Excerpts from
Historical Materialism: A System of Sociology
By Nikolai Bukharin, 1921.
e. The Use of Contradictions in the Histori- cal Process
The basis of all things is therefore the law of change, the law of constant mo- tion. Two philosophers particularly (the an- cient Heraclitus and the modern Hegel, as we have already seen) formulated this law of change, but they did not stop there. They also set up the question of the manner in which the process operates. The answer they discovered was that changes are pro- duced by constant internal contradictions, internal struggle. Thus, Heraclitus [73] de- clared: "Conflict is the mother of all happen- ings," while Hegel said: "Contradiction is the power that moves things."
There is no doubt of the correctness of this law. A moment's thought will con- vince the reader. For, if there were no con- flict, no clash of forces, the world would be in a condition of unchanging, stable equilib- rium, i.e., complete and absolute perma- nence, a state of rest precluding all motion. Such a state of rest would be conceivable only in a system whose component parts and forces would be so related as not to permit of the introduction of any conflicts, as to preclude all mutual interaction, all distur- bances. As we already know that all things change, all things are "in flux", it is certain that such an absolute state of rest cannot possibly exist. W e must therefore reject a condition in which there is no "contradiction between opposing and colliding forces", no disturbance of equilibrium, but only an ab- solute immutability. Let us take up this mat- ter somewhat more in detail.
In biology, when we speak of adap- tation, we mean that process by which one thing assumes a relation toward another thing that enables the two to exist simulta- neously. An animal that is "adapted" to its environment is an animal that has achieved the means of living in that environment. It is
suited to its surroundings, its qualities are such as to enable it to continue to live. The mole is "adapted" to conditions prevailing under the earth's surface; the fish, to condi- tions in the water; either animal transferred to the other's environment will perish at once.
A similar phenomenon may be ob- served also in so called "inanimate" nature: the earth does not fall into the sun, but re- volves around it "without mishap". The rela- tion between the solar system and the uni- verse which surrounds it, enabling both to exist side by side, is a similar relation. In the latter case we commonly speak, not of the adaptation, but of the equilibrium between bodies, or systems of such bodies, etc. W e may observe the same state of things in society. W hether we like it or not, society lives within nature: is therefore in one way or another in equilibrium with nature. And the various parts of society, if the latter is capable of surviving, are so adapted to each other as to enable them to exist side by side: capitalism, which included both capitalists and workers, had a very long ex- istence!
In all these examples it is clear that we are dealing with one phenomenon, that of equilibrium. This being the case, where do the contradictions come in? For there is no doubt that conflict [74] is a disturbance of equilibrium. It must be recalled that such equilibrium as we observe in nature and in society is not an absolute, unchanging equi- librium, but an equilibrium in flux, which means that the equilibrium may be estab- lished and destroyed, may be reestablished on a new basis, and again disturbed.
The precise conception of equilib- rium is about as follows: "W e say of a sys- tem that it is in a state of equilibrium when the system cannot of itself, i.e., without sup- plying energy to it from without, emerge
from this state." If—let us say—forces are at work on a body, neutralizing each other, that body is in a state of equilibrium; an in- crease or decrease in one of these forces will disturb the equilibrium.
If the disturbance of equilibrium is of short duration and the body returns to its former position, the equilibrium is termed stable; if this does not ensue, the equilib- rium is unstable. In the natural sciences we have mechanical equilibrium, chemical equi- librium, biological equilibrium. (Cf. H. von Halban: Chemisches Gleichgewickt, in Handworterbuch der Naturwissenschaften, vol. ii, Jena, 1912, pp. 470-519, from which we take the above quotation.)
In other words, the world consists of forces, acting in many ways, opposing each other. These forces are balanced for a mo- ment in exceptional cases only. W e then have a state of "rest", i.e., their actual "con- flict" is concealed. But if we change only one of these forces, immediately the "inter- nal contradictions" will be revealed, equilib- rium will be disturbed, and if a new equilib- rium is again established, it will be on a new basis, i.e., with a new combination of forces, etc. It follows that the "conflict", the "contradiction", i.e., the antagonism of for- ces acting in different1 directions, deter- mines the motion of the system.
On the other hand, we have here also the form of this process: in the first place, the condition of equilibrium; in the second place, a disturbance of this equilib- rium; in the third place, the reestablishment of equilibrium on a new basis. And then the story begins all over again: the new equilib- rium is the point of departure for a new dis- turbance, which in turn is followed by an- other state of equilibrium, etc., ad infinitum. Taken all together, we are dealing with a process of motion based on the develop- ment of internal contradictions.
Hegel observed this characteristic of motion and expressed it in the following
1Translation corrected.–editor.
manner: he called the original condition of equilibrium the thesis, the disturbance of equilibrium the antithesis, the reestablish- ment of equilibrium on a new basis the syn- thesis (the unifying proposition reconciling the contradictions). [75]
The characteristic of motion present in all things, expressing itself in this tripartite formula (or triad) he called dialectic.
The word "dialectics" among the an- cient Greeks meant the art of eloquence, of disputation. The course of a discussion is as follows: one man says one thing, another the opposite ("negates" what the first man said); finally, "truth is born from the strug- gle", and includes a part of the first man's statement and a part of the second man's (synthesis). Similarly, in the process of thought. Since Hegel, being an idealist, re- gards everything as a self-evolution of the spirit, he of course did not have any distur- bances of equilibrium in mind, and the prop- erties of thought as a spiritual and original thing were therefore, in his mind, properties also of being. Marx wrote in this connection: "My dialectic method is not only different from the Hegelian, but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, the life-process of the human brain, i.e., the process of thinking, which, under the name of 'the Idea', he even trans- forms into an independent subject, is the demiurgos of the real world, and the real world is only the external, phenomenal form of 'the Idea'. W ith me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought.... W ith him (Hegel) it
(dialectics) is standing on its head. It must be turned right side up again, if you would discover the rational kernel within the mysti- cal shell" (Capital, Chicago, 1915, vol. i, p. 25). For Marx, dialectics means evolution by means of contradictions, particularly, a law of "being", a law of the movement of matter, a law of motion in nature and society. It finds its expression in the process of thought. It is necessary to use the dialectic method, the dialectic mode of thought, be- cause the dialectics of nature may thus be
grasped.
