Reactionary anti-communist bourgeois theories that conceal the restoration of capitalism in Soviet Union (1953-1990) Part C
B. The reactionary anticommunist bourgeois theory of "developed socialism" of the Khrushchevite social-democracy
Cont.
3. Transition period "from capitalism to socialism" or "from capitalism to communism"?
The question of exact, but firstly proper delimitation of the ‘’Transition period’’ is one of the most significant and central matters of Marxist Theory, because with this, in theoretical level are connected directly, closely and (without separation) the questions of:
1) The Marxist perception of socialism-communism that, in addition to others, has as a basis and recognizes only two phases of the unified communist society and
2) The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, more accurately the necessity of its preservation till the communist classless society, which at the political-practical level is connected to the fate of socialism, and its preservation, establishment and development or its destruction, like it occurred on Soviet Union, after 1953: a) with the violent overthrow of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat that at the same time, abolished socialism at the political level (there is no socialism without the Dictatorship of the Proletariat), and b) to the economic sector, it launched the gradual restoration of capitalism, with the application of financial reforms of capitalistic character, restoration that was completed in the mid 1960s.
Exactly in that central and key importance question, theoretical and political-practical, the treasonous revisionist social-democratic group of Khrushchev-Brezhnev devised, after 1953, a counter-revolutionary NEW antimarxist position as the "Transition period from capitalism to socialism" - replacing the known Marxist position for the "Transition period from capitalism to communism" -restoring a blatant rank and altogether failed attempt to falsify Lenin. To give, apparently, "persuasion" to their conscious falsification they quote ONLY a part of an excerpt of Lenin, that is contained in the "Greetings to the Hungarian Workers" (27.5.1919), concluding, with its "help", in the distortion of Marx: "therefore, according to Marx and Lenin, the state of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is the state of the Transition period from capitalism to socialism" (N. Khrushchev: "The 22th Congress of CPSU", page 206, Athens 1961).
The distorted-crippled, from Khrushchevite anticommunism, expert of Lenin from "Greetings to the Hungarian Workers" was used, in later decades, extensively in reports of international Khrushchevite revisionism, among which we report only case: In the "Political economy of Socialism" (Moscow 1971) German: "Politische Oekonomie des Sozialismus" page 51, Berlin-DDR 1973.
First, before reporting the distortion of Lenin i.e. the amputation-clipping of his extract, lets underline that there is no reference to the "Transition period from capitalism to socialism" anywhere in the work of Marx-Engels. It was the Khrushchevite social-democrat falsely claim in that infamous Congress and that is exactly the reason they don't quote any, not even one, relevant extract from their work.
Ever since, after the counterrevolutionary 22nd Congress (1961) the antimarxist "theory"-position of the "Transition period from capitalism to socialism" dominated the reports of the capitalist Soviet Union of the era and those of the countries of the restored capitalism in eastern Europe, was proclaimed the official position and became the dominant bourgeois theory in those countries and at the same time consisted the position of every antistalinist Khrushchevite revisionist social democratic party in the planet (including the "K"KE as well).
From the hundreds of publications (articles, books, brochures, comments, etc. ) lets mention as an indication just four feature experts. According to the Khrushchevite revisionist academic P. Fedoseyev “ the period of transition from capitalism to socialism starts with the victory of socialist revolution and the establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and ends with the elimination of capitalistic property (“Voprosy Ekonomiki” Nr 5/1975, page 27) and: the “transition period from capitalism to socialism” starts “with the seizure of political power by the working class and ends with the establishment of socialism” (“Politische Oekonomie des Sozialismus”, page 51, Berlin-DDR 1973, Moscow 1971), and: “The Transition period starts in every country the moment the political power of working class will be established, and ends with the completion of socialist transformations, with the establishment of socialist productive relations” (“Political Economy Manual”, page 8-9, Moscow 1979), and finally, according to Prof. Anatoli Butenko , economist: “Transition period from capitalism to socialism is a historical period of growth, which starts with the political revolution and the establishment of the working class's power and ends with the total elimination of the exploitation of man by man, with the victory of socialist productive relations, with the creation of the bases of socialism” (“SOZIALIZM THEORIE UND PRAXIS, Monatliches Sowjetisches Digest”, 3/1979, page 55, APN-Verlag, Moscow 1979).
