Ismail
26th April 2013, 16:08
I found this online about two years ago and first showed it to Grenzer, who said it was quite useful. I've decided to put it up for download here. It's a compilation of works by Lenin on the subject of state-capitalism in the early USSR, compiled in 1983 by Progress Publishers. It's 239 pages (not counting footnotes and index.)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/g991a0
Since the Soviets published this, I figure their encyclopedia's (http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/state-capitalism) definition of Soviet state-capitalism (written in the 70's) is worth noting here as well:
In the transitional period from capitalism to socialism, state capitalism is one of the socioeconomic structures permitted and regulated by a proletarian state. It exists in the form of foreign-capital concessions, the renting of state enterprises, joint-stock societies, private trade on a commission basis, cooperation, and the like.
A theoretical justification of the need for state capitalism in the transitional period from capitalism to socialism was given by Lenin. He noted that the fundamentally new stature of state capitalism is predetermined by the new (proletarian) character of authority and by the conditions in which it is operating, with capitalism having ceased to exist but socialism not yet being the prevailing mode of production (see Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 45, pp. 84–85).
As a special structure of the transitional period, state capitalism can play an important role in the process of socialist reorganization of the economy. It is a more progressive form of economy than private capitalism, small-scale commodity production, and subsistence production. The transition of private capitalism and, together with it, small-scale commodity production onto the track of state capitalism eases a country’s transition to socialism, for it makes possible the maintenance or creation of large-scale machine production and the use in the proletariat’s interests of the monetary resources, knowledge, experience, and organizational capacities of the bourgeoisie and bourgeois intelligentsia.
A plurality of structures in the economy of the transitional period is a general natural law for all countries proceeding toward socialism. The liquidation of the plurality of structures and the institution of the socialist structure as the prevailing system of social production constitute the content of the transitional period. The transition of individual countries from capitalism to socialism occurs at different times and under different domestic and external conditions. Two factors—the initial level of the country’s economy from which the transition to socialism begins and the balance of class forces within the given country and in the world arena—determine the specific nature of the utilization of state capitalism in the interests of the victory of socialism.
A unique feature of state capitalism in the USSR was the fact that state capitalist enterprises remained the people’s property. Only working capital (finished output and monetary resources) were retained as the property of the lease-holding concessionaires. Fixed assets (such as buildings, equipment, and land), including those that were newly built or imported from abroad, could not be sold or turned over by a capitalist to another person, and financial bodies could not alienate fixed assets to recover debts from the lease-holding concessionaire. “A lessee,” Lenin noted, “is not a property owner. ... A lease is a contract for a period. Both ownership and control remain with us, the workers’ state” (ibid., vol. 52, p. 193). The relations between the capitalists and the workers of concessionary enterprises remained those between capital and hired labor, manpower remained a commodity, and the antagonism of class interests continued. At the same time these relations were under the control of and were regulated by the proletarian state, which substantially changed the conditions of the class struggle in favor of the working class.
State capitalism did not receive any broad development in the USSR and held a minor position in the country’s economy, a situation attributable to the rapid growth of a large-scale socialist industry. Moreover, the Soviet state’s attempts to use state capitalism for socialist reorganizations encountered active resistance from the bourgeoisie. The Russian bourgeoisie would not accept state capitalism and was therefore forcibly expropriated. By 1923–24 the share of state-capitalist enterprises in the gross output of the national economy was only 0.1 percent, and the number of persons they employed at the end of 1925 did not exceed 1 percent of the country’s workers.
State capitalism as a means of reorganizing capitalist ownership into socialist ownership was used in the transitional period in a number of socialist countries. It received the greatest development in the German Democratic Republic, the Korean Democratic People’s Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
A specific characteristic of these countries was the fact that, thanks to the comprehensive assistance of the USSR, they did not resort to the services of foreign capital. State capitalism in the German Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam chiefly took the form of joint state-private enterprises with the participation of state and national private capital. The formation of these enterprises was preceded by the wide proliferation of less developed, so-called lower, forms of state capitalism— capitalist enterprises whose production or commercial activities were under the direct economic control of the proletarian state. Subsequently the joint state-private enterprises were gradually and consistently transformed into socialist enterprises. State-private enterprises were widespread in the People’s Republic of China. In the mid-1960’s forms of state capitalism were preserved to varying degrees in the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the German Democratic Republic.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/g991a0
Since the Soviets published this, I figure their encyclopedia's (http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/state-capitalism) definition of Soviet state-capitalism (written in the 70's) is worth noting here as well:
In the transitional period from capitalism to socialism, state capitalism is one of the socioeconomic structures permitted and regulated by a proletarian state. It exists in the form of foreign-capital concessions, the renting of state enterprises, joint-stock societies, private trade on a commission basis, cooperation, and the like.
