Capitalist state
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Hi, i am new to this forum but at the age of 60 have spent my life oscillating over socialism, marxism and there pros and cons. Needless to say any same man would probably come to the conclusion that no political ideology is going to fit an individual absolutely so best fit is the best that one should initially find acceptable. Generally reading the 'about us' part of the website I was encouraged as very largely I agree. Points needing clarification (not that i disagree) are the remarks that China, Cuba and Soviet republic were not socialist but a capitalist state. can any one expand on this.
Welcome to the forum and i hope we can be of helpDon't expect a short and quick explanation, and bear with us as there are several aspects to the answers you will recieve. But the website itself should offer some explanation if you use its tabs and also the search facility for articles from our archives.We represent now a very under-represented tradition of socialism, the Impossiblists, because we reject the need for reforms and insist that full socialism/communism is possible right now…so we should technically be called the Possiblists and those who think a series of reforms offer stepping stones towards socialism are the real Impossiblists
As to your question about China etc. – we refer to them as state capitalist because they had all the features of capitalist society – a state, production for profit, money, buying and selling, an exploiting and an exploited class – the same as all avowedly capitalist countries do. The difference is that in the so-called communist or socialist countries, effectively the state and the ruling class were one and the same set of people, rather than the state acting on behalf of a private capitalist class.So what we see with these countries, rather than the demise of real socialism, is the move from strictly controlled state capitalism to private capitalism.For members of the World Socialist Movement, real socialism (or communism) entails the abolition of the ruling class and the state – in all countries – and its replacement with worldwide common ownership of resources.
robinhood wrote:Hi, i am new to this forum but at the age of 60 have spent my life oscillating over socialism, marxism and there pros and cons. Needless to say any same man would probably come to the conclusion that no political ideology is going to fit an individual absolutely so best fit is the best that one should initially find acceptable. Generally reading the 'about us' part of the website I was encouraged as very largely I agree. Points needing clarification (not that i disagree) are the remarks that China, Cuba and Soviet republic were not socialist but a capitalist state. can any one expand on this.Robinhood, You might find this book of some use which you can download and read. Its a bit dated but still highly relevant https://libcom.org/library/state-capitalism-wages-system-under-new-management-adam-buick-john-crump
There are plenty of articles in the Archive section of our website on why we think Russia was capitalist and not socialist and that state ownership does not abolish capitalism. For instance:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1990s/1997/no-1119-november-1997/russia-was-never-socialist-%E2%80%93-and-why http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1980s/1985/no-975-november-1985/nature-russian-state-capitalism http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1980s/1987/no-992-april-1987/state-capitalism
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