It is quite possible to transcribe, the "mystical" (as Marx put it) language of the Hegelian dialectics into the language of modern mechanics. Not so long ago, almost all Marxians objected to the mechanical ter- minology, owing to the persistence of the ancient conception of the atom as a de- tached isolated particle. But now that we have the Electron Theory, which represents atoms as complete solar systems, we have no reason to shun this mechanical terminol- ogy. The most advanced tendencies of sci- entific thought in all fields accept this point of view. Marx already gives hints of such a formulation (the doctrine of equilibrium be- tween the various branches of production, the theory of labor value based thereon, etc.).
Any object, a stone, a living thing, a human society, etc., may be considered as a whole consisting of parts (elements) re- lated with each other; in other words, this whole may be regarded as a system. And no such system exists in empty space; it is surrounded by other natural objects, which, with reference to it, may be called the envi- ronment. For the tree in the forest, the envi- ronment means all the other trees, the brook, the earth, the ferns, the grass, the bushes, together with all their properties. Man's environment is society, in the midst of which he lives; the environment of human society is external nature. There is a con- stant [76] relation between environment and system, and the latter, in turn, acts upon the environment. W e must first of all investigate the fundamental question as to the nature of the relations between the environment and the system; how are they to be defined; what are their forms; what is their signifi- cance for their system. Three chief types of such relations may be distinguished.
1.Stable equilibrium. This is present when the mutual action of the environment and the system results in an unaltered condition, or in a disturbance of the first condition which is again re-established in the original
state. For example, let us consider a certain type of animals living in the steppes. The environment remains unchanged. The quantity of food available for this type of beast neither increases nor decreases; the number of animals preying upon them also remains the same; all the diseases, all the microbes (for all must be included in the "environment"), continue to exist in the origi- nal proportions. W hat will be the result? Viewed as a whole, the number of our ani- mals will remain the same; some of them will die or be destroyed by beasts of prey, others will be born, but the given type and the given conditions of the environment will remain the same as they were before. This means a condition of rest due to an un- changed relation between the system (the given type of animals) and the environment, which is equivalent to stable equilibrium. Stable equilibrium is not always a complete absence of motion; there may be motion, but the resulting disturbance is followed by a reestablishment of equilibrium on the for- mer basis. The contradiction between the environment and the system is constantly being reproduced in the same quantitative relation.
W e shall find the case the same in a society of the stagnant type (we shall go into this question more in detail later). If the relation between society and nature remains the same; i.e., if society extracts from na- ture, by the process of production, precisely as much energy as it consumes, the contra- diction between society and nature will again be reproduced in the former shape; the society will mark time, and there results a state of stable equilibrium.
2.Unstable equilibrium with positive (favor- able) indication (an expanding system). In actual fact, however, stable equilibrium does not exist. It constitutes merely an imaginary, sometimes termed the "ideal", case. As a matter of fact, the relation be- tween environment and the system is never reproduced in precisely [77] the same pro- portions; the disturbance of equilibrium
never actually leads to its reestablishment on exactly the same basis as before, but a new equilibrium is created on a new basis. For example, in the case of the animals mentioned above, let us assume that the number of beasts of prey opposing them decreases for some reason, while the avail- able food increases. There is no doubt that the number of our animals would then also increase; our "system" will then grow; a new equilibrium is established on a better basis; this means growth. In other words, the con- tradiction between the environment and the system has become quantitatively different.
If we consider human society, in- stead of these animals, and assume that the relation between it and nature is altered in such manner that society—by means of production—extracts more energy from na- ture than is consumed by society (either the soil becomes more fruitful, or new tools are devised, or both), this society will grow and not merely mark time. The new equilibrium will in each case be actually new. The con- tradiction between society and nature will in each case be reproduced on a new and "higher" basis, a basis on which society will increase and develop. This is a case of un- stable equilibrium with positive indication.
3.Unstable equilibrium with negative indica- tion(a declining system). Now let us con- sider the quite different case of a new equi- librium being established on a "lower" basis. Let us suppose, for example, that the quan- tity of food available to our beasts has de- creased, or that the number of beasts of prey has for some reason increased. Our animals will die out. The equilibrium be- tween the system and the environment will in each case be established on the basis of the extinction of a portion of this system. The contradiction will be reestablished on a new basis, with a negative indication. Or, in the case of society, let us assume that the relation between it and nature has been al- tered in such manner that society is obliged to consume more and more and obtain less and less (the soil is exhausted, technical
methods become poorer, etc.). New equilib- rium will here be established in each case on a lowered basis, by reason of the de- struction of a portion of society. W e are now dealing with a declining society, a disap- pearing system, in other words, with motion having a negative indication.
Every conceivable case will fall un- der one of these three heads. At the basis of the motion, as we have seen, there is in fact the contradiction between the environ- ment and the system, which is constantly being reestablished. [78] But the matter has another phase also. Thus far we have spo- ken only of the contradictions between the environment and the system, i.e., the exter- nal contradictions. But there are also inter- nal contradictions, those that are within the system. Each system consists of its compo- nent parts (elements), united with each other in one way or another. Human society consists of people; the forests, of trees and bushes; the pile of stones, of the various stones; the herd of animals, of the individual animals, etc. Between them there are a number of contradictions, differences, im- perfect adaptations, etc. In other words, here also there is no absolute equilibrium. If there can be, strictly speaking, no absolute equilibrium between the environment and the system, there can also be no such equi- librium between the elements of the system itself.
