[PEN-L:32434] RE: Re: Stallin Stalin

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: RE: [PEN-L:32428] Re: Stallin Stalin

I hope no-one thinks that talking about Stalin as an individual is productive. The question is about the societal situation that propelled people like Stalin -- and policies like Stalin's -- to the top of the social heap. (If Stalin had been replaced by some other individual, I doubt that the USSR/CCCP's government would have changed very much.)

As noted, competition from the USSR/CCCP did allow the (temporary) success of social democracy in W. Europe, the US tolerance toward alternative "models" of economic development in capitalist east Asia and Latin America, etc. (Similarly, competition between capitalists sometimes means that good products are sold at low prices.) The US war against Viet Nam -- a central event of the US vs. USSR rivalry -- meant abundant military spending that pumped up the world economy and allowed Japan to succeed on a world scale.

But I wouldn't give the USSR/CCCP all the credit. Popular struggles in Western Europe and what used to be called the "third world" were also very important. The Vietnamese effort to attain national liberation was not a simple result of US vs. USSR superpower rivalry. Further, the USSR often wanted to control or limit such struggles, as when Stalin lived up to his agreement with Churchill to end the movement in Greece after World War II.

BTW, Marcuse did work for the OSS (the CIA's predecessor) during World War II. As did Paul Sweezy and Paul Baran, I believe. Along with that famous leftist, Julia Child. ;-)

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

-----Original Message-----
From: soula avramidis [mailto:soulaavramidis2002@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 5:36 AM
To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [PEN-L:32428] Re: Stallin Stalin

one can take a "history make all" position and absolve Stalin sort of a al Louis althusser. if there are real objective heavily weighing historical conditions that leave not much room for soviet policy maneuver than that is correct. Stalin or anyone else in power in the cccp would act in very much the same way. if the cccp had much room to play than stalin is to blame. in hind sight socialism in one country was a sort of desperate measure at wait and see politics. they waited it out and we saw.

the only time the cccp was in a position to be really effective on an international scale was when nuclear parity was achieved and even then when they played strong the Americans played crazy and for real too (Gus hall seems to have said that Marcuse was on the payroll of the american intelligence). sort of the americans said if our class rule sinks, we take the planet with us. i think one has to gauge developments in light of a global balance of forces.

one thing may be certain now and that is with no big entity pushing a social agenda, social progress in the west is going regress and or come to a halt. no one to compete with.