Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 04:41:36 +0100
Subject: Re: M-TH: stalinism mode of production ?


At 15:44 28-10-96 EST, jc mullen wrote:

>'state
>capitalism' suggests 1) that a workers revolution is possible still and 2)
that
>the system is not more progressive than capitalism. I think this analysis was
>given a boost when the eatsern bloc collapsed. It seems to me that they
>collapsed because of a capitalist crisis : modern multinational capitalism
was
>more efficient, and the USSR LTd went bankrupt.
>

Just a small addition to Johns letter with which I agree:
'State capitalism' also suggests, that the crisis which brought down the
USSR Ltd. was basically the *same* crisis which brought down a lot of i.a.
African countries and which is now daily life in the "advanced western world".

There has been much focus on the *differences* between state capitalist
countries and the socalled market capitalist countries in explaining why
the former broke first. But the contradiction between the rhetoric of
western rulers in 1990 and 1996 is striking as an indication to the
importance of pointing instead to the *similarities*. Then they had some
success in telling us that a new era was coming, now - so soon after - this
is not possible.

Maybe this is one of the most important strengths of the theory of 'state
capitalism' that it has allowed us to take a marxist view on the *whole*
world - a view starting from social reality at the bottom of society.

I remember when I first travelled to an Eastern Bloc country,
Czechoslovakia (in 1975, I think), that I was very surprised that the daily
life for most people were so *similar* to what I knew from home. There were
differences, of course, but they seemed small, especially in relation to
what I was told everyday on the News. I was not a socialist at the time,
but I have never forgotten.


Yours

Jorn



--
Jorn Andersen

Internationale Socialister
Copenhagen, Denmark
IS-WWW: http://www2.dk-online.dk/users/is-dk/



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