Bureaucratic collectivism

Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere (such as North Korea).^{[citation needed]}

Theory

A bureaucratic collectivist

workers' state than a capitalist state would be, and is considerably less efficient. Some social democrats^[who?] even believe that certain kinds of capitalism, such as social democratic capitalism

, are more progressive than a bureaucratic collectivist society.

George Orwell's famous novel

English socialism

" because of its revolutionary origins, but afterwards only concerned with total domination by the Party.
The idea has also been applied to Western countries outside the
post-war era.^[2] This different form of bureaucratic collectivism is supposed to integrate various sectors of society, such as labor unions, corporations, and government organizations, in order to keep contradictions in the economy from developing into a general meltdown. This form is supposedly embodied in the welfare state
, which organizes workers into a government network subsumed under capitalist relations.

Theoretical origins

"Bureaucratic collectivism" was first used as a term to describe a theory originating in England, shortly before the
Russian Revolution, and the rise to power of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, Hugo Urbahns and Lucien Laurat both began to critique the nature of the Soviet state in a similar manner.^{[citation needed}
]
This theory was first taken up within
counter-revolution
would return the nation to capitalism instead.
Soon after the
Third Camp. Its version had much in common with Craipeau's, as developed by James Burnham and Joseph Carter
, but little with Rizzi's.

Criticism

In 1948, Tony Cliff argued that it is difficult to make a critique of bureaucratic collectivism because authors such as Shachtman never actually published a developed account of the theory. He asserted that the theoretical poverty of the theory of bureaucratic collectivism is not accidental and tried to show that the theory is only negative; empty, abstract, and therefore arbitrary. Cliff proposed state capitalism as an alternative theory that more accurately describes the nature of the Soviet Union under Stalinism.^[3]
In a 1979
socialized property from operating effectively. Mandel concluded that this undeniable fact is in itself incompatible with the characterization of the bureaucracy as a ruling class and with the USSR as a new "exploitative mode of production" whose "laws of motion" have never been specified.^[4]

A related concept is a "command administrative" system within what sociologist Michael Kennedy called "Communist-governed state socialism".[5] In Has Socialism Failed, the late South African Communist Party leader Joe Slovo referred to the problems associated with a party having "administrative command", stating "post-apartheid state power must clearly vest in the elected representatives of the people and not, directly or indirectly, in the administrative command of a party."^[6]

See also

Deformed workers' state

Degenerated workers' state

Kleptocracy

New class

Oligarchy

State capitalism

State socialism

References

^ Ernest E. Haberkern and Arthur Lipow, editors, Neither Capitalism nor Socialism, Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, 1996.

^ Finger, BarryI (Summer 1997). "On Bureaucratic Collectivism". New Politics. 6.^{[permanent dead link]}

^ Cliff, Tony (1948). "The theory of bureaucratic collectivism: A critique". Retrieved 2011-01-17. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

doi:10.14452/MR-031-03-1979-07_6
. Retrieved 2011-01-17.

^ Kennedy, M. D. (1991). Professionals, power, and Solidarity in Poland: A critical sociology of Soviet-type society. Cambridge, UK; New York, NY, Cambridge University Press.

^ Slovo, J. (1990). Has socialism failed? London, UK, Inkululeko Publications; Imported Publications Available at: https://www.sacp.org.za/docs/history/failed.html.

External links

Leon Trotsky "The USSR in War" (1939)

Max Shachtman, "The Soviet Union and the World War" (1940)

Leon Trotsky, "Balance Sheet of the Finnish Events" (1940)

Tony Cliff, "Marxism and the theory of bureaucratic collectivism" (1948)

Pierre Frank, "Under Pressure of the Coming War, Imperialism Beckons 'Third Camp'" (1951)

Ernest Mandel, "Why The Soviet Bureaucracy is not a New Ruling Class" (1979)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bureaucratic_collectivism&oldid=1174896659"

[1] Ernest E. Haberkern and Arthur Lipow, editors, Neither Capitalism nor Socialism, Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, 1996.

[2] Finger, BarryI (Summer 1997). "On Bureaucratic Collectivism". New Politics. 6.^{[permanent dead link]}

[Cliff_1948-3] Cliff, Tony (1948). "The theory of bureaucratic collectivism: A critique". Retrieved 2011-01-17. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[Mandel_1979-4] :10.14452/MR-031-03-1979-07_6
. Retrieved 2011-01-17.

[5] Kennedy, M. D. (1991). Professionals, power, and Solidarity in Poland: A critical sociology of Soviet-type society. Cambridge, UK; New York, NY, Cambridge University Press.

[6] Slovo, J. (1990). Has socialism failed? London, UK, Inkululeko Publications; Imported Publications Available at: https://www.sacp.org.za/docs/history/failed.html.

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