Main Philosophical & Socio-economic Soviet journal ignored!

[Noa Rodman]

http://libcom.org/library/under-banner-marxism

I do not want to repeat the standard claim of the historian or of an intellectual biographer who complains that his particular object of study hasn't received the attention it deserves, taking for granted anyone else should be interested in the subject, which he probably only writes about to earn a buck, but... in the case of Under the Banner of Marxism, the main theoretical organ of the USSR, it really is ignored I believe. The link above is to a translation of the table of contents for the 1920s; you have about 67 issues between 1922 and 1929, each of a book length. They contain articles of the highest Marxist level of discussion on all topics.

Perhaps it's understandable that the various left groups until now have not bothered much with this journal, representing the actual theoretical legacy of the Soviet Union, since they were either actively repressing it, busy trying to survive, couldn't access rare copies (furthermore in Russian, though also a German sister-magazine existed), or they were simply clueless about its existence. Of course it's possible that they believe this journal is counterrevolutionary junk which should be burned, but at least I've not heard any marxist groups say this openly yet.

Am I right to find this a sad situation? I have translated some articles on economic questions (also posted on libcom), and would ask what other articles are worth translating, though there's only so much I can do on my own. Let's see if the names of the authors and the titles of the articles can already start some discussion and questions. This is unexplored territory and perhaps it's good that there's no Marxist authority on it. So please, nobody should worry to ask or speak up.

[Die Neue Zeit]

I wonder what the balance of this organ was with respect to political program vs. political economy.

[Sea]

I, for one, consider this to be a valuable resource, and am grateful that there are people who are willing to put their time and effort into archiving it; I'm looking forward to reading what's been translated so far. It's a shame I've been ignorant to its (online and English) existence.

Is there anything I can do to help with this rather large undertaking? I don't speak a word of Russian but I'd love to lend a hand somehow.

[Noa Rodman]

http://libcom.org/library/measure-value-under-paper-money-currency-%E2%80%93-wolf-motylev

http://libcom.org/library/hilferding-or-marx-v-poznjakov

http://libcom.org/library/nominalism-problem-value-money-g-dashevsky

http://libcom.org/library/necessary-rehabilitation-v-poznjakov

http://libcom.org/library/abstract-labour-economic-categories-marx-isaak-dashkovskij

http://libcom.org/library/international-exchange-law-value-isaak-dashkovskij

http://libcom.org/library/international-exchange-law-value-conclusion-isaak-dashkovskij

The above are just texts which seemed interesting to me. (Note that the translations contain typos and garbled passages when I couldn't understand the Russian, i.e. when google-translate couldn't understand it ; first scroll down to see if I made some correction) There are also these 2 translations:

http://platypus1917.org/2011/04/03/attention-to-theory-letter-to-the-editor-of-under-the-banner-of-marxism/

http://platypus1917.org/2012/07/01/marxismus-und-philosophie/

The journal is stored in Microform. In the world, almost only American libraries have it (a New York company in the 40s made the microfilm). There are only a couple in Germany, one in Italy, one in Switzerland, perhaps 2 in Britain, that's it (also one in Australia). I ordered them one at a time and it's not so expensive. It takes me about 3 weeks of translation to get a 25 page article done.

It would take a whole week non-stop to scan the 1920s issues (in total around 16000 pages, though much is already available, so take only half that figure). If you live nearby and have access to a library with this journal (search 'Pod Znamenem Marksizma'), it would be great to test some scans (if it's free) and if it's possible to do this for a non-Russian reader, based just on the reference (year, issue, page number all are known). But before entering further into the lofty realms of delegation, what seem the most interesting titles?

@DNZ The program of the journal was set by Lenin in his article on the significance of militant materialism. Vaganian the first editor was a big fan of Plekhanov (he was close to the left opposition it's said). I don't think there are direct disputes about program (there's an article in 1924 by Stefan Krivtsov: Party of the proletariat or of the petty-bourgeoisie - on the history of the draft programme of the RSDLP). Poznjakov has a couple of articles with an interesting title: On primitive accumulation - On the question of the methodological formulation of the problem of primitive socialist accumulation.

