AUT: Reply by Mauro, Jr to Commie 00

[neil <74742.1651@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I  went thru my VI Lenin CW , PP Moscow, English  Edition  3rd print ,1977
-vol 24, pg 294 and I found the quote,
Andrew's  words quoted are close  to Lenin but Andrew has kind of torn
these out of historical and
political context. Its from April 1918.  If you go thru the section Lenin
is actually  COMPARING the tasks of what revolutionaries would face in
Germany  if they had  siezed power  there first (State-cap like monopolist
economy) vs. Russia (smaller scale capitalism , production units, trading -
with mass  petty  bourg layers and is making the point that he thinks that
the German's  transition to socialism would be much easier because of
economic coordination and centralization achieved by  German (state)
capitalism.

Lenin especially is inveighing  here against the  Russian petty bourg
sectors who 'support' the smashing of the bigger capitalist's  power and
expropriating THEM-- but that the petty bourg just want s to then halt the
Rev. process so the petty bourg. can enhance their own capitalist-exploiter
 activities.

 OK-The thinking seem somewhat economistic and the  Germany- Russia analogy
simplistic , but  look at the conditions in Europe in April 1918!

But  Lenin CW -Vol 27, pg340. The Andrew quote is accurate. Lenin is
comparing the situation to Russia and Germany in Apr, 1918. It is clear he
thinks big things are about to happen in the German  workers /soldiers
revolutionary thrusts to take power. But it seems that Lenin is enamoured
with the dictatorial- centralization
of German state  caps power  because though capitalism and socialism are
inherently antagonistic modes of production to each other  -- Lenin here
points to the commonality  (pg341) of both systems  having---..
national accounting and control.  Lenin here does seem to fetishize the
centralizing side of state cap developement as a  real definitive  " step"
toward socialism .

He also  thinks -pg.342 -- that incorporation fo the 'socialist' state into
the dictatorshp of the proletariat
in the Soviets" - will disarm the dangers in state-cap. He attacks the
'Left -communists' inside the Bolshevik Party  too for exposing this
danger-- which  would soon came to pass a few years later.

And this does point out the lessons/dangers of an alienating Party-state--
bogarting the power away from the
revolutionary forces massed in the soviets/councils-- The usurpatory acts
of the Bolsheviks at this point
vis a vis the Rev. soviets -councils of workers soldiers, etc (mid-1918)
,at  the beginnings of Civil War to the knife-- would become part of a real
catastrophe for the workers in Russia and Worldwide as history teaches us.

The ohter  quote of Andrew , Lenin's CW , Vol 24, pg 259 , I could not find
there however. Maybe the wrong vol.
or page?

Neil
communist-left
www.ibrp.org















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