This may be seen best by the exam- ple of the most complicated system, name- ly, human society. Here we encounter an endless number of contradictions; we find the struggle between classes, which is the sharpest expression of "social contradic- tions", and we know that "the struggle be- tween classes is the motive force of his- tory". The contradictions between the class- es, between groups, between ideals, be- tween the quantity of labor performed by individuals and the quantity of goods distrib- uted to them, the planlessness in production (the capitalist "anarchy" in production), all these constitute an endless chain of contra- dictions, all of which are within the system
and grow out of its contradictory structure ("structural contradictions"). But these con- tradictions do not of themselves destroy society. They may destroy it (if, for example, both opposing classes in a civil war destroy each other), but it is also possible they may at times not destroy it.
In the latter case, there will be an unstable equilibrium between the various elements of society. W e shall later discuss the nature of this equilibrium; for the present we need not go into it. But we must not re- gard society stupidly, as do so many bour- geois scholars, who overlook its internal contradictions. On the contrary, a scientific consideration of society requires that we consider it from the point of view of the con- tradictions present within it. Historical "growth" is the development of contradic- tions.
W e must again point out a fact with which we shall have to deal more than once in this book. W e have said that these con- tradictions are of two kinds: between the environment and this system, and between the elements of the system and the system itself. Is [79] there any relation between these two phenomena? A moment's thought will show us that such a relation exists.
It is quite clear that the internal structure of the system (its internal equilib- rium) must change together with the relation existing between the system and its envi- ronment. The latter relation is the decisive factor; for the entire situation of the system, the fundamental forms of its motion (de- cline, prosperity, or stagnation) are deter- mined by this relation only.
Let us consider the question in the following form: we have seen above that the character of the equilibrium between society and nature determines the fundamental course of the motion of society. Under these circumstances, could the internal structure continue for long to develop in the opposite direction? Of course not. In the case of a growing society, it would not be possible for the internal structure of society to continue constantly to grow worse. If, in a condition
of growth, the structure of society should become poorer, i.e., its internal disorders grow worse, this would be equivalent to the appearance of a new contradiction: a con- tradiction between the external and the in- ternal equilibrium, which would require the society, if it is to continue growing, to under- take a reconstruction, i.e., its internal struc- ture must adapt itself to the character of the external equilibrium. Consequently, the in- ternal (structural) equilibrium is a quantity which depends on the external equilibrium (is a "function” of this external equilibrium).
f. The Theory of Cataclysmic Changes and the Theory of Revolutionary Transforma- tions in the Social Sciences
W e have now to consider the final phase of the dialectic method, namely, the theory of sudden changes. No doubt it is a widespread notion that "nature makes no sudden jumps" (natura non facit saltus2). This wise saying is often applied in order to demonstrate "irrefutably" the impossibility of revolution, although revolutions have a habit of occurring in spite of the moderation of our friends the professors. Now, is nature really so moderate and considerate as they pre- tend?
In his Science of Logic (W issen- schaft der Logik3), Hegel says: "It is said that there are no sudden changes in nature, and the common view has it (meint) that when we speak of a growth or a destruction (Entstehen oder Vergehen), we always imagine a [80] gradual growth (Hervorgeh- en) or disappearance (Verschwinden). Yet we have seen cases in which the alteration of existence (des Seins) involves not only a transition from one proportion to another, but also a transition, by a sudden leap, into
a quantitatively, and,
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on the other
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hand,
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a l s o q u a l i t a t i v e l y
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d i f f e r e n t
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t h i n g
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2“Nature does not make jum ps.”–editor.
3'Hegel W erke, 2d ed., vol. iii, p.
434.
(Anderswerden); an interruption of the grad- ual process (ein Abbrechen des Allmählich- en), differing qualitatively from the preced- ing, the former, state" (the italics are mine.—N. B.).
Hegel speaks of a transition of quan- tity into quality; there is a very simple illus- tration of such a transition. If we should heat water, we should find that throughout the process of heating, before a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.) is reached, the water will not boil and turn into steam. Portions of the water will move faster and faster, but they will not bubble on the surface in the form of steam. The change thus far is merely quan- titative; the water moves faster, the temper- ature rises, but the water remains water, having all the properties of water. Its quan- tity is changing gradually; its quality remains the same. But when we have heated it to 100° C., we have brought it to the "boiling- point". At once it begins to boil, at once the particles that have been madly in motion burst apart and leap from the surface in the form of little explosions of steam. The water has ceased to be water; it becomes steam, a gas. The former quality is lost; we now have a new quality, with new properties. W e have thus learned two important peculiari- ties in the process of change.
In the first place, having reached a certain stage in motion, the quantitative changes call forth qualitative changes (or, in more abbreviated form, "quantity becomes quality") ; in the second place, this transition from quantity to quality is accomplished in a sudden leap, which constitutes an interrup- tion in the gradual continuous process. The water was not constantly changing, with gradual deliberateness, into a little steam at a time, with the quantity of steam constantly increasing. For a long time it did not boil at all. But having reached the "boiling-point", it began to boil. W e must consider this a sud- den change.
The transformation of quantity into quality is one of the fundamental laws in the motion of matter; it may be traced literally at every step both in nature and society. Hang
a weight at the end of a string, and gradu- ally add slight additional weights, each weight being as small as you like; up to a certain limit, the string “will hold". But once this limit has been exceeded, it will sud- denly [81] break. Force steam into a boiler; all will go well for a while; only the pressure indicator will show increases in the pressure of the steam against the walls of the boiler. But when the dial has exceeded a certain limit, the boiler will explode. The pressure of the steam exceeded—perhaps by a very little—the power of resistance offered by the walls of the boiler. Before this moment, the quantitative changes had not led to a "cata- clysm", to a qualitative change, but at that "point" the boiler exploded.
