>Wow...bureaucracy did all that! I thought it took things like
anticommunist hysteria, violations of democratic rights and the
suppression of election results contrary to the incumbent leadership [...]<
...brought about by the existence in the trade unions of a social layer with interests different from that of its membership, yes.
>What bizarre terminology - a "material base" for bureaucracy?<
Uh oh. I had assumed we were proceeding from some common assumptions. If you deny the role of a material base in...well...just about every aspect of social life, we're obviously arguing from two different planes of reality. But yes, we materialists generally hold the material base in high esteem when analyzing social phenomena.
>Since bureaucracies can and have been built amonst the most destitute of
peasants, every population has a material base for building collective
structures to organize themselves and project their power<
Let me reiterate: I'm not using "bureaucracy" as a synonym for a well-functioning apparatus. I'm using bureaucracy to refer to a social layer (or class, if you prefer) arising out of such an apparatus with material interests different from the class that originally gave rise to said apparatus.
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