Bukharin & "Right Opposition"

[ZombieGrits]

The only thing I've been able to discern about the so-called "Right Opposition" in Comintern is that they were both anti-stalinist and anti-trotskyist, but i haven't found any real reason why:confused:. Can anybody tell me what were the real differences between the ideas of Bukharin and his faction compared to the policies of Stalin?

[FSL]

Bukharin and the rightists disagreed with Trotsky on whether building socialism in the USSR should be their target.
They disagreed with Stalin and the "centrist" faction on whether this target should be the country's immediate policy (according to their view, NEP should have been continued and the productive forces allowed to grow before any such attempt)

[Red Commissar]

The Right Opposition generally disagreed with the more radical concepts of the left opposition, which they viewed as unfeasible and too utopian. To this end Bukharin and others supported things like the NEP which some Trots felt would re-introduce capitalism. At this point, Bukharin and Stalin were still on the same side and Bukharin had no issue with figures like Trotsky being cast out, as far as I know.

Bukharin's group also argued for kulaks to be integrated gradually, where as the other groups saw them as petit-bourgeoisie opportunists who would not be faithful to the revolution.

However, they also began to oppose Stalin because they were worried that his industrial plans, centralization of economic planning, and collectivization was going too far and was not to the liking of the people. Bukharin, for one, argued for a furthered continuation of the NEP which Stalin's camp had begun to turn against in favor of a more statist solution.

The only place the "Left" and "Right" Oppositions mainly agreed was over Stalin's authoritarian tendencies. The Right Opposition was purged out later than the trotskyists, since they had mostly supported the government through the 1920s. Bukharin supported a concept like "socialism in one country" which the left opposition said was the roots of state capitalism.

However the main point to remember is that those terms are "relative", and that Bukharin was still a M-L in most regards.

[Devrim]

The main cause of difference was about the rate of industrialisation, and expansion of the state sector of the economy.


To this end Bukharin and others supported things like the NEP which some Trots felt would re-introduce capitalism.

Trotsky supported the NEP too.

Devrim

[el_chavista]

Look what wikipedia says about Russian left communism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_communism)


Russian left communism began in 1918 as a faction within the Russian Communist Party named the Left Communists, which opposed the signing of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Imperial Germany. The Left Communists wanted international proletarian revolution across the world. The leader of this faction, in the beginning, was Bukharin. This is confusing.

[Devrim]

Look what wikipedia says about Russian left communism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_communism)

This is confusing.
In the early days of the revolution up until their factional existance was banned in mid 1918, Bukharin was a left communist. As the revolution ebbed in the West, he moved to the right.

Devrim

[RED DAVE]

Another important question is: why did Stalin have Bukharin purged and executed?

RED DAVE

[el_chavista]

Another important question is: why did Stalin have Bukharin purged and executed?

RED DAVE
IMHO it's something about Stalin's personality -non related with ideology.

[Devrim]

Another important question is: why did Stalin have Bukharin purged and executed?

I think it was to do with wiping out any opposition completely, and the link between the party and the revolution.


I can dig up the exact quotes from The Road to Terror if you like, but, it had something to do with Bukharin's rightism. Stalin and Bukharin enjoyed a friendly relationship even when the latter was on trial for his life.

Bukharin was terrified of Stalin. There is a quote to that effect, something like "He is going to kill us all" in Duescher's biography of Trotsky. I don't think they were on friendly terms at that point at all.

Devrim

[Devrim]

That's strange. In The Road to Terror (Getty 1999):
By all accounts, Stalin and Bukharin became close friends in this period. They called each other by familiar nicknames neither of them had used for Trotsky, Zinoviev, or Kamenev, and their arduous but successful struggle against the left was a source of personal bonding. Their families saw each other socially, and Bukharin was a frequent guest at Stalin's home, sometimes spending entire summer months at Stalin's country house.(p. 40)


Certainly Bukharin and Stalin were at one point friends. What I am disputing was the phrase "Stalin and Bukharin enjoyed a friendly relationship even when the latter was on trial for his life"(my emphasis). By that Stage Bukharin was terrified of him.

Devrim

[manic expression]

Bukharin did appeal to their old friendship to 'Koba' in his final letter to him, but I agree that there is not much chance of them being friends while Bukharin was in prison. Apologies for that.
IIRC, Stalin kept that letter in his desk for the rest of his life. Whatever the case, Bukharin's final letter obviously had some sort of sentimental value for him, if you ask me. Plus, I'm pretty sure Stalin was initially against Bukharin being executed, and another party figure (was it the head prosecutor at the time?) had to persuade him to abide by the verdict.

[RED DAVE]

IIRC, Stalin kept that letter in his desk for the rest of his life. Whatever the case, Bukharin's final letter obviously had some sort of sentimental value for him, if you ask me. Plus, I'm pretty sure Stalin was initially against Bukharin being executed, and another party figure (was it the head prosecutor at the time?) had to persuade him to abide by the verdict.Considering that Bukharin was innocent, how much persuasion was involved?


'Koba, why do you need me to die?' Bukharin wrote in a note to Stalin just before his execution. ("Koba" was Stalin's revolutionary pseudonym, and Bukharin's use of it was a sign of how close the two had once been. The note was found still in Stalin's desk after his death in 1953.).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Bukharin

RED DAVE

[Devrim]

Bukharin did appeal to their old friendship to 'Koba' in his final letter to him, but I agree that there is not much chance of them being friends while Bukharin was in prison.

Yes, I think that he was desperately appealing to Stalin in trying to do anything that he could to stay alive at this point.

Devrim