There is a lot of polemics around I. Rubin's interpretation of Marx, but I think it's not a fruitful discussion. But yes in general the titles in relation to political economy could be most useful. For example, again by Poznjakov (no biography about him, though he clearly is an important economist), the couple of articles on Market value and its place in the economic system of Marx.

There are in depth articles about the history of Social democracy in this journal. I'm just thinking what you would find relevant. There was the publication of Lenin's on the Jena congress: http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1905/sep/00b.htm

In general to everyone's particular field of interest one can probably bring up some good title.

[¿Que?]

That looks really interesting. I'd be willing to try and see if there are any issues in any of the libraries around here.

Are you saying that you used google to translate these articles? So then you just read over the translation and fix it to where it makes grammatical sense, keeping the basic idea as translated by google?

That's a great idea, although I think you may find some critics. In any case, I'd be wiling to help out.

When I get around to it, I'll check the local libraries and see what they have...

[Noa Rodman]

That's great, ¿Que?, I feel like the foreman on an assembly line already.

Some points I must have failed to render, sure; I have to grab the dictionary or rely on e-translation for quite a bit, keeping the overall structure of the text in your mind is also a challenge. I welcome criticism of the problematic parts, but yes, a non-Russian reader with a more perfectionist inclination would be able to do the same as me, thanks to e-translation, which doesn't mean that ideally a fluent Russian translator must be found (though if he's not interested in Marxism or is sloppy, the result might be the same after all).

What particular topics are interesting to you (or rather, should be better studied by everyone)? It seems we all prefer to avoid philosophical issues, though Lenin stressed militant materialism.

[Rafiq]

I for one am interested in the topics concerning materialism.

[Teacher]

Wow this looks incredible

[¿Que?]

What particular topics are interesting to you (or rather, should be better studied by everyone)? It seems we all prefer to avoid philosophical issues, though Lenin stressed militant materialism.
Economics. Plus, I wouldn't mind reading Marxist opinions on my own field of study, sociology, if there is any. I noticed a couple articles dealing with psychology, which would be pretty interesting as well.

[Noa Rodman]

At least there is a bibliography. The table of contents of the German sister communist journal is not even complete: Unter dem Banner des Marxismus (http://en.internationalism.org/forum/1056/d-man/4374/literature-random-comments#comment-3143) Perhaps you know German (though it seems the German journal is more difficult to find in libraries). Some articles appeared in both; Sapir's 'Freudismus, Soziologie, Psychologie' (critique of Reich), Rudas's critique of Graziadei, Deborin on Spinoza, etc.

These journals indeed could answer a lot of questions, and cut out the middleman/gatekeeper (not that there's a conspiracy; the sad truth is that the Marxist guiding lights/academics are ignorant of these mags). Imagine if you could reply to every new thread here asking a serious question; see article in issue so and so of Under the Banner of Marxism.

But as long as they are not available, a selection which more specifically names particular titles is required. So regarding materialism; is it some articles on the French materialists, on Lenin's M&EC, on ancient Greeks...? On sociology; is it on Weber, Durkheim, on art... Regarding economics; is it on credit, crisis, money, banks, on skilled labor...

Give concrete names of titles, I will try to find more background then and we can discuss further if there exist already some info on it.

[MarxSchmarx]

Ironically enough, in history of science circles Under the Banner of Marxism appears to still have some regular readership. For instance, the anti-Lysenkoist soviet agronomist Nikolai Vavilov's most prominent publications that eventually led to the creation of a world seed bank were apparently in Under the Banner; similarly, vibrant debates of gestalt ideology and behavirioalism roiled the study of soviet psychology and were carried out in that journal, and I understand that much developments in soviet mathematical logic also appeared there.

here is a fascinating, and quite illuminating, passage I found at marxists.org about this journal:


The same issue of this famous Soviet philosophical periodical ran a general review of the Conference, and the previous issue carried a long critique and evaluation of the positions of the various speakers by the philosopher, M. Mitin. As head of the Philosophical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Professor Mitin expresses more than other commentators the attitude of the Soviet government, which is vitally interested in the progress of genetics, as of science in general. In view of the charges, frequently heard in the United States, that the Soviet government uses its authority to curtail scientific disputes, it is interesting to note that the present conference was called by the editors of Under the Banner of Marxism in order that everyone should have the opportunity to present his case, and that the Soviet philosopher, Mitin, gives a most balanced judgment on the contending parties. Freely acknowledging the great scientific achievements of both Vavilov and Lysenko, he takes Vavilov to task for not bringing his theoretical work into close relation to practical work, for example, to that of the seed selection stations; but he also criticizes the followers of Lysenko for dogmatism and exaggerated claims.

