Kautskyism and the Theory of Imperialism
(From the Evolution of the Social-Democratic Centre)
E. Leikin
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With
this essay we continue the series of the Soviet
critiques of the social- democratic theories of imperialism which were
published in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s. At the root of many of
these theories was the understanding of Kautsky. The
20th Congress of the CPSU while raising the flag of Lenin in
opposition to that of Stalin adopted theories which
effectuated a return to the understanding of Kautsky.
Karl Kautsky had argued that with the withdrawal of
the imperialist power from its colony the imperialist state was no longer
imperialist while the former colony lost its colonial status and became
‘decolonised’. Mikoyan at the 20th Congress of the CPSU lambasted the Institute
of Oriental Studies for stressing the decisive role of foreign capital in the
semi-colonial and dependent countries in the tradition of Lenin and Stalin. He
demanded studies which established the independence
and economic development of the semi-colonial and dependent countries. The
Institute of Oriental Studies rapidly fell in line and ‘established’ rapid
industrial development in these countries. The communist
parties around the world were persuaded by these Kautskyiannotions.
Whether we look at the ‘communist parties’ in Brazil, Greece,
India or others around the world nearly all of them discovered
capitalist
development and national independence in their countries. Trotskyist
theories
of imperialism were also based on the theories of Kautsky so that a
business merger took place between the Khrushchevite and Trotskyite
traditions on imperialism and
the colonial question. There have been many localised versions of
‘decolonisation’ theory. In India we have seen the
wholesale Kautskification and Trotskification
of Marxist-Leninist theory on questions relating to imperialism,
industrialisation,
capitalism, feudalism and the stage of revolution such as have been
pioneered
by Ram Nath and the Communist League of India in the
1980s and followed by Sunil Sen and Moni Guha. This
two-part essay on Kautskyism and Imperialism may be
read in conjunction with the essay of V Serebryakov
of 1932: ‘Trotsky’s Theory of Imperialism and the Universal Crisis of
capitalism’ (available in the On Trotskyism Archive at www.revolutionarydemocracy.org
Vijay
Singh
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