In contrast to the above intentional distortion, in the antimarxist direction, that “allowed” the Khrushchevite social-democrats to use the so called “Transition period from capitalism to socialism” of Marx-Lenin, Lenin in the famous “Greetings to the Hungarian Workers” (27.5.1919), points amongst others in addition “The chief feature of proletarian dictatorship is the organisation and discipline of the advanced contingent of the working people, of their vanguard; of their sole leader, the proletariat, whose object is to build socialism, abolish the division of society into classes, make all members of society working people, and remove the basis for all exploitation of man by man. This object cannot be achieved at one stroke. It requires a fairly long period of transition from capitalism to socialism, because the reorganisation of production is a difficult matter, because radical changes in all spheres of life need time, and because the enormous force of habit of running things in a petty-bourgeois and bourgeois way can only be overcome by a long and stubborn struggle. That is why Marx spoke of an entire period of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the period of transition from capitalism to socialism (note 87)" (V.I. Lenin: "Greetings to the Hungarian Workers". German: Lenin: Werke, Bd. 29, p. 377, Berlin-DDR 1965)
A simple comparison between this extract of Lenin, and that of the Khrushchevites in the 22th Congress of CPSU (1961) shows that they have skipped-clipped intentionally the first part of Lenin's extract in order to submit their new antimarxist position-myth of the "Transition period from capitalism to socialism" attributing it to Marx-Lenin.
And now some remarks, that contradict-show the blunt and international distortion of Marx-Lenin form soviet Khrushchevite social democrats of the defending team of Khrushchev-Brezhnev, etc., that at the same constitute defense of the Marxist perception of the Transition period from capitalism to communism:
First, from the above complete Lenin's extract with the addition of the "forgotten" on purpose from the Khrushchevite social democrats: "The chief feature of proletarian dictatorship is the organisation and discipline of the advanced contingent of the working people, of their vanguard; of their sole leader, the proletariat, whose object is to build socialism, abolish the division of society into classes, make all members of society working people, and remove the basis for all exploitation of man by man." - they did not quote that part to "document" their
distortion and make it more persuasive is apparent that Lenin in this text uses the term "Socialism" meaning "Communism", because ONLY in "communism" division of the society in classes is eliminated and not in "socialism" where classes still exist even after the establishment-construction of its economic base with its two forms of socialist property (of state-cooperative) "working class, the peasantry, the intelligentsia" remain (Stalin: "Concerning Questions of Leninism", p. 676, 1950, Greek version) which is furthermore confirmed from Lenin's reference in the end of the paragraph to Marx.
Second, furthermore : The note 87 that refers to Marx work: “Critique of the Gotha Programme” confirms the position of revolutionary Marxism for “International period of capitalism to communism”, in which is noted: “Between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat." (K. Marx: "Critique of the Gotha Program", written in April-start of May 1875 and published in 1891. Taken from K.MARX/F.ENGELS: Ausgewaehlte Schriften, Bd.II, σελ. 25, Verlag fuer fremdsprachige Literatur Moskau 1950)
And from this Marx’s clear extract which is not open "to many" interpretations, is apparent that when Lenin in the text above talks of "Transition period from capitalism to socialism" means from "capitalism to communism", since Marx in his famous extract does NOT speak of "Transition period from capitalism to socialism" but opposite of "Transition period from capitalism to communism" i.e. the complete classless communist society (See also: K.MARX/F.ENGELS: Werke, Bd.19, p. 28, Dietz Verlag Berlin-DDR 1969))
Third, it would not be possible for Lenin to talk of "Transition period from capitalism to socialism" because:
a) he would distort Marx-Engels and revolutionary Marxism in general,
b) he would reject the Marxist perception of "Transition period from capitalism to communism", if he delimited this Transition period only until socialism, i.e. the first phase of communist classless society,
c) he would reject the necessity of existence of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat until communism, like the Khrushchevite social-democrats traitors did (they had already violently overthrown it after the elimination of Stalin) without which Socialism-Communism could never be built, but neither, finally, the complete classless communist society, in which the state, according to the classics Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin, "wither away" when similar domestic and international conditions are created "For the state to wither away completely, complete communism is necessary". (V.I. Lenin: "The State and Revolution", Selected works, vol. 2, p. 265, ed. of the CC of KKE, "Nea Ellada", 1951)
Fourth, Lenin already in "State and Revolution", one of its latest works (written in August-September 1917, printed in 1918), refers extensively to the issue of the transition period, the two phases of communist society and the "withering away" of the state while in "CHAPTER V" entitled " The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State" and the section "2" and immediately below the characteristic subtitle "The transition from capitalism to communism" lists the known above quote of Marx by the "Critique of the Gotha Programme", setting the 'transition period', like Marx, "transition period from capitalism to communism" (V.LENIN: Selected works, Volume II, p. 256, ed. of the CC of KKE "Nea Ellada", 1951).
