Pages: 468
The book is written on the basis of a course of lectures given at the summer school KSMM in 2006 and 2007. Its task is to give the primary orientation of the theoretical richness of Marxism, its history and Marxist issues. The author tries to avoid all dogmatism, but to present Marxism as a deeply meaningful doctrine that continues to evolve and influence the ideological climate of the modern world. The book is intended for system of KSMM studies, for those, who first get acquainted with Marxism, as well as for anyone interested in modern political ideologies.
Editor:
Mark Tkaciuk, PhD
Reviewer:
Boris Kagarlitsky, PhD
CONTENTS
FROM THE AUTHOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1. THE RISE OF MARXISM. . . . . . . . . . .11
1.1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2. Causes of Marxism Rise. . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3. Biographies of Marx and Engels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.4. A Brief Review of the Written Legacy of Marx and Engels 21
2. PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF MARXISM. . . . .25
2.1. “The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism”. . . 25
2.2. Dialectical Materialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2.1. What Materialism and its Strength are. . . . . . . . . . .25
2.2.2. Marxist Materialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
2.3. The Dialectics of Hegel and Marx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.1. What is Dialectics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
2.3.2. Subjective Dialectics as a Doctrine of Contradictions. .33
2.3.3. The Objective Dialectics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
2.3.4. The Major Categories of Marxist Dialectics. . . . . .39
2.3.4.1. The Form and Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3.4.2. The General and the Particular. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.3.4.3. The Part and the Whole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.3.4.4. The Quantity and the Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.3.4.5. The Essence of the Phenomenon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.3.4.6. The Possibility and the Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.3.4.7. The Necessity and the Chance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.3.4.8. The Cause and the Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.3.5. Conclusion: Why Do the Marxists Need Dialectics? . . . . . . . . . . . .54
2.4. Is the Marxism Scientific? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.5. Historical Materialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.5.1. The Practice Importance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
2.5.2. Man as a Subject of History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
2.5.3. Classes and the Class Struggle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
2.5.4. Freedom and Alienation of Labor: Work for a Man or a Man for the Job? . . .68
2.5.5. The Doctrine of Socio-Economic Formations. . . .69
2.6. Political Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3. MARXISM AND UTOPIAN IDEA. . . . . .77
3.1. Is Marxism Utopia?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.2. "The Manifest of the Communist Party." . . . . . . . . .82
3.2.1. The Question of Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
3.2.2. Against What? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
3.2.3. The Mechanism of Capitalist Exploitation. . . . . . . .86
3.2.4. "Removal" of the Private Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
3.2.5. Bourgeois Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
3.2.6. In What Way?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
3.2.6.1. Feudal Socialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3.2.6.2. Christian Socialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.2.6.3. The Petty-Bourgeois Socialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
3.2.6.4. Conservative Socialism Researchers. . . . . .100
3.2.6.5. The Bourgeois and Utopian Socialism. . . . . . . . . . . .102
4. SCIENTIFIC COMMUNISM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.1. The Programme of Building of the Future Society . . . . . . . 104
4.1.1. Triune Challenge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.1.2. Work and Working People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.1.3. The Moral Problem – Above All. . . . . . . . . . 113
4.1.4. Anti-Popper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.2. The Picture of the Future Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.2.1. The Extinction of Private Property, Commodity and Money. . .117
4.2.2. The End of the Division of Labour. Mental and Physical Labour. . . 119
4.2.3. The Problem of Equality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.2.4. The State Extinction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.2.5. Artistic Picture of Communism: I.A. Efremov. . 132
5. THE RUSSIAN VERSION OF MARXISM: BOLSHEVISM AND STALINISM . . . . . . . 134
5.1. The Beginning of the Critique of Marxism. Revisionism and Opportunism 134
5.2. The Source of the Totalitarian Transformation of Marxism. . . 139
5.3. Non-Marxist Russian Socialism: Socialist-Revolutionaries. . . . . . . 142
5.4. Leninism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.5. Trotsky and the "Permanent Revolution". . . . . . . . . 160
5.6. The Disputes on the Socialist economy . . . . . . . . . . 166
5.7. Bukharin and his Economic Model . . . . . . . . . . 174
5.8. Stalin and his Way of Thinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
5.9. The “Coyoacán Recluse” and the “ Betrayed Revolution " 186
5.10. The Chinese Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
6. BLACK SHADOW OF THE LEFT-WING MOVEMENTS. . . . . . . . 204
6.1. "Do not Go to the Left from the Left Too Far ...". . . . . . . . 204
6.2. The Narrowness of the Previous Criticism of Fascism. . . . . . . . 205
6.3. Fascism - Ideology, Psychology or Mythology? . . 209
6.4. The Differences between Fascism and Communism. . . . . . . 213
6.4.1. Monism or Eclecticism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
6.4.2. The Scientific Nature or Irrationality. . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
6.4.3. The Concept of Truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
