State Socialism After Stalin

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State Socialism After Stalin
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• The Logic of Post-Stalinism
• The Timeline
• The Command Economy
• The Politics of State Socialism

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The Logic of Post-Stalinism
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• Stalinism was unviable
• --Extreme degree of state control over society
  hard to maintain, permanent emergency rule
• --War was no longer on the horizon capitalism
  was stabilizing the challenges of peace and
  prosperity
• --Communist elites needed more normal, stable
  regimes in which they would be secure from
  challenges both from above and from below
• Changes were inevitable they were in the
  interests both of the rulers and of the ruled
• BUT Stalinist features at the foundation of
  communist power
• --Bureaucracy reigns as the New Class no
  interest in sharing power
• --One-party systems
• --Control of information
• --Mechanisms of repression (security services,
  the military)

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• From the death of Stalin to the collapse of
  communism
• In each communist country attempts to develop
  viable political-economic systems which would
• --secure the dominance of communist elites,
• and
• --make state socialism attractive or at least
  acceptable - to the masses
• Return to the past was impossible
• Options for the future
• --National Stalinism (Albania, Romania, China)
• --Reform socialism
• --Liberal capitalism

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• National Stalinism would simply prolong the
  agony.
• Reform socialism required a strong commitment to
  democracy from the ruling elites.
• They needed to take big risks with
  democratization
• But the fear of losing power prevented them from
  taking such risks
• Or, when some of them would venture risky
  democratic strategies, Soviet hardliners would
  intervene (Hungary, 1956, Moscow, 1964,
  Czechoslovakia, 1968, Poland, 1981, Moscow, 1991)
• Ultimately (in 1989-91), the elites opted for
  capitalism

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The Timeline The Thaw 1953-1964 The
Conservative Era 1964-1985 Reforms and
Collapse 1985-1991
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• 1953-1964 THE THAW
• 1953 Stalins death, first moves towards
  liberalization in USSR and Eastern Europe
• 1956
• The rise of Nikita Khrushchev
• The 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party
  Khrushchevs secret speech denounces Stalin
• Upheaval in Poland
• The Hungarian revolution and its suppression
• 1957 Stalinists attempt to overthrow Khrushchev
• 1961 Khrushchev renews his anti-Stalinist
  campaign new Party programme promises the
  beginning of full communism within 20 years
• 1962 The Cuban missile crisis. The Novocherkassk
  massacre
• 1964 Khrushchev is deposed by conservatives

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• 1964-1985 THE CONSERVATIVE ERA
• 1964 Leonid Brezhnev becomes the head of the
  Soviet Communist Party
• 1965
• Limited market reforms announced in USSR
• First public trials of dissidents
• 1966 Hungary introduces New Economic Mechanism
• 1968
• Protests and repression in Poland
• The Prague Spring and its suppression
• 1969 The Sino-Soviet military conflict
• 1970 In Poland, worker protests lead to the fall
  of Gomulka
• 1971-72 The start of détente between the USSR
  and the West
• 1979 Détente is over the Soviet invasion of
  Afghanistan
• 1980-81 The rise of Polish Solidarity martial
  law is imposed
• 1982 Brezhnevs death and the succession crisis
• 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary

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• 1985-1991 REFORMS AND COLLAPSE

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The Command EconomyPlease see the following
linksPLANNED ECONOMY FACTS AND
INFORMATIONModern Corporation
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The Politics of State Socialism
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• Basic methods of social control
• authority (the power of command)
• exchange (the power of deal)
• persuasion (the power of idea)
• moral codes (the power of belief)
• Each political-economic system relies on a
  specific combination of these methods
• Under state socialism, the power of command
  dwarfed all other methods
• The command economy and one-party rule reinforced
  each other
• Extreme centralization of economic and political
  power
• Fear of exchange the specter of capitalist
  restoration
• Inefficiency and social discontent
• See Charles Lindblom, Politics and Markets,
  Basic Books, 1976

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• The Communist Party under state socialism
• The systems core
• The principle of hierarchy (democratic
  centralism)
• The Party leadership controls all mechanisms of
  the state, including economic management
• Assuring the mass base through Party membership
• Control of information (little or no media
  freedom, heavy use of propaganda, control of the
  cultural sphere)
• The key role of security organs
• Cannot be used against Party leadership
• Use of force only under extreme circumstances
• Manipulation of political processes
• Surveillance, informer networks
• Preventive measures against dissent

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• The Soviet society new classes, new
  expectations, new relations and structures
• The ruling class (NOMENKLATURA)
• Ambivalent social status the question of
  ownership
• Does not need a dictator WHY?
• Increasingly confident of its power and right to
  rule
• Big, diverse, interested in decentralization
  WHY?
• Reformers, Stalinists, pragmatic conservatives

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• A new society
• Increasingly urbanized
• Rapidly growing educational levels
• Class struggle is declared over
• Raised in the spirit of democratic expectations
  (even if within the limits of official ideology)
• Demanding higher living standards
• Women, youth, intellectuals new social demands
• Development of nationalist sentiments
• Citizens losing fear of the state

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• The essence of the reform process
• States and societies created by the communists
  enter into a process of complex interactions
• --between the rulers and the ruled
• --between different social groups
• --between internal and external forces
• Both conflicts and accomodation
• Challenges to political leaders
• Open-ended outcomes
• Successes and failures

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• The main components of the reform process
  addressing the systems flaws
• DECENTRALIZATION
• LIBERALIZATION
• MARKETIZATION
• DEMILITARIZATION
• OPENING TO THE WORLD
• The outcome depended on many factors both
  internal and external
• State socialism had to prove its viability under
  conditions of peace

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Decentralization

• Achieving rational distribution of power between
  different levels of communist state structure
• Within the USSR
• More power to national republics
• Within the Soviet bloc
• Loosening of Soviet control over Eastern Europe
• Limits
• Fear of loss of control
• Requires liberalization
• The dynamics of nationalism

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Liberalization

• Reducing state domination over society
• New society expects the state to be democratic
  serving the people (influence of ideology both
  communist and Western)
• The international environment fosters those
  expectations
• No mass repressions lesser role for security
  organs
• Relaxation of controls over cultural life
• Development of pluralism within the ruling party
• How far could communists go down this road?

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Marketization

• Restoration of elements of market systems
• Considerations of economic efficiency
• Growing consumer demands
• Interests of managers, entrepreneurs
• Problems
• Does the revival of market forces make
  restoration of capitalism inevitable?
• What do the people want capitalism or
  socialism?
• ALTERNATIVE MODEL MARKET SOCIALISM

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Demilitarization

• Reducing the burden of military expenditures
• Dismantling the battle order (partial)
• War is not inevitable
• Counterfactors
• Power of the military-industrial complex
• The international environment (competition with
  the West, upheavals in the Third World)
• Persistence of militarized thinking

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Opening to the World

• Wider participation in the global economy
• Peaceful coexistence with capitalism
• Arms control and disarmament
• Wider cultural and human contacts with foreign
  countries
• Counterfactors
• Moscow feared loss of control over Eastern Europe
• Dangers of ideological contamination
• International advocacy of human rights challenged
  communist rulers