POL 4474: Midterm #1

Marx and the Communist Manifesto

• Pamphlet summarizing the Marxist theory of history and outlining the ideological program the Communists Marx was in league with ascribed to

• Sets forth the position of Communists in relation to various opposition parties across the world

  • Want to ensure their principles are not mistaken (i.e., NOT anarchists or democratic-socialists; rebutting critics)

  Serves as the ideological foundation for Communism, the governing ideology of the USSR, which held it together

• Lenin builds off of the Manifesto when propagating his own ideas

• Argues that history is a saga of class struggle (ignoring tribal societies)

• The Proletariat, working class, are exploited and oppressed at the hands of the bourgeoisie

  • Sell their labor/themselves like commodities; Spend only on subsistence and propagation

  • Slaves of the bourgeoise class/state

• Wants to inspire the Proletariat to revolt against the bourgeoisie and overthrow them, establishing power for themselves

  • Writing in 1848, when he believes that revolution is near, and he hopes to inspire the working masses

  • Thus, appealing to the potential followers of the movement

• Communism presented as an ideology working to promote the existence of the laborer; equality among the people

• Outlines ideological tenets central to communism

  • Abolition of private property

  • Collectivization of the means of production

  • Opposition to a market economy (oppose free trade and markets)

  • Centralized state production/command economy

  • Heavy taxes

Russia and Marxist Theory

• Marx would not envision his theory applying to Russia

• He expected revolution in industrialized capitalist societies where a class conflict exists between the proletariat and bourgeoisie

• Would not expect revolution in a society like Russia, which is largely agrarian

  • No proletariat here due to a lack of industrialization

  • Peasants were viewed as rudimentary and backwards by Marx and others, thus being incapable of leading a revolution

Lenin’s critique of European Socialism*

• Lenin is decidedly anti-Socialist; they misunderstand and portray Marx’s ideas

• Criticizes Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks for believing in the theory of “reconciliation” of the classes by the “state”

  • Shows they are not Socialists at all

  • Believes that the state, as being the reconciler, only serves to further oppress the proletariat

• Criticizes them for their belief in universal suffrage, specifically that it can express the will of the majority

  • Engels rightly points out that it is a means of bourgeois domination

  • Lenin believes only in the rule of the majority, in this case the proletariat

• Criticizes modern Socialist thought for distorting Marx’s meaning of the Withering away of the state

  • Negates, or largely ignores, the revolution working into this concept

  • The withering away refers to the remains of the proletarian statehood after revolution, not the bourgeois state

• Criticizes them for advocating that the way out of parliamentarism is through the abolition of representative institutions and elective principles

  • Says these institutions should not be destroyed but converted into working bodies

  • Freedom of opinion and discussion does not degenerate into deception, for parliamentarians work themselves, execute their own laws, and are held directly responsible to the electorate

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Lenin’s Ideas on Violence*

• Says that the destruction of the state is only possible with violent revolution

  • In contrast to Marx, who was willing to concede that revolution did not need to be violent

• The state is an organ for reconciling conflict between the classes, and also an organ of class domination/oppression

  • Creates an “order” which legalizes and perpetuates oppression by moderating conflict between the classes

  • If the proletariat are to succeed, the state must be destroyed, to prevent it from reconciling the classes

    • The bourgeois state can only be replaced by the proletarian state through violent revolution (impossible without it)

• Advocates for the proletariat to suppress the bourgeoisie (dictatorship of the proletariat)

  • Furthermore, the dictatorship of the proletariat must crush capitalist resistance to create a classless society in which communism can develop

  • Use violent means to crush the resistance that is encountered

Withering Away of the State*

• Refers to the remains of proletarian statehood after the Socialist Revolution

  • The bourgeois state does not wither away over time; rather, it must be overthrown through violent revolution

• The Proletarian Dictatorship seizes the means of production, and this leads to a state, which has as its political form complete democracy

  • This state is then expected to wither away as the higher phases of communism are achieved

• The means of production are no longer the private property of individuals, but belong to the whole of society

  • Everyone performs the necessary work and receives the products they need based on the amount of work they perform

  • Exploitation becomes impossible when private property cannot be seized as the means of production

• The dictatorship of the Proletariat crushes the capitalist classes and creates a society free of classes; so the state can cease to exist

• It will wither away as, free from capitalist slavery and exploitation, people gradually observe the “rules of social life” without force

  • People will recognize the rules and perform their social responsibilities without needing to be forced by the state to do so

