State monopoly capitalism

State monopoly capitalism

The theory of state monopoly capitalism was initially a Marxist doctrine popularised after World War II. Lenin had claimed in 1916 that World War I had transformed laissez-faire capitalism into monopoly capitalism, but he did not publish any extensive theory about the topic. The term refers to an environment where the state intervenes in the economy to protect large monopolistic or oligopolistic businesses from competition by smaller firms.[1]

State monopoly capitalist (stamocap) theory aims to define the final historical stage of capitalism following monopoly capitalism, consistent with Lenin's definition of the characteristics of imperialism in his short pamphlet of the same name.

Occasionally the stamocap concept also appears in neo-Trotskyist theories of state capitalism as well as in libertarian anti-state theories. The analysis made is usually identical in its main features, but very different political conclusions are drawn from it.

Contents

The main thesis

The main Marxist-Leninist thesis is that big business, having achieved a monopoly or cartel position in most markets of importance, fuses with the government apparatus. A kind of financial oligarchy or conglomerate therefore results, whereby government officials aim to provide the social and legal framework within which giant corporations can operate most effectively.

This is a close partnership between big business and government, and it is argued that the aim is to integrate labor-unions completely in that partnership.

Versions of the theory

Different versions of this idea were elaborated by economists of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (e.g., Eugen Varga), East Germany's Socialist Unity Party, the French Communist Party (e.g., Paul Boccara), the Communist Party of Great Britain (e.g., Ben Fine and Laurence Harris), and the American Communist Party of the USA (e.g., Victor Perlo). One of the most prominent examples of Stamocap is modern day Singapore compared to Hong Kong (individual capitalism).

Political implication

Ever since monopoly capital took over the world, it has kept the greater part of humanity in poverty, dividing all the profits among the group of the most powerful countries. The standard of living in those countries is based on the extreme poverty of our countries.
 
Che Guevara, 1965 [2]

The strategic political implication of stamocap theory for Marxist-Leninists, towards the end of the JosephStalin era and afterwards, was that the labour movement should form a people's democratic alliance under the leadership of the Communist Party with the progressive middle classes and small business, against the state and big business (called "monopoly" for short). Sometimes this alliance was also called the "anti-monopoly alliance".

Neo-Trotskyist theory

In neo-Trotskyist theory, however, such an alliance was rejected as being based either on a false strategy of popular fronts, or on political opportunism, said to be incompatible either with a permanent revolution or with the principle of independent working class political action.

The state in Soviet-type societies was redefined by the neo-Trotskyists as being also state-monopoly capitalist. There was no difference between the West and the East in this regard. Consequently, some kind of anti-bureaucratic revolution was said to be required, but different Trotskyist groups quarreled about what form such a revolution would need to take, or could take.

Some Trotskyists believed the anti-bureaucratic revolution would happen spontaneously, inevitably and naturally, others believed it needed to be organised - the aim being to establish a society owned and operated by the working class. According to the neo-Trotskyists, the Communist Party could not play its leading role, because it did not represent the interests of the working class.

Market anarchism

Market anarchists typically criticize Neoliberal forces for inconsistent or hypocritical application of Neoliberal theory regarding Stamocap; that in those inconsistencies exist the basis of continued selective state guaranteed privileges for the plutocratic neoliberal elite.[3] Generally, they envision a more consistently pro-market revolt would necessarily be a more petty bourgeois affair.

Eurocommunism

The stamocap concept was to a large extent either modified or abandoned in the era of eurocommunism, because it came to be believed that the state apparatus could be reformed to reflect the interests of the working majority. In other words, the fusion between the state and big business postulated earlier was not so tight, that it could not be undone by a mass movement from below, under the leadership of the Communist Party (or its central committee).

