The Soviet Union: Gorbachev, perestroika and socialism
The Russian revolution of 1917 was originally conceived as part of a transition to socialism on a global scale. The failure of that strategy led to a far‐reaching debate about the means by which a relatively backward Soviet Russia could advance by itself to a communist future. The Gorbachev years saw the issue addressed in terms of the construction of a ‘humane, democratic socialism’, seen as part of a global process; individual scholars and publicists advanced still further towards a socialism that would embody a multi‐party system and a variety of forms of ownership. Increasingly, however, still more radical commentators identified the origin of Soviet difficulties as Leninism itself. There was, in fact, little popular support for a return to capitalism; but the experience of Soviet rule showed that the authorities in that country needed the political experience of the West as much as they needed its capital investment.
Soviet Communism: Programme and Rules
Introduction 1. The Party Programmes of 1903 and 1919 2. Khrushchev and the 1961 Party Programme 3. Gorbachev and the 1986 Party Programme 4. The Discussion of the Party Programme and Rules 5. The 1986 Programme and Rules 6. The Debate Continues 7. The Party Conference and Political Reform 8. Programme, Rules and Politics in the USSR The Programme of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Introduction Part One: The Transition from Capitalism to Socialism and Communism - the Main Content of the Present Epoch Part Two: The CPSU's Tasks in Perfecting Socialism and Making a Gradual Transition to Communism Part Three: The Tasks of the CPSU on the International Scene, in the Drive for Peace and Social Progress Part Four: The CPSU - the Leading Force in Soviet Society Rules of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Index.
The Transformation of Communist Ideology: The Yugoslav Case, 1945-1953
This is the first book to trace in detail the relationship between pre-1948 Yugoslav deviant views and their full development after Tito's break with Stalin in 1948. The author, who speaks fluent Serbo-Croatian, has searched the pertinent literature to show how the deviant Yugoslav "Titoist" doctrine grew out of local and immediate needs of the revolutionary Communist regime.Part I of the book treats the period between the end of World War II and the outbreak of open conflict with Stalin in 1948, examining the Yugoslav Communists and the nature of their revolution, their postwar program of developing socialism, and their analysis of the international situation. The divergence of the Yugoslav notion of "people's democracy" from that prevailing in the Soviet Union and elsewhere in Eastern Europe is described. In Part II the author analyzes the "Titoist" doctrine which emerged between 1948 and 1953, and remarks on the immediate Yugoslav reaction to the break with Stalin, the re-evaluation and critique of the Soviet system, and the reappraisal of the international situation. Various elements of the doctrine of "socialist democracy" as well as the revised view of agricultural collectivization are also studied. The book's third part characterizes the transformation of Yugoslav Communist ideology during the period 1945-1953, formulating conclusions about the process of ideological change.