contents Preface ............................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 From the October Revolution to the Stalin Era (1917–29) ................... 11 2.i. Kautsky and the Bolsheviks: three controversies ................................... 12 Kautsky versus Lenin ............................................................................. 13 Kautsky versus Trotsky .......................................................................... 17 Kautsky versus Bukharin ....................................................................... 20 2.ii. Levi, Luxemburg and the Bolsheviks: criticism and counter-criticism ................................................................................. 23 Levi ......................................................................................................... 24 Luxemburg .............................................................................................. 26 Interpretations ........................................................................................ 30 Zetkin, Lukács, and Kautsky ................................................................. 31 2.iii. Left-communist criticisms ...................................................................... 36 Gorter, Pannekoek, Rühle ...................................................................... 36 Korsch ..................................................................................................... 41 2.iv. Summary ................................................................................................ 43 Chapter 3 From Stalin’s ‘Great Leap Forwards’ to the ‘Great Patriotic War’ (1929–41) ..................................................................................................... 45 3.i. State capitalism ...................................................................................... 49 Miasnikov ............................................................................................... 51 Adler ....................................................................................................... 53 Wagner ................................................................................................... 54 LINDEN_F1_i-xi.indd v 5/11/2007 5:46:17 PM vi • Contents Worrall .................................................................................................... 57 Pollock ..................................................................................................... 60 3.ii. Trotsky: the theory of the degenerated workers’ state .......................... 63 3.iii. Theories of a new mode of production ................................................... 69 Laurat ..................................................................................................... 69 Weil ......................................................................................................... 74 Rizzi ........................................................................................................ 75 Burnham ................................................................................................. 79 Shachtman .............................................................................................. 84 Carter ...................................................................................................... 86 Pedrosa .................................................................................................... 88 Hilferding ............................................................................................... 89 3.iv. Criticism ................................................................................................. 91 Criticism of theories of state capitalism ................................................ 91 Criticisms of the theory of the degenerated workers’ state ................... 93 Criticisms of theories of a new mode of production .............................. 95 3.v. Summary ................................................................................................ 96 Chapter 4 From the ‘Great Patriotic War’ to the Structural Assimilation of Eastern Europe (1941–56) ........................................................................ 99 4.i. The theory of the degenerated workers’ state ........................................ 103 4.ii. Theories of state capitalism .................................................................... 107 Grandizo/Péret ........................................................................................ 108 James/Dunayevskaya .............................................................................. 110 Castoriadis/Lefort ................................................................................... 116 Cliff ......................................................................................................... 119 Bordiga .................................................................................................... 122 4.iii. Theories of a new mode of production ................................................... 126 Guttmann ............................................................................................... 126 4.iv. Interpretations ‘without labels’ .............................................................. 129 Sternberg ................................................................................................ 130 Cycon ...................................................................................................... 132 Frölich ..................................................................................................... 134 Ko er ....................................................................................................... 137 LINDEN_F1_i-xi.indd vi 5/11/2007 5:46:17 PM Contents • vii 4.v. Debates and mutual criticism ................................................................ 139 The Deutscher debate ............................................................................. 139 Responses to Burnham ........................................................................... 146 Mandel’s critique of ‘state capitalism’ and ‘bureaucratic collectivism’ ........................................................................................ 153 4.vi. Summary ................................................................................................ 158 Chapter 5 From the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU to the Repression of the ‘Prague Spring’ (1956–68) ........................................................................ 159 5.i. Theories of state capitalism .................................................................... 160 The current around Cliff ........................................................................ 160 5.ii. The theory of the degenerated workers’ state ........................................ 161 5.iii. Theories of a new mode of production ................................................... 164 Djilas ....................................................................................................... 164 Kuro/Modzelewski ................................................................................ 168 5.iv. Theories ‘without labels’ ........................................................................ 171 Wittfogel and his critics ......................................................................... 171 Marcuse .................................................................................................. 173 Rosdolsky ................................................................................................ 175 Boeuve ..................................................................................................... 177 5.v. Summary ...............................................................................................