Marx, Lenin and the Disappearing Dictatorship, by Dave Fryett

 Marx, Lenin and the Disappearing Dictatorship,
by Dave Fryett

The principal point of contention between Marxists and anarchists is the state, particularly the one that is expected to dissipate once capitalism is well and truly expunged worldwide. Often Lenin's State and Revolution is referenced in defense of this theory. Somebody (Bebel, I think) said this book was "half Blanquist and half anarchist." Unfortunately, Lenin was only sincere about the Blanquist part. Here is an oft-cited passage:

"We must organise production on a large scale, starting
from what has already been done by Capitalism. By
ourselves, we workers, relying on our own experience as
workers, must create an unshakable and iron discipline
supported by the power of the armed workers ; we must
reduce the rôle of the State officials to that of simply
carrying out our instructions ; they must be respon-
sible, revocable, moderately paid " managers and clerks
(of course, with technical knowledge of all sorts, types
and degrees) . This is our proletarian task . With this
we can and must begin when we have accomplished the
proletarian revolution . Such a beginning, on the basis
of large scale industry, will of itself lead to the gradual
decay of all bureaucracy, to the gradual creation of a
new order, an order without inverted commas, an order
bearing no similarity to wage slavery, an order in which
the constant simplification of the functions of inspec-
tion and registration will admit of their being performed
by each in turn, will then become a habit, and will
finally die out as special functions of a special class."


Sadly, this is the kind of political hucksterism which inspires people who are easily moved and not predisposed to critical thinking. This reads like a speech one might hear at the Democratic or Republican convention; higher minded and higher brow, but in effect and purpose pretty much the same. It's popularity is due to its addressing a political anxiety--in this case capitalism--and presumes to resolve it while presenting an enticing, cherubic future. However, on closer examination, this precis only superficially engages its putative subject and doesn't rejoin  any of the associated criticism. This snippet is a triumph of style over substance, and where it does grapple with the concrete, it falters. This passage is intended to stir, not elucidate. It's a rallying cry which targets emotion, not intellect. There is no program here, just nebulous meanderings through an undifferentiated polity that is to come at an unspecified time. This book was written before the Bol putsch in October and published shortly thereafter. It's purpose was to galvanize workers' and peasants' support for an all-to-real, here-and-now, authoritarian, state capitalist regime from whose loci of power they were to remain in indefinite alienation, and in which they were to be economically exploited. Their duty was to suffer obediently, and in the end, as a class, they would inherit the Earth. 

Let's look line by line. I'll use caps to differentiate.

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We

WHO IS 'WE'? THE ISSUE BETWEEN ANARCHS AND LENINISTS IS WHO SHALL HOLD POWER. FOR THE FORMER, IT MUST REST WITH THE WORKERS AND ALL DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY MUST BE MADE BY THEM AND SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE RECALL. AN ANARCHIST POLITY IS BUILT FROM BOTTOM UP, WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF LENINISM. BEFORE THE BOLS SUBVERTED THE FREE SOVIETS AND BROUGHT THEM UNDER PARTY CONTROL, THEIR CONTROL, IN THE ALL-RUSSIAN (I.E. NATIONAL) SOVIET, THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS ESTABLISHED THE ALL-RUSSIAN COUNCIL OF WORKERS' CONTROL (ARCWC). IT'S PURPOSE WAS TO MONITOR THOSE ENGAGED IN POLITICAL A/O BUREAUCRATIC ACTIVITY.

THIS IS ANARCHISM, SOCIALISM BY CONSENSUS FROM BELOW.

AFTER KERENSKY WAS DEFEATED, THE BOLS ESTABLISHED THE COMMISAR-LADEN VESENKA WHICH WAS TO RUN THE ECONOMY. WORKERS AND PEASANTS HAD TO COMPLY WITH VESENKA ORDERS UNDER PAIN OF PENALTY. THE ARCWC WAS SUBSUMED INTO AND SUBORDINATED TO THE NEWLY FORMED COUNCIL OF COMMISARS, THEREBY EFFECTIVELY ELIMINATING ANY SEMBLANCE OF WORKER CONTROL OVER THE "WORKERS' STATE."  

THAT IS LENINISM, SOCIALISM BY UKASE FROM ABOVE.

