Birmingham Socialist Resistance makes a left turn on Russia!

Birmingham Socialist Resistance leaflet on Russia for March 17th 2009 is useful in making a case that Russia remains a Degenerated Workers' state. The figures it gives of the 1990s socio-economic disaster in terms of cuts in industrial growth and rapid improvishment of the masses which my blog has argued was a combination of extreme Bureaucratic pillage and Capitalist inroads. Capitalist inroads had these dire consuqences but if Capitalism had been restored it would been much worse.


The Birmingham leaflet points out how the Putin wing of Russian Stalinism has turned round the drop in industrial production with substained growth between 2000 and 2007. That leaflet shows the masses have made substantial gains in terms of their salaries incrassing hundreds-fold. This leaflet could be used to make the case that Russia is a Workers' state by showing how the bulk of production and sales is determined by use value not for profits, with exports increasing pressures of the world Capitalist market on Russia. In 2003 according to the leaflet Russia had re-built itself sufficently that export pressures were reduced. The leaflet shows how even with the shift inside the Russian Bureaucracy against the excesses of extreme Bureaucratic pillage that the Workers' State can go forward. Mandel argued in Power and Money that under Stalinism money is subordianted to Bureaucratic power wherehas under Capitalism Bureaucracy is subordinated to Capitalist profit.


There is huge potential for revolutioanry struggles against continued Bureaucratic pillage. An article in the Guardian in the last four or five weeks pointed out ther were massive differences within the Russian Bureaucracy whether they should bail out Capitalist firms. The Putinites believe by salvaging those Capitalist firms the Bureaucracy will gain more control over them. Other Bureaucrats do not want to salvage what they see as forces which attempting to overthrow them. Trotskyists would play on the contradiction that the workers have improved their standard of living to increase their confidence to challenge both the Capitalists and Stalinists. We woud play on the anger amongst workers against wasting tens of billions of Roubles to salvage Capitalist firms to begin to mobilise them for the Political Revolution with social consuqencces.