Criticism

When Varga introduced the theory, orthodox Stalinist economists attacked it as incompatible with the doctrine that state planning was a feature only of socialism, and that "under capitalism anarchy of production reigns."[4]

Critics of the stamocap theory (e.g., Ernest Mandel and Leo Kofler) claimed that:

  • stamocap theory wrongly implied that the state could somehow overrule inter-capitalist competition, the laws of motion of capitalism and market forces generally, supposedly cancelling out the operation of the law of value.
  • stamocap theory lacked any sophisticated account of the class basis of the state, and the real linkages between governments and elites. It postulated a monolithic structure of domination which in reality did not exist in that way.
  • stamocap theory failed to explain the rise of neo-liberal ideology in the business class, which claims precisely that an important social goal should be a reduction of the state's influence in the economy.
  • stamocap theory failed to show clearly what the difference was between a socialist state and a bourgeois state, except that in a socialist state, the Communist Party (or, rather, its central committee) played the leading political role. In that case, the class-content of the state itself was defined purely in terms of the policy of the ruling political party (or its central committee).

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought
  2. ^ At the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria by Che Guevara, Delivered at the Second Economic Seminar of Afro-Asian Solidarity in Algiers, Algeria - on February 24, 1965
  3. ^ "The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand: Corporate Capitalism As a State-Guaranteed System of Privilege" by Kevin A. Carson
  4. ^ The Case of Eugene Varga Raya Dunayevskaya 1949

References

  • Guy Ankerl, Beyond Monopoly Capitalism and Monopoly Socialism. Cambridge MA, Schenkman, 1978, ISBN 0-87073-938-7
  • Nikolai Bukharin, Imperialism and World Economy.
  • Gerd Hardach, Dieter Karras and Ben Fine, A short history of socialist economic thought., pp. 63-68.
  • Bob Jessop, The capitalist state.
  • Charlene Gannage, "E. S. Varga and the Theory of State Monopoly Capitalism", in Review of Radical Political Economics 12(3), Fall 1980, pages 36–49.
  • Johnn Fairley, French Developments in the Theory of State Monopoly Capitalism, in: Science and Society; 44(3), Fall 1980, pages 305-25.
  • Ernest Mandel, Late Capitalism, pp. 515-522.
  • Ernest Mandel, Historical Materialism and the Capitalist State.
  • Paul Boccara et al., Le Capitalisme Monopoliste d'Etat. Paris: Editions Sociales, 1971 (2 vols).
  • G. N. Sorvina et al., "The Role of the State in the System of State Monopoly Capitalism", in: The Teaching of Political Economy: A Critique of Non Marxian Theories. Moscow: Progress, 1984, pages 171-179.
  • Ben Fine & Laurence Harris, Re-reading Capital.
  • Jacques Valier, Le Parti Communiste Francais Et Le Capitalisme Monopoliste D'Etat, 1976

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • state monopoly capitalism — See communism …   Dictionary of sociology

  • State capitalism — State capitalism, in its classic meaning, is a private capitalist economy under state control. This term was often used to describe the controlled economies of the great powers in the First World War. [cite encyclopedia encyclopedia = Blackwell… …   Wikipedia

  • Capitalism — Liberal market economy redirects here. For the ideology behind this economic system, see Economic liberalism. Free enterprise redirects here. For the 1999 film, see Free Enterprise (film). For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). Part of… …   Wikipedia

  • Monopoly — This article is about the economic term. For the board game, see Monopoly (game). For other uses, see Monopoly (disambiguation). Competition law Basic concepts …   Wikipedia

  • capitalism — A system of wage labour and commodity production for sale, exchange, and profit, rather than for the immediate need of the producers. Plentiful examples of capitalism in the pre modern era exist but, typically, capitalist exchanges were… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • Capitalism —    A term rarely used by Karl Marx and not at all until 1877 (Marx favored the adjective “capitalist”), “capitalism” refers to a mode of production characterized by commodity production and the private ownership of capital or the means of… …   Historical dictionary of Marxism

  • Anarcho-capitalism — Part of the Politics series on Anarchism …   Wikipedia

  • Criticism of capitalism — This article lists arguments against capitalism, For a summary of ideologies opposed to capitalism, see Anti capitalism. Part of a series on Capitalism …   Wikipedia

  • Periodizations of capitalism — A periodization of capitalism seeks to distinguish stages of development that help understanding of features of capitalism through time. The most well known periodizations that have been proposed distinguish these stages as:#Early or… …   Wikipedia

  • Late capitalism — is a term used by neo Marxists to refer to capitalism from about 1945 onwards, with the implication that it is a historically limited stage rather than an eternal feature of all future human society. Postwar German sociologists needed a term to… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”