THE ARCWC OBJECTED FIERCELY TO NO AVAIL AND AROUND THE COUNTRY VARIOUS REGIONAL WORKERS' SOVIETS REFUSED TO COMPLY WITH VESENKA DIRECTIVES AND WENT ON CONDUCTING FREE ELECTIONS TO THEIR SOVIETS AND DECIDING ECONOMIC POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR THEMSELVES. DUE TO THE EXTREME AND INSTANTANEOUS WORKER HATRED FOR THE VESENKA, LENIN DECIDED NOT TO PUSH THE ISSUE IMMEDIATELY AND CREATED THE POLICY OF "DUAL SUBORDINATION." AS THE NAME IMPLIES, IT ALLOWED WORKERS TO FOLLOW THEIR OWN GUIDELINES UNLESS EXPLICITLY CONTRADICTED BY A COMMISAR. EVEN THIS PRETENSE DIDN'T LAST LONG AS WHEN SO-CALLED WAR COMMUNISM BEGAN FREE ELECTIONS TO SOVIETS ENDED.

SO WHEN LENIN SAYS "WE" HE MEANS AN UNACCOUNTABLE, AUTHORITARIAN ELITE WHO WILL RULE OVER THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS.  

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We must organise production on a large scale,

NO, IT ISN'T NECESSARY. ACTUALLY, IT'S COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO UPSIZE ALL FORMS OF PRODUCTION.

SOME PRODUCTION LENDS ITSELF TO LARGE-SCALE OPERATIONS, SOME DOESN'T. THIS IS A LARGE TOPIC, BUT THE GOAL IS TO MARRY CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION, WHILE BEING AS WORKER- AND ECO-FRIENDLY AS POSSIBLE. THE POINTS ARE THAT A) WORKERS WILL DECIDE THESE THINGS NOT BUREAUCRATS, AND B) PRODUCTION OF THE FUTURE WILL INCLUDE LARGE-, MEDIUM-, AND SMALL-SCALE MODELS ALONGSIDE CRAFT AND ARTISINAL PRODUCTION.

AGAIN, THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS AND THE SUBJECT IS JUST TOO LARGE TO BE ADDRESSED HERE, SO TAKE MY WORD FOR IT OR INVESTIGATE AND YOU WILL SEE JUST HOW DISCONNECTED THIS LENINIST MANTRA IS FROM THE REALITY OF GLOBAL ECONOMICS. PEOPLE WHO SPOUT THIS INANITY DON'T HAVE A CLUE. THEY ARE CLEARLY UNFAMILIAR WITH THE SUBJECT AND ARE JUST MAKING FOOLS OF THEMSELVES.

WORKERS, MEET YOUR VANGUARD!

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starting from what has already been done by Capitalism.


HE DOES SAY "STARTING," SO I GUESS THAT'S HIS GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARD, BUT THIS BESPEAKS AN IGNORANCE OF THE SUBJECT.

FIRST, CAPITALIST PRODUCTION IS UNDERTAKEN TO SELL/LEASE GOODS/SERVICES, TO GENERATE REVENUE FOR THE PARTICULAR COMPANY OR CORPORATION WHICH MARKETS SAID GOODS/SERVICES. THAT'S A BAD PLACE TO START EVEN IF, PARTICULARLY IF, PROFIT IS NOT THE GOAL.

SECOND, AGAIN THIS IS A MORE COMPLEX ISSUE THAN IS GENERALLY RECOGNIZED, BUT A MAJOR FACTOR, PERHAPS THE LARGEST, IS SIMPLE LOGISTICS. I LIVED IN VEGAS, AND I HAD A DELL COMPUTER. SOME OF THE COMPONENTS WERE PRODUCED IN THE SILICON VALLEY, AND PASSED BY RAIL LITERALLY WITHIN A MILE OF MY HOUSE ON ITS WAY TO BE ASSEMBLED IN TEXAS AND THEN SHIPPED TO VEGAS WHERE I BOUGHT IT. CAPITALIST LOGISTICS ARE NOT JUST HIDEOUSLY INEFFICIENT, THEY ARE AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER. IT MAKES SENSE FOR SOME PRODUCTION AND ASSEMBLY TO BE CENTRALIZED AND SOME LOCALIZED. TAKE MY WORD FOR IT OT LOOK INTO IT FOR YOURSELF AND YOU WILL SEE THAT THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF WORKHOURS WASTED GLOBALLY AND AT AN ENVIRONMENTAL COST.  CAPITALIST PRODUCTION, ASSEMBLY, DISTRIBUTION IS A FUCKING MESS, AND NEEDS TO BE IMMEDIATELY REORGANIZED POST-REVO.

