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Using Robert Brenner's analysis of capitalism's origins as a framework, Marot examines Soviet attempts at building a post-capitalist society.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Peasant-Question and the Origins of Stalinism: Rethinking the Destruction of the October Revolution
2. Trotsky, the Left Opposition and the Rise of Stalinism: Theory and Practice
3. Class-Conflict, Political Competition and Social Transformation: Critical Perspectives on the Social History of the Russian Revolution
4. Political Leadership and Working-Class Agency in the Russian Revolution: Reply to William G. Rosenberg and S.A. Smith
5. A ‘Postmodern’ Approach to the Russian Revolution? Comment on Ronald Suny
6. Alexander Bogdanov, Vpered, and the Role of the Intellectual in the Workers’ Movement
7. The Bogdanov Issue: Reply to Andrzej Walicki, Aileen Kelly and Zenovia Sochor
8. Marxism, Science, Materialism: Toward a Deeper Appreciation of the 1908–1909 Philosophical Debate in Russian Social Democracy
9. Politics and Philosophy in Russian Social Democracy: Alexander Bogdanov and the Socio-theoretical Foundations of Vpered
References
General Index
About the author
John Eric Marot, Ph.D. (1987), University of California, Los Angeles, teaches History at Keimyung University in Korea. He has published many articles on Russian and Soviet History, notably “Class Conflict, Political Competition, and Social Transformation: Critical Perspectives on the Social History of the Russian Revolution” (Revolutionary Russia, 1994) and “Trotsky, the Left Opposition, and the Rise of the Stalinism: Theory and Practice” (Historical Materialism, 2006)
Summary
In these probing analytical essays, John Marot applies Robert Brenner's analysis of pre-capitalist modes of production to early Soviet attempts at revolutionary transformation, concluding that none of the oppositional economic programs were feasible. Resisting the view that Stalin's rise was inevitable, Marot hypothesizes that alternative to Stalinism was a New Economic Policy without collectivization and the Five-Year Plans.
Foreword
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