[Noa Rodman]

It's best to check the pdf-file (it's latinized) of the whole table of contents for that (there are several Lysenko articles, which is partly why I didn't bother translating the titles of these later years); but also I could have missed something e.g. I notice that I skipped an article by Motylev on socially necessary labor (no.2-3, 1923, 212-217 p.) which is part of a debate with several participants (he was on the side of the proponents of a technical interpretation, as opposed to one of 'social need'). Also the table of contents itself sometimes doesn't give the entire title, e.g. I notice one by Lifshitz 'On positing the monetary problem' to which should be added 'from the viewpoint of the law of equilibrium', or Motylev's 'At the grave of the consumers' version'...'of socially necessary labor'. So these are faults of the creator of the index.

Also, from the 1930s onwards the issues are scanned (partial search possible in google books). I would even encourage Stalinists to make available this journal's later issues if they have some way to access them, using all their ruthlessness.

Often the journal's name is cited in reference to an article which allegedly makes the break of the USSR with orthodox Marxism definite (Dunayevskaya writes about it here (http://marxists.org/archive/dunayevskaya/works/1944/revision.htm)); it's from 1943, no.7-8, p.56-78 without name of author. Quite a late date.

[Noa Rodman]

This is the index in one page so it's easier to search: http://libcom.org/book/export/html/30763

I would like to make some more articles available but have to consider my limited possibility of translating them (as long as nobody else takes an interest; which is the realistic starting point).

If you don't know any key questions or can't name top priority articles, then don't be afraid to just mention something that stands out (like MarxSchmarx does) to get some discussion going. It's also okay to claim there's nothing interesting in this journal (for instance, it contains a lot of articles on physics, which is not directly relevant for politics). Or claim that it's outdated, or that the titles don't connect to "everyday life", or that they can't be made "relevant," etc. I would respond then that practical communist activity is mostly about spreading literature, and judged by that standard, the fact that the main soviet journal is not even known stands (here comes the favorite intellectual bewailing extrapolation) as a proof of the death status of communism since a long time. I wonder why the 1970s "revival" of marxism didn't seek to uncover the contents of this journal. Maybe precisely because it was an "intellectual" revival.

I'll keep talking to myself in order to bump the thread now and then.

[Noa Rodman]

Another translated text: http://libcom.org/library/quantity-theory-money-s-legezo

Anyone can say there are interesting articles in this journal, but it takes a little bit more effort to concretely name titles. It's not vital for this to know who the authors are. There are some very smart people here, but they remain quiet, so it's up to us "little folks" (hopefully it's clear that I didn't intend to insult people who posted on this thread).

So it's up to interested readers to signal potentially important articles or at least make some general observations as to the contents of this journal.

[Noa Rodman]

Lassalle's essay 'Die Hegelsche und Rosenkranzsche Logik' was published in this journal. It's online here:
http://archive.org/stream/gesammelteredenu06lassuoft#page/14/mode/2up

What is perhaps overlooked is that such a "pro-party" figure as Lassalle was an orthodox Hegelian. And Lukacs refers frequently to Lassalle in his HCC. (Just against Mike Macnair's attempt to link mass-party advocacy with an 'anti-Hegelian' position.)

Anyway, it's quite a testimony to the level of Lassalle's thought (and also that it would be translated into Russian by the communists).

Here btw is an essay (in Russian) by Lukacs from 1934 defending Lenin's M&EC:
http://mesotes.narod.ru/lukacs/leninmaterialism.html

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ If you can, you should translate Lassalle's Open Letter! That work has more immediate political ramifications!

