Class Theory and History: capitalism and communism in the USSR

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This book takes an ambitious and ground-breaking look at the entire history of the Soviet Union and presents a new kind of analysis of the history of the USSR: examining its birth, evolution, and death in class terms. Utilizing the class analytics they have developed over the last three decades, Resnick and Wolff formulate the most fully developed economic theory of communism now available, and use that theory to answer the question: did communism ever exist in the USSR and if so, where, why and for how long? Their initial, and controversial, conclusion: Soviet industry never established a communist class structure. This conclusion then leads to the hypothesis that the twentieth century’s defining struggle was not between communism in the USSR and capitalism in the United States, but rather between their respective state and private capitalisms. Combining class theory and Soviet history, the book yields key lessons for the future of private capitalism, state capitalism and communism.

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