WARNING: I am responding to part of a post from S. Tell. SHAWGI TELL wrote: > -- lots of stuff deleted -- > In terms of establishing an economic and political system to > serve the interests of the people, there is rich experience from > the twentieth century. The only system which had no crisis was > socialism, established in the Soviet Union during the period of > 1926-27 to the time J.V. Stalin died in 1953. Nikita Khrushchev > introduced elements into the socialist system which were to enable > the new bourgeoisie to rise from the bureaucracy and the overthrown > exploiting classes. Charles Bettleheim's _Class Struggles in the USSR_ and E.H. Carr's mammoth _A History of Soviet Russia_ gives the lie to this absurd dichotomy which argues that Lenin and Stalin established "socialism" and from Khrushchev through Gorbachev the "misleaders" established "capitalism." Until the re-creation of private ownership of the means of production (not control by a factory manager but actual ownership) in the former Soviet Union whatever social formation existed in that country it was not capitalism. In addition, the development of a "non-socialist" social formation which called itself socialist began VERY EARLY --- and the process of Stalinist central plannng and Stalinist anti-democratic bureaucracy was in many respects the antithesis of socialism. Without power emanating from the people with _real teeth_ in the unions and peasant cooperatives and political organizations sufficient to check centralized power, our 20-29 hindsight permits us to recognize that socialism as the antithesis of capitalism was NEVER created in the former Soviet Union. Perhaps at certain times people were actually TRYING to do it, but by the time Stalin had visited his anti-democratic authoritarianism on the Soviet people, cynicism, careerism and self-protection became the rule all through the country. Roy Medvedev's _Let History Judge_ is probably as good an internal critique of Stalinism (by a professed socialist and Marxist I might add) as I've heard of, but I'm sure there are plenty of people on the list who could provide us with sufficient bibliography to refute the absurd statement that I've quoted above. Normally I ignore stuff like this ... but there are certain FACTS of history that have to be understood and acknowledged. At least ... IMHO. Sorry to those who took the trouble to read this for taking up so much space/time. Mike -- Mike Meeropol Economics Department Cultures Past and Present Program Western New England College Springfield, Massachusetts "Don't blame us, we voted for George McGovern!" Unrepentent Leftist!! [EMAIL PROTECTED] [if at bitnet node: in%"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" but that's fading fast!]
