Socialist Ideologies and Lenin’s economic policies

I. The Establishment of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR) 1918

• The first Soviet constitution, adopted in July, 1918, created the RSFSR. Later, it was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union.

The Establishment of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR / CCCP)

• December 30, 1922 – the USSR was created as a federation of Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Transcaucasia. By the end of WWII, 15 republics constituted the USSR.

The Soviet Union

1. Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR)

2. Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) 3. Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkSSR)

The Soviet Union

4. Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (GSSR) 5. Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR) 6. Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR)

The Soviet Union

7. Azeri Soviet Socialist Republic (AzSSR) 8. Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (UzSSR) 9. Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic (KgSSR)

The Soviet Union

10. Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (TjSSR) 11. Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (TuSSR) 12. Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (KzSSR)

The Soviet Union

13. Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ESSR) 14. Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (LvSSR) 15. Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LtSSR)

II. The Bolshevik Leadership (1917-1924): Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin)

(1871-1924)

• “Without a revolutionary theory there cannot be a revolutionary movement.”

• “Communism is Soviet power plus the

electrification of the whole country.”

• “The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort is able to develop only trade-union consciousness.”

• “Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.”

• “Our program necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism.”

Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Trotsky) (1879-1940)

• Born in Ukraine

• Sided with the Mensheviks against Lenin in the party split (1903)

• Joined the Bolsheviks in 1917 and became its #2 man.

• “Permanent Revolution”

• Was Foreign Minister and formed the Red Army

• Opposed the NEP – too many concessions to capitalism

- favored rapid industrialization

• “Comrade Trotsky is distinguished not only by

outstanding ability. He is personally perhaps the most capable man in the present C.C., but he has displayed excessive self-assurance and shown excessive preoccupation with the purely administrative side of the work.” – Lenin

Yevgeny Preobrazhensky (1886-1937)

• Together with Bukharin, he wrote the “ABC of Communism” (1919)

• An opponent of NEP, he was an

ally of Trotsky’s and one of the leaders of the Left.

• Called for rapid industrialization

and economic planning.

• Developed the theory of “primitive socialist accumulation.”

Georgy Pyatakov (1890-1937)

• Along with Trotsky and Preobrazhenksy, favored rapid industrialization and opposed the NEP.

• “He is unquestionably a man of outstanding will and outstanding ability, but shows far too much zeal for administrating and the administrative side of the work to be relied upon in a serious political matter.” – Lenin

Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (1888-1938)

• Became a member of the Bolshevik Party in 1906.

• Important Marxist theoretician – editor of Pravda.

• Co-wrote the ABC of Communism (1920) with Evgeniy Preobrazhensky.

• During the Civil War, Bukharin was a Left-wing communist - opposed Brest-LitovskTreaty - favored War Communism on

theoretical grounds • Changed his position and along with Lenin became a big

advocate of the NEP and slow pace of industrialization.

• Promoted worker-peasnat alliance

• Executed in 1938.

• “Bukharin is not only a most valuable and major theorist of the Party; he is also rightly considered the favorite of the whole Party, but his theoretical views can be classified as fully Marxist only with the great reserve, for there is something scholastic about him (he has never made a study of dialectics, and, I think, never fully appreciated it).” - Lenin

Grigory Zinoviev (1883-1936) • Real name - Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich

Radomyslsky. Born in Ukraine.

• A member of the Bolshevik Party since 1903.

• One of Lenin’s closest associates – but he opposed the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917.

- Stalin will use this against him.

• Chairman of the Comintern, 1919.

• Head of the Leningrad branch of the CP.

• Allied with Stalin vs. Trotsky / Stalin turned against

Zinoviev and Kamenev after they eliminated Trotsky.

• Executed in 1936.

• “The October episode with Zinoviev and Kamenev was, of course, no accident, but neither can the blame for it be laid upon them personally, any more than non-Bolshevism can upon Trotsky.” - Lenin

Lev Borisovich Rosenfeld (Kamenev) (1883-1936)

• A member of the Bolshevik Party from 1903.

• Close associate of Zinoviev’s.

• Together with Zinoviev, voted against armed Bolshevik seizure of power in October, 1917.

• Was head of the Moscow branch of the CP.

• After Lenin’s death, his life/career followed the same path as Zinoviev’s.

• “The October episode with Zinoviev and Kamenev was, of course, no accident, but neither can the blame for it be laid upon them personally, any more than non-Bolshevism can upon Trotsky.” - Lenin

Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin) (1879-1953)

• Born in Georgia

• Earned a scholarship to a Jesuit seminary in Tblisi to enter the priesthood. Quit in 1899.