Several men are unable to lift a stone. Another joins them; they are still un- able to do it. A weak old woman joins them—and their united strength raises the stone. Here, but a slight additional force was needed, and as soon as this force was added the job was done. Let us take an- other example. Leo Tolstoi wrote a story called "Three Rolls and a Cookie". The point of the story is the following: a man, to ap- pease his hunger, ate one roll after another, for each still left him hungry; in fact, after his third roll, he was still hungry; then he ate a little cookie, and his hunger was appeased. He then cursed his folly for not having eaten the cookie first: for then he would not have had to eat the rolls. Of course, we are aware of his mistake; we are dealing here with a qualitative change, the transition from the feeling of hunger to that of satiation, which transition was accomplished in one bound (after eating the cookie). But this qualitative difference ensued after the quan- titative differences: the cookie would have been of no use without the rolls.
W e thus find that it is foolish to deny the existence of sudden changes, and to admit only a deliberate gradual process. Sudden leaps are often found in nature, and the notion that nature permits of no such violent alterations is merely a reflection of the fear of such shifts in society, i.e., of the
fear of revolution.
It is a characteristic fact that the ear- lier theories of the bourgeoisie, touching the question of the creation of the universe, were catastrophic theories, though naive and wrong ones. Such, for instance, was Cuvier's theory. This was displaced by the evolution theory, which introduced many new elements, but one-sidedly denied cata- clysmic changes. Of such nature are the works of Lyell (Principles of Geology) in the field of geology. But at the end of the last century there again arose a theory which recognized the importance of sudden changes. For instance, the botanist De Vries (the so called mutation theory) main- tained that from time to time, on the basis of previous changes, sudden alterations of form ensue, which later fortify themselves and become the starting points of new courses of evolution. The older views, which were hostile to "sudden changes", are now no [82] longer sufficient. Such notions (Leib- nitz, for instance, says: "Everything in na- ture goes step by step, never by leaps and bounds"—tout va par degres dans la nature et rien par saut) evidently arose on a con- servative social soil.
The denial of the contradictory char- acter of evolution by bourgeois scholars is based on their fear of the class struggle and on their concealment of social contradic- tions. Their fear of sudden changes is based on their fear of revolution; all their wisdom is contained in the following reason- ing: there are no violent changes in nature, there cannot be any such violent changes anywhere; therefore, you proletarians, do not dare make a revolution! Yet here it be- comes exceptionally evident that bourgeois science is in contradiction with the most fun- damental requirements of all science. Ev- erybody knows that there have been many revolutions in human society. W ill anyone deny that there was an English Revolution, or a French Revolution, or a Revolution of 1848, or the Revolution of 1917? If these violent changes have taken place in society, and are still taking place, science should not
"deny" them, refusing to recognize facts, but should understand these sudden shifts, and explain them.
Revolutions in society are of the same character as the violent changes in nature. They do not suddenly "fall from the sky". They are prepared by the entire pre- ceding course of development, as the boil- ing of water is prepared by the preceding process of heating or as the explosion of a steam-boiler is prepared by the increasing pressure of the steam against its walls. A revolution in society means its reconstruc- tion, "a structural alteration of the system". Such a revolution is an inevitable conse- quence of the contradictions between the structure of society and the demands for its development. W e shall discuss the nature of this process below. For the present we need only to know the following: in society, as in nature, violent changes do take place; in society, as in nature, these sudden changes are prepared by the preceding course of things; in other words, in society as in nature, evolution (gradual develop- ment) leads to revolution (sudden change) : "The violent changes presuppose a preced- ing evolution, and the gradual changes lead to violent changes. These are two neces- sary factors in a single process."4
The contradictory nature of evolu- tion, the question of cataclysmic changes, is one of the most essential theoretical ques- tions. Though a [83] great number of bour- geois schools and tendencies oppose tele- ology and favor determinism, etc., they nev- ertheless stumble on these questions. The Marxian theory is not a theory of evolution but of revolution. For this very reason it is unacceptable to the ideologists of the bour- geoisie, and they are therefore ready to "ac- cept” the whole theory except its revolution- ary dialectics Objections to Marxism usu- ally assume the same form. Thus, W erner Sombart, a German professor, treats Marx
4Plekhanov: Criticism of Our Critics (in Russian), 1906 edition, p. 104.
with great respect where evolution is in- volved, but at once attacks him as soon as he scents theoretically the revolutionary elements of Marxism. Entire theories are even built up, showing that Marx was a scholar in his evolutionary point of view, but ceased to be a scholar when he be- came—even theoretically—a revolutionist; he then leaves the sphere of science and gives himself up to revolutionary passions. P. Struve, once a Marxian, author of the first manifesto of the Russian Social-Democ- racy, a man later metamorphosized into a protagonist of pogroms and a prime counter-revolutionary ideologist, also began by attacking Marxism in its theory of cata- clysmic changes. Plekhanov, then a revolu- tionist, wrote: "Mr. Struve wants to show us that nature makes no sudden leaps, and that the intellect (reason) will not bear such leaps. The fact is, Struve means his own intellect, which indeed tolerates no leaps, for the simple reason, as is said, that he cannot bear a certain dictatorship." (The italics are Plekhanov's; Criticism of Our Crit- ics, p. 99.) The so called "organic school", the Positivists, Spencerians, evolutionists, etc., all oppose cataclysmic changes be-
cause they cannot bear a "certain dictator- ship".
