Soviet Union as a cooperative

[Dimentio]

Imagine if the Soviet Union instead of being a state had been a cooperative/corporation with the responsibility of all Soviet infrastructure, production, natural resources, defence and land, and the Soviet state had just been established to look after laws and such things.

If Yeltsin had got into power in such a Soviet Union, it would have taken decades to insert capitalism into the system.

[Revolutionair]

Interesting, but you also have to deal with Stalin not being able to force industrialization.

[Dimentio]

In this case, the industrialisation would be taken care through the cooperative. So we would have someone who initiates for example five year plans (a directorate or something). I even imagine it would be easier for this cooperative to acquire foreign capital, as it could establish shadow firms in other countries in order to get capital.

[ComradeOm]

More to the point, you would have to deal with the fact this such a 'co-op' would have looked absolutely nothing like the historical Soviet Union that we all know and love. Why talk of Yeltsin if you are changing virtually everything else about the USSR's history and nature?

[Dimentio]

Because if we assume that the "political sphere" is overtaken by reactionaries wanting to introduce capitalism, they would not have any influence over the economic sphere.

[Born in the USSR]

Imagine if the Soviet Union instead of being a state had been a cooperative/corporation with the responsibility of all Soviet infrastructure, production, natural resources, defence and land, and the Soviet state had just been established to look after laws and such things.

If Yeltsin had got into power in such a Soviet Union, it would have taken decades to insert capitalism into the system.

A brilliant idea!Let's continue it:if a grandmother had a dick she'd be a grandfather.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Imagine if the Soviet Union instead of being a state had been a cooperative/corporation with the responsibility of all Soviet infrastructure, production, natural resources, defence and land, and the Soviet state had just been established to look after laws and such things.

If Yeltsin had got into power in such a Soviet Union, it would have taken decades to insert capitalism into the system.

I like your gradual approach towards inserting either your organizational work ideas or (inadvertently?) my stuff here, even if there are disagreements.

I wouldn't put defense under the coop function for sure, though. "The state" is a repressive body, and so defense is necessarily a state function.

[Dimentio]

Defense is not necessarily a state function. Blackwater anyone?

[Die Neue Zeit]

I prefer the separation of the civilian economy (even in public ownership) from the military, police, courts, etc. and what right-wing reactionaries otherwise call the "night watchman state" (closely related to the Marxist conception of the state).

[mosfeld]

Imagine if the Soviet Union instead of being a state had been a cooperative/corporation with the responsibility of all Soviet infrastructure, production, natural resources, defence and land, and the Soviet state had just been established to look after laws and such things.

If Yeltsin had got into power in such a Soviet Union, it would have taken decades to insert capitalism into the system.

Your idea sounds similar to how the People's Republic of China operated, with the People's Communes, which were a development from the previous Agricultural Co-operatives, spontaneously sweeping over 99% of the peasant population around 1957 (and after). Each commune handled farming, industry, commerce, education and military affairs on their own territory.

This development was tremendously successful, where each commune learned from the failures and successes of the other communes. However, this did not somehow magically prevent the emergence of corrupt party bureaucrats and capitalist roaders, so, in my opinion, I think you're fairly far off in saying that this would have somehow delayed capitalist restoration in the hypothetical USSR we're speaking of. To prevent capitalist restoration, which is a constant threat, you need several revolutions-within-revolutions (or simply Cultural Revolutions..) which uproot the constantly re-emerging bourgeois elements within the state and Party which aspire to restore capitalism.