this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
56 points (100.0% liked)
history
23064 readers
97 users here now
Welcome to c/history! History is written by the posters.
c/history is a comm for discussion about history so feel free to talk and post about articles, books, videos, events or historical figures you find interesting
Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember...we're all comrades here.
Do not post reactionary or imperialist takes (criticism is fine, but don't pull nonsense from whatever chud author is out there).
When sharing historical facts, remember to provide credible souces or citations.
Historical Disinformation will be removed
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm not shocked tbh. My (unstudied, mostly just based on Molotov's memoirs) impression is Khrushchev was very much a true believer; he was just incompetent and foolish. Quotes from around pages 203-205.
Molotov basically says that Stalin had a carrot and a stick but Khrushchev had only carrots. Stalin had an understanding of socialism as a very, very long (unknowable) period with lots of hardships and setbacks and requiring sacrifices and few luxuries until the inevitable fall of capitalism; Khrushchev turned this to "socialism as a...period with...few luxuries until the inevitable fall of capitalism" and by the 70s it was "socialism as a ... period with ... luxuries until the inevitable fall of capitalism". This was taught in schools, it was clung to, to quote Molotov "as if it were the sum total of or main thing in Stalin".
Molotov says Khrushchev's fatal mistake was the "communism by 1980" promise. "The Bolsheviks have never drawn up such rosy, such deceptive plans that promise that we shall live under communism by 1980. But Khrushchev promised it."
Molotov also says Khrushchev and post-Khrushchev leadership clung to some of the few theoretical failings of Stalin; two being "to each according to their work" and another being "money-commodity relations to be maintained through socialism"
very good book. I hope one day Chuev's book on Iron Lazar gets translated one day.
Could you help clarify this for my understanding? I thought the lower phase of Communism (socialism) would be an unequal society (to each according to their contribution).
I'm asking out of genuine curiosity, I was just explaining socialism in these terms to someone the other week, so would like to be corrected if I'm wrong.
I can't off the top of my head recall where I read "to each according to their contribution" but I think i've seen it in both Marx and Lenin's writings.
Appreciate it.
Yeah it's one of those distortions that seems minor until it suddenly isn't, and hence it's one of the depressing distortions that was unintentional. Molotov describes it better than I can (and I prefer quoting him to describe it, bc he was there, quotes from pages 202-204)
Lenin addresses this in chapter 5, largely by summarizing Marx's criticism of Section 3 of the Gotha Programme, with the main "ability...need" quote being:
The original Marx quote being:
Molotov's critique of "in the lower stage of communism, in socialism, we have "from each according to their ability, to each according to their work"" continues as follows:
tldr; So to summarize, Molotov's issue with Stalin's formulation in the 1936 constitution (from...ability, to...work) is that the first part ("from each according to ability") isn't possible given shitty pay in e.g. a collective farm or e.g. lack of housing around a new mine, and the second part ("to each according to work") is demonstrated false by idlers being given equal pay as hard workers. To quote Molotov again because he says this very very well:
If Molotov were sent back to 1936, as he said above, he would likely tell Stalin to replace "from each according to their ability, to each according to their work" with something like "From each according to the quota, to each according to the wage-scale".
oh my god what a twisted nightmare version of to each according to their need jesus christ
The issue isn't so much a moral one (Molotov's proposed "from each according to the quota, to each according to the wage-scale" is if anything less friendly sounding). The issue is a theoretical / honesty one: both clauses of "from each according to their ability, to each according to their work" aren't true under socialism, under the lower stage of communism.
"From each according to their ability" is impossible because e.g. shitty work conditions and shitty wages mean workers won't give it their 100%. "To each according to their work" is demonstrated false when e.g. idlers and hardworkers are paid equal amounts. To quote Molotov:
This doesn't apply to communists, to revolutionaries. Molotov says we should "destroy what is bad and sacrifice ourselves if necessary" without regard to pay or conditions.