From Under The Lid
C., L.
FROM UNDER THE LID "Now, we raise the question whether in such a form of capital ism—which actually represents a certain negation of capitalism, because of the fact that the internal...
...Yes, that may be...
...Shilin refuses to speak of a revolution of the economic functions of the state in the sense that from a 'nightwatchman' it became the leading and organizing factor of economic development...
...In this way a specific economic structure—state capitalism —in which several laws of capitalism are no longer operative or have been eliminated, has come into being...
...N. Bukharin, 1928...
...Shilin," says R. I. "rejects the opinion of those who assert that important changes have taken place in the role and economic function of the state, that the stratum of technocrats plays an important and independent role in social and economic life, that there have been shifts in the class structure...
...This stratum now struggles in the arena of social conflict for the strengthening of state capitalism, for its further development...
...And if this has occurred to R. I., has it not perhaps occurred to other Russian intellectuals...
...But one cannot help wondering: could a writer as astute as R. I. fail to notice that his description of "state capitalism" (italicized above) fits exactly the social system of Russia today...
...Would we have crises there...
...R. I. then continues: "It thus follows that the state under capitalism is not only no longer the organ of a specific class of capitalist society, but even ceases to defend and strengthen the specific interests of that class...
...It is precisely this fact which explains why the state has become independent of society, relatively autonomous, above society...
...These passages are interesting enough in their own right to require no immediate comment...
...State capitalism is in this respect—as Lenin called it—a 'precursor of socialism, but in its 'deepest core' it is still capitalism, since it is still based upon the hiring of labor—the relation of the state as owner to the producer, i.e., the relation of the producer to the means of production and to production remained a relation of exploitation...
...the state sector of the economy increases in all countries...
...L. C.] "This development in the economic sphere becomes possible given an approximate equilibrium of the originally antagonistic classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat...
...But just the same we will not find any crises...
...Some of his formulations have a remarkable resemblance to those of Nicolai Bukharin, who developed a theory of state capitalism in the Russia of the twenties which, though it was also ostensibly concerned solely with trends in the Western world, seemed nevertheless quite applicable to the Russia of Stalin...
...A planned economy exists, an organized distribution, not only with regard to the reciprocal relations between different branches of industry but also with regard to consumption...
...But it also shows the weakness of its foundations...
...the state became the decisive factor in the field of investment, be it as direct investor or in the form of giving control and direction to private capital...
...R. I. then proceeds to show that state capitalism reduces the basis of the economic power of the bourgeoisie and hence gains the support of the working class...
...But while we are relatively well-informed about writers, less attention has been paid to similar signs of disaffection among other types of intellectuals...
...State capitalism limits private property and the free movement of capital and shows the tendency toward the full negation of the latter...
...I believe not...
...We have heard of a number of attempts of Russian novelists, playwrights and critics to express in more or less veiled form some of their disgust with key features of the contemporary Russian scene...
...He may receive very little, but just the same crises will not take place...
...the state fixes exchange rates, foreign trade relations are now regulated by the government alone, etc...
...That is why we feel it of some value to print here excerpts from a rather remarkable article by one R. I. which appeared in the Moscow review Nasa Stvarnost (1956, No...
...R. L's article starts with a polemic against one J. Shilin who had maintained in an article entitled "Has Capitalism Changed" (Nowoje Wremja 1956, Nos...
...But this fact is most characteristic for the period after the great depression of 1929 and especially for the period after the Second World War...
...At the same time, however, it threatens the working class since "the immanent laws of state captalism drive towards not only total dominion over capital, but also total enslavement of the working class...
...This has deeply changed the earlier freedom and independence of private capital as well as of capitalist monopolies...
...State capitalism grew out of the depression in order to overcome it...
...The article expresses not only a most astounding departure from the usual Soviet views about the character of contemporary capitalism, but it contains formulations which make it appear as if the author is attempting here to describe not only Western state capitalism but the contemporary Russian economy...
...The slave in this society receives his share of fodder, of the objects that are the product of the total labor...
...That is why it had to eliminate several laws of capitalism...
...R. I. then continues: "He does not take into consideration the most important fact of the extraordinarily strong increase of the role of the state in the economic and social life of many countries...
...through taxation, the credit system and other measures the state gained control of capital accumulation and implement• ed the distribution of an ever increasing part of the national income...
...And just because this process weakened the positions and the power of the bourgeoisie and thus made it impossible for it to rule in the old manner, and because the working lass was not yet strong enough to take over the direction of society, there emerged the autonomy of the state and its dominion over society .. . "Once the state attained autonomy, it created under state capitalism its own social representatives in the form of numerous functionaries, of a bureaucracy...
...34 and 85) that Lenin's characterization of modem capitalism as developed in his Imperialism was still fully adequate for an understanding of present day Western economies...
...This development tends toward a point where the state becomes the exclusive owner, the general capitalist...
...Perhaps still sharper here is the discrepancy between the growth of the productive forces and the growth of the consumption of the masses...
...FROM UNDER THE LID "Now, we raise the question whether in such a form of capital ism—which actually represents a certain negation of capitalism, because of the fact that the internal market, the circulation of money, has disappeared—a crisis can occur...
...Can there exist in this society a contradic tion between the restricted consumption of the masses (consump tion in the physiological sense) and the growing productive forces...
...The consumption of the ruling class grows continuously, the accumulation of the means of production, cal culated in labor units, can grow to enormous dimensions, but the consumption of the masses is retarded...
...My emphasis...
...Though Bukharin was, of course, liquidated in the Moscow trials, one may now wonder whether R. I. is still influenced by the writings of Bukharin, which have been banned in Russia for more than 20 years, or whether he arrived at his conclusions independently...
...Evidence of rather widespread disaffection or at least dissatisfaction among Russian writers has been frequently reported in recent years...
Vol. 5 • July 1958 • No. 3