• Communism renders the state absolutely unnecessary since there is no one to be suppressed or coerced into doing certain things

• The state completely withers away when society realizes “From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs”

  • People voluntarily work according to their ability, and take products freely to meet their own needs

Dictatorship of the Proletariat*

• Lenin emphasizes the dictatorship of the proletariat as the political transitional step between capitalism and communism

• The proletariat, in this step, establishes power for themselves over the bourgeoisie

  • This is the rule of the majority over the minority; democracy for the poor, for the people

• Furthermore, the dictatorship must crush bourgeois resistance to ensure that they can never regain power and to create a classless society

  • The proletariat are using state organs to facilitate the crushing of resistance

• Once all the resistance is crushed, the transition to communism and the withering away of the state can ensue

• The proletariat have complete control of the economic means of production and political system, molding both to fit their own interests

The Russian Revolution (1917)

• Involves a total recreation of the political, economic, and social systems

  • Total end to the pre-existing political, economic, and social system

  • Also an end to the religious order due to its ties to the old government

• Military defeat in WWI is the “Spark”

  • Unpopular war in which many are forcibly conscripted

    • Tsars find themselves widely disapproved of

  • Repeated defeats also hurt morale; people blame the monarchy

  • Widespread defections within the army and heavy casualties

    • Tsars lose a source of their legitimacy

• Radical New System: Communism

• Jan - Feb 1917: February Revolution

  • Breakdown of the Tsarist system, when the Tsar abdicates

  • Provisional Government instituted in St. Petersburg

    • Dual power between Petrograd Soviets and Provisional Government

    • Bolsheviks not included; send cadets into urban areas to recruit new members

• April: Lenin declares all power to the Soviets (leader)

• July - Nov:

  • Power struggle between Bolsheviks, Social Revolutionaries, etc., over the control of the provisional government

• October Revolution

  • Bolsheviks come to power

    • Nov 1917: “coup” against the provisional government in Petrograd

    • Nov/Dec: Elections to the constituent assembly, with the Bolsheviks being beaten by other parties

• Jan 1918: Bolsheviks seize power by force and disband the constituent assembly

• Civil wars ensue across the empire

  • Includes nationalist secessionist wars

Democratic Centralism

• The dictatorship of the proletariat was said to lead to democracy for the people

• In reality, the democratic component the Bolsheviks brought was “democratic centralism”

  • Allowed for discussion, but only until a decision had been reached; then the decision was to be implemented in a strictly disciplined manner

• Seen as superior in contrast to bureaucratic centralism, but in reality was not much different

• Only party members were allowed to participate, and even then only in small circles

  • Tended to be the educated working class, top 10%; most peasants were never included

    • Party members were expected to accept the communist ideology and reject alternatives

• Results in a rigidly hierarchical, severely disciplined party in which the right of discussion and debate were rigorously circumscribed

  • Used as a justification for restricting free debate

  • Defining feature of the communist system

War Communism

• Communism implemented by Lenin during the Revolution and various civil wars while consolidating power

• Established the Supreme Council of the National Economy to redefine the economy (1917)

  • Expropriate property and grain

  • Joint ownership of land

  • Decree on extermination of the kulaks

  • Nationalize manufacturing/industry

• Set up revolutionary tribunals that execute opponents to counter resistance

  • NKVD, OGPU, KGB eliminate bourgeoisie; monitor resistance; constant surveillance

  • Red Terror: 70,000 - 140,000 “purged” by 1924

    • Use concentration/labor camps

    • Resistance members and Kulaks targeted

• Attack religion

  • Decree separating religion and state

  • Expropriation of Church property; State control of education

Vanguard Party

• Lenin emphasized the role of the party in waging the revolution

  • Russia lacked a proletariat to lead the revolution because it was an agrarian society, thus the party took the vanguard role

• The party represents and governs in place of the peasants

• Began sending party members out to recruit new members into the party, building a base of support

• Use party organizations such as the Revolutionary Commissions, NKVD, and Red Army to wage the revolution

  • Crush opposition, for example the Red Army defeats Tsar loyalists of the White Army

  • They are molding the conditions of the revolution

• Use violence and purges to maintain the revolution

New Economic Policy (NEP 1921-24)

• Step back, perhaps strategically, perhaps the real Lenin

  • Gives peasants some control over their land and livestock

  • Increased village autonomy

  • Delayed “Five-year plans” for purges, collectivization, and anti-religious campaigns

  • Appeases society, but looks similar to the pre-revolution society the Bolsheviks claimed they were overthrowing