BIBLIOGRAPHY
As with chapters i and ii, adding the follow- ing: Deborin: Introduction to the Philosophy of Dialectic Materialism (in Russian). G. Plekhanov (N. Beltov) : Criticism of Our Crit- ics (in Russian). Karl Marx: Introduction to a Critique of Political Economy, Chicago, 1913. G. Plekhanov: Fundamental Prob- lems of Marxism (in Russian). J. Berman: Dialectics in the Light of the Modern Theory of Cognition (in Russian; not orthodox, but critical). A. Bogdanov: General Science of Organization (in Russian; an ingenious at- tempt to dispense with philosophy). L. Or- thodox (Axelrod) : Philosophical Sketches (in Russian). Karl Kautsky: Anti-Bernstein (in German). N. Bukharin: Die politische Okonomik des Rentiers (methodological part). The critical literature written in opposi- tion to dialectic materialism is exceedingly voluminous. The most important Russian writers in this field are Kareyev and Tugan- Baranovsky (The Theoretical Foundations of Marxism).
Excerpts from
The Path to Socialism and Worker-Peasant Unity,
by Nicholai Bukharin, 1925.
After the seziure of power by the Bolsheviks (communists) in November, 1917, there following 4 years of civil war and foreign intervention, which the Bolsheviks finally won. Faced with a devastated economy, the Bolsheviks inaugurated a policy called the NEP, for New Eco- nomic Policy. This policy tolerated capitalists in the cities, the so-called NEPmen, and the rural capitalists called “kulaks” in the countryside, where most people lived. (“Kulak” is Russian for “fist.”). The NEP lasted until the end of the end of the 1920s, when the Bolsheviks decided that the power of the kulaks was too dangerous to tolerate any longer and inaugurated the policy of “liquidation of the kulaks as a class.” This meant the dispossession and deportation of the ku- laks, which constituted about 4% of the rural population, and the collectivization of agriculture. Bukharin was an important leader in Bolshevik peasant policy in the 1920s, and advocated a conciliatory policy toward the kulaks. In 1929, however, he was politically defeated, and soon lost all influence. In the late Soviet period and afterward, some looked back to Bukharin’s ideas as a promising “road not taken” in Soviet peasant policy. –editor.
The more the national economy as a whole will progress, and the more quickly our state industry will grow, the more power- ful will be the support for those strata of the peasantry whose standard of living will catch up to the prosperous top village class, but who at the same time will grow not at the price of exploitation, not at the price of someone else's labor, but by virtue of the improvement of the means of carrying on their economy and the unification of the ef- forts of a series of peasant households through cooperative organization which will, subsequently, be transformed more and more into a collective type of farming. In this manner the basic network of our co-opera- tive peasant organizations will consist of cooperative cells not of a kulak but of a "la- boring" type, cells growing in the system of our nation-wide organs and becoming thus links of a single chain of socialist economy. On the other hand, kulak co-operative nests will, of course, through banks, etc., grow in this same system; but they will be to an im- portant degree foreign bodies, similar, for example, to concession businesses. W hat will [202] become of this kind of kulak coop- eration later on? Let us suppose, for exam- ple, that we have a credit association head- ed by kulaks having full authority. This kulak cooperative, if it wishes to prosper, must of necessity be linked, like all the others, with the state economic organs; it, for example, will deposit its free cash in our banks to re- ceive a fixed interest rate. Even if their own banking organizations should arise of a sort similar to the cooperative, nevertheless, inevitably they would have to be tied with the powerful credit establishments of the proletarian state, having at their disposal the basic credit resources of the country. In any event there will be nowhere for the ku- lak and the kulak organizations to go, for the general pattern of development in our country has already been determined as the system of the proletarian dictatorship, and that dictatorship's economic organizations are already in a significant stage of develop-
ment. If the kulak willy-nilly becomes a de- positor in our banks, if he willy-nilly begins to be tied by a whole series of relations to our economic organs, then he inevitably will be squeezed into the defined framework....
To suppose that kulak farms will grow faster than the entire state industry would require supposing something directly opposed to reality. In the development of our national economy as a whole the already estab- lished large-scale industry, which is found wholly in the hands of the proletarian state, will develop fastest of all. This growth itself will determine everything and will serve as a sufficient guarantee that the kulak or the prosperous peasant, employing several ag- ricultural workers, will have to submit to our general system....
In our country at present there are three classes of which two classes—the workers and peasants—are the basic class- es of our society and of our system, but the third class— the b ourgeoisie (kulaks, nepmen, etc.)—exists only so far as it is "tolerated" to a certain degree and on cer- tain conditions "of collaboration" with the working class and the peasantry.... From
that position, which the working class now occupies as the ruling class, emerges a whole series of fundamental conclusions for the policy of the workers' state. The basic and main conclusion, ... is the following: in the period of capitalism the task of the work- ing class was the overthrow of society, [while] in the conditions of [203] the prole- tarian dictatorship the task of the working class is not the overthrow of the system of the proletarian dictatorship and the new so- ciety being created, hut, on the contrary, all- out support of it, the strengthening of it, the guidance of it. From this, in their turn, other conclusions inevitably follow, namely con- clusions concerning the very form of the class struggle in our society. The class struggle, as we know perfectly well, does not end and does not die out at once, but will continue for a very, very long time, as long as the division into classes does not
wholly disappear forever. But even now we see how the question concerning the main path of the class struggle and the question of the forms of that struggle inevitably change. In a capitalistic society, where the concern of the proletariat is in trying to over- throw that society, the constant task con- sists of every kind of aggravation and kind- ling of the class struggle until that class struggle assumes the fiercest of its forms, namely the form of civil war and armed struggle on the part of the toiling masses against the ruling capitalist regime.... The
party of the working class within the capital- istic system is the party of civil war. The po- sition is completely reversed when the work- ing class takes power into its hands, basing itself on the broad strata of the peasantry. In so far as the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is smashed, and in its place has already arisen the dictatorship of the proletariat, the task of the working class becomes the strengthening of that dictatorship and the defense of it against any sort of encroach- ment. The party of the working class under such circumstances becomes the party of civil peace, i.e., it requires submission to the working class by the former ruling classes, strata and groups; it requires civil peace from them and the working class now prose- cutes and punishes all disturbers of this civil peace, all conspirators, saboteurs—in a word, all who interfere in the matter of peaceful construction of the new society....
