Marxist Theory and Bolshevik Policy: The Case of Bukharin’s Historical Materialism

Abstract

The Soviet twenties-the years between the introduction of the New Economic Policy in 1921 and the coming of Stalin's revolution from above in 1929-were a conspicuously rich and diverse decade of intellectual ferment. In philosophy, literature, economics, and other fields, wide-ranging theoretical controversies, related and unrelated to the great programmatic debates then underway within the party leadership, made this the most vital period in the history of Bolshevik thought and among the most interesting in the history of Marxism. Students of the era have naturally searched for patterns in the diversity, but often by positing dubious relationships between rival viewpoints in the various areas of intellectual controversy and political factions in the party. At its least persuasive, this approach has meant defining the equivalent to a left and right wing in each discussion, no matter how non-political the topic. In the same vein, efforts have been made to establish a rigid explanatory correlation between an individual Bolshevik's interpretation of Marxism-his social or philosophical theory-and his politics. Always a difficult undertaking, it has been especially misleading