• Member of the Bolshevik Party from 1903.

• Was one of Lenin’s most loyal and favorite colleague.

• Was Commissar of Nationalities when Bolsheviks seized power.

• Became head of the Party in 1922.

• “Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in our midst and in dealing among us Communists, becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest the comrades think about a way of removing Staling from that post and appointing another man in his stead who in all other respects differs from Comrade Stalin in having only one advantage, namely, that of being more tolerant, more loyal, more polite, and more considerate to the comrades, less capricious, etc.” – Lenin’s “Testament”

III. The Socialist Debate Many factors contributed to the debates about socialist construction: 1. The difficulties experienced during war communism 2. Hardships and policy errors that led to the Kronstadt (1921) and

Tambov (1920-21) uprisings 3. Russia’s backwardness 4. Failure of worldwide revolution, especially in Germany 5. The need to industrialize and create a larger working class – the

backbone of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” 6. Lenin’s death (1924) • As a result of the first four, Lenin decided to implement the NEP.

War Communism, what is it? • War Communism can also be referred to as

socialism. It was the name given to the economic system that existed in Russia from 1918 to 1924.

• It was introduced by Lenin so they could fight their economic problems brought by the civil war in Russia.

War Communism’s 6 principles

· The production should be run by the state. • The army had finished their work, they would become a labour army. This means they

would have to control the labour of every citizen, this was ordered by the state. · The state should produce everything under its own actions. · Extreme centralization was introduced. This was when the economic life was

controlled by the Bolsheviks and was put into the hands of a few other organizations. · The Commissariats took what they needed to meet demands. · War Communism tried to abolish money as means of exchanging. The Bolsheviks

wanted to do a system of ‘natural economy’ where no one bought things anymore with money, everyone had to exchange goods.

The effects of War Communism

What happened to the peasants- • The state took ‘excess’ grain to feed the soldiers and the workers

who worked in the factories. • As a result, the peasants began producing less grain – sufficient to

feed themselves • The government continued to take this reduced amount of grain • This then led to a widespread famine since the peasants had no

grain to feed their families • Dmitri Volkogonov “The famine… was appalling. People were eating dead bodies, although the Politburo banned any mention of cannibalism in the press. On 23 February 1922 the public learned from their newspapers that a government decree had been issued on the forcible confiscation of all valuables from Russian churches. It was not stated that this decree had first been personally approved by Lenin.”

Cont. What happened to the workers- • -Some Bolsheviks in the hierarchy group wanted to get rid of all

the factory managers and make the workers run the factories, but on behalf of the people.

• -It was said that the workers would work better if they believed they were working for the poor, a system which had made some rich but many poor people.

• The workers were starving as the peasants weren’t growing any grain for them, so the workers said that it would be better if they moved to the countryside and grow their own grain. = Between 1916 and 1920, the central and northern cities of Russia had lost 33% of their population which had moved to the countryside.

• Under War Communism, the number of those working in the factories and mines dropped by 50%.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) • A compromise, a “temporary” retreat from socialism by allowing and

promoting capitalist policies. What resulted was a mixed economy:

• The state would control the “commanding heights”: - all heavy industry - the transportation system - communication system - central banking system - foreign trade • All small-scale businesses (20 workers or less) and most of the agrarian

sector and domestic commerce would revert to private interests. - Market relations would determine much of the

economic activity in the country. The state would implement a progressive tax policy.

- Hiring labor was permitted. • Lenin and Bukharin came to view NEP less as a temporary retreat and

more as a unique path to socialism in a backward, peasant country that Russia was.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) • Private Enterprises constituted 88.5% of the economy but only 12.4% of

the labor force. • State Enterprises – 11.5% of the economy but 84.1% of the labor force.

• 100 million peasants benefited from agrarian reforms that resulted in 25

million small land holdings. - Grain requisitioning was replaced with a “tax in k ind” –

peasants could keep and sell on the free market what remained after the payment of the tax thus giving them incentive to produce more.

- Gradually the tax in kind was eliminated and replaced by a

monetary tax. - Lenin initiates the NEP with his “Tax in Kind” article in May, 1921.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) • Overall, NEP was a success. By 1928, the amount of

land under cultivation exceeded that of pre-war levels.

• Industrial output reached pre-war levels.

• “NEPmen” – small businessmen – prospered as did “Kulaks” – prosperous peasants.