Fifth, a few months after "Greetings to the Hungarian Workers" (27.5.1919), Lenin again deals with this issue in his article entitle "Economics And Politics In The Era Of The Dictatorship Of The Proletariat" (10.30.1919) and defines the "transition period" as the "transition period from capitalism to communism": "Theoretically, there can be no doubt that between capitalism and communism there lies a definite transition period which must combine the features and properties of both these forms of social economy. This transition period has to be a period of struggle between dying capitalism and nascent communism—or, in other words, between capitalism which has been defeated but not destroyed and communism which has been born but is still very feeble." (Lenin: Volume 39, page 271, 5th ed., Athens 1982). And so this passage, although in this is clearly to "transitional period from capitalism to communism", the Khrushchevite social-democrats humiliating themselves, write "intelligently" - replacing the word "communism" with the word "socialism" - that in this text: "the V. I. Lenin based the necessity of transition from capitalism to socialism" (!!!) («Lehrbuch Politische Oekonomie Sozialismus», p.28, Berlin-DDR 1972, Moscow 1970). Here the distortion of Lenin is grosser and even more ridiculous from the first case i.e. Conscious omission of part of the passage, but also completely blatant by replacing the word "communism" of Lenin, arbitrarily and deliberately, with the word "socialism".
Finally, equally coarse and quite glaring is the distortion of Marx, similar absurdity with the second indent of Lenin, when the Khrushchevite Social Democrats argue that "the necessity of transition from capitalism to socialism hint for the first time Marx, in 1875, in his work "Critique of the Gotha Programme"", and this despite the fact that they themselves cite and part of the famous passage of Marx, which instead read: "between capitalist and communist society ..." and NOT "socialist" as they claim ("Political Economy" (N. A. Tsagolov) Volume IV, pp. 13-14, ed. " Gutenberg", Athens 1980).
Of course, the anti-stalinist, Khrushchevite anti-communists were utterly ridiculous to distort the Marx’s “Critique of the Ghota program” and Lenin’s “Economy and policy in the era of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat” by replacing the word “communism” with “socialism”. However, what is of primary interest to the revolutionary communists and the international communist movement is that the anti-Marxist concept of the “transition period from capitalism to socialism” is one of the main parts of the reactionary, bourgeois, anti-communist theory of “developed socialism” conceived by the Khrushchevites in order to “justify”: the revisionist counter-revolution in the Soviet Union, the dismissal of the necessity of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat until communism, the violent overthrow and replacement of the latter with the dictatorship of the new bourgeoisie (i.e. the bourgeois “all people’s state”), the dismissal of the competitive contradictions and the class struggles during socialism, the whitewash of the elimination of socialism and the gradual restoration of capitalism. This process was presented by the propaganda of the Khrushchevite social-democratic parties – including the reformist “K”KE – as a “progressive” one that, in fact, was going to lead to the “classless communist society” (!!) despite the fact that the “developed” or “actually existing socialism” of the Krushchev – Brezhnev – Gorbachev was nothing more than a actually existing capitalism which inevitably collapsed following its transformation to the traditional type of capitalism of the western capitalism countries at the end of the 1980’s.
