Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 21:52:21 EDT From: Dddddd0814 at aol.com Subject: Re: Lenin on character of Soviet state David, response: Are you making some sort of a general rule out of the mantra of "state capitalism will lead to socialism"? If so, then this is the dogma. Lenin, in "'Left Wing' Childishness'" was speaking of the necessarily transitional nature of the Soviet state in peasant Russia, not of socialism in general.
Socialist revolutions have not occured in the most developed nations, so it is preposterous-- and dogmatic once again-- to assume without evidence that they will never transcend a "transitional" period.
1. I must admit I had the less developed countries in mind (like South Africa in which I live). 2. Lenin was talking about backward countries like Russia only? Well how well has the theory stood up there? Have the Chinese, Russian, Cuban, Vietnamese, etc. revolutions taken the world closer to communism? 3. If Lenin was opposed only to leftwing positions in those countries, then why did he excoriate the leftists in Italy, Britain, Holland and Germany and urge them to adopt the Russian revolution as their model. (read Leftwing Communism an Infantile Disorder to see for yourself). 4. I don't believe that socialism is possible in one country, any country, 'developed' or not. 5. I personally don't believe in calling something like state capitalism socialism. But because that has become one of the dominant notions of socialism (in the wake of Leninism) I tend to avoid the term 'socialism' altogether, which to me now usually refers to some or other kind of paternalistic welfare state. 6. Are you advocating state capitalism for the US or any other country right now? Is that your only notion of transition? How would the transition happen then? Tahir