milohimself
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Freak said he was interested in reading one of my research papers for class.
This is the third part of an essay about the transitional Soviet period. It is regarding the debates during the 1920's that went on to shape how the entire Soviet Union operated under Stalin. Sorry if things seem underdeveloped, I had to cram a whole lot of ideas into a short amount of space. I can expound if anybody would like.
As the new Soviet government neared the end of Lenin's New Economic Policy of a mixed economy which allowed for continued privatization of agriculture a debate on the direction in which to take the country took place. Two sides to this debate emerged. The left wing, led by EA Preobrazhensky and Leon Trotsky among others, advocated for a big push towards rapid industrialization with the end goal being an ending of dependence on foreign trade for the continued survival of the USSR. Russia, they believed, was rich enough in resources to be economically self-sufficient, and that being surrounded by potentially hostile capitalist nations would not prove a reliable form of trade in order to keep the Soviet economy afloat. They also argued that capitalism being allowed to exist among the rural peasantry was distinctly anti-Marxist, and felt it necessary to impose heavy penalties on the capitalist farmers for the benefit of socialist economic development. The right wing, consisting of those who proposed to continue in the same general direction of the NEP, consisted of Nikolai Bukharin and Josef Stalin among others. Their belief was that a balanced approach towards economic growth and maintaining good relations with farmers was paramount to the survival of the Soviet transition, and that the supremacy of socialist enterprise would eventually reach the country side and become the model for agriculture.
Both sides were attempting to create a solution to an obvious problem; Russia's various forms of industry, and in particular its development of its means of production, were severely underdeveloped and thus made the country economically and militarily vulnerable to its capitalist neighbors. The other key issue facing the USSR was that farmers were allowed to exist as capitalist entities during Lenin's New Economic Policy, which would pose a long-term threat to the country's agricultural needs and socialist development.
An understanding of the peasant farmers of the time is necessary to understand this debate, as what to do with their output was the essence of the policy debates of the 1920's. As mentioned, the farmers had been allowed to exist as capitalist entities most of the time since the serf emancipation of 1861. In addition to that, a significant majority of the peasant farmers were a religious people. This goes directly against Marxism, which is strictly adherent to atheism. Essentially, a large portion of Russia's population was allowed to exist and operate in a very un-Marxist fashion well after the Bolshevik revolution. This was primarily due to the need for their food output, which was necessary to keep the industrial sector running. Forcing them into socialist means of production too quickly would have resulted in at least gross economic inefficiencies, and possibly even large-scale sabotage of the country's food supply. What Preobrazhensky recognized was that this economic model would lead to an unacceptably low rate of accumulation of capital. His aim was to greatly speed up this process in order for the USSR to secure its place in Europe as an economic and thus military power.
Preobrazhensky's method of socialist accumulation derives from Marx's concept of primary capitalist accumulation, or what he referred to as the primitive accumulation. Paul Gregory and Robert Stuart summarize Marx's concept of primitive accumulation from Capital vol. II:
Marx divided the economy into two broad sectors, specifically sector I (producer goods) and sector II (consumer goods). The labor theory of value states that the value of output will equal the value of direct and indirect labor inputs plus surplus value (profits). Therefore, the value of each sector's output can be written:
V1 = c1 + v1 + s1
V2 = c2 + v2 + s2
Where: V = value of sector output
c = fixed capital cost, or depreciation
v = variable costs, primarily labor costs
s = surplus value (profits) of each sector
In a stationary (nongrowing) economy (what Marx described as simple reproduction), the output of sector I (investment goods) equals the depreciation requirements of both sectors I and II. On the other hand, if an economy is to grow (what Marx termed expanded reproduction), the net capital stock must expand. This occurs when the output of sector I (investment goods) exceeds the depreciation and expenses of both sectors I and II.
In short, Marx believed that for the capitalist economy to grow, the surplus value of each sector would be shifted either to the capitalists themselves or back into the fixed capital cost, but not into the labor cost over any level of subsistence required for the worker. Preobrazhensky adapted this idea to fit the situation in Russia, under which the farmers were producing the most capital at the time, in relation to their costs. Rather than rely on their output for trade in the long term, he promoted the idea of shifting the surplus of the farmer to the industrial sector so that the production of light industry and thus heavy industry may flourish at the fastest possible rate. This required first optimizing the agricultural industry for maximal output which, he believed, would require comparatively less capital than other development, use that for initial trade then make a shift towards other industrial development as quickly as possible.
Within four years of Lenin's death, by 1929, Josef Stalin maneuvered to consolidate his own power within the Communist party. He initially aligned himself with the right wing movement and completed his first purge of opponents from the left wing including followers of Trotsky and Preobrazhensky by 1927. Then, in an abrupt shift of power during 1928, he purged his former right wing allies, led by Bukharin. It was then that he adopted his own version of the big push towards heavy industrialization which was enacted as a five year plan starting in 1929. Though Stalin initially thought the farmers would eventually move towards collectivization, they were providing resistance to his plan. He brought about Draconian measures for extracting wealth from the farmers, and set his sights on a pace of industrialization never before thought possible. These events set the stage for the famines and Stalin's brutal rule for decades to come.
