[Marxism] What does the oil price slump show us about the Russian economy?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * By Roger Annis, Dec 19, 2014 http://rogerannis.com/what-does-the-oil-price-slump-show-us-about-the-russian-economy/(Slightly revised by me since a posting to the Socialist Project listserve earlier today.) The dramatic drop in the value of the Russia's currency prompted by the falling world price of oil and aggravated by economic sanctions against the country is an occasion to revisit the issue of what, exactly, is the character of the Russian economy and social formation. It is broadly stated in much left discourse that Russia is an ‘imperialist’ country, even if there is little published study to back the claim. If it is the case, we should expect to find comparable economic difficulties to that of Russia occurring in the ‘other’ imperialist petro-states such as Canada, Australia and the United States as a result of the drop in oil prices. But nothing comparable is taking place in the latter group. The consequences to industry and government of declines in fossil fuel revenues and the decline in industry investment that is underway are by and large offset in the imperialist countries by boosts to manufacturing, transportation and agriculture afforded by lower energy input costs. Ok, you say, but Russia’s capitalist economy and government are much more dependent on oil and other natural resource revenue. True enough, but that only begs the question of why that is the case. Is Russia a ‘special’ imperialist case, inevitably and unavoidably dependent on natural resource revuene? Or could it be that the characteristics of a country that is not (or not yet) imperialist is precisely that its industry, agriculture and public sector is relatively underdeveloped? Indeed, it could. That’s one of a half dozen or so measures I used in my June 2014 article of what does and does not describe a country and social formation deemed to be imperialist. I hope the oil price shock will occasion more debate over the character of Russia. Too much of the current discourse is based on dogma or rote repetition of phrases. There is a lack of serious research and publication which could stimulate deeper debate. Hopefully, we may see some uptake. Surely the contrasting economic dislocation in Russia compared to what is (not) happening in the ‘rest’ of the imperialist world must give pause for thought. While we’re on the subject of Russia, what to make of the complete absence of a Russian-led ‘NATO’-type military alliance that would stand up to the real-live NATO political and military offensive in Ukraine and eastern Europe? This is another of the key measures of imperialism that I made in my article is the essential and overwhelming role of military alliances in maintaining the imperialist order. As a footnote, the following weblink contains statistics on the largest fossil fuel producing countries in the world by volume of production and by volume per capita. It turns out that while Russia is in the big leagues of production overall, its per capita production places it in a secondary rank, behind Canada, even. All the more noteworthy, then, the excessive dependence and vulnerability of Russia’s capitalist economy and government revenue on fossil fuels. http://theenergycollective.com/robertwilson190/447121/who-produces-most-fossil-fuels * * * Appendum to this e-mail note: Several days ago, I published a comment on an article by James Petras on Ukraine that appeared in November. I appreciated Petras’s starting point of identifying an aggressive U.S./EU and NATO as primarily responsible for the crisis in Ukraine. But I wrote about two disagreements I have with Petras’ analysis—one, his use of the term ‘junta’ to describe the government in Kyiv, and two, his uncritical assessment of Russia’s role in events. Here is what I wrote on the latter point: Another critique I have of Petras’ article is that it is uncritical of Russia's role in events. A more critical analysis is required in such an article seeking to provide broad overview and context. Yes, Russia has acted moderately and conservatively in response to events. It did not want a war in eastern Ukraine, it did not provoke one, and it is not responsible for its continuation. The war is the fault of the intransigence of Kyiv and NATO. Thankfully, Russia is compelled by domestic political opinion as well as national security interests to provide vital support to the struggle in eastern Ukraine, primarily with humanitarian assistance and by not stopping the movement of supporters of the self-defense forces across the Russia-Ukraine border. But Russia’s conservatism cuts two ways. Its harmful consequences are felt in the pro-autonomy
Re: [Marxism] What does the oil price slump show us about the Russian economy?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 12/19/14 2:57 PM, Roger Annis via Marxism wrote: Or could it be that the characteristics of a country that is not (or not yet) imperialist is precisely that its industry, agriculture and public sector is relatively underdeveloped? Indeed, it could. That’s one of a half dozen or so measures I used in my June 2014 article of what does and does not describe a country and social formation deemed to be imperialist. There are dominant imperialist nations and ones not so dominant, like Japan before WWII. Spain was an imperialist nation but a rather toothless one as it lost its colonies to the USA. Same thing with Italy. In 1916 Lenin wrote The European War and International Socialism that included this paragraph: Have the socialists of France and Belgium not shown the same kind of treachery? They are excellent at exposing German imperialism, but, unfortunately they are amazingly purblind with regard to British, French, and particularly the barbarous Russian imperialism. They fail to see the disgraceful fact that, for decades on end, the French bourgeoisie have been paying out thousands of millions for the hire of the Black-Hundred gangs of Russian tsarism, and that the latter has been crushing the non-Russian majority in our country, robbing Po]and, oppressing the Great Russian workers and peasants, and so on. Was Lenin in error when he referred to Russian imperialism? I think not. But more to the point, the real emphasis in Lenin's Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism was not on developing social science categories of the sort that Max Weber advanced. He was describing the capitalism that existed on the eve of WWI--the highest stage--that was marked by struggles over the control of colonies. It was obvious that some countries were building empires--with varying degrees of success--and others were their victims. Russia belonged to the empire-building category and Ukraine to the colonial. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] What does the oil price slump show us about the Russian economy?
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Thanks to Proyect for a clear, concise restatement of the obvious. Predators come in various sizes and strengths. Duh. T -Original Message- From: Louis Proyect via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Sent: Dec 19, 2014 3:20 PM To: Thomas F Barton thomasfbar...@earthlink.net Subject: Re: [Marxism] What does the oil price slump show us about the Russian economy? POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 12/19/14 2:57 PM, Roger Annis via Marxism wrote: Or could it be that the characteristics of a country that is not (or not yet) imperialist is precisely that its industry, agriculture and public sector is relatively underdeveloped? Indeed, it could. That’s one of a half dozen or so measures I used in my June 2014 article of what does and does not describe a country and social formation deemed to be imperialist. There are dominant imperialist nations and ones not so dominant, like Japan before WWII. Spain was an imperialist nation but a rather toothless one as it lost its colonies to the USA. Same thing with Italy. In 1916 Lenin wrote The European War and International Socialism that included this paragraph: Have the socialists of France and Belgium not shown the same kind of treachery? They are excellent at exposing German imperialism, but, unfortunately they are amazingly purblind with regard to British, French, and particularly the barbarous Russian imperialism. They fail to see the disgraceful fact that, for decades on end, the French bourgeoisie have been paying out thousands of millions for the hire of the Black-Hundred gangs of Russian tsarism, and that the latter has been crushing the non-Russian majority in our country, robbing Po]and, oppressing the Great Russian workers and peasants, and so on. Was Lenin in error when he referred to Russian imperialism? I think not. But more to the point, the real emphasis in Lenin's Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism was not on developing social science categories of the sort that Max Weber advanced. He was describing the capitalism that existed on the eve of WWI--the highest stage--that was marked by struggles over the control of colonies. It was obvious that some countries were building empires--with varying degrees of success--and others were their victims. Russia belonged to the empire-building category and Ukraine to the colonial. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/thomasfbarton%40earthlink.net _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
