File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/marxism-international.9706, message 238


Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 08:15:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: M-I: state capitalism


Another flaw in the state capitalist theory is that it has no explanation
for the absence of an expansionist foreign policy. Before the Bolsheviks,
the Russian empire embarked on one imperialist war or another. Afterwards,
there were none.

Instead Soviet foreign policy had been virtually non-exploitative. It
consisted of support for nationalist governments such as Nasser's but
looked for nothing in return. I used to work with a Russian at
Goldman-Sachs who like most emigrees had nothing but hatred for Communism. 
His biggest complaint? "The government used to give all our money to the
fucking niggers in Africa." His perception was fairly accurate despite the
racist formulation. Soviet aid was critical in assuring the survival of
the Cuban and Vietnamese revolutions while affording various
anti-imperialist movements the room for maneuver.

The reason that the USSR could function this way is that it never OWNED a
single bit of property in the Third World and had no prospects or
incentive to. This is a peculiar form of capitalism that managed to have
escaped the iron law of late capitalism: expand or die.

Louis Proyect



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