Socialism Betrayed C.2 -- Two Trends in Soviet Politics

by Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny

How does one respond to the myth that political debate was non-existent in the Soviet Communist Party?

• The Soviet Communist Party had much more than one tendency or trend.

  • Example: Gorbachev’s policies were not completely original, but rather, they reflected trends in the Party with roots in Bukharin’s and Khrushchev’s ideas

In the politics of the Russian Revolution, two tendencies arose (because the winners of the Russian Revolution were two classes). What were they and what were their stances?

• The working class favored:

  • Rapidly building up industry

  • Weakening the property-owning classes by collectivizing agriculture

  • Strengthening the Party’s role in centralized economic planning

• The petty bourgeois tendency favored:

  • Incorporating aspects of capitalism

    • Private property

    • Competitive markets

    • Profit incentives

• Both of these tendencies favored building socialism.

Why did Lenin transition from war communism to the New Economic Policy (NEP)?

• The Russian Civil War had ended

• They had to:

  • Grapple with acute shortages of fuel, food and transportation

  • Revive industry and food production

  • Ensure workers and peasants were united

What was the New Economic Policy?

The temporary implementation of capitalist elements in which there would be:

• In-kind tax: Peasants paid a tax in grain instead of having it taken by the state

• Selling one’s surplus: Therefore, they could sell extra produce freely

• Variety of enterprise: Some private enterprises and other kinds of capitalist enterprises were allowed

What was Trotsky’s plan to build socialism?

It involved building socialism at home while continuing to root for socialist revolution abroad. Domestically, it involved:

• Development of industry

• Collectivization / mechanization of agriculture

• Development of economic planning

Abroad, it dealt with:

• Promoting international revolution to escape “bureaucratic degeneration” and the loss of revolutionary fervor

What was Bukharin’s idea on how to build socialism?

• Not without capitalism: Russia couldn’t skip past the stage of capitalism

• Private enterprise: Allowed and even encouraged private enterprise

• No coercion: Forced collectivization and peasant coercion should be opposed

• NEP as the way forward: NEP was the USSR’s road to socialism

• Support from abroad: USSR should seek support from non-Communist groups abroad, like the German Social Democrats and Chinese Nationalists

What was Stalin’s plan to build socialism?

• No need for help: the Soviet Union could advance towards socialism without a revolution in the West, without help from non-Communist allies abroad, and without passing through developed capitalism

• Quick industrialization: the growth of industry would have to be financed by

  • Increased agricultural yields

  • Large-scale collective farms using mechanized production

• Centralized planning: the secret ingredient to coordinate industrial growth and agricultural production

Fundamental differences between Bukharin and Stalin’s policy

• Bukharin:

  • Temporary class struggle: class struggle only needed until the establishment of the DotP

  • NEP as long-term: concessions to the peasants, the markets, and capitalism were a long-term policy

  • Free market as solution to the grain crisis: wanted to rely on the free market, and to encourage peasants to grow more grain by offering them more consumer goods

  • Against faster industrialization: opposed speeding up industrialization if the peasants were to be adversely affected

• Stalin:

  • Class struggle intensified: class struggle would become stronger as the country moved further towards collectivization

  • NEP as temporary: a short-term way to socialism that the revolution had to drop when the time came

  • Industrialization in the face of war: impending war was a big reason for speeding up industrialization even if it meant sucking the surplus from the peasants

Why were Stalin’s views dominant?

• Although Stalin was very repressive and imprisoned tens of thousands of innocent rank-and-file Communists, he didn’t necessarily eliminate all diversity of thinking.

• They were dominant because of his rather successful approach to building socialism

What are some of the accomplishments of the Soviet Union’s industrialization period (1930s-1950s)?

• Industrial production and manufacturing grew enormously

• Illiteracy rates plummeted

• # of upper-level school graduates jumped

• Abundant free health services, social insurance, and education

• Subsidies to both single mothers and mothers with many children

Summarize the debate between Soviet politicians Georgi Malenkov and Andrei Zhdanov

• Malenkov emphasized the prioritization of basic industry: because the international dangers were real, the Party’s priorities had to remain developing basic industry and military strength

• Zhdanov emphasized soft industry: with the war having already passed, the Party should prioritize ideology, improving living standards, and increasing access to consumer goods

What was Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” about?

It condemned Stalin’s cult of personality, as well as the imprisonment and execution of innocent people (including Party members)

What was the Central Committee’s stance towards Khrushchev’s approach?

It credited Stalin’s accomplishments while condemning his abuse of power

Explain Khrushchev’s policies.

• Peace and reduction of military spending: pursued a policy of peaceful co-existence and reduction of Soviet military ground forces

• Shift towards consumerism: prioritized a shift from investment in heavy industry to consumer goods

  • Disobeyed Stalin’s warning that ceasing to prioritize producing the means of production would stop the development of the national economy

• Influence from the NEP: chose to revert to NEP-type measures to encourage agricultural production

• Virgin lands: campaign to boost agricultural production by cultivating millions of hectares in “virgin lands” (Siberia, Kazakhstan)

How was the Khrushchev’s virgin lands campaign unsuccessful?

Causes:

• Short growing seasons

• High winds

• Insufficient and poorly distributed precipitation

• Poor fallow practices

Results:

• Falling fertility

• Erosion of land

• Skyrocketing costs

Name two of Khrushchev’s other agricultural initiatives that failed and why.

• Corn → cattle initiative: Boosting cattle production by growing corn to preserve existing nutrients

  • Ignored the realities of natural and other conditions in the Soviet Union

• Tractor station dismantling: putting apart the state-run machine tractor stations that supplied tractors and other machinery to the collective farms

  • Seriously reduced agricultural productivity

  • Inflicted long-term damage on the economy

What were the problems of over-centralization, according to Maurice Dobb?

• Reduced innovation: over-centralization was cramping initiative and technical innovation

• Squandering resources: the misuse and waste of resources

• Bottlenecks on supplies: congested the production system of supplies, slowing down progress

• Quantity over quality: placing a premium on “purely quantitative fulfillment” of the plan

• Rewards for not being productive: championing non-productive enterprises

What did Khrushchev’s decentralization of the economy consist of? What did it do?

• From ministries to councils: abolished the central planning ministries and replaced them with 100+ local councils

• Increased difficulty: decentralization made coordinating production and supplies much more difficult than it was before

What was problematic about Khrushchev’s policy of reducing the wage differentials?

It was misguided and done at the wrong time, and it weakened incentive and productivity

How did Khrushchev’s ideas live on?

In the alternative tradition: within a group of intellectuals who remained in the Communist Party but at the same time advocated for a socialism moderated by economic liberalization (aspects of capitalist markets and management) and political democratization

Explain what Brezhnev was like and some of his policies.

• Virulently pro-status quo: tended to play it a little too safe; although he acknowledged shortages, he resisted bold solutions

• Reversal of Khrushchev’s policies: de-instated term limits in favor of cadre stability, and favored a unitary party organization over a divided industrial/agricultural party

• The intermediate path: was between the anti-Stalinist and neo-Stalinist paths, and devoted to preserving the existing post-Stalin status quo

How was the Soviet economy still showing vitality at around this time?

• Rising living conditions: wages/living standards rose steadily

• Better stocked stores: Consumer goods became increasingly available

• Smaller gap: closed gap between USSR and USA’s socioeconomic development

• Industrial leader: the Soviet Union led the world in many aspects of industrial and agricultural productivity

How were those economic gains in the 1960s (rising living standards, closing development gaps, more consumer goods) made possible?

• Heavy industry/resource investment: large investments in natural resources and heavy industry started by Stalin

• Availability of cheap natural resources: like oil, gas, coal, iron ore

What were the main three objective problems that prevented the Soviet economy from realizing its full potential

1. Exhaustion of natural resources which made extracting gas, oil, and coal more expensive

2. Demographic consequences of WWII that dramatically reduced the size of the workforce

3. Challenge of adopting new computer technology: i.e. the USA’s defective computer chips