Soviet Politics—The Dilemma of Power by Barrington Moore, Jr. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Soviet Politics - The Dilemma of Power. By BARRINGTON MooRE, JR. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ·1950. Pp. 523 with index. $6.00. This book by Dr. Barrington Moore, Jr. is a good book. It is marked by extensive research, penetrating scholarship and objective construction. It comes as a refreshing work in contrast to so much superficial literature flooding the country today on the subject of Soviet Russia and MarxismLeninism . 'Harvard University is to be commended for the part it played in making this book available. The author is interested ·primarily in "the interaction between Communist ideology and certain Soviet political practices." (p. I) His secondary interest relates to tlie opportunity which this study provides " to test prevailing general theories concerning the role of ideas in organized human behavior." (p. 2) Therefore, the two central questions which his book seeks to answer are: " Which of the pre-revolutionary Bolshevik ideas have been put into effect in the Soviet Union, which ones set aside, and why? Secondly, what can we 1earn from this historical experience about the role of ideas in general?" (p. 9) The author's consideration of the complex problem involved and his suggested answers to these two central questions may be very briefly summarized as follows. The emergence of Marxist-Leninist ideology in Russia is related on one hand to the weakness of the middle class which hindered necessary reforms that were in progress and on the other to the catastrophe of World War I. This allows one to take the middle position '' that there were considerable, though not necessarily insurmountable, obstacles in the way of Russian development along western democratic lines." (p. 21) However, "the journey was begun late and its course deflected. Sufficient social tensions had accumulated so that, when released by the disintegration of the war, the moderates would be swept from power after a few months. These social tensions Lenin and his followers would turn to their own account. In revolutions , as Miliukvo observed, the appetite for change comes with the eating. Each concession by those in power suggests to those out of power the possibility of greater gains. This inherent dynamic of revolution often creates a tremendous ·advantage· for the extremist movement." (p. 27) This did happen in Russia. The extremist group which did receive this advantage and made effective use of it, was the Marxist one, organized as the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1898, with its left wing, 5~9 530 BOOK REVIEWS the Bolsheviks being formed in 1908. Its success caused surprise even within the Party, which was not adequately prepared for it. In the early development of this Party, fragments of democratic, individualistic thought existed along with dictatorial thought. The Party in general " desired first a ' bourgeois ' parliamentary republic to be followed at a later stage of history by a socialist society." (p. ~9) The "democratic republic " was the immediate goal in the conspiratorial overthrowing of the Tsarist government and was to serve as an instrument (which would become obsolete) in the spread of Communism throughout Russia, from which it would proceed to Europe. When the revolution of 1917 occurred, Lenin decided to skip ·the " bourgeois republic" stage aJ\D.OUncing " the definite conclusion that the demand for a parliamentary regime should be scrapped, and that the soviets were the ' only possible form of revolutionary government'." (p. 87) This led to the dictatorship of the proletariat. Hence, Communist ideology in Russia emerged and was tempered in the Marxist theoretical fires, the practicalities of the Revolution of 1917 and the authoritarianism of the dictatorship in whose vise-like grip it remains. With this as background Lenin proposed this plan. " The immediate objective was to establish a republic of soviets based on the proletariat and the poor sections of the peasantry, and to abolish the police, the army, and the bureaucracy. In the economic field, Leninist doctrine demanded the replacement of the existing managerial groups with a centralized system of control by the industrial workers, together with a sharp reduction of inequalities in pay and the eventual introduction of full equality. In agriculture , Lenin proposed the introduction of cooperative farming only on the large landed estates, while the disposal of...