'The New Economics', by Eugene Preobrazhensky

[p057] The New Economics by EUGENE PREOBRAZHENSKY Translated by BRIAN PEARCE with an introduction ALEC NOVE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 310 pp. 55/- THIS book was written in 1926 by Eugene Preobrazhensky, a founder member of the Bolshevik Party, as a contribution to the discussion of the problems raised by the socialist industrialisation of a backward, Jargely agrarian, country. Partly because of this work the author was labelled ‘Trotskyist’ and was later shot in the Great Purge of 1937. The New Economics was written as a blow against the Stalin-Bukharin position, which had declared for the policy of ‘Socialism in One Country’. At this time, Stalin (along with Bukharin) was urging a conservative policy in relation to the peasantry and for the retention of the New Economic Policy. In 1926 Preobrazhensky argued that it was impossible for the small industrial sector to provide the means, within itself, for in- ' dustrialisation and that it would be necessary to secure from _ the peasantry, by means of a regulated price structure, resources to assist in this process, By 1928 Stalin’s policy had changed radically. In response to international defeats (in China and the General Strike in Britain), and alarmed at the growing threat pre- sented by the richer layers of the peasantry who were continuing to prosper under NEP, Stalin’s policy, domestically and abroad, took a sharp turn to the the left. Stalin now advocated and carried through an onslaught against the richer peasantry along with a pro- gramme of break-neck industrialisa- tion. From 1929 Stalin forced millions of peasants into the collec- tive farms, and by a system of forced deliveries and fixed prices wrung an enormous surplus from the peasants with which to carry through the programme of heavy industrialisa- tion. As a result, the USSR was brought near to internal collapse with the death of millions of peasants and the slaughter of even more animals. In superficial terms, Stalin appear- ed to adopt the programme of in- dustrialisation which had been ad- vocated from 1924-25 by Trotsky and his followers. Many of Trotsky’s erstwhile followers, im- 47 pressed by this turn of Stalin’s, broke from the Left Opposition and declared support for Stalin. Preo- brazhensky was among them, being re-admitted to the Party in 1929 to be expelled once more and _ later again re-admitted. The reason for his capitulation to Stalin’s apparent change in policy can be seen from The New Econo- mics. It was essentially a question of how the USSR was analysed. Certainly, in his book Preobrazhen- sky was ‘correct’ as against his opponents, notably Bukharin. Preo- brazhensky argues for a policy of moderate industrialisation to build up the Soviet economy, as against Bukharin, who, as Nove notes in his rather superficial introduction, was prepared to ‘ride into socialism on a peasant nag’. Bukharin repre- sented an open capitulationist ten- dency within the Soviet bureaucracy that was willing, through adaptation to the rich peasants, to see a return to capitalist property relations in the USSR. Even in 1928-29, when the failure to take any action against the peasantry was becoming more and more dangerous, Bukharin - still argued for the retention of NEP. Especially in his chapter on the methodology of political economy are Preobrazhensky’s weaknesses most clearly revealed. In discussing Marx’s method in Capital at the beginning of this chapter he appears to display a ‘positivist’, ‘sociological’ method rather than the method of dialectical materialism. Thus, al- though he formally mentions the importance of Marx’s dialectical method, when he actually comes to deal with this method he does so by separating out the ‘dialectic’ from what he calls Marx’s ‘sociological method’. Thus he makes a number of points about ‘model-building’, the use of abstraction and the levels of abstraction employed by Marx; this seems to have more in common with the so-called ‘scientific method’ than with dialectical materialism. The important questions are the source of Marx’ categories for Capital and precisely how he concretises them as the work develops. Neither of these questions can be satisfactorily ans- wered from the standpoint of the

