------------ EH.NET BOOK REVIEW --------------
Published by EH.NET (October 2007)

Marcel van der Linden, _Western Marxism and the Soviet Union: A 
Survey of Critical Theories and Debates since 1917_. Leiden: Brill, 
2007. xi + 375 pp. ?56/$125 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-90-04-158757.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Martin Kragh, Institute for Research in 
Economic History, Stockholm School of Economics.


The objective of this book is to present the development of the 
Western Marxist critique of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the 
present. The author aims to show how Marxists who were politically 
independent of the USSR "theoretically interpreted developments in 
the Soviet Union" (p. 3). In order to accomplish this, the author has 
collected a vast collection of sources (books, articles and 
pamphlets) in the major European languages dealing with these 
questions from a Marxist and critical point of view, "critical" 
meaning not conforming to the official Soviet or Stalinist point of 
view.

The first chapter, which has been rewritten for this English edition, 
summarizes the author's methodology and research questions. Chapters 
two to seven analyze different epochs of Marxist research, beginning 
with the debate between the Bolsheviks and Kautsky in chapter two, 
and ending with analyses made after the collapse of the Soviet system 
in chapter seven (this last chapter is also new). Chapter eight 
summarizes some concluding remarks, and chapter nine aims to provide 
a "meta-theoretical" contribution to the science of analyzing 
political texts in general.

Considering the long-term perspective (1917-2005), the author tries 
to capture historical change through three "contextual clusters" that 
he believes influenced Marxist theorizing on the USSR. The first 
cluster deals with the Marxist conception of different forms of 
society (modes of production) and their succession. This debate 
gravitated around the question on how societies develop from feudal 
to capitalist and finally into socialist (communist) societies, and 
whether or not this sequence would be linear or not. Later the debate 
shifted to more unilinear theories, arguing primarily that the Soviet 
Union was something completely different from capitalism and 
feudalism (while not being socialist either).

The second cluster deals with the way Western economies were 
interpreted, whether or not they were conceived of as being stable, 
dynamic or crisis prone. Considering the development from the Great 
Depression to World War II and the final period of long-term growth 
in the 1950s to the 1970s, all these interpretations were bound to 
change. In this it followed that the interpretation of the Soviet 
economy's sustainability also would be subject to re-evaluation. The 
third cluster deals with precisely this very last aspect. 
Accordingly, all these three clusters helped compound one another in 
the analysis reached by Marxist scholars.

The author formulates three general questions that he tries to answer 
in his reading of the subsequent texts. Firstly, in the texts, what 
is the place of the Soviet Union in the successive modes of 
production? Secondly, are there any essential class antagonisms in 
Soviet society that they describe, and if so, which? And thirdly, 
what is the driving force of Soviet society as they see it? These 
questions in turn are consistently analyzed throughout the book, and 
they support the author in giving structure to an otherwise 
heterogeneous whole.

How well does the author answer these questions using his cluster 
approach? In my opinion, he has done very well. The texts are 
thoroughly worked through and analyzed -- and contrary to many of the 
original texts -- in a very detached, informed and scholarly fashion. 
The amount of sources the author has studied is staggering and the 
bibliography in itself is a scientific contribution. He also succeeds 
well in engaging in a dialogue with his research objects, 
triangulating them against one another, appraising some, and 
criticizing others in one coherent "language" or discourse. This is 
the book's main strength, an aspect which gives the book an 
encyclopedic value and makes it accessible to all scholars interested 
in political history. This strength, however, also represents some 
core weaknesses that can be summarized as follows.

As a scholar of the economic history of the USSR, the reviewer is 
interested not only in the theories per se, but also to what extent 
these theories can be considered consistent not primarily with 
Marx(ism) -- which is what van der Linden investigates -- but with 
the historical evidence and facts. Only in this fashion, I believe, 
is it possible to make a real assessment of the theories' accuracy 
and scientific value. The author in concluding seems to hold this 
position himself, when asserting that "some texts" had "solid 
empirical foundations," but that most were "lacking them," being 
"illogical and superficial" at times (p. 305). The problem is that we 
never learn how van der Linden reached this conclusion. Throughout 
the book, there is little empirical evidence provided on the USSR, 
and few attempts are made to evaluate the different authors against 
the scant material presented. It is therefore impossible for the 
reader to understand what van der Linden means by his claim that 
"some" or "most" authors were more or less scientific. Who are the 
authors in the first group, and who are the authors in the second 
one? And secondly, what were these major shortcomings as he sees it?

The second problem relates to the author's choice of scholars to be 
analyzed. He describes his method as including all those who labeled 
themselves "Marxists" as such, but also those who conform to a 
certain "Marxist approach." The Marxist approach, accordingly, means 
emphasizing economic and social forces, dialectics and class 
struggle. Unfortunately this is a much more inclusive approach than 
the author might imagine. For example, why are not Alec Nove (who 
dedicated a book to Marx' theories in relation to the USSR) or Donald 
Filtzer (an outspoken Marxist historian) included? Not only do they 
seem to fit into the model, but their research on the USSR is also 
far reaching and well known. It seems, in fact, as if the author has 
had another method in choosing his texts which he might not be aware 
of himself. Instead of having chosen texts conforming to a certain 
"world outlook," it seems as if van der Linden has made his choice 
depending on whether or not the authors of these texts engaged in 
debate with other Marxists primarily for political, rather than 
scholarly reasons. Those who fall into the first category are thus 
included, and those in the latter are excluded. This alternative 
conclusion would be consistent with what van der Linden says himself 
about the texts' scientific (scholarly) value.

In conclusion, van der Linden's book is the outcome of a well 
researched and scholarly work spanning years of hard labor studying 
many varied sources. The book has a beautiful language but requires 
some previous knowledge in Marxist theory and the history of the 
USSR. Now available in English, it will most likely serve as a future 
reference point for people interested in the history of ideas. Its 
shortcomings are relevant but do not affect the conclusions reached 
by the author.

References:

Filtzer, D., _Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the 
Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II_. Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Filtzer, D., _Soviet Workers and the Collapse of Perestroika: The 
Soviet labour Process and Gorbachev's Reforms, 1985-1991_. Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Nove, A, _The Economics of Feasible Socialism_. London: Allen & 
Unwin, 1983, reprinted in 1991.


Martin Kragh is a Ph.D. student at Stockholm School of Economics. His 
research interests include the economic history of the USSR and 
history of economic thought.

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