In accordance with this there ap- pears also a change in the very forms of the class struggle. W e shall illustrate this with a series of examples. W e shall take, first of all, relations with the bourgeoisie. Under capitalism we extended the development of the struggle against it right up to the use of armed force. Of course, if the bourgeoisie attempted now to come out against [204] us with arms in hand just as it did in 1917, 1918, 1919, etc., we would immediately ap- ply our armed force and make short work of such an opponent in a way that it would de- serve. But now we are in a completely dif- ferent position. The strength of the Soviet
power and its stability are so evident that the complete hopelessness of launching any active and sharp political struggle against the new system is perfectly obvious to the bourgeois strata of our society (the nepmen). W illy-nilly, these strata will have to make their peace with the existing order of things. Economic activity is permitted to this bourgeoisie within definite limits. In gen- eral we do not now prohibit private trade; we permit a series of private enterprises; we do not seal up private shops any more; we give these circles, therefore, a substantial possi- bility of existence. Does this mean that the class struggle has ended? No, by no means. But this struggle has very essen- tially changed its form. It continues to be conducted by the working class: our legisla- tion, guaranteeing the workers' interests, ensuring the definite rights of trade unions, forcing the private owners to pay insurance rates, depriving these owner circles of elec- toral rights in the political organs of power, etc.—this is a new form of class struggle. The system of taxation, by which the in- come and profits of capitalistic enterprises are assessed, taxation of the bourgeoisie such as is not found in a single [other] coun- try,—this is precisely a new form of class struggle. The competition from state indus- try, state trade, cooperatives—this again is a new form of class struggle. W hen our state gives special privileges and advan- tages to cooperative enterprises, when this state especially finances, i.e., subsidizes by monetary means, the cooperative organiza- tions, when it through legislation provides broad rights for them,—all this is a new form of class struggle. If in the process of compe- tition in the market place state industry, commerce, cooperatives gradually force out the private owner—that is a victory in the class struggle, but a victory not in a me- chanical clash of strength, not through the help of armed seizure, but wholly within the new framework which did not exist earlier, which in the capitalist regime was com- pletely unthinkable for the working class and the peasantry.
Exactly in this manner the form of the class struggle changes [205] in the countryside. True, here and there the class struggle in the countryside breaks out in its former manifestations, in which the aggravation is usually caused by kulak elements.... How-
ever, such instances usually occur where
the local soviet apparatus is still weak....
Several years ago the main form of the class struggle in the countryside was direct administrative pressure on the top rural class: at first constant confiscation and req- uisition among the more prosperous peas- antry and the transfer of this confiscated property to the use of the poverty-stricken (in the period of the Committees of the Poor).... W hile in the city from the very be-
ginning of the new economic policy we per- mitted economic activity by the private trad- ers and owners, in the country, as a matter of fact, the rural bourgeoisie were con- fronted with obstacles which severely re- stricted this activity or made it practically impossible. At present (summer, 1925) we are on the point of changing this system and we are giving great freedom of move- ment to the rural bourgeois elements. But this does not in the least mean that we are ceasing to carry on the class struggle against the rural bourgeoisie. This does not in the least mean that we refuse to support the poor and middle strata against the ex- ploiting strata. W e only are changing the form of our class struggle against the petty rural capitalists. W e are turning to a new form of this class struggle, more expedient under the present circumstances.
In the city we do not at all seal up the shops of the private trader; we allow his "work." As a result we have a great revival of commodity circulation in the entire coun- try. And this trader also becomes a buyer in our state industry and in our wholesale state trade; on the other hand he sells our wares in the various corners of our country—so long as our own state and cooperative com- modity distribution network is very weak. By this, of course, he obtains commercial profit or a share of that commercial profit. But,
nevertheless, independently of his will he furthers— thanks to the general revival of commodity circulation and the growth of our state industry and growth of our state trade- the quicker turnover of the general capital of the country including the capital of our state industry and our state trade. For that reason the machine of production itself revolves faster, the process of [206] accumulation [of capital] goes faster, and for that reason the power of our state industry increases faster—that fundamental base, fundamental foundation, or socialist society. On the other hand, by taxing the bourgeois strata we at the same time obtain additional means which go into our state treasury. . . . Such a policy is thus a class policy on our part. This class policy has as its aim the support of the toilers against the remains of the exploit- ative world. But the form of this policy, the form of that class struggle, as we see, is completely different from that of simply seal- ing up the shops of the private traders....
Now we can also transfer such a policy to our countryside, persuading our rural workers not to practice the system of direct administrative "suppression" and "pressure" with respect to the more prosper- ous strata of the countryside. But again, does this mean that here we wish to give up the class struggle with this agricultural bour- geoisie? Not at all. Just as we do not give up the class struggle with the city bourgeoi- sie (the nepmen) when we permit it to oc- cupy itself with its "interests," so the corre- sponding policy in the country by no means signifies the giving up of the struggle. W e are only changing its form. Against the shops of the rural traders we have to em- ploy not the organs of direct coercion and violence, but our excellent cooperative shops. Against the rural usurer who lends money at outrageous interest rates, or who rents his horse to the horseless peasant under bondage conditions, we should bring forward first and foremost a battery of our credit associations, an excellent organiza- tion of cheap cooperative credit and help on the part of the state power. Our merchan-
dise should be better and cheaper than the merchandise of the private trader, our credit loans should be larger and much cheaper than the loans which the usurer gives, the cooperative should trade better and be more accommodating to the local rural de- mand than private trade. These are the weapons we should bring to the front in our struggle with the exploiting elements of the countryside.
