Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 21:18:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andrew Wayne Austin <aaustin-AT-utkux.utcc.utk.edu>
Subject: Re: M-I: state capitalism


Rob,

There is a vast difference between the Soviet Union and the fascist state. 
It is hard to know where to begin, knowing that I will leave most of the
differences out. I can say that everything we have talked about thus far
speaks to the differences between the two. Perhaps others on this list
would like to help me out with this one. Still, I will list some of the
things that come to mind.

Fascism is where finance and industrial capital, though the state
machinery, destroy liberal democracy and rule directly over the worker. 
Under fascism, in both Italy and Germany, labor unions were outlawed,
their leaders murdered. Socialist, communist, and anarchist organization
were outlawed, and their leaders murdered. Social welfare programs were
cut or abolished; protections for workers were eliminated or made hollow,
not enforced. Taxes were cut on the wealthy, raised on the working class
and the poor. Wages were reduced by 50% in Italy, by over 25% in Germany. 
In Germany, racial purification was practiced, along with the destruction
of children and adults with disabilities (although this may not be typical
of fascism). Women were returned to their homes. The list goes on. 

In the Soviet Union, on the other hand, capitalism was abolished. The
social structure was transformed based on the idea that the living
standards of the Russian people would be raised. Extensive welfare
programs were instituted, income differentials were leveled to a great
extent. The Soviet Union was a multicultural society, that, despite their
problems in this regard, nevertheless demonstrated tolerance for ethnic
diversity. Women were accorded a much greater role in economic and social
affairs. The differences between the Soviet Union and fascism might be
said to be greater than the differences between the Soviet Union and the
United States during Roosevelt's time. 

The biggest difference, of course, was that fascism is authoritarian
capitalism, whereas the Soviet Union was state socialism. Fascism is a
social formation based on the capitalist mode of production, with the
capitalist class structure intact, even intensified. State socialism
involved the elimination of the capitalist mode of production, with the
capitalist class abolished, along with its class relations. Fascism
involved a degrading of the working class. State socialism involved an
elevation of the working class.

In this, a huge distinction becomes obvious. Fascism is not a social
revolution. It is the bourgeoisie doing away with liberal democracy. The
social formation remains the same in its deep structures. It is the
superstructural relations that are transformed. The Soviet Union was the
result of a social revolution, in which not only were the old
superstructural relations swept away, but the deep structure of society,
the forces and relations of production, were fundamentally transformed.
Fascism is a false revolution. Socialist revolution is a real revolution
which assumes certain concrete characteristics depending on the
prerevolutionary character of the society, the character of the context in
which the revolution takes place, etc..

> I guess what I'm wrestling with is, how meaningful is the
> difference between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's SU?  This is not a
> rhetorical question.  I just want to appreciate what distinctions can be
> drawn between the two systems from the point of view that counts, that of
> the worker.

You framed the question in a prejudicial way there with "Stalin's SU." My
argument concerns the Soviet Union over the course of its existence, not
only the Stalinist period. I have pointed out before the tactic, not that
you are using it, of reducing the Soviet experience to Stalinism. But I
will answer the question anyway, even with Stalin thrown in, this way:
perhaps it would be useful to ask a worker, from either Nazi Germany or
the former Soviet Union, which system he or she would rather have lived
under. It is hard for me to imagine that, knowing what we know, that
anybody would see fascism as a more desirable system in which to live
(with the exception of capitalists, of course). 
 
> I think this was, and is, the Frankfurters' position, eh?  To what degree
> was such rationalisation not evident in the SU, do you think?

Yes, it is. But let me be clear, that parenthetical is not to be taken,
even if I accept the argument (it was Neumann, among others who advanced
the position), as a denial of rationalization under any other social
formation or in any other productive modality. Rationalization was used in
the Soviet Union, and, what is more, rational planning and organization is
to be used when it advances the conditions of the people in a society. The
point I was making is that fascism is not possible, at least some claim it
is not possible, without a social formation first having the character of
liberal capitalism. This a bit tautological, since fascism is by
definition a form of capitalism, and it emerges out of a liberal context. 
So there is a world of difference between saying fascism emerges from a
context of liberal capitalism and saying that no other society employs
rational planning, or that if they did they would be fascist, or even
similar to fascism. This certainly wasn't what the Frankfurters argued,
and it is not what I would even remotely suggest.

There is, therefore, just as much of a world of difference, and this goes
right to the heart of the state capitalist argument, between saying that
the Soviet Union and fascism were similar because of rational planning.
This is Weber and Schumpeter's argument, along with the neo-Weberians, and
those neo-Marxists who have fallen under the spell of the Weberian theory
of societal rationalization. Both the theories of state capitalism and
bureaucratic collectivism make this central mistake, so your question
regarding these matters is most revealing and helpful to the clarification
of, what I regard as, the Marxist position.

Andrew Austin









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