Episode 54: Dunayevskaya on the Nature of the Stalinist Russian Economy

Brendan and Andrew discuss Raya Dunayevskaya’s “The Nature of the Russian Economy,” a two-part article first published in 1946-47––and why understanding the nature of a defunct economic system remains relevant to the fight for socialism today. Questions addressed in the discussion include: How can a society without private ownership of means of production be capitalist? How can a “planned economy” be capitalist, and in what sense was the Russian economy actually planned? Did Russia really escape the capitalistic imperative to invest in and privilege the growth of high-profit industries? How did the world market and international competition compel the Russian economy to operate in a capitalistic manner? How great were the social divisions between the “classless intelligentsia” and the working class, and were they class divisions? Why was the Stalinist wage norm––“payment according to labor”––a capitalistic norm? How did it contradict Marx’s view of distribution in the lower phase of communism?

Current-events segment: Rolling Stone’s new bombshell revelation that several Trumpite congresspeople helped plan both the Capitol Insurrection and the conspiracy to nullify the 2020 election. The co-hosts discuss the evidence and the calls for their expulsion from Congress.

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by MHI, but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

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