State capitalism

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The term state capitalism describes an economic system in which the main features of capitalism , such as wage labor and profit maximization , are combined with state economic control and state ownership of companies. It is used predominantly within Marxist literature, occasionally also by liberal authors. As a pejoratively used political catchphrase , it was mainly used critically in the 1920s, when there was a significant expansion of state influence on the economy, on the one hand by the liberal side and on the other hand by the socialist side.

Definitions

There are several definitions of the term state capitalism :

A common explanation of state capitalism in Marxist literature is that it is a social system in which capitalism ( wage labor in production and profit maximization) is combined with state ownership of key industries. The book Class Theory and History by Stephen A. Resnick and Richard D. Wolff examines the possibility of state capitalism in the former USSR , thus continuing a controversial topic that was debated fiercely within Marxist theory in the 20th century . Most of this conflict took place among Trotskyists and has its origins in the Left Opposition in the USSR. The most prominent proponent of the Soviet state capitalism theory was the Trotskyist Tony Cliff ( International Socialist Tendency ). A critic of the theory of state capitalism, however, was Ted Grant ( International Marxist Tendency ), who in his 1949 publication Against the Theory of State Capitalism - Reply to comrade Cliff questioned the assumptions of Tony Cliff.

In the Trotskyist spectrum, the revolts and uprisings in the state socialist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe are generally understood as class struggles in the Marxist sense.

During the period following Stalin's death and Mao's proclamation of his “ Marxism-Leninism ”, many foreign Maoists , especially Charles Bettelheim , often referred to the Soviet Union (but not the People's Republic of China ) as state capitalist. This accusation, however, must be understood as part of the revisionism dispute within the foreign Marxist-Leninists who berated Khrushchev and his successors as revisionists and counter-revolutionaries . After Mao's death and the disempowerment of his circle of power, the Gang of Four , many - including Maoists - expanded the accusation of state capitalism to include China.

An alternative definition is that state capitalism means a close relationship between the state and private entrepreneurs. In this regard, private capitalists produce for a guaranteed market. An example of this is the military industry, in which independent companies produce for the state and are not subject to the competition of the market ( permanent armaments industry ). Many, including Tony Cliff, see this as the development of the modern world market with "normal" capitalism (also partly state capitalist) on the one hand and complete state capitalism, as in the former USSR and its satellite states, on the other. This development was severely restricted in the 1980s with the collapse of the USSR and with extensive privatization measures in Europe and the Third World .

Both definitions were influenced by discussions between Marxists at the beginning of the 20th century, particularly by Nikolai Bukharin , who in his book Imperialism and World Economy advocated the theory that advanced “imperialist” countries were state capitalist and rejected the possibility of them taking their former form could return.

Concept history

Until the First World War

Until the First World War, the concept of state capitalism was mainly discussed by the theorists of the labor movement as an opposing position to state socialism .

At the end of the 19th century, more and more anti-competitive forms of business organizations such as trusts or business cartels emerged . From the perspective of the socialists, capitalism developed into monopoly capitalism . Although the USA reacted to this development with the Sherman Antitrust Act 1890, antitrust law was only developed later in most states . In the area of natural monopolies , however, extensive nationalizations took place as early as the 19th century . In Germany, this was mainly the nationalization of the railways .

From the perspective of the socialists, the question arose as to how such nationalizations should be assessed. From a purely pragmatic point of view, such nationalization could be understood as a step towards complete nationalization and thus towards state socialism. The Socialist Congress in Gotha in 1875 therefore also supported the nationalization of the railways.

The opposite position was that a state enterprise under capitalism was also a company that was subject to the rules of capitalism. Worse still, nationalization brought economic and political power together in one hand. Capitalism turned into state capitalism. Wilhelm Liebknecht therefore spoke of state capitalism as the “worst form of capitalism” at the SPD Reich Party Congress in 1891. Karl Kautsky said at the same party congress:

"So as long as the possessing classes are also the ruling classes, nationalization ... will never go so far that ... private capital and property ... are restricted in their power and opportunities for exploitation"

- Karl Kautsky

Georg von Vollmar , on the other hand, formulated at the party congress that the “inexorability of the progressive democratization of state power” would lead to state socialism. The state, as a company, is already forced to "show a certain consideration for the general public".

The pair of terms state socialism / state capitalism was thus part of the debate in the revisionism dispute.

War economy and Weimar Republic

The war economy in the First World War led to an expansion of the state's influence on the economy to an unprecedented extent. Even if this decreased again after the war, it remained permanently far higher than before the war. This was of course true for the newly formed Soviet Union , in which the building of socialism was striven for, but also for the industrialized countries that had now become predominantly democratic and in which social democratic parties now played a much more important role.

In continuation of the revisionism dispute, this was assessed differently by communists and social democrats. Nikolai Bukharin saw state capitalism as the final development of capitalism before its downfall (similar to that of the Marxist-Leninist theory of imperialism , imperialism).

