stalin helped the capitalists

8/3/2019 Stalin Helped the Capitalists

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Stalin helped the Capitalists

ItisoftensaidbypeopleofboththeleftandtherightthatKarlMarxanalysis

ofthecapitalismhefoundinhisdayismostlyrightand,initsthoroughnessand

insight, unprecedented and ground-breaking.When, however, it comes to his

prognosisandpredictionsreadingthefuturefromwhathappenedinthepast,

KarlMarxwritingsarebeingdismissed.Lookpeoplelecture theworkershave

certainlynottakenover,andhumanbeingsareclearlynotfitforcommunismit

willnevercomeabout.

I would not be quite so certain I leave that to Marxists and religious

fundamentalistsandthelike.

ItwasMarxwhospokeofthecommodificationofeverything.Well,everything

takesusbeyond the purelymaterial ideas, relationships , institutions.When

looking around I see that Intellectual PropertyRights are a boomingmarket,

making itsadministrationmoremoney thanthegroupofpeoplewhocameup

with any idea; single bourses, strip clubs everywhere; the churches, the

universities, public spaces, libraries all priorities the openmarket over any

ideasofhumanitiesorculturalheritage.WasMarxreallywrongthen?

ItwasMarxwhopointedoutthatcapitalistswillexploitnotjustsimplyhuman

labour, but, crucially,will put the netting ofprofit before any preservationof

naturalresources.Iseethatanyoilcompany,anygascompanyonthisearthhas


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morecloudandmorepowertomakedecisionsthananyCreenativeAmerican,

any institution set up to preserve the natural environment. Was Marx really

wrongthen?

ItwasMarxwho thought itwouldbe themost industrialisedcountriesofhis

time, the countrieswho have the vociferous and organised labour Germany,

Britain,Francewhowillleadthesocialistrevolution.HewarnedthatRussia,

beingbackwardandmostly anagriculturalandstilllargelyfeudal state, isnot

readyasshedidnotfindherselfattherightstageofthedevelopmentofcapitalism.

Lenin ignored those words, because he wanted to push his revolution and

create a state that fitted themodel, by jumping awholehistorical stage.Was

Marxreallywrongthen?

WhatMarxdidnotforeseewerethetwogreatcapitalistwarswhichbroughta

detourtohislineardevelopmentmodel.NeithercouldheforeseeLeninsstate,

nor,crucially,StalinsRussia:determinedtodevelopsocialisminonestate.The

latter is quite a jump, and certainly an invalid one, when following Marxs

predictions.Yetmorewastocome:Stalinsdirectiondidtheoppositetowhat

everybodyclaimedhewoulddo:hesavecapitalismfromdevelopingintheway

thatMarxhadpredicted.

Why?

BecauseStalinsSovietRussiawassetonamissiontoproveitsmodeltoberight.

AndthecapitalistsWestdideverythingtonotletthishappen.Atomicweapons

andproxywarsmighthavepreventeddirectbloodshed.Yet itwasawar that


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had tobe foughtapropagandawar,awarwhereachievementsweremoved

likechesspiecesonaboard.

SovietRussia,withnosplitagendasofindividualinterestsandnoqualmsabout

issues of religion focussed on the one route left open: scientific research and

achievement1.SotherecameSputnik,there camethe firstmantocircleplanet

earthandashocktotheWest.And,asthiswaspartofthecompetitionofthe

systems, theWest scrambled to play catch up university participation was

widened,opened and grants (as did theGIbill)madeitsuddenlyfeasiblefor

widersectionsoftheWesttobebettertrainedandeducatedfeedingtheneed

forknowledgeandinnovationtoturbo-chargecapitalism.

This was a different kind of war and though the appalling treatment of

individuals appears to belie this the battlefield was the well-being of the

masses. Sovietsocialismwas nevera route into communism (itwas, afterall,

nothing more than inefficient state-monopole capitalism). It was, however,

attempting to create a model welfare state with lavish funding of human

achievements:sciences,art,majorprojectsthattrumpetprogress(hydro-electric

dams,electrification,railwaysacrossthelargestcontinent,etc.)and,hewhodoes

workdoesnotgohungryandworkeveryonedid(ofsorts)andtobefreetodo

so, child-care was sponsored by the big factories, so that labour was free to

produce.And,guesswhattheWestbuildeverbettersocialsecurityintotheir

systems and the result was again turbo-charged capitalism with

unprecedentedlong-termlevelsofgrowthandadvancementintheWest.

1 Interestingly, in the 19th and 20th century this happened often to

be the one route many Jews had to follow in Europe: while offices ofstate, church etc remained closed, science and medicine were a way ofmaking a mark.


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TheSovietmodelcollapsedinthe1990s.And,witheveryyear,witheverylatest

nut-cracked tin-hatted philosophyof thevictorious capitalist right, advance in

the science and humanities is stifled, labour is being made more and more

unproductive as social benefits and assistance are being sliced away for ever

more spurious reasons that have suddenlycroppedup. The idea seems tobe,

that the 99% affected has short-term memories that do not go beyond the

lifespanofaTwitterheadline.

Yet I do not believe that Marx was as comprehensively wrong as interested

partiesmakeout.Icanseethathisprognosiscouldplayoutonlyoverafar

longer timespan.With nothing else to play for workers really have to lose

nothingbuttheirchainsand,whileAfricandictatorshipscanfallbecausenow

whole peoples do not fear that they might be individually killed, the

underprivilegedmasseswhokeepthewheelsofcontemporycapitalismturning

might also rise and resist. It might not be the workers party that leads the

proletariattovictory,butitmaybethatapartyofworkersleadsthepushfor

overdueequality.

And Karl Marx might have been not wrong on another issue: once natural

resourcesaredepleted,theweatherpatternspushintodisarray,watersources

scarceanddislocatedatthatpointtheremainderofhumanitywillsurelyonly

surviveasawholewheneveryoneco-operates,giveswhattheyareabletogive

and takes notmore than is necessary to keep the fine balance of survival in

check:communism,inotherwords.

Michael TL Pace-Sigge 12/2011

stalin helped the capitalists

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