This is the third part of an essay about the transitional Soviet period. It is regarding the debates during the 1920's that went on to shape how the entire Soviet Union operated under Stalin. Sorry if things seem underdeveloped, I had to cram a whole lot of ideas into a short amount of space. I can expound if anybody would like.
As the new Soviet government neared the end of Lenin's New Economic Policy of a mixed economy which allowed for continued privatization of agriculture a debate on the direction in which to take the country took place. Two sides to this debate emerged. The left wing, led by EA Preobrazhensky and Leon Trotsky among others, advocated for a big push towards rapid industrialization with the end goal being an ending of dependence on foreign trade for the continued survival of the USSR. Russia, they believed, was rich enough in resources to be economically self-sufficient, and that being surrounded by potentially hostile capitalist nations would not prove a reliable form of trade in order to keep the Soviet economy afloat. They also argued that capitalism being allowed to exist among the rural peasantry was distinctly anti-Marxist, and felt it necessary to impose heavy penalties on the capitalist farmers for the benefit of socialist economic development. The right wing, consisting of those who proposed to continue in the same general direction of the NEP, consisted of Nikolai Bukharin and Josef Stalin among others. Their belief was that a balanced approach towards economic growth and maintaining good relations with farmers was paramount to the survival of the Soviet transition, and that the supremacy of socialist enterprise would eventually reach the country side and become the model for agriculture.
Both sides were attempting to create a solution to an obvious problem; Russia's various forms of industry, and in particular its development of its means of production, were severely underdeveloped and thus made the country economically and militarily vulnerable to its capitalist neighbors. The other key issue facing the USSR was that farmers were allowed to exist as capitalist entities during Lenin's New Economic Policy, which would pose a long-term threat to the country's agricultural needs and socialist development.
An understanding of the peasant farmers of the time is necessary to understand this debate, as what to do with their output was the essence of the policy debates of the 1920's. As mentioned, the farmers had been allowed to exist as capitalist entities most of the time since the serf emancipation of 1861. In addition to that, a significant majority of the peasant farmers were a religious people. This goes directly against Marxism, which is strictly adherent to atheism. Essentially, a large portion of Russia's population was allowed to exist and operate in a very un-Marxist fashion well after the Bolshevik revolution. This was primarily due to the need for their food output, which was necessary to keep the industrial sector running. Forcing them into socialist means of production too quickly would have resulted in at least gross economic inefficiencies, and possibly even large-scale sabotage of the country's food supply. What Preobrazhensky recognized was that this economic model would lead to an unacceptably low rate of accumulation of capital. His aim was to greatly speed up this process in order for the USSR to secure its place in Europe as an economic and thus military power.
Preobrazhensky's method of socialist accumulation derives from Marx's concept of primary capitalist accumulation, or what he referred to as the primitive accumulation. Paul Gregory and Robert Stuart summarize Marx's concept of primitive accumulation from Capital vol. II:
Marx divided the economy into two broad sectors, specifically sector I (producer goods) and sector II (consumer goods). The labor theory of value states that the value of output will equal the value of direct and indirect labor inputs plus surplus value (profits). Therefore, the value of each sector's output can be written:
V1 = c1 + v1 + s1
V2 = c2 + v2 + s2
Where: V = value of sector output
c = fixed capital cost, or depreciation
v = variable costs, primarily labor costs
s = surplus value (profits) of each sector
In a stationary (nongrowing) economy (what Marx described as simple reproduction), the output of sector I (investment goods) equals the depreciation requirements of both sectors I and II. On the other hand, if an economy is to grow (what Marx termed expanded reproduction), the net capital stock must expand. This occurs when the output of sector I (investment goods) exceeds the depreciation and expenses of both sectors I and II.
In short, Marx believed that for the capitalist economy to grow, the surplus value of each sector would be shifted either to the capitalists themselves or back into the fixed capital cost, but not into the labor cost over any level of subsistence required for the worker. Preobrazhensky adapted this idea to fit the situation in Russia, under which the farmers were producing the most capital at the time, in relation to their costs. Rather than rely on their output for trade in the long term, he promoted the idea of shifting the surplus of the farmer to the industrial sector so that the production of light industry and thus heavy industry may flourish at the fastest possible rate. This required first optimizing the agricultural industry for maximal output which, he believed, would require comparatively less capital than other development, use that for initial trade then make a shift towards other industrial development as quickly as possible.
Within four years of Lenin's death, by 1929, Josef Stalin maneuvered to consolidate his own power within the Communist party. He initially aligned himself with the right wing movement and completed his first purge of opponents from the left wing including followers of Trotsky and Preobrazhensky by 1927. Then, in an abrupt shift of power during 1928, he purged his former right wing allies, led by Bukharin. It was then that he adopted his own version of the big push towards heavy industrialization which was enacted as a five year plan starting in 1929. Though Stalin initially thought the farmers would eventually move towards collectivization, they were providing resistance to his plan. He brought about Draconian measures for extracting wealth from the farmers, and set his sights on a pace of industrialization never before thought possible. These events set the stage for the famines and Stalin's brutal rule for decades to come.