THIRD, WORKERS A/O DEPUTEES WILL MAKE THESE DECISIONS, NOT THEORISTS.

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By ourselves, we workers, relying on our own experience as
workers,


"WE' WORKERS? LENIN WAS NEVER A WORKER (AND IT SHOWS). HE HAS NO EXPERIENCE AS A WORKER. HE HAS NO SHAME.

NO, THE EMANCIPATION OF THE WORKING CLASS DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY THE WORKING CLASS ITSELF. THIS IS THE KIND OF EMOTIONAL SLOGANEERING WHICH PLEASES NON-THINKERS, BUT MORE SANELY, DEFECTORS FROM OTHER CLASSES ARE TO BE WELCOMED AND WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE REVOLUTION, BUT THAT IS WHAT LENIN IS--NOT A WORKER.

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must create an unshakable and iron discipline


SOMEBODY DID A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF LENIN'S CANON AND THE TWO MOST USED WORDS WERE "CONTROL" AND "DISCIPLINE."

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supported by the power of the armed workers;


IT MUST BE UNDERSTOOD THAT THIS BOOK IS FOR PROPAGANDA PURPOSES. SOME OF IT IS SINCERE, AND SOME NOT. WHEN HE WROTE THIS HE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION OF ARMING WORKERS--ZERO!  AND, OF COURSE, HE DIDN'T. HE DISARMED WORKERS.

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we must reduce the rôle of the State officials to that of simply
carrying out our instructions;


OH, THAT'S THE BIG LIE. THAT'S THE MONEY SHOT RIGHT THERE.

HE DID THE OPPOSITE, HE NEVER INTENDED TO DO OTHERWISE. THROUGHOUT LENIN'S ENTIRE CAREER, HE WAS THE ENEMY OF WORKER POWER. HE WAS A VANGUARDIST BEFORE THE TERM. HIS MAJOR THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION WAS TO REBUT MARX' BELIEF THAT WORKERS WOULD REACH REVOLUTIONARY CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH STRUGGLE. LENIN INSISTED THAT BY THEMSELVES WORKERS COULD ONLY REACH TRADE UNION CONSCIOUSNESS, AND NEEDED A VANGUARD TO SHOW THEM THE WAY. IF ONE LOOKS AT HIS CAREER, HE HAS AT EVERY TURN SIDED AGAINST WORKER POWER. FROM HIS DISPUTES IN THE EARLY DAYS WITH PLEKHANOV AND AXELROD AND MARTOV, LATER WITH TROTSKY AND LUXEMBURG, ONCE IN POWER WITH BUKHARIN AND BOGDANOV AND KOLLONTAI, LENIN WAS ALWAYS ARGUING AGAINST WORKERS' POWER. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS, NONE! ONE CAN ARGUE THAT LENIN'S APPROACH IS THE PROPER ONE, BUT HE HAD NO PATIENCE WITH WORKERS.

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they must be responsible, revocable, moderately paid " managers and clerks
(of course, with technical knowledge of all sorts, types
and degrees) .


THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE TO THE PARTY-HIS PARTY; THEY COULD BE RECALLED BY THE PARTY; AND THEY WERE PAID WORKERS' WAGES FOR ABOUT A MONTH OR SO. THEY QUICKLY RECEIVED EXTRA RATIONS AND PAY SO AS, LENIN INSISTED, KEEP THEM FROM FALLING PREY TO CORRUPTION.

THAT'S YOUR VANGUARD AT WORK.

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This is our proletarian task .


"OUR"!

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With this we can and must begin when we have accomplished the
proletarian revolution.


NEVER HAPPENED. SEVENTY YEARS OF BOLSHEVISM AND IT NEVER HAPPENED. THE BOLS BECAME, AS BAKUNIN SAGELY PREDICTED, THE NEW RULING CLASS.