It is possible, however, to ask one- self: is it correct to transfer to the country- side such a policy which is suitable for the city? Of course, for this question there is an important and extremely substantial differ- ence between the conditions of the eco- nomic [207] struggle in the city and the con- ditions of that economic struggle in the countryside. In the city we already have "the commanding heights" more or less well or- ganized and working well; this, of course, is our heavy artillery in the struggle with the city nepmen. But where are such "com- manding heights" in the countryside?....W ill
conditions not be such that the kulak ele- ments will show themselves to be immea- surably stronger economically than the re- maining peasantry and, by the same token, will they not be able to whip through us and consequently find themselves the directors and masters of all rural life?
To this quite valid question we must give this answer: the commanding height in relation to the rural bourgeoisie is the prole- tarian city. It is impossible to imagine a state of affairs wherein the countryside develops completely independently of the city. W e have already said that with the growth of productive forces in the nation the influence of the city will be more and more decisive in the development of our agriculture. And the core of this city, its proletarian industry, its banking system, its legislation, etc., all this is a "turning of the face to the country," i.e., all this serves as the most powerful support to the middle and poor elements of the countryside, support against its kulak strata.
The connecting link between the proletarian city and the toiling countryside is
the cooperative system which stands ex- actly at the Junction between this city and countryside, itself embodying above all that economic bond between the working class and the peasantry, the strengthening of which is the basic task of the working class and our party.... Step by step state industry
and state trade, uniting with the rural coop- erative system, which, in turn, being ex- tended from trade to production itself, will force out private capital; industrial, trade, and usurious. The peasant farms will be drawn into the general state-cooperative organization and will be absorbed through the various forms of cooperative organiza- tions, primarily the producers' cooperatives, exactly as the petty artisans and handi- craftsmen here [in the city] will be drawn in and absorbed....
The partial development of capitalis- tic relations in the country-side, which will occur in the immediate years ahead, will of
[208]necessity, however, also call forth other forms of the class struggle besides the purely economic struggle, i.e., besides the struggle of various economic forms against each other.... The struggle between the kulak and the farm laborer involves questions concerning the conditions of hired labor (length of the work day, wages, forms of payment for work, general conditions of work, etc., etc.). But here also the class struggle of the farm laborers, who are a part of the working class now in power, has forms entirely different from those forms of the class struggle which had been peculiar to the capitalistic regime. This is because the farm laboring group, which on the kulak farm finds itself, so to say, under its master, at the same time, as a part of the ruling class, stands over him even though individ- ual farm laborers have not realized this. In what does this fact find its expression? In that the entire legislation of our country is aimed at the exploiters and each of its para- graphs defends the interests of the workers, in that the trade unions of the working class and the trade unions of the farm laborers enjoy by law recognized rights such as they
do not have in a single capitalist country, in that the courts of our country punish em- ployers for violation of these laws, etc., etc. For this reason the class struggle of the farm labor group in the final analysis is not at all directed towards ruining the farm of the kulak and dividing it among them- selves. . . . The farm labor group carries on its class struggle in other forms, forcing proper conditions of work through its trade organizations and through its state power, the Soviet power, and it has recourse to the courts of its class if it is necessary to curb the farm owners....
In the final analysis the development of market transactions destroys itself be- cause, in so far as through these market transactions ... the state industry and coop- eratives absorb all the remaining economic forms and gradually squeeze them out to the end through the market, to that extent the market itself will sooner or later die out, for all will be replaced by state-cooperative distribution of manufactured products.
In that way our conception of the development towards socialism has been changed to a significant extent, but these changes do not express in the slightest a retreat from the proletarian [209] policy; on the contrary, they express the accounting of a colossal revolutionary experiment. For the first time we found in the new economic pol- icy the correct combination between the private interests of the petty producer and the general interests of socialist construc- tion. The new economic policy is not a be- trayal of the proletarian line but the only cor- rect proletarian policy. That has now be- come clearer than clear.
It is also possible to a certain extent to say of the bourgeoisie in capitalistic soci- ety that it, the bourgeoisie, was the leader of all society, its foremost and most edu- cated class; but leadership by the bourgeoi- sie and leadership by the proletariat differ from each other in the sharpest, deepest, most fundamental manner. For the develop- ment of capitalistic society, at the head of which [211] stood the bourgeoisie, led to the
difference between the bourgeoisie on the one hand [and] the working class and the peasantry on the other, increasing and be- coming more and more aggravated. It is impossible even to think that within the frame-work and limits of the capitalistic sys- tem the working class and the peasantry could achieve equality with the bourgeoisie in their material position, the level of their life, their education, their social position. This would contradict the most fundamental basis of bourgeois society. On the contrary, the very essence of this bourgeois society lies in its sharpest division into classes....:
the bourgeoisie in the countries where it rules has a monopoly (i.e., exclusive owner- ship) not only of the means of production, factories, mills, railroads, etcetera; it has a monopoly not only over the state power, into which it allows no one; but it also has a complete actual monopoly over higher edu- cation, over the press (newspapers, maga- zines), over science, etc.... The bourgeoisie
never set and could not set as its aim the uplifting, systematically and steadily, of the new peoples' strata towards a cultural life, for that would mean the downfall of its own power.