6.4.4. The Science Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
6.4.5. Positive or Negative programme . . . . . . . . . . 220
6.4.6. Positive or Negative Emotions. . . . . . . 221
6.4.7. The Role of Propaganda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
6.4.8. Nationalism and Internationalism. . . . . . . . . . . 223
6.4.9. The Bourgeoisie – a Class or a Moral Category. . . . 225
6.4.10. The Nature of Activism: Purposeful or Reactive 227
6.4.11. Violence – Acceptable or the Only Method. . . 228
6.4.12. Openness or Mimicry. . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
6.4.13. Progress or Reaction (the Ideal in the Future or Past) 231
6.4.14. The Increasing Complexity or Simplification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
6.4.15. The Nature of Collectivism and the Leaders’ Role. . . . . . . . . 232
6.4.16. The Nature of Mass Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
6.4.17. Fascist Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
6.4.18. The Correlation between the Young and Older Staff. . 234
6.4.19. Attitudes toward Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
6.4.20. Trade Unions or Corporations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
6.4.21. Centralism or Anarchy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
6.4.22. International Interests or the Interests of the Ruling Bureaucracy. . . 240
* * * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
7. MARXISM AND THE NATIONAL QUESTION: EXPERIENCE OF THE USSR. . . . . . . 242
7.1. The Position of the Marxism Founders . . . . . . . . . 242
7.2. The International Working Men's Association and its Successors 246
7.3. The Specific Character of the National Question in Russia. . . . . . 249
7.4. “Critical Remarks on the National Question.” . 252
7.4.1. Two Cultures in Every National Culture. . . . . 252
7.4.2. Two Trends in the National Question under Capitalism 255
7.4.3. Criticism of the Programme of Cultural and National Autonomy (CNA). . . 255
7.4.4. The Question of Centralism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
7.5. “On the Right of Nations to Self-determination.” . . . . . . . . . 261
7.5.1. The Polish Question. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
7.5.2. To Let Go or not to Let Go? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
7.6. Formation of the Soviet Republics. . . . . . . . . . . . 268
7.7. Formation of the Soviet Union. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
7.7.1. The Merger of the Republics and the "Georgian Affair". . . . . . . 273
7.7.2. "To the Question of Nationalities or “Autonomy”…………..274
7.8. The Soviet Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
7.8.1. The Hierarchy of Nations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
7.8.2. What Does National Culture mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
7.8.3. Repressed Peoples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
7.8.4. "Proletarian Nationalism." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
7.8.5. "Elephants and the Jewish Question." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
7.8.6. Age of Braking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
7.8.7. Programmed Final. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
7.8.8. Reasons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
7.8.9. Could it Be the Other Way Round? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
8. MARXISM IN THE WEST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
8.1. Alternative to Leninism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
8.2. Georg Lukacs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
8.3. Antonio Gramsci. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
8.3.1. Biography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
8.3.2. The Doctrine of Hegemony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
8.3.3. The Doctrine of the Historic Block. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
8.3.4. The Problem of the Intelligentsia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
8.4. Palmiro Togliatti and his Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
8.5. Marxism and Existentialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
8.5.1. The Ideas of Existentialism. Jean-Paul Sartre. . . . . . . . . 324
8.5.2. Herbert Marcuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
8.5.3. Ernesto Che Guevara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
8.6. The Experience of Socialism in Chile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
8.7. After the Explosion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
8.8. Moldovan Perspective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
9. POST-INDUSTRIAL WORLD – A NEW SITUATION. . . . . . . . . . 368
9.1. Three Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
9.2. How Can Information Be the Basis of an Economy? . . . 369
9.3. Neoliberals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
9.4. The Experience of Neoliberalism in Chile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
9.5. All Power to the Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
9.6. Grimaces of the Information Ownership. . . . . . . . 386
9.7. The Proletariat of Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
9.8. Information “or” Capitalist Society? 398
10. IS THERE A FUTURE FOR MARXISM? . . . . . . 400
10.1. Formulation of the Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
10.2. There is No Alternative For the Power of the Mind. . . . . . . . . . . 402
10.3. The Ownership Collectivization . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
10.4. The State Economic Role. . . . . . . . . . . . 408
10.5. …Plus Virtualization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
10.6. And What About democracy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
10.7. Tasks of the Left forces in the New World. . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
10.8. Freedom and Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
LITERATURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
V.I. Lenin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Other Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
B. U. Kagarlitsky. CONCLUDING REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . 441
INDEX OF NAMES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
INDEX OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. . . 464