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Such a beginning, on the basis
of large scale industry,


APPARENTLY THE CONTROL OF CLERKS AND MANAGERS IS DEPENDENT, IN SOME UNREVEALED WAY, ON THE SCALE OF PRODUCTION--EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT ENGAGED IN PRODUCTION. ONE WOULD THINK THAT LENIN WOULD OFFER SOME DELINEATION OF THIS MOST BIZARRE THEORY.

BUT, OF COURSE, THIS IS A PROPAGANDA BOOK, AND THOSE DON'T ACCOMMODATE SPECIFICITY AND DETAIL VERY WELL.

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will of itself lead to the gradual
decay of all bureaucracy,


WILL IT? HOW? EXACTLY HOW? IF THE RAISON D'ETRE OF THE BOURGEOIS STATE AND ITS FACTOTA IS TO ENFORCE EXTRACTIVE ECONOMIC RELATIONS, AND LENIN DOES NOT BELIEVE IT WILL WITHER BUT MUST BE OVERTHROWN, WHY DOES HE BELIEVE THE SUPERPARTYSTATE, WHICH LIKEWISE IS AN EXPROPRIATIVE REGIME--STATE CAPITALIST--WITH SIMILAR APPARATI OF ENFORCEMENT, WILL WITHER OR DEVOLVE OR DISBAND? THIS IS A VERY STRANGE BELIEF, ONE WITHOUT HISTORICAL PRECEDENT. WHAT DIFFERENTIATES IT FROM THE BOURGEOIS STATE? THESE ARE CRUCIAL AND PROFOUND QUESTIONS WHICH TREAT DIRECTLY UPON THE THEORY OF HISTORICAL MATERIALISM. THEY CANNOT BE MORE IMPORTANT TO THE LEFT PROJECT. IF ONE IS TO ANSWER THAT SOCIALISTS COMPRISE THE SUPERPARTYSTATE, AND THAT THEIR IDEOLOGY/MORALITY/ETHICS WILL ENABLE THEM TO SURRENDER THEIR WEALTH, PRIVILEGE AND POWER THEN ONE HAS DEALT A BLOW TO MARX AND ENGELS. ARE THE BOURGEOISIE THE BOURGEOISIE BECAUSE OF A LACK OF MORALITY? FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS? GENETIC MUTATION? IS IT NOT THE CASE, AS WOULD BE IN KEEPING WITH MY UNDERSTANDING OF DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM, THAT CAPITALIST AND PROLETARIAN OCCUPY THOSE RESPECTIVE STATIONS BECAUSE OF HISTORICAL FORCES, AND THAT UNDER OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES THE FACTORY WORKER COULD BE THE FACTORY OWNER AND THE OWNER THE WORKER. THEY ARE NOT DIFFERENTIATED DUE TO DIVERGENT IDEOLOGIES OR ANY NON-MATERIAL FORCE. THAT IS TO SAY THAT AS INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE, NEITHER IS NECESSARILY BETTER THAN THE OTHER. If IT IS AN IDEAL WHICH WILL ENABLE THE SOCIALIST, STATE CAPITALIST BOURGEOISIE TO STEP ASIDE, THEN THIS IS A QUITE A CONUNDRUM FOR MARXISM.

FOR THE RECORD, I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS TO BE A CONTRADICTION WITHIN MARXISM, RATHER I THINK IT IS A SIMPLE CASE OF A THINKER NOT FULLY GRASPING HIS OWN THEORY. HISTORICAL MATERIALISM, PROPERLY CONSTRUED AND APPLIED, DOES NOT SUPPORT THE IDEA OF A WITHERING STATE. IT FLATLY REJECTS SUCH EMBARRASSING, INFANTILE FANTASIES.