A theoretical justification of the need for state capitalism in the transitional period from capitalism to socialism was given by Lenin. He noted that the fundamentally new stature of state capitalism is predetermined by the new (proletarian) character of authority and by the conditions in which it is operating, with capitalism having ceased to exist but socialism not yet being the prevailing mode of production (see Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 45, pp. 84–85).
As a special structure of the transitional period, state capitalism can play an important role in the process of socialist reorganization of the economy. It is a more progressive form of economy than private capitalism, small-scale commodity production, and subsistence production. The transition of private capitalism and, together with it, small-scale commodity production onto the track of state capitalism eases a country’s transition to socialism, for it makes possible the maintenance or creation of large-scale machine production and the use in the proletariat’s interests of the monetary resources, knowledge, experience, and organizational capacities of the bourgeoisie and bourgeois intelligentsia.
A plurality of structures in the economy of the transitional period is a general natural law for all countries proceeding toward socialism. The liquidation of the plurality of structures and the institution of the socialist structure as the prevailing system of social production constitute the content of the transitional period. The transition of individual countries from capitalism to socialism occurs at different times and under different domestic and external conditions. Two factors—the initial level of the country’s economy from which the transition to socialism begins and the balance of class forces within the given country and in the world arena—determine the specific nature of the utilization of state capitalism in the interests of the victory of socialism.
A unique feature of state capitalism in the USSR was the fact that state capitalist enterprises remained the people’s property. Only working capital (finished output and monetary resources) were retained as the property of the lease-holding concessionaires. Fixed assets (such as buildings, equipment, and land), including those that were newly built or imported from abroad, could not be sold or turned over by a capitalist to another person, and financial bodies could not alienate fixed assets to recover debts from the lease-holding concessionaire. “A lessee,” Lenin noted, “is not a property owner. ... A lease is a contract for a period. Both ownership and control remain with us, the workers’ state” (ibid., vol. 52, p. 193). The relations between the capitalists and the workers of concessionary enterprises remained those between capital and hired labor, manpower remained a commodity, and the antagonism of class interests continued. At the same time these relations were under the control of and were regulated by the proletarian state, which substantially changed the conditions of the class struggle in favor of the working class.
State capitalism did not receive any broad development in the USSR and held a minor position in the country’s economy, a situation attributable to the rapid growth of a large-scale socialist industry. Moreover, the Soviet state’s attempts to use state capitalism for socialist reorganizations encountered active resistance from the bourgeoisie. The Russian bourgeoisie would not accept state capitalism and was therefore forcibly expropriated. By 1923–24 the share of state-capitalist enterprises in the gross output of the national economy was only 0.1 percent, and the number of persons they employed at the end of 1925 did not exceed 1 percent of the country’s workers.
State capitalism as a means of reorganizing capitalist ownership into socialist ownership was used in the transitional period in a number of socialist countries. It received the greatest development in the German Democratic Republic, the Korean Democratic People’s Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
A specific characteristic of these countries was the fact that, thanks to the comprehensive assistance of the USSR, they did not resort to the services of foreign capital. State capitalism in the German Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam chiefly took the form of joint state-private enterprises with the participation of state and national private capital. The formation of these enterprises was preceded by the wide proliferation of less developed, so-called lower, forms of state capitalism— capitalist enterprises whose production or commercial activities were under the direct economic control of the proletarian state. Subsequently the joint state-private enterprises were gradually and consistently transformed into socialist enterprises. State-private enterprises were widespread in the People’s Republic of China. In the mid-1960’s forms of state capitalism were preserved to varying degrees in the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the German Democratic Republic.