Communist mode of production: Difference between revisions
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=== Degenerated Workers State === | === Degenerated Workers State === | ||
{{Trotskyism}} | |||
In [[Trotskyist]] political theory the term '''degenerated workers' state''' has been used since the 1930s to describe the state of the [[Soviet Union]] after [[Stalin]]'s consolidation of power in or about 1924. The term was developed by [[Leon Trotsky]] in ''[[The Revolution Betrayed]]''<ref>Leon Trotsky, ''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/index.htm The Revolution Betrayed]'', 1936</ref> and in other works ,<ref>See, for example, Leon Trotsky, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/tia38.htm "The USSR and Problems of the Transitional Epoch"], extract from ''The Transitional Program'' (1938), or [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1939/12/abc.htm "The ABC of Materialist Dialectics"], extract From "A Petty-Bourgeois Opposition in the Socialist Workers Party" (1939), in Leon Trotsky, ''In Defense of Marxism'', 1942)</ref> but has its roots in [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin's]] formula that the USSR was a workers' state with [[bureaucracy|bureaucratic]] deformations.<ref>''Cf.'' among other places: "Our Party Programme ... shows that ours is a workers’ state with a bureaucratic twist to it." V. I. Lenin, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/dec/30.htm "The Trade Unions, the Present Situation and Trotsky's Mistakes"], speech on December 30, 1920, in V. I. Lenin, ''Collected Works'', Volume 32.</ref> | |||
==The Trotskyist definition== | |||
The [[Soviet state]] of the period between the [[October Revolution|1917 October Revolution]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]'s consolidation of power, was held to be a genuine [[workers' state]], as the [[bourgeoisie]] had been [[Russian Revolution of 1917|politically overthrown]] by the [[working class]] and the [[economic]] basis of that state laid in [[Common ownership|collective ownership]] of the [[means of production]]. Contrary to the predictions of many [[socialist]]s such as Lenin himself, the revolution failed to spread to [[Germany]] and other industrial [[Western Europe]]an countries, and consequently the Soviet state began to degenerate. This was worsened by the material and political degeneration of the [[Russia]]n [[working class]] by the [[Russian Civil War|Civil War]] of 1917–1923. After the death of [[Lenin]] in 1924, the ruling stratum of the Soviet Union, consolidated around [[Joseph Stalin]], was held to be a bureaucratic [[caste]], and not a new ruling class, because its political control did not also extend to economic ownership. The theory that the Soviet Union was a degenerated workers' state is closely connected to Trotsky's call for a [[political revolution]] in the USSR, as well as Trotsky's call for defense of the USSR against [[capitalism|capitalist]] restoration. | |||
The term "degenerated workers' state" is commonly used to refer only to the Soviet Union. The term [[deformed workers' state]] was coined by Trotskyists of the [[Fourth International]] to describe those states, like the [[Eastern Bloc|Soviet satellite states]] of [[Eastern Europe]], which are or were based upon [[collectivise]]d means of production, but in which the working class never held direct political power. | |||
==Critics== | |||
Besides the supporters of the Soviet Union holding the belief that the state was a healthy [[workers' state]], the theory has been criticised from within the Trotskyist movement, and by other [[socialist]]s critical of the Soviet Union. Among the disputed issues are the relationships between a workers' state (of any type), and a [[planned economy]]. Some tendencies tend to equate the two concepts, while others draw sharp distinctions between them. | |||
Among Trotskyists, alternative but similar theories include [[State_capitalism#Use_by_Trotskyists|state capitalism]] and [[bureaucratic collectivism]]. | |||
==See also== | |||
* [[State_capitalism#Use_by_Trotskyists|State capitalism]] | |||
* [[Bureaucratic collectivism]] | |||
* [[State socialism]] | |||
* [[New class]] | |||
==References== | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Degenerated Workers' State}} | |||
[[Category:Trotskyism]] | |||
[[Category:Marxist theory]] | |||
[[Category:History of socialism]] | |||
[[it:Stato proletario degenerato]] | |||
[[pl:Zdegenerowane państwo robotnicze]] | |||
[[pt:Degenerescência burocrática]] | |||
[[ru:Теория деформированного рабочего государства]] | |||