PERHAPS LENIN HAS SOME OTHER EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THE PARTY ARISTOCRACY WILL HAND THE KEYS TO THE FACTORY BACK TO THE WORKERS BUT HE NEEDS TO ADDUCE ONE. USUALLY WE ARE TOLD, IN LINE WITH ENGEL'S RECKONING, THAT ONCE CAPITALISM IS PURGED WORLDWIDE THE WITHERING PROCESS WILL BEGIN. HOWEVER, AT THIS POINT WHERE ALL THREAT OF BOURGEOIS COUNTERREVOLUTION IS ELIMINATED THERE WILL BE, PERFORCE, A GLOBE FULL OF SUPERPARTYSTATES, LITERAL DICTATORSHIPS OVER THE PROLETARIAT. WILL THIS SCENARIO, CAN THIS SCENARIO LEAD TO INTERNATIONAL PEACE A/O THE HANDOVER OF POWER FROM DICTATORSHIP TO THE PROLETARIAT, FROM UPPER CLASS TO LOWER? IT WOULD HARDLY BE IDEAL, WOULD IT? WOULD ALL THE DICTATORSHIPS IN ALL THE STATES BE WILLING TO SURRENDER THEIR POWER AND WEALTH TO THEIR OWN POPULACES? MIGHT NOT AT LEAST ONE SUPERPARTYSTATE ATTACK ANOTHER SO AS TO INCREASE ITS OWN WEALTH? IS THIS INTERMEDIARY, NON-SOCIALIST STAGE BETWEEN CAPITALISM AND COMMUNISM, WHICH MARX RISIBLY CALLED SOCIALISM AND LENIN FASHIONED AS A LITERAL DICTATORSHIP, A PATH TO COMMUNISM OR A BARRIER? THIS MOST FANTASTICAL, OTHERWORLDLY NOTION THAT A PLANET FULL OF SURPLUS-VALUE-EXPROPRIATIVE STATES WILL NOT LEAD TO INTERNATIONAL WAR AS IT HAS ALWAYS DONE BEFORE IS THE MOTHER OF ALL CONCEITS, AND AN EXTRAORDINARILY DANGEROUS ONE. IF YOU ARE A BELIEVER, YOU NEED TO OFFER A PROOF OF SOME KIND, WHICH LENIN HERE DOES NOT.

DISAPPEARING DICTATORSHIPS, WOW. LET'S HOPE THE VANGUARDS WILL GET ALONG BETTER THAN THE PRC AND THE USSR.

THE CONCEPT OF WITHERING IS ABSURD. A WOMAN IS PREGNANT OR SHE ISN'T, THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND. SHOULD POWER MOVE FROM THE DICTATORSHIP TO THE WORKING CLASS THEN IT WILL BE DONE BY TRANSFER. THE DICTATORSHIP AND ITS ENFORCERS ARE NOT GOING TO MELT AWAY LIKE THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST. AT SOME POINT, THOSE WHO RULE AND PROSPER THEREBY, MUST VOLUNTARILY SURRENDER THEIR WEALTH, PRIVILEGE AND POWER. THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED. WHAT WILL IMPEL THESE RULING CLASSES TO DO WHAT NO OTHER HAS?

FOR ME, THIS IS DELUSIONAL. THE LITERAL DOTP IS A FORMULA FOR DISASTER, NOT JUST INTRANATIONALLY AS IT WAS IN THE USSR, BUT INTERNATIONALLY AS WELL. THE CLASSICAL ORDER BEGAT FEUDALISM WHICH IN TURN BEGAT CAPITALISM. NOW CAPITALISM BEGETS THE NEW HORROR WHICH WILL, LIKE ITS PREDECESSORS, DO NO OTHER THAN ABUSE THE GREAT MASS OF HUMANITY AND SET THE PLANET ON A COURSE FOR A NEW ROUND OF DEVASTATING WORLD WARS. THOSE WHO DISAGREE MUST ANSWER THE QUESTION: WHAT FORCE WILL BRING THE STATE-CAPITALIST REGIMES TO RELINQUISH THEIR POWER TO THE VERY PEOPLE WHO CREATE THEIR WEALTH?

THE REVOLUTION AWAITS YOUR REPLY.
    
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to the gradual creation of a
new order,


WELL IT'S CERTAINLY A RELIEF TO LEARN THAT THE TRANSFER OF POWER TO THE WORKERS WILL BE GRADUAL. QUITE SENSIBLE, NO NEED TO RUSH.

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an order bearing no similarity to wage slavery,


FOR 70 YEARS THE BOLS RULED RUSSIA AND NEVER ELIMINATED WAGE SLAVERY. SEVENTY YEARS OF STATE CAPITALISM, AND NOT FOR A SECOND WERE WORKERS FREE.

