>
>
>It's not very historically materialist, but quite a few people in Russia
>subscribe to the "Yeltsin was a power-hungry dickhead who dismantled the
>USSR to get rid of Gorbachev" thesis (including Gorbachev). :)
>
>
Gorby's talk, and this thesis, is really about the timing of breakup, nit
it's long term causes. It's like asking, why August 1914 ratherthan why
World WarI? Or: answering the question, why the Civil War with Ft Sumter
ratherthan slavery. So far as the thesis goes, it is probably right in
answering the question it is addressed to. But if we ask: how did the fSU
get in a situation where power hungry dickheads could do that, you need a
combination of Hayek and historical materialism. Actually I think the
Hayekian thesis is historically materialist" it explains why a centrally
planned economy could not develop the productive forces enough to compete
with capitalist market economies.
jks
>
>
>Chris Doss
>The Russia Journal
>------------------
>
>
>
>
>Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 07:36:03 -0500
>From: Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com>
>Subject: The collapse of the Soviet Union (was Re: marxist sociology)
>
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>
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>
>
>On 1 Mar 2002 10:07:10 +0200 "Tahir Wood" <twood at uwc.ac.za> writes:
> >
> >
>
> > Tahir: We agreed about this, but I insisted that there will still be
> > a communist movement - that's the part that you don't like. Actually
> > I would be thrilled if the two main parts of the movement, namely
> > marxist and anarchist, could find their ways back together again.
> >
> >Justin: and has (so fars we can tell) permanently lost the ability
>inspire
> > its intended constiturency, the working class. 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).
> >
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