Time for another perestroika

The strength of the mafia does not consist in its roots in its own society. It came to power because the forces fighting for a reformed, democratic and humane socialismwere unable to replace the power of the state and party bureaucracy. This bureaucracy had under the leadership of Stalin defeated the democratic power of the workers and peasants which had come into being through the Russian Revolution of November 1917.

To both establish and consolidate its power the bureaucracy destroyed democracy and used terror on a vast scale. Terror could not last forever. However, the administrative command system of running the economy reached the limits of its utility by the middle of the 1950s. Khrushchev led the attempt to end terror and to reform the economic mechanism but without ending bureaucratic power. He did not succeed and was removed from office by a peaceful coup.

There was no return to Stalinist terror but attempts to reform the economic and political system were half-heartedly pursued and then abandoned. Then came the Brezhnev era of stagnation which lasted for over two decades. There were achievements in these decades especially in the spheres of space exploration,building the military strength of the Soviet Union and consolidating ties with the Third World, especially India. But the economy faced a severe crisis, halted its growth and lagged seriously behind in the scientific-technological revolution which was sweeping across the world.

Then in 1985 came the second Soviet Revolution with perestroika reconstruction as its objective and glasnost openness as the means to reach it. A new non-violent, democratic and egalitarian world order was also envisaged. Seven tempestuous years followed in which the Stalinist political and economic system was given a mortal blow. But what did not happen was the establishment of a new system both in the Soviet Union and in the world.

Gorbachev did a stupendous job in liberating his people but he failed to lead them to build a new humane and democratic socialist system.

From 1991 onwards we have had the rule of the mafia with Yeltsin as their leader. It consists of members of the upper echelons of the bureaucracy whotransformed themselves from managers to owners which was the essence of the much touted privatisation strategy. In the name of the market taking over from planning what resulted was unbridled looting of the economy.

What has happened is neither an accident nor an aberration. It is the result of the deliberate pursuit of the strategy of transforming Russia into a capitalist society from the shambles of the despotic bureaucratic society which Stalinism had constructed. The collapse of Stalinism demonstrated that deformed, bureaucratic barrack-room socialism to which Marx had referred in his Economic and Philos-ophical Manuscripts was no alternative to capitalism. What has happened now had demonstrated that at the end of the twentieth century unbridled market-commanded capitalism is no alternative to Stalinism or to anything else for that matter. What has taken place from 1991 in Russia has had all the cruelty of the original primitive accumulation of capitalism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenthcentury in England without the saving grace of being the most productive system known in history.

The new Prime Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, has a long record of being involved in the leadership of his country but he himself was never a leader. His background is that of being a committed Communist academician who specialised in modern Afro-Asian history and then in world affairs in general. He became a member of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party and was among those supporting Gorbachev during the years of perestroika.

This was not only in the sphere of foreign affairs though this aspect of his work is best known especially because of his role as Gorbachev8217;s envoy to Saddam Hussain during the Gulf War. He was associated with developing the concepts and strategy of perestroika and in involving the academicians in this work. Nevertheless, what stands out is his lack of experience as a leader.

Apart from what can happen at the micro-level of what will be done to get out of the present depthof the economic crisis, Russia will have to squarely face the problem of strategic orientation. While the world is deeply concerned about what is now going on in Russia it will have even more cause for worry if Russia does not decide about its future.

With the Communists in Russia playing an important part in deciding the fate of prime ministers in that country some may be inclined to be optimistic about the return of Stalinism. This, however, is impossible. If at all Russia comes again under a dictatorship it will be of a ferociously reactionary type of functioning through the crack forces of the intelligence services and with the ideology of the great Russian chauvinism.

If the Communists are patient, help to build a broad democratic coalition of parties and persons, strive to maintain democracy, then they can play a vanguard role in Russia8217;s revival.

If at all there is going to be a return to anything it will not be to Stalinism without Stalin but to perestroika, perhaps, with Mikhail Gorbachev amongits leaders.

The writer is general secretary of UCPI