[p058] 48 conventional positivist method. As Lenin stressed in his studies of the development of capitalism in Russia and the position of agriculture, un- less there is a conscious struggle to develop the Marxist method in social investigation then there will be an implicit acceptance of the categories produced by bourgeois property relationships. It is interesting, in reading the Preface to the Second Edition, to note that, although Bukharin and Preobrazhensky adopt virtually diametrically opposed positions in relation to industrialisation, they appear—from the evidence available here—to adopt basically the same method in arriving at their con- clusions. Neither, that is to say, takes as his starting point a con- sideration of the place of the Soviet economy as part of world economy. Thus, although Preobrazhensky makes a few passing references to the importance of the world econo- mic relations of the Soviet economy, these are introduced very much as an addition to the main analysis, in much the same way as he deals FOURTH INTERNATIONAL, JANUARY 1966 with dialectics in relation to Marx’s method in Capital. Certainly Buk- harin’s opposition to dialectics is well known; Lenin continually point- ed this out and warned against Bukharin’s tendency towards eclecticism. Antonio Gramsci also made similar methodological criti- cisms of Bukharin. Thus, even though Preobrazhensky took up what was formally a correct position at the time he wrote this work as opposed to Stalin, it was on the evidence of this work a largely empirical opposition. He tried to show that industrialisation was possible in the USSR when Stalin was adopting an ultra-conservative policy in.relation to agriculture. When Stalin swung to the left in 1928-29 many of his opponents thought that he had adopted their programme. But, as Trotsky pointed out at the time and later, Stalin’s swing was itself an empirical change in response to the pressures of imperialism and in no way repre- sented a ‘conversion’ to the policy of the Left Opposition. Trotsky realised that the fight with Stalinism was not one on immediate pro- gramme alone, but a_ theoretical fight between those who saw the international implications of 1917 and those who wished to attempt to put a brake upon the world process of revolution and construct ‘Social- ism in One Country’. Despite what may be considered its weaknesses this is a book of fundamental importance for all those interested in the development of the Soviet economy. It was amongst the first thorough attempts to tackle the problems for political economy raised by the revolution of 1917. At the same time it is one of the most important contributions to the struggle in the Bolshevik Party and the Communist International, a fight with world-historical significance for today. Brian Pearce’s translation, as always, renders the meaning of the text extremely clearly for the English reader. It is to be hoped that this welcome beginning in the translation of Preobrazhensky’s works can be continued. GP. Where Is Britain Going? By Leon Trotsky np Most timely reading for British socialists, this ; - book places the development of British politics in a : correct historic perspective. on the eve of the General Strike of 1926, employs his great revolutionary experience to analyse and explain the ideological and moral concepts of the ruling classes and their servants in the Labour bureaucracy. Price: 7/6 (plus 6d. postage)Available from: NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS LTD. 186A CLAPHAM HIGH STREET, LONDON SW4 Here Trotsky, writing

[p059] LIMITED PUBLICATIONS NEW PARK Street, Clapham 186A High S.W.4 London, MACaulay 7029 Free Write List Book for The New Course By Leon Trotsky A collection of articles written in 1923 during the lull before the great storm of persecution which was later to overwhelm Russian Bolshevism. Here Trotsky, analyses the incipient stages of the degeneration of the Communist Party, uncovers its causes and proposes measures for combating its further decline. He here analyses the party in a historical, that is dialectical way. the relationships between generations, social strata, groups, factional forma- tions, tradition and the multitude of factors that go to make a revolutionary party. 111 pages, 3/6 This document is a landmark in the development of 20th century Marxism. It sums up the experience of an entire period of struggle against the Soviet bureaucracy. This Platform also represents the highest point in the fortunes of the Joint Opposition (Trotskyist-Zinovievite) to Stalin. It is the programme of the last of the Bolshevik-Leninists who insisted that they remained communists despite all the per- secution, jailings, violence and slander inflicted on them. But this document also represents a watershed—the end of one phase and the beginning of another—in the evolution of Trotskyist politics. 112 pages, 5/- The Draft Programme of the Communist International by Leon Trotsky This is part of the author’s criticism of the draft programme submitted by the Executive Committee of the Third (Communist) International to the 6th Congress of the Comintern which was held in July 1928. The manuscript of that criticism was written by Trotsky during his exile in Alma-Ata (Central Asia). It was sent to the Congress in Moscow together with an appeal for reinstatement into the party from which he had been expelled a few months before by the Stalinist faction in 1927. Stalin and his supporters had invented the theory of ‘Socialism in one country’, which was made party policy in 1925 and converted into an article of faith to be defended by the world institutions of Stalinism. It is this theory which Trotsky criticises in these pages. 