Critique Notes 79

We have to begin these Notes with the sad news of Istvan Meszaros's passing asway. Istvan was a member of the Critique editorial board for many years and contributed to it, though not for the last 15 or so years. An obituary will follow in a later issue

Why the transition failed: towards a political economy of the post-Soviet period in Russia

The thesis of this article is that there has been no transition to capitalism in the post-Soviet space and that there has been no transition because there could be no transition. The pre-conditions for a move to capitalism have been absent throughout this time. We have been witnessing a continuing disintegration of the previous system leading into a disintegration of the society itself through national independence, civil war, emigration, growth of criminal enterprise and the exclusion of ever greater numbers from direct participation in that society. Every society must have a social form, which we call its social system and if that social system is disintegrating without replacement, it follows that the society itself must begin to disintegrate. This article is an attempt to theorize and so understand the nature of the ‘transition’. It does not attempt to uncover yet more empirical details, something that is amply dealt with by quality newspaper and periodical articles. Instead the article tries to take part in the process of discussing the salient features of what might be termed a ‘frozen transition’ or ‘continued disintegration’

The permanent crisis, decline and transition of capitalism

Capitalism has become progressively more unstable since the welfare state became attenuated and the Cold War ended. Finance capitalism was restored, and monopolistic competition has been rejuvenated. Economic control is more concentrated than ever. The reserve army of labour has been partially restored, and investment controlled. In turn that led to vast accumulations of money in banks, private equity and other forms of money holding, while the economy ultimately fell into its crisis. Austerity has failed to hold the fort, leading to a combination of concessions to the far right while maintaining austerity. There have been no concessions to deal with the overall stagnation, real mass unemployment and low productivity. The logic of the situation leads to increased disintegration combined with repression and a slow-growing mass movement of the working class. There are no more intermediate stages to socialism