• The prosperity of certain classes, the obvious concessions to private enterprise, the slow pace of industrialization and tenuous influence that the Communist Party had in the countryside worried many in the Party. When Lenin died, the debates began.

Lenin’s Death, January 1924

• Lenin’s death led to a power struggle within the Communist Party.

The Left vs. The Right Positions

Issues: 1. Revolutionary Tradition 2. Industrialization 3. The Agrarian Question 4. Permanent Revolution vs. Socialism in

One Country

The Left vs. The Right Opposition: 1. Revolutionary Tradition

“Revolutionary-Heroic” • Favored the daring coup that

brought the party to power.

• Heroically defended the revolution during the Civil War and Foreign Intervention

• De-radicalization of Bolshevism

degenerates into Social Democracy (“Bernsteinism”)

• Revolutionary-idealists

“Cautious-Moderate” • Supported the major concessions

to Germany in Brest-Litovsk

• Supported the NEP / pragmatists

• Lenin intended NEP to be adopted “seriously and for a long time.”

• What made concessions to capitalism acceptable was that it was done under the guidance of the Communist Party (dictatorship of the proletariat)

The Left vs. The Right Opposition: 2. Industrialization

• Industrialization was necessary – essential to the survival of socialism and the USSR

• Economic planning focusing on industrial production at the expense of consumer goods

• Rapid industrialization necessary for quicker socialist transformation

• Industrialization was necessary but at a pace that Soviet society could handle – no more shocks

• In the early stage of Soviet socialism, a state-regulated market was desired.

The Left vs. The Right Opposition: 2. How to Finance Industrialization

• The USSR did not / could not have colonies to exploit for economic benefit like the advanced capitalist countries had / have. (primitive capitalist accumulation)

• The state sector would not produce enough profits/surplus to finance industrialization in the early stages.

• Peasants needed to be “squeezed.” (primitive socialist accumulation). Goods would not be confiscated but accumulation would occur as a result of a discriminatory pricing system.

- industrial goods would be priced higher than agricultural goods.

• Accumulation in the Soviet economic reality would not occur for long without accumulation in the peasant economy.

• Discriminatory pricing that burdens the peasants is counterproductive because they are the majority of the population and its their prosperity that should be encouraged. Only prosperous peasants will have a surplus to offer Soviet industrialization.

• According to Bukharin, 3 sources of industrialization:

1. Growing profitability of Soviet state industries

2. Revenues from progressive tax 3. Voluntary savings in Soviet banks

/ lending and credit institutions

The Left vs. The Right Opposition: 3. The Agrarian Question

• Called for the rapid transition to collective farms

- like large state industries, collective farms produce more and are more efficient

• Suicidal for the Party to encourage private landholding

• Kulaks should be suppressed. Soviet policy should favor poorest peasants

• “Primitive socialist accumulation” implied conflict with the peasantry

• Agrarian overpopulation would be solved by increased industrialization and urban migration

• Opposed a “second” expropriation of the kulaks (the first during the Civil War)

• Although the kulaks are inclined towards capitalism, in the early stages, all peasants must be supported

• Favoring the poor peasants will lead to “wretched socialism.”

• The important strata were the middle peasants – Soviet Government must guarantee its loyalty because it constituted 51% of the peasantry.

• “We must say to the entire peasantry, to all its strata: enrich yourselves, accumulate, develop your country.” – Bukharin

• Agrarian overpopulation would be solved by creating more work in the countryside / more land under cultivation

The Left vs. The Right Opposition: 4. Permanent Revolution vs. Socialism in One

Country • Socialism in the Soviet Union will

not survive or will become mutated unless there are revolutions in advanced capitalist countries. Foreign policy must aggressively export revolution.

• Class war against the NEPmen and the kulaks, the enemies of socialism, must be promoted

• Revolution in advanced capitalist countries is not on the horizon. The CPSU must focus on building and strengthening socialism in the USSR.

• Class war should not be forgotten but must be “fought” differently:

- State socialist enterprises should compete with private enterprises on the market and use the market to bury capitalism!

• “Smychka” – alliance of workers

and peasants

…and the WINNER of the political struggle….

• With the exception of the theory of “Socialism in One Country” (which Bukharin actually developed first), Stalin contributed nothing new theoretically to the debates. He won the power struggle vs. Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev by manipulating the Party and appointing his supporters to key posts. After he consolidated power, he completely took the positions of the Left Opposition.

COMRADE JOSEPH STALIN!!