state socialism

The prevention of communism - Radical Chains

Submitted by sdrg45 on Jun 26 2011 14:24

The authors identify capitalism's decay as assuming forms of the prevention of communism. These - notably stalinism and social-democracy - are entirely dependent on capital as well as being its guarantors on a world scale. Yet resting neither upon the law of value nor on that of planning, they are inherently unstable and contain no dynamic towards transition. From Radical Chains no.1.

radical chains
THE DECAY OF CAPITALISM, THE PREVENTION OF COMMUNISM AND THE NEED FOR PLANNING

The hidden political economy of the left - Radical Chains

Submitted by sgel on Jun 17 2011 13:11

It is from Lenin's Imperialism and State and Revolution that the modern left derives much of its understanding. While stressing the strengths of these works, the authors indicate how acceptance of the various weaknesses obstructs the left in its attempt to comprehend the various forms of administrative practice that have been established in the name of the working class. Unable to understand the real basis of working class opposition to such forms, the left slides into various kinds of contempt for the working class. From Radical Chains no.3.

radical chains
THE HIDDEN POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE LEFT

INTRODUCTION

Strikes against Stalin in 1930s Russia - Jeffrey Rossman

Submitted by sgel on Jun 17 2011 12:29

A detailed account and analysis of the Teikovo cotton workers' strike of April 1932, examining class, gender identity politics in Stalin's Russia.

Historical materialism - An anti-revolutionary theory of revolution

Junge Linke criticises the Marxist-Leninist concept of Historical Materialism.

Historical materialism is an essential feature not only of the Marxism of the traditional workers movement but also of Marxist-Leninist ideas.

Mandela v the working class

Subversion's communist critique of the anti-working class nature of the African National Congress (ANC) and its leader, Nelson Mandela, during the anti-apartheid struggle.

If you thought Nelson Mandela was a great heroic leader of the oppressed masses of South Africa who, now risen like Christ after 27 years in the underworld and poised to lead said masses, if not to life everlasting, at least to freedom in the here and now, you might be a little puzzled.

Gang warfare in the Gulf

Libertarian/council communist group Subversion argue against support for either side in the Gulf War.

THERE ARE TWO GULFS currently looming before the working class. One is the geographical gulf which threatens to be the centre of an immense killing ground, whose dry sands will drink the blood of vast numbers of working class people sent, as ever, to die in the name of an illusion.

The Cold War as a System - Michael Cox

Submitted by tolern on Jun 2 2011 13:21

Many leftists saw the Cold War as a genuine clash between Soviet 'Socialism' and Western capitalism. Michael Cox, however, shows how Soviet Stalinism and the Cold War helped stabilise global capitalism for 40 years.



Introduction: Stalinism and the New Left

Factory committees in 1918 - Chris Goodey debates Maurice Brinton

Submitted by tolern on Jun 2 2011 12:22

Debates between Trotskyists and libertarians about the Russian Revolution rarely break new ground. But this debate from the 1970s raised many thought-provoking questions that still await satisfactory answers even today.


FACTORY COMMITTEES AND THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT (1918) by Chris Goodey (followed by debate with Maurice Brinton)

The Bolivarian government against union autonomy - FAI

From the Iberian Anarchist Federation's Tierra y Libertad website, an article describing and criticizing the government of Hugo Chávez and its attempts to co-opt the Venezuelan labor movement.

The Soviet Union versus socialism - Noam Chomsky

In this article, which was written close to the end of the cold war, Noam Chomsky argues against the association of socialism with Bolshevism.

When the world's two great propaganda systems agree on some doctrine, it requires some intellectual effort to escape its shackles. One such doctrine is that the society created by Lenin and Trotsky and molded further by Stalin and his successors has some relation to socialism in some meaningful or historically accurate sense of this concept.