[Noa Rodman]

you mean Open Letter to the National Labor Association of Germany; was translated says google, though probably without Bernstein's 30 page intro: http://archive.org/stream/gesammelteredenu03lassuoft#page/n7/mode/2up

Another essay which appeared in Under the Banner of Marxism is by Blanqui on fatalism (afaik not translated into English), originally published in Critique social (1885), vol. 1-2 (not online, but if anyone could find it, post the link here; same applies for everything else btw).

On materialism, there appeared some articles by Diderot from the Encyclopedia (some not commonly attributed to him). For instance on Spinoza (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=did;cc=did;rgn=main;view=text;idno=did2222.0 000.762) (also on epicureanism, but the English translation is an abridged version); if they were written by Diderot, there's still a little too much defense of god to my taste (I prefer the more bold Holbach and his Good sense (http://www.ftarchives.net/holbach/good/gcontents.htm)).

I'm translating now another article from Under the banner of Marxism about credit and organized capitalism (from after 1929), which when soon THE CRISIS will again overwhelm headlines, seems relevant, and also to ask whether Marx's analysis is in any way still valid in today's situation (most Marxists don't think that it is namely).

[Die Neue Zeit]

you mean Open Letter to the National Labor Association of Germany; was translated says google, though probably without Bernstein's 30 page intro: http://archive.org/stream/gesammelteredenu03lassuoft#page/n7/mode/2up

Yes, comrade, but unfortunately the current translations have no free previews. It's crucial because Lars Lih documented this in Chapter 1 of his WITBD book.

[nihilust]

where could i actually read this?

[Noa Rodman]

@ nihilust the English translation of the letter DNZ refers to is published in this (http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=115115)book.

Don't worry DNZ, I wasn't planning to translate the essay by Lassalle on Hegel's Logic.

Here is that translation I was talking about:

http://libcom.org/library/credit-romanticism-golden-pincers-zachary-atlas

It's a topical article.

I'm going to take a rest with translating from Under the Banner of Marxism, unless someone can point to most crucial articles in it.

[Prometeo liberado]

240 V. Poznjakov: On the law of the falling rate of profit
I would love to read this and judge its comparisons to all the present day writings on this subject.

[Noa Rodman]

That short review by Poznjakov is on a 305 page anthology (1927) of American, English and German authors dealing with, perhaps better translated, the law of diminishing returns. In Russian called: О законе убывающей доходности: сборник статей английских, американских и немецких авторов, edited by Я. А. Мирошкин. I can't find the contents.

There's another review by Poznjakov of Henryk Grossmann's Das Akkumulations- und Zusammenbruchstendenz des kapitalistischen Systems, which you might be more interested in (as am I). But it's fairly short, and there must be many reviews of it in the German communist press at the time, so I think it's not very urgent. I would like to know who Poznjakov was. Even with his initials, the name is so common. Maybe it's a pseudonym.

[Positivist]

Wow this really seems like a great resource.

[Die Neue Zeit]

@ nihilust the English translation of the letter DNZ refers to is published in this (http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=115115)book.

Damn, that's an expensive book. :(

[Noa Rodman]

18.99£ in paperback and used on Amazon it's half that. Looks a good book indeed.

[Positivist]

18.99£ in paperback and used on Amazon it's half that. Looks a good book indeed.

Oh really? That's much better.

[Die Neue Zeit]

18.99£ in paperback and used on Amazon it's half that. Looks a good book indeed.

I'd like a damn e-book of it, though. :(

[Noa Rodman]

Bloody hell, how can you expect other people today to read your little party paper when there is not even an effort to take into account what the main Soviet journal published (about Kautsky's theory of revolution, about the significance of Martov, about the law of value, about finance capital, etc.): it doesn't even have to be this journal in particular, there are many others worth researching.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Did you come across a stumbling block with the Weekly Worker? :confused:

[Noa Rodman]

No, I speak in general of all leftist papers (although Mehring Books (http://www.mehring.com/the-suppression-of-philosophy-in-the-ussr-1920s-and-1930s.html)did publish a book by Yakhot somewhat related to the journal-its philosophy; google books has some of his stuff, which I linked in the index.).

