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I suspect that the answer that Ernest Mandel would have given to this question would have been that the strength of a planned economy was the key to the longevity of the Soviet Union. I myself for what it is worth would lay the emphasis on the strength of the Idea of the Soviet Union. The belief that it represented the movement of history towards the kingdom of freedom. And I would even reject the notion that it was a combination of planning plus the Idea that made the Soviet Union last so long. I do so because in practice the bureaucratic and inefficient and undemocratic nature of the planning came into opposition with the Idea. Moreover it is their refusal of the Idea of the movement of history towards the kingdom of freedom that means that the current anti-Imperialist struggles remain isolated and so unable to inspire. comradely Gary ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