"State capitalism is the rationalization of the production process based on antagonistic social relations and the rule of capital, which is expressed in the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie"

- Bukharin

The Social Democrats' view was different. Karl Renner formulated the thesis of nationalization, which was shared by large parts of social democracy: In the emerging state capitalism, the role of capital would be changed from that of ruler to that of servant. The reason is that in a democracy the state would act primarily in the interests of the proletariat.

"With the progressive nationalization of the national economy we have to reckon more and more with the fact that the fate of the proletarian of a country will coincide with the fate of the state"

- Karl Renner

Now liberal authors also took up the concept of state capitalism. The war economy and the economic policy measures at the beginning of the Weimar Republic were described as "cold socialization" that could lead to state capitalism. From a liberal perspective, the decisive factor was how the state influence would work. Proponents of the “convergence thesis” took the view that state-owned companies would increasingly behave like private companies. For companies that behaved in this way, the term “state capitalist company” was used and set in contrast to “state socialist companies” that pursued other goals.

The term state capitalism (as well as “cold socialization”) was now used by liberals as a political catchphrase in the fight against socialism. Accordingly, every form of state influence on the economy is a step towards socialism.

“Today, a planned economy is a popular expression for socialism. The terms state capitalism and forced economy are synonymous with socialism "

- Ludwig von Mises

Variants of state capitalism

Friedrich Pollock , who had already pointed out the structural change of capitalism in his essays on the global economic crisis in the 1930s, drafted a state capitalism theory that was decisive for critical theory and theoretically underpinned its main work, the dialectic of the Enlightenment . He distinguished between an authoritarian ( fascism and state socialism ) and a liberal ( New Deal ) variant of state capitalism: both had in common the replacement of the primacy of the economy by the primacy of politics .

In an analysis of the role of the state in the economy of the major emerging countries, primarily China, the political scientists Tobias ten Brink and Andreas Nölke speak of a state-permeated capitalism ( State Capitalism 3.0 ). In these societies, the economic organization is more like a mixed economy that is not free from crises.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ted Grant: Against the Theory of State Capitalism - Reply to comrade Cliff. In: The Unbroken Thread. 1949, accessed June 10, 2016 .
  2. ^ Duncan Hallas : The class struggle in Eastern Europe
  3. ^ Protocol on the negotiations of the party congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, held in Erfurt 1891, Berlin, 1891, p. 14 .; quoted from: Gerold Ambrosius: Zur Geschichte ..., p. 15
  4. ↑ party conference protocol SPD, held in Erfurt 1891, Berlin, 1891, p. 221 ff ..; quoted from: Gerold Ambrosius: Zur Geschichte ..., p. 14.
  5. ^ In addition to the SPD party conference protocols : Georg von Vollmar: Der Staatssozialismus under Bismarck and Wilhelm II; quoted from: Gerold Ambrosius: Zur Geschichte ..., p. 13.
  6. ↑ Gerold Ambrosius: Zur Geschichte ..., pp. 9-16.
  7. ^ N. Bukharin: Economics of the Transformation Period (1920), Hamburg 1970, p. 129
  8. ^ Karl Renner: Marxism, War and International, Stuttgart 1918, p. 379
  9. ^ C. Böhret : Actions against “cold socialization” 1926–1930, Berlin 1966
  10. ↑ Ludwig von Mises: In the name of the state or The dangers of collectivism, 1939, Stuttgart 1978, p. 76
  11. ↑ Friedrich Pollock: The current situation of capitalism and the prospects of a planned economy reorganization. In: Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, 1st vol. (1932), Issue 1, pp. 8–28 and comments on the economic crisis. In: Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, 2nd year (1933), issue 3, pp. 321–354.
  12. ↑ Friedrich Pollock: State Capitalism . In: Helmut Dubiel / Alfons Söllner (Hrsg.): Economy, Law and State in National Socialism. Analyzes by the Institute for Social Research 1939–1942 . Beck, Munich 1981, pp. 81-109. Originally: State Capitalism. Its Possibilities and Limitations . In: Studies in Philosophy and Social Science . Vol IX (1941), pp. 200-225; and Ders .: Is National Socialism a New Order? In: Helmut Dubiel / Alfons Söller (Hrsg.): Economy, Law and State in National Socialism. Analyzes by the Institute for Social Research 1939–1942 . Beck, Munich 1981, pp. 111-128. Originally: Is National Socialism a New Order? In: Studies in Philosophy and Social Science . Vol IX (1941), pp. 440-455.
  13. ^ Philipp Lenhard: Friedrich Pollock. The gray eminence of the Frankfurt School . Jewish publishing house in Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2019, p. 204 f.
  14. ↑ Tobias ten Brink, Andreas Nölke: State Capitalism 3.0 . In: the modern state. Journal of Public Policy, Law and Management . Volume 6 (2013), Issue 1, pp. 21–32.