I could write the Weekly Worker, but I don't think they can be bothered about it (I understand, with the constraints and all).

I would like to hear a communist go on record saying they don't care, or are afraid to approach the subject, like it's better not to dredge the matter to the surface for some reason.

PDi-aBxeeEw

[Noa Rodman]

I sent a letter (http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/932/letters), without illusions. So anyway because there is no response on the part of other marxists, if there are any serious Stalinists (which frankly I don't think there are here, perhaps with the exception of Grover Furr) who are interested in the contents of this journal, I call on them to try to make it available. Here are some titles from the 30s onward:
Programmatic documents of Marxism (on Marx's "critique of the Gotha program") (1933, 2), About the ideology of decaying capitalism (1933, 4), Stabilization of capitalism and "manipulated currency" (1934, 5), Logic of factional struggle (from opposition to counterrevolution) (1935, 3), On spontaneity and consciousness in the workers movement (1936, 7), Lenin's struggle against anarchism and opportunism of the II international on questions about the state (1937, 9 ), On V.I. Lenin's book "What is to be done?" (1940, 1).

[Noa Rodman]

Bob Avakian perhaps could be interested in PZM, with its first editor being Ter-Vaganian and all.

Actually the RCP might be one of the few to be serious enough to check out the contents.

[rpngmborges]

Hi there, I was quite pleased to find Under the Banner of Marxism online! I have been reading about the debates on philosophy of science that took place in the 20's in the Soviet Union. I would like to read the articles published by Boris Gessen, a physicist and philosopher, in Under the Banner of Marxism. Could you make those files available? I can send you the details on issues and page numbers.

[Noa Rodman]

Belated response, but eg articles by Boris Hessen and V. Egorsin that I linked to in the index online: On the congress of Russian physicists (1927,1): physicsbooks.narod.ru/Other/Pzm/Gessen.djvu (main site (http://physicsbooks.narod.ru/))
On comrade Timiryazev's treatment of contemporary science (1927, no.2-3): physicsbooks.narod.ru/Other/Pzm/Gessen3.djvu

I could find other of Hessen's articles if you want. I think in Russian a lot of physics articles are online from PZM.

A 1934 (no.6) article called 'Neutrino hypothesis and conservation of energy' (which first mentioned the term graviton) is here (http://www.rfbr.ru/rffi/ru/books/o_26218).

[Noa Rodman]

The good news is that someone has scanned all issues from 1922-31, and there is an intention to make a selection of articles for translation and publication.

So now everyone can weigh in on what articles they really would like to read.

[Noa Rodman]

http://libcom.org/library/towards-theory-development-world-market-world-economy-isaak-dashkovskij
https://libcom.org/library/kautskys-theory-proletarian-revolution-isaak-alter
https://libcom.org/library/one-contradiction-economic-system-k-marx-sholom-dvolajtski
http://platypus1917.org/2015/01/30/georg-lukacs-theory-reification/

If anyone is interested in more titles of this journal, again, here is the table of contents: the http://libcom.org/book/export/html/30763

and we can discuss about them (I can provide some summary).

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

As has been pointed already, the journal is particularly important for anyone interested in the philosophy and sociology of science and related fields. Personally, I think it would be nice if Fock's 1938 article, "K diskusii po voprosam fiziki" could be translated, but I understand the translator's resources are limited. I would help but, believe it or not, I'm currently translating something myself, along with doing research for my PhD.

[Noa Rodman]

I have scans of the issues only for 1922-1931 (btw 1922 is online).

[Noa Rodman]

In 2015 I didn't translate anything from PZM. To make up for it, here are 2 new translations:

https://libcom.org/library/evolution-abuse-lev-kamenev
https://libcom.org/library/law-value-under-capitalism-essays-isaak-rubin-vladimir-dunaevsky

[Noa Rodman]

The scans of this journal can now be shared online: http://libcom.org/library/under-banner-marxism (links in bottom comment)

Shortly I will also upload scans of the issues of the main journal of the Communist Academy: https://libcom.org/library/journal-communist-academy (at the moment just a translated index)