64 pages, 1/- This is a polemic against Radek in 1928. Trotsky examines the arguments against his pre-war theory of the permanent revolution (as expounded in Results and Prospects) and takes up the history of his differences with Lenin before 1917. of which Stalin and his henchmen made so much. Trotsky shows that it was Lenin’s criticisms of his attitude to the centralised Marxist party. which he afterwards understood and accepted, that kept them apart. and not their differences on the permanent revolution. 254 pages, 15/- soft cover, 25/- hard cover # This is the basic programmatic document of the world movement founded by Leon Trotsky and his comrades. By 1938 the revolutionary Marxists had found it necessary to ‘A Prograsy rebegreck fog capitalism Beemeee lay the foundations of the Fourth International in order to restore working-class leadership after the defeats prepared by ‘and the j the Stalinist bureaucracy in control of the Third (Communist) - International. The defeat of the German Revolution in ES CRMC CMM §1923, of the British General Strike in 1926, and of. the Sree Chinese Revolution in 1927, followed by Hitler’s victory over Ath Intergational: the German working class in 1933, finally ruled out the “opperaum saaiive “. perspective of transforming the Communist International Seeeencenr by internal opposition. 60 pages, 1/- Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (T.U.). r/o 180 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4

[p060] Subscribe toBULLETIN of International Fourth Intériational’ FourTH INTERNATIONAL is the theoretical journal of the International Committee of the Fourth Inter- national. FouRTH INTERNATIONAL continues the work of Lasour REvIEW which concluded its 12th year of publication with its last issue, the fifth number of volume 7. FourTH INTERNATIONAL continues the work and traditions of Revolutionary Communism since the death of Lenin. ' FouRTH INTERNATIONAL represents the unbroken chain of theoretical journals in the Bolshevik tradition, whose continuators were the Left Opposition led and inspired by Leon Trotsky. FourTH INTERNATIONAL follows in the traditions of that Opposition and in the traditions of the Fourth International of Leon Trotsky. FourTH INTERNATIONAL continues the decades of work by Trotskyists in the International Labour movement and here in Britain. - FourTH INTERNATIONAL is now the product of a continuous struggle of the Marxists in the International and _ British Labour movement against Stalinism and Reformism. FourtH INTERNATIONAL represents the successful fusion of Marxist trends in the International and British Labour movement, from the Trotskyist to Communist, Social-Democratic and Trade Union movements. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL, with this issue. continues a new period of activity in the international and ‘British Labour movements and simultaneously prepares and equips the Marxist movement for its future intervention in the battles of the working class which promise to eclipse and transcend all previous struggles both in their depth and scope. To: New Park Publications Ltd., 186A Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 I enclose cheque/postal order/money order /draft for £ S. d. to pay for issues of FourTH INTERNATIONAL. Price 2/6 (postage 6d. per issue) cal§gme writings by “Leon Trotsky The First Five Years of the Communist International Vol. 2 (soft cover) 12s. 6d. (hard cover) 18s. Od. The New Course 3s. 6d. The Permanent Revolution (soft cover) 15s. Od. (hard cover) 25s. Od. Draft Programme of the Communist International A Criticism of Fundamentals, 1928 Is. Od. Where is Britain Going? 7s. 6d. Whither France? 5s. Od. In the Middle of the Road 1s. Od. Stalinism and Bolshevism éd. Radio, Science, Technique and Society Is. Od, I Stake My Life! (Dewey report of the Moscow Trials) 6a. Problems of Life 2s. Od. Trade Unions in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay 2d. The Russian Revolution (The Copenhagen Speech) 4d. Culture and Socialism and Art and Revolution 2s. 6d. To: New Park Publications Ltd., 186A Clapham High St., London, S.W.4. I enclose cheque/postal order/money order/ draft for £ s. d. to pay for Distributed By: BULLETIN of International Social; ali $39 Lafayette St., N.Y,C. 10012 " Pema eee ccweeesseneeserrearesseEsesesenseneseeseseees Ome ees scarce sessesaerseresesssesssessesooserrene® mm)