On Fri, 01 Mar 2002 22:55:01 +0000 "Justin Schwartz" <jkschw at hotmail.com>
writes:
> Tahir,
>
> I said: That does not mean that a
> >substantial part of the substantive propositions of historical
> materialism
> >are false; I think they are in the main true,a nd explain,a momng
> other
> >things, the collapse of the USSR.
> >
> >Tahir: Yes, I wouldn't mind if someone initiated a thread that
> takes up
> >your very last point above. It's far from unimportant (or settled).
> >
>
> Quite. Jim F. thought we ought to discuss Gerry Cohen's account.
> Jim, care
> to post a summary, get us started?
Hey I thought I already posted a link to the chapter in which Cohen discusses the collapse of the Soviet Union from the standpoint of historical materialism. It can be found at
http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg22051.html
where I reproduced the chapter, minus the footnotes. It is certainly brief enough to be read in a fairly short time. Essentially, he argues that the Soviet experience does not constitute a refutation of historical materialism, indeed, its trajectory was quite consistent with what one would have expected, given a materialist analysis of Russian & Soviet society. Cohen denies that the Soviets were successful in their attempt at building socialism, and this failure was in large degree rooted in the fact that the October Revolution occured in a society where the forces of production were especially underdeveloped. Like Marx, Cohen does think that a Russian revolution could have led to the successful development of socialism in Russia but this was contingent upon there also being a proletarian revolution in at least some of the advanced capitalist nations in the West (i.e. Germany or France). As it so happens the 1919 revolution in Germany was drowned in blood, and the worldwide revolutionary impetus that the October Revolution had released, soon exhausted itself, leaving the Bolshevik regime isolated. Under such conditions, there was little reason from a historical materialist standpoint (in Cohen's opinion) to have expected the Soviet Union to have succeeded in building a vialble and attractive socialism.
Jim F.
>
>
>
> jks
>
>
>
>
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