Communist mode of production: Difference between revisions
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=== Deformed Workers State === | === Deformed Workers State === | ||
{{Trotskyism}} | |||
In [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] political theory, '''deformed workers' states''' are states where the [[bourgeoisie]] has been overthrown through [[social revolution]], the industrial means of production have been largely nationalized bringing benefits to the working class, but where the [[working class]] has never held political power (as it did in Russia shortly after the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]]). These workers' states are ''deformed'' because their political and economic structures have been imposed from the top (or from outside), and because revolutionary working class organizations are crushed. Like a [[degenerated workers' state]], a deformed workers' state cannot be said to be a state that is transitioning to socialism. | |||
The concept of deformed workers' states was developed by the theorists of the [[Fourth International]] after [[World War II]], when the [[Soviet Union]] had militarily defeated [[Nazi Germany]] and created [[satellite state]]s in [[Eastern Europe]]. Taking [[Leon Trotsky]]'s concept of the Soviet Union as a [[degenerated workers state]], the 1951 Third World Congress of the International described the new regimes as deformed workers' states. Rather than advocating a social revolution, as in the capitalist countries, the Fourth International advocated [[political revolution]] to oust the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] [[bureaucracy]] in the Soviet Union (which was degenerated) however its attitude to Eastern Europe was different, as in Yugoslavia where it sent greetings to the [[Yugoslav Communist Party]] and requested attendance at their conference as it thought they could become revolutionary. This approach has been defended by the Trotskyist currents that trace their political continuity through the World Congresses between 1951 and 1965, such as the [[reunified Fourth International]] and [[Committee for a Workers International|CWI]]. The [[League for the Fifth International]] argues that the Eastern European states were degenerate workers states, in that they were "degenerate from birth" being qualitative degenerated rather than having quantitative deformations. Therefore a political revolution would be needed, which goes against the Fourth International who sought to reform the [[Yugoslav Communist Party]] among others. | |||
Those Trotskyist currents that split from the Fourth International before 1948 over differences with Trotsky on the Soviet Union tend to disagree with this interpretation and have adopted theories describing the post-war Stalinist states as being [[state capitalist]] or [[bureaucratic collectivist]]. | |||
Most Trotskyists cite examples of deformed workers' states today as including [[Cuba]], the [[People's Republic of China]], [[North Korea]] and [[Vietnam]]. The [[Committee for a Workers International]] has also included states such as [[Syria]] or [[Burma]] at times when they have had a [[nationalised]] economy. | |||
Some Trotskyist groups such as [[Socialist Action (US)|Socialist Action]], while having some disagreements with the Cuban leadership, consider Cuba a healthy [[workers' state]]. Others, such as the [[Freedom Socialist Party]], say that the People's Republic of China has gone too far on the road of capitalist restoration to be considered a deformed workers' state. | |||
== See also == | |||
* [[Bureaucratic collectivism]] | |||
* [[Coordinatorism]] | |||
* [[Degenerated workers' state]] | |||
* [[New class]] | |||
* [[State Capitalism]] | |||
* [[State socialism]] | |||
* [[Statism]] | |||
=== Degenerated Workers State === | === Degenerated Workers State === | ||
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> | 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> | ||
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{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
==External links== | |||
* Third World Congress of the Fourth International, [http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/history/etol/document/fi/1950-1953/fi-3rdcongress/1951-congress08.htm Class Nature of Eastern Europe] | |||
* [[Pierre Frank]], [http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/history/etol/writers/frank/1951/08/eeurope.htm Evolution of Eastern Europe], Report to the Third World Congress | |||
[[it:Stato proletario deformato]] | |||
[[pl:Zdeformowane państwo robotnicze]] | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Degenerated Workers' State}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Degenerated Workers' State}} | ||
