HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR'' is a work of
political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour m ...
written by
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
in 1951. It was one of the last works published before his death. In it, he made the claim that the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
had reached the lower stage of
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
. The main impetus for the book came from the discussions around the preparations for a new textbook on political economy that would be standard throughout the communist movement. One of the main theoretical debates was on whether the
law of value The law of the value of commodities (German: ''Wertgesetz der Waren''), known simply as the law of value, is a central concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy first expounded in his polemic ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' (1847) against ...
still operated within a
socialist economy Socialist economics comprises the economic theories, practices and norms of hypothetical and existing socialist economic systems. A socialist economic system is characterized by social ownership and operation of the means of production that may t ...
. Some economists claimed that
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
in ''
Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...
'' had only meant for it to apply to capitalist exchange, but Stalin insisted that it still operated under a socialist economy. Nonetheless, he argued that it was a historical and not eternal law and that it would disappear in the second higher stage of communism. Under socialism, it was necessary for commodity exchange and trained "business executives to conduct production on rational lines and disciplines them". Stalin laid the book out as plan for the transition to full communism, but insisted that objective economic laws would still have to be followed. The main topics discussed are the following: # Character of Economic Laws Under Socialism # Commodity Production Under Socialism # The Law of Value Under Socialism # Abolition of the Antithesis Between Town and Country, and Between Mental and Physical Labour, and Elimination of Distinctions Between Them # Disintegration of the Single World Market and Deepening of the Crisis of the World Capitalist System # Inevitability of Wars Between Capitalist Countries # The Basic Economic Laws of Modern Capitalism and of Socialism Stalin also insisted that wars between capitalist nations were still inevitable, a position that Eugene Varga had disputed.


Interpretations in China

''Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR ''was immediately translated upon its release and became a foundational political economy text in the People's Republic of China in 1952. Stalin's work was harshly criticised by
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (P ...
in '' A Critique of Soviet Economics''. Ironically, early market socialist economists in both the Soviet Union and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
would use these words of Stalin to justify market reforms. In his 1981 work ''China's Socialist Economy'', Xue Muqiao would use Stalin's book as a justification for using the market mechanism in the
primary stage of socialism The primary stage of socialism (sometimes referred to as the preliminary stage of socialism),''Properly Understand Theories Concerning Preliminary Stage of Socialism'', by Wei Xinghua and Sang Baichuan. 1998. Journal of Renmin University of Chin ...
. Xue also introduced the term "underdeveloped socialism" in his book ''China's Socialist Economy''. The book was written in the orthodox Marxist–Leninist framework enunciated by Stalin in ''Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR''. Xue wrote that within the
socialist mode of production The socialist mode of production, sometimes referred to as the communist mode of production, or simply (Marxian) socialism or communism as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels used the terms ''communism'' and ''socialism'' interchangeably, is a specif ...
there were several phases and for China to reach an advanced form of socialism it had to focus on developing the
productive forces Productive forces, productive powers, or forces of production ( German: ''Produktivkräfte'') is a central idea in Marxism and historical materialism. In Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' own critique of political economy, it refers to the combina ...
. He proposed a theory in which the basic laws of
economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
were those in which "the
relations of production Relations of production (german: Produktionsverhältnisse, links=no) is a concept frequently used by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their theory of historical materialism and in ''Das Kapital''. It is first explicitly used in Marx's publish ...
must conform to the level of the productive forces". Similar to Stalin, Xue considered the productive forces to be primary and that the relations of production had to conform to the level of the productive forces. Xue believed that this was a fundamental universal law of economics.


References


Sources

* * * * *


External links

* {{cite web, last=Stalin, first=Joseph, year=1951, url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/index.htm, title=Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, publisher=Marxists Internet Archive, access-date=17 April 2020 1951 non-fiction books Communist books Pamphlets Works by Joseph Stalin