Babeufist
19th May 2012, 20:46
Two interesting articles on Bukharin and Bukharinism
Bukharinism, Revolution and Social Development
Marcel Liebman
Abstract
Stephen Cohen's book Bukharin and the Russian evolution' confronts Marxists with a personage, an ideology and an interpretation of history which not only present serious problems but even constitute a kind of challenge to them. Without necessarily identifying itself with all the theories of Trotskyism, or, even less, with the latter's organisational forms, Marxism-and in particular, revolutionary Marxism-has found no reply to the triumph of Stalin other than one that is at least inspired by Trotskyism. whatever may be thought of its historical achievement and present relevance, Trotskyism has been the most consistent socialist opposition to Stalinism, in a number . . of essential matters: loyalty to internationalism, will to maintain a revolutionary dynamic, aspiration to establish workers' democracy. It is certainly possible to question the validity of some Trotskyist principles, to criticise one aspect or another of the career of the founder of the Red Army, and, especially, to doubt the appropriateness of the tactics employed by his successors. Nevertheless, the great political debate that has arisen from the Bolshevik victory and its confinement to Russia alone has, almost classically, assumed the form of the choice between Stalinism and Trotskyism.
http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5381 (http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5381)
Nikolai Bukharin 1888-1938
Ken Coates
Abstract
1978 marks a macabre anniversary. Forty years ago, in March 1938, there took place in Moscow the last of the great show trials. Previously there had already been two earlier public trials of former Bolshevik leaders, mowing down among others, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Piatakov and Radek. A closed court-martial involving foremost Red Army commanders like Tukhachevsky, Yakir and Kork had also preceded this last trial, which was to involve Bukharin, Rykov, Krestinsky, Yagoda, Rakovsky and sixteen others. The third great trial was in one sense the keystone in a horrendous arch: all the charges which were brought in its forerunners were calculated to prove that Trotsky, from exile, was organizing with a selection of foreign powers to bring about the downfall of the Soviet Government, and that the internal opposition was not only disloyal, but criminally implicated in a vast terrorist conspiracy. By extending the web of this plot to implicate Bukharin and Rykov, a final amalgamation was thus charged against former oppositions of both Right and Left, and the effect was to establish that henceforth no "loyal" opposition was in fact possible. The Soviet political structure still manifestly suffers the ill-effects of this tragic decision, which would have been baleful even if the absurdly implausible charges in the trials had all been true, and was simply paralysing in the actual event, that they were all deliberately fabricated.
http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5420 (http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5420)
Bukharinism, Revolution and Social Development
Marcel Liebman
Abstract
Stephen Cohen's book Bukharin and the Russian evolution' confronts Marxists with a personage, an ideology and an interpretation of history which not only present serious problems but even constitute a kind of challenge to them. Without necessarily identifying itself with all the theories of Trotskyism, or, even less, with the latter's organisational forms, Marxism-and in particular, revolutionary Marxism-has found no reply to the triumph of Stalin other than one that is at least inspired by Trotskyism. whatever may be thought of its historical achievement and present relevance, Trotskyism has been the most consistent socialist opposition to Stalinism, in a number . . of essential matters: loyalty to internationalism, will to maintain a revolutionary dynamic, aspiration to establish workers' democracy. It is certainly possible to question the validity of some Trotskyist principles, to criticise one aspect or another of the career of the founder of the Red Army, and, especially, to doubt the appropriateness of the tactics employed by his successors. Nevertheless, the great political debate that has arisen from the Bolshevik victory and its confinement to Russia alone has, almost classically, assumed the form of the choice between Stalinism and Trotskyism.
http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5381 (http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5381)
Nikolai Bukharin 1888-1938
Ken Coates
Abstract
1978 marks a macabre anniversary. Forty years ago, in March 1938, there took place in Moscow the last of the great show trials. Previously there had already been two earlier public trials of former Bolshevik leaders, mowing down among others, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Piatakov and Radek. A closed court-martial involving foremost Red Army commanders like Tukhachevsky, Yakir and Kork had also preceded this last trial, which was to involve Bukharin, Rykov, Krestinsky, Yagoda, Rakovsky and sixteen others. The third great trial was in one sense the keystone in a horrendous arch: all the charges which were brought in its forerunners were calculated to prove that Trotsky, from exile, was organizing with a selection of foreign powers to bring about the downfall of the Soviet Government, and that the internal opposition was not only disloyal, but criminally implicated in a vast terrorist conspiracy. By extending the web of this plot to implicate Bukharin and Rykov, a final amalgamation was thus charged against former oppositions of both Right and Left, and the effect was to establish that henceforth no "loyal" opposition was in fact possible. The Soviet political structure still manifestly suffers the ill-effects of this tragic decision, which would have been baleful even if the absurdly implausible charges in the trials had all been true, and was simply paralysing in the actual event, that they were all deliberately fabricated.
http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5420 (http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5420)