Political Science, Lecture 6 October 17 , 2011
Communism and Fascism
it’s a liberal democratic world, institutional ethos is the same
Roman Catholic church is identical, in the way the surface is performed
Liberalism andthts Crisis
-the long 19 century is peak of liberalism’s appeal, countries that were non-
liberal, wanted to be liberal
-Hungarian’s, in the beginning, pretending to be liberal democrats
-Liberal institutions develop even where social basis is not obviously present
Liberalism and the Working Class
-extension of the franchise
-Rise of Social democracy in Western Europe. Evolutionary socialism and reconciliation with
liberal democracy: electoral socialism
most socialist in the West have embraced liberal democracy
capitalism could change by evolution, it could change slowly as it doesn’t need a revolution
Marxist- revolution, what about the revolution?
Russia doesn’t have a constitution, Czar Nicholas II has control power, secret police, gets rid of
opposition
Lenin of Russia, evolutionary socialism can’t work in Russia, we don’t have a parliament
Lenin: revolutionary movement under conditions of authoritarianism- Russia
you have to be conspiratorial
workers only capable of “trade union consciousness”
left on own, there is no revolution, there needs to be leadership
Lenin sees this and knows that workers won’t make a revolution, only if there is consciousness
from the outside
need “party” to bring them the truth what means in Marxism
Marxism and Economic Backwardness
not an urbanized country,
high illiteracy rates
-Russia- one of the most backward countries in Europe
-Working class revolution, with small working class
-1917: World War and Revolution. Without WWI there would have been no revolution
reasons: in poor countries, the military is used to control situations within the country as well as
outside
World Revolution or World Power
World revolution fails to materialize
From insurrectionism to statism- supporting communism means supporting the Soviet Union
leaders argued that it was a working class society, there was no bourgeoisie [they got rid of the
business men]
but what is communism or socialism? What will this kind of economy look like: The state owns everything.
Lenin: “Communism = Soviet [council] power + electrification.”
But still does not solve the problem.
Lenin dies in 1924
Stalinism: terror and progress.
-industrialization
-collectivization
-terror and secret police
-purges and famine
he was Georgian, not really Russian. He was given the job of placing people
Who is going to be Lenin’s successor?
Lenin’s testament- naming great communist leaders
They [Italy] felt that they had to industrialize fast,
Peasants considered potatoes?
Forced Industrialization: Stalin and the Soviet government imposing this: the result was the first 5
year plan succeeded and it was industrialized.
Tremendous costs, everyone knew Stalin was not as smart as Lenin but he was as ruthless.
Socialist realism
Purges
Recently declassified data on ONE purge from 1936-38 (even a conservative estimate suggests Stalin
initiated at least seven purges)
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