Hi, so I wanted to get a discussion rolling on what people think Stalinism was economically. I think most here would reject the idea that it was socialist in any sense. What do you think it actually was? My own pet theory is that Stalinist regimes like the Soviet Union and China were developing capitalism in underdeveloped societies through the state owning and controlling production, exploiting the waged labor of the population, and turning the surplus product into capital for the national economy.
Aufheben has a rather long
Aufheben has a rather long article on this very topic, you can find it on this site.
Ivysyn, Not sure that's your
Ivysyn,
Not sure that's your 'pet theory' it is a pretty common and sound one recognised on this site and much wider and sometimes just shortened to the label 'state capitalism', but if you are keen to get your head around the wide range of critical analysis of the old Stalinist style Russian economy then I would recommend this when you have time to read it:
https://libcom.org/library/capitalism-class-struggle-ussr-neil-c-fernandez
I remember this being good as
I remember this being good as well: https://libcom.org/library/re-visiting-the-east-and-popping-in-at-marxs-gilles-dauve
Yeah, I would echo the
Yeah, I would echo the recommendation of Fernandez. This is the Aufheben piece which is also good: https://libcom.org/library/what-was-ussr-aufheben
There's also
There's also https://libcom.org/library/state-capitalism-james-clr (which I've not read though).
I've read the Aufheben series
I've read the Aufheben series of articles and it's been extremely influential on my own thoughts.
Quote: Not sure that's your
I didn't mean that the theory is mine alone, I just met that it was the theory I subscribed to.