[Marxism] Re: If Marxism is a Science then its ...

[Ernest Tate <mackenzie.tate@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Einde O'Callaghan writes:

"In addition, if there was a counter-revolution (i.e. the replacement
of one ruling class by another), as claimed by various workers statists,
why is it that the present Russian capitalist class (or elite, if you
prefer, although I prefer to think of them as robber barons like their
counterparts in the late 19th century US) is essentially made up of
former members of the ruling elite or nomenklatura and the working
class, supposedly the ruling class before 1989-1991, allowed this to
happen without any noticeable resistance?"

This is a very important question and of course has implications for those
who are struggling for socialism in North America: if the working class of
Russia are so unable or so unwilling to organize themselves to resist a brutal
assault on their lives over a long period ot time, what does this say about the
working class being the prime agencey for social transformation?  In a piece 
last
year (which is in Louis' archives and is onMarxsite), "The Transition in 
Russia",
where I discussed David Mandel's excellent work on the Russian trade unions, I
suggested the answer to the question might lie in the total extirpation of 
socialist ideas
in Russian life and where the working class lost the "memory" of its own 
history.

Ernie Tate

"Puzzle of the 'transition'"

    "For me, one of the enduring puzzles of the "transition" has been,
after all this time, the seeming inability of the working class at this
late stage, in the face of the massive onslaught on its standard of
living all these years, to enter into the political arena as a sustained
autonomous political force.  Mandel, through his research and interviews
with countless militants and trade-union leaders in an indirect way
answers this.  The previous Stalinist dictatorship, which survived -
despite "perestroika" and "glasnost" -- right up to the fall of
Gorbachov, extirpated any expression of working class self-organization
and political activity. Marxism as a theory of revolutionary change and
social criticism was expunged from political life.  Anyone can be an
anti-Stalinist today; but back then it could have cost you your life.
Anyone caught carrying the books of Leon Trotsky or other Marxist
critics of the regime could end up in the gulag. Even under Gorbachov,
dissidents were incarcerated and locked away in psychiatric
institutions. And we can't ignore the damage done to the ideas of
socialism by a dictatorial regime that called itself, "socialist" or
even "communist".  Acceptance of these authoritarian practices was a
condition for obtaining promotion within the bureaucracy. Gorabchov,
whose grandfather was imprisoned under Stalin, tells of how he and his
wife - even when he was on the Politburo -- were compelled to leave
their apartment and go for a walk in the park - often in the dead of
winter -  if they wished to talk to each other about serious matters and
not be overheard by the KGB.  There was zero space for a culture of
criticism and working class protest and the pressures of imperialism at
the country's borders made it virtually impossible to challenge the
regime. Those workers who did so were repressed with physical force and
a tremendous loss of life. (119)

  "As Mandel says, under Stalinism, the working class did not have a
collective history - "a memory" of class struggle,(120)  and it is only
in the past decade or so, that the history of the suppression of workers
struggles in the factories and mines under Stalinism is being revealed.
 It would be a mistake to think that somehow the ideas of revolutionary
socialism can arise spontaneously in the Russian working class. The
experience of the past couple of decades in Russia suggests that this is
not possible.  Revolutionary socialism can only be introduced into the
working class from outside, by the conscious efforts of socialists who
are committed to its liberation.   This is not a new idea, but it
certainly runs counter to the beliefs of various anarchist and
"workerist" groups, whose views gained some credence during the
anti-globalization mobilizations of the past few years. It is worthwhile
reminding ourselves of an old truth: we humans need teachers more than
any other species, because in our evolution, specialization in human
intelligence has led to inventions and intellectual advance so that we
cannot expect successive generations to learn without help.  The ideas
of revolutionary socialism are an intellectual advance whose continuity
was broken in Russia; and it is only in recent years that this break has
begun to be repaired by people such as Boris Kagarlitsky and his Young
Socialists and the many socialists and activists in the trade unions
Mandel met on his travels to Russia."



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