• Stalin, upon entering power, would move away from the NEP and back towards the “Five-year plans”

  • This led to consequential purges (i.e., the Terror) and collectivization

Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism

• All-embracing state; no human/spiritual values can exist, much less have value, outside of it

  • Eliminate ties to religion and the land

  • Nothing allowed outside or against the state

• One-party system with one person vested with all the power

• All-encompassing ideology; monopoly of information; secret police and use of terror

• Total control of all societal aspects

  • Political, economic (centrally planned/controlled), social, and individual

Bolshevik v. Menshevik

• Terms invented in 1903, during the Second Congress of the RSDLP

  • Classify those on different sides after a split in the RSDLP in 1903

• Bolsheviks was the term Lenin used to represent the majority

  • Mensheviks was the term that Lenin used to describe his opponents

  • Means “minorityites”

• Gives Lenin a psychological advantage (Bolsheviks means “majorityites”)

  • Gives his party members pride, gives it legitimacy (majority sanction), and appeals to the rank and file masses

• The Mensheviks were much more committed to democratic advances for its own sake than the Bolsheviks

  • The Bolsheviks wanted to use democracy as a tool to enable the proletariat to more effectively fight for socialism (crush the bourgeoisie)

  • This is one of the ideological differences between the two factions

• Two factions warred against one another during the Russian revolutionary movement

• Mensheviks were targeted in the various purges following the Bolshevik rise to power

  • Shows that the Bolsheviks would not tolerate any other sources of ideology within their system; or anything perceived as threatening the party’s hegemony

Boris Pasternak and Dr. Zhivago

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The Gulag

Socialism in One Country

The Terror

Show Trials

Soviet Famines

• Collectivization resulted in widespread famine across the Soviet Union (In particular the 1930s and from 1947-48)

  • Estimated that between 11 million and 16 million died

  • Famine did occur in 1921, led to the NEP, and Lenin was willing to accept US aid

• Represents the prioritization of state power and ideology over human lives

• Results in widespread unrest, which is then put down through various purges among both party and non-party officials

  • The peasants often blamed the incompetent party officials, who blamed their bosses, and so on

• Leads to widespread suffering among the peasants

• Ukraine, in particular, experiences a particularly awful famine known as the “Holodomor”

  • Declared as the deadliest place on earth from 1932-1945

  • Villagers die at a rate of 25,000 per day

  • Caused by the excessive requisitioning of grain issued by Stalin

  • Peasants were forbidden to travel out of areas of famine

• The leadership did little to help those suffering; ethnic Russians were given some relief, with the state providing them grain from the strategic reserves

  • Yet, the state continued to export grain and force grain requisitions

Naimark Argues that the Famine was Genocide

• Involved dehumanization of various groups

• Stalin intended to intensify the famine

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Industrialization

5 Year Plans (and the role of Gosplan)

Soviet Nationalities Policy

Soviet Federalism

Party-State System

Soviet Religious Policy: Militant atheism and the hujum

Soviet Religious Policy (scientific atheism)

The Secret Speech

“The Thaw”

Virgin Lands Campaign

Brezhnev Doctrine

“Stability of Cadre”

Lech Walesa and Solidarity

Hungarian Revolution (1956)

Prague Spring (1968)

Accomplishments of the Soviet System

“Power of the Powerless”

“The Greengrocer”

Collectivization

• Broadly, it was state confiscation of private agricultural land, which was then converted into large communal farms (Kolkhozes) that the peasants were expected to farm

  • Also included confiscation of livestock and sedentarization

    • The state, thus, can control the means of production

      • Control which crops are planted, the number of each crop planted, how much grain is to be requisitioned, etc..

• Intended to help the USSR industrialize, catch up to the West

  • Grain would be used to feed the urban workers without price exploitation

  • Excess grain would be sold, and the revenue reinvested into industry

• Also said to be furthering socialist society by eliminating private property and thus exploitation

• In reality, it resulted in the large neglect of the peasant population

  • Kulaks (“wealthy peasants”) are purged en masse to deter further resistance to collectivization

  • The initial wave was met with fierce resistance, namely mass unrest and violence

  • Peasants compared collectivization to a “second serfdom”

    • Working 14-16 hours for a minimal wage

  • Also led to widespread famine

    • Grain requisitioning leaves the farms without enough food to feed everyone, or even plant more crops

    • Furthermore, it produced disastrous losses of livestock

• Reflects the disdain held for the peasant by Marx and Stalin

  • Viewed as backwards, and a source of resistance