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an order in which the constant simplification of the functions of inspec-
tion and registration will admit of their being performed
by each in turn,


LENIN HAD NO CONFIDENCE IN THE WORKING CLASS, IN EVERYDAY PEOPLE. NOTHING BUT CONDESCENSION.

WORKERS WILL DECIDE WHETHER AND WHAT WILL BE PERFORMED BY EACH IN TURN. I DROVE A BUS FOR MANY YEARS, AND WHERE I WORKED THERE WAS A WAITING LIST FOR JANITORIAL AND TRASH COLLECTION WORK. YES, THAT'S RIGHT. JANITORIAL PAID SLIGHTLY MORE, AND YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT UNRULY/DANGEROUS PASSENGERS, DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT TIME SCHEDULES, DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DRIVING IN BAD WEATHER, WORKED PRETTY MUCH INDEPENDENTLY, THERE WERE ADVANTAGES AND YOU PRETTY MUCH HAD TO WAIT FOR SOMEBODY TO RETIRE TO GET A JANITORIAL JOB.

 WORKERS WILL DECIDE HOW WORK WILL BE APPORTIONED AND PERFORMED, AND IT MAY DIFFER FROM WORKPLACE TO WORKPLACE. SOCIALISM IS THE EMANCIPATION OF LABOR.

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will then become a habit,


RELEVANCE?

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 and will
finally die out as special functions of a special class.


OH, DON'T BE STUPID..

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AND IS ALL THIS EMPTY, GENIAL PHRASE-MAKING SUPPOSED TO JUSTIFY THE ANTI-WORKER HORROR THAT WAS BOLSHEVIK RUSSIA? SEVENTY YEARS OF PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION AND THEN WHAT? A TRANSFER OF WORKER-CREATED WEALTH BACK TO THE WORKERS AND THE STATE DISMANTLED? NOT QUITE. THE BOLSHEVIK, STATE-CAPITALIST STATE DISSOLVED ITSELF INTO A MARKET CAPITALIST STATE. WHAT A SHAME FOR THE WORKERS! GEE, TOO BAD.

LENINAZIS ALWAYS ATTRIBUTE THE HORRIBLE FAILURE AND EVENTUAL DEMISE OF THE USSR TO EXOGENOUS FACTORS. ANARCHS SAY THE VERTICAL NATURE OF THE USSR DIRECTED IT, CONDEMNED IT TO FOLLOWING A PATH, PARTICULARLY IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS, WHICH IN PART CREATED THOSE FACTORS. THE BOLS CREATED A SOCIETY WHICH DEPENDED ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIVILEGES AND EMOLUMENTS EXCEEDING THOSE GIVEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN ORDER TO SECURE THE LOYALTY OF THE STATE APPARATUS. THIS IN TURN MANDATED A FOREIGN POLICY PREDICATED ON STATE SELF-PRESERVATION AND INTERNAL ECONOMIC POLICIES WHICH WERE SURE TO EXTRACT ENOUGH SURPLUS VALUE FROM WORKERS AND PEASANTS TO PAY THE BUREAUCRACY WHICH POLICED THEM. THE USSR NEVER SUFFICIENTLY DIVERGED FROM THE CAPITALIST STATES AS THEY WERE SO VERY MUCH LIKE THEM. THE PRESENCE OF THE SUPERPARTYSTATE, AN OBSCENE CARICATURE OF A SOCIALIST POLITY, SERVED TO BOLSTER COUNTERREVOLUTION INTERNATIONALLY, AND HENCE HEMMED ITSELF IN. LENIN'S IMMEDIATE CONCERN WAS TO ENMESH RUSSIA IN THE GLOBAL CAPITALIST SYSTEM AND HE SUCCEEDED--WITH DEVASTATING RESULTS FOR THE RUSSIAN AND GLOBAL REVOLUTION.

IN THE 1960S, CHE GUAVARA GAVE A SPEECH IN WHICH HE SAID THAT THE USSR WAS PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL CAPITALIST SYSTEM OF WORKER OPPRESSION. THAT IS LENIN'S LEGACY, AND THAT SPEECH SHOULD BE THE "AFTERWORD" IN ANY EDITION OF STATE AND REVOLUTION.