The working class pursues exactly the opposite, a completely different policy. Its goal is not the perpetuation of the same relationship between classes: its goal is the overcoming of class differences, the aboli- tion of those class differences by re-educat- ing the broad masses of the people; for that [purpose] it utilizes all the means at its dis- posal and all the might of its state power. The basis of that transformation is the trans- formation of the economic relationships of society, the development of that society on the path to socialism.... Attracting a larger
and larger number of non-party peasants to soviet work and helping them in that work to re-educate themselves, to grow, to trans- form their nature, to acquire habits neces- sary for the affairs of public administration, to acquire an understanding not only of lo- cal but also of nationwide goals, etc., the working class by the same token gradually
begins to wipe out the boundary between itself and the foremost strata of the peas- antry. Through these foremost strata other strata, new groups of peasants, will pass to a higher stage and will lift themselves to a new life, active and aware; [212] and, little by little, on the basis of the proletarian lead- ership, the peasantry will coalesce with the working class in its customs, habits, thoughts, hopes and aims. Likewise, through the co-operative the peasant econ- omy will coalesce with the state economy of the proletariat and, in the final analysis, hav- ing remade itself, will flow into a single planned socialist economy, just as in all
walks of life the peasantry will grow together
with the working class....
This will also be the destruction (dy- ing away) of the proletarian dictatorship it- self as "not wanted." But to arrive at that goal a persistent and firm policy is neces- sary, which, bearing that goal in mind, pow- erfully directs the course of social develop- ment. That is why at the present stage of development it is necessary to preserve in full the only actual guarantee of the correct policy, which guarantee is the system of the proletarian dictatorship, resting on the peas- antry and being in an alliance with that peasantry.
Excerpt from
“Contradictions of Contemporary Capitalism”
by N. Bukharin
Bolshevik, no. 10, September, 1924.
[9]Herr Hilferding recognizes that vic- tory [in W orld W ar I] was obtained by Anglo- Saxon capital [of Great Britain and the Unit- ed States]; Herr Hilferding is prepared to make friends both with the political and “spir- itual” “Anglo-Saxon supremacy.” And it is here that Herr Hilferding also begins to re- veal the real social-democratic paradise.
Up to now, Marxism has asserted that wars are connected with capitalism by an unbreakable bond. But our “thinker” cou- rageously does away with this “obsolete” view.
[10]At first he, winking at the “Anglo-
Saxon” side with their beautiful “political and spiritual habitus,”5 crawls on his belly to
these “necessary” conclusions:
“The interests of the Anglo-Saxon gov- ernm ents, in particular the English, are connected more with consolidation and organization of territory already con-
5Physical and mental constitution orpredispostion–editor.
quered, and not with new territorial ex- pansion.... These interests.... are in full
harm ony with the interests of the dem - ocratic masses.”
And further, still quite openly:
“Really capitalism actually m eans war, so can peace be assured only after over- com ing it fully? Or else is it possible to create by means of consistent (!) poli- cies, which organically unite different sovereignties in favor of supra-govern- m ental organizations, new form s of peaceful political order? Is there not also here (?!! H. B.) more room for evolution- ary development than has been sup- posed up to now?
And Herr Hilferding gives us to un- derstand that it is just he–speaking of evolu- tion against revolution, for the “League of Nations” against separate sovereignties, for “Anglo-Saxon” “supremacy,” “habitus,” dol- lar and other good things against those events which are played in “W estern Eu- rope” (and about which he only scornfully
tosses off a few words–yes, he is a “scrupu- lous,” respectable “investigator!”).
Thus, Rudolf Hilferding belatedly revives the [theory of] “ultra-imperialism” of Karl Kautsky, who preached this utopia at the beginning of the [First W orld] war. A re- markable “irony of history!” Before the war Kautsky also greatly admired English politi- cal “habitus,” considered English imperial- ism completely innocent, nothing less than a bastion of peace and reverence “for man- kind.” And now, after Anglo-Russian-French preparations for war have been well docu- mented, after peace (evidently also in the “evolutionary order”) has barely succeed and barely failed to be overwhelmed in blood, the thought of social-democratic the- orists is brought back to its starting point, enriched dialectically in the course of forfeit- ing the last remnants of Marxist conscience.
Thus Herr Hilferding raises the ques- tion (and mutters an affirmative answer) of “ultra-imperialism.”
Generally speaking, this imperialist “union of unions,” “supra-state organiza- tion,” a single “world trust,” etc., could be realized in two ways:
Either by agreement; or by the strug- gle and victory of the strongest groups.
To hope for the first path is absurd. Since agreement is possible and real only when there is equality of forces, when [11] victory is beyond belief, when struggle is hopeless. But who will affirm that the forces are equal these days?
The second path is the path of vic- tory. Hilferding “takes on the basis of the victory of the ‘Anglo-Saxons’;” Anglo-Saxon “supremacy” is factually the “League of Na-
tions.”
But this is also an illusion. Above all, because inside “supremacy” there is no unity, but further because there exist a mil- lion other contradictions, which make this “paradise”6 quite illusory.
Excerpt from
B. Gessen and I. Podvolotskii, “The Philosophical Roots of Right Op-
portunism,” Under the Banner of
Marxism, 1929, No. 9, p. 9.
The unity of opposites is not the prevalence of one opposite over another in the manner of Bukharin’s “antagonistic forces.” A correct understanding of the sub- ject consists not in what sets the direction of its movement by the investigation of the di- rection of forces or disturbing of equilibrium, but understanding the unity of its contradic- tory structure.
Dialectical contradictions do not dis- solve one another and do not neutralize one another. Similarly oppositely directed forces do not prevail over one another, but turn into one another, and this transition of every phenomenon, every process into its oppo- site constitutes the essence of all forms of movement of matter, a general law of its existence.
6The word translated “paradise” is illegible in the Russian text–editor.
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