In soviet Russia, the economy, as Lenin described, was dominated by small scale, petty-bourgeois production. The introduction of NEP, encouraged the growth of these petty-bourgeois, and bourgeois classes. This change in the balance of class forces, necessarily, found its ideological and political reflection, and, as Trotsky says, because the Communist Party was the only party, it was fought out inside it.
After Lenin's death, and Stalin's takeover of the party, not only were many former Mensheviks and S.R.'s drawn into the party, but, also, openly bourgeois, and even Tsarist elements. At the same time, the Bolsheviks that gave their support to the Opposition were systematically and bureaucratically isolated, and purged. Trotsky refers to Ustrialov as one of those representatives of the new bourgeoisie that supported Stalin, and demanded the expulsion of the Opposition.
“On the other hand, when MacDonald appeals against intervention, he demands that the sensible “practical politicians” should not be prevented from putting an end to “the propagandists of the Third International“ – these are literally MacDonald’s words – , that is, that Stalin should not be disturbed in his work of smashing the Opposition. Chamberlain, with his brigand’s methods, wants to hasten the same process. The various methods are directed towards one aim: to smash the proletarian line, to destroy the international connections of the Soviet Union, to force the Russian proletariat to renounce its intervention in the affairs of the international proletariat.” (p 101)
And, today's “practical politicians”, as representatives of the bourgeoisie, also cannot countenance any opposition from the realm of proletarian internationalism either. The recent period, in the Labour Party saw something similar. The right-wing, pro-capitalist elements that dominate the PLP, and party machine, were overwhelmed by the upsurge in support for Corbyn, in 2015, but, having no concern for democratic principles, immediately sought to overturn the decision of the members. When that failed, and Corbyn won an even bigger victory, at the second leadership election, they sought to undermine him by other means.
Corbyn and McDonnell facilitated them by failing to move against the Right and Soft Left, and failing to democratise the party. As they appeased them, they even allowed their own supporters to be witch hunted, on spurious grounds of “anti-Semitism”, under which Corbyn was himself suspended from the PLP, eventually. But, the Right were not strong enough, even after Corbyn was led to stand down, to come out openly in their own capitalist class colours. Starmer had to first appeal to that progressive Corbynite membership that opposed Brexit, and wanted to stick with Corbyn's radical social-democratic agenda. Having lied his way to victory, Starmer, then, abandoned, not only the radical social-democratic policies, but even the anti-Brexit stance, as he sought to turn the party into a pale, kitsch version of UKIP. But, the forces that put him there will also remove him, because they need, also, to ditch Brexit, and Starmer has tied himself too closely to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment