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The Other Side of Soviet Industrialisation
AM’s critical assessment of Left Front rule in West Bengal in ‘Eyeless in Bengal’ (February 23) bears testimony to his insightful mind. But, his characterisation of the “epic history of Soviet industrialisation in the 1930s” as “the most dazzlingly successful example” of transition from agriculture to industry is problematic. He has rightly argued that the transformation occurred under state auspices and was based on the surplus yielded by collectivised agriculture. But he is silent about the human cost of such transformation.
AM’s critical assessment of Left Front rule in West Bengal in ‘Eyeless in Bengal’ (February 23) bears testimony to his insightful mind. But, his characterisation of the “epic history of Soviet industrialisation in the 1930s” as “the most dazzlingly successful example” of transition from agriculture to industry is problematic. He has rightly argued that the transformation occurred under state auspices and was based on the surplus yielded by collectivised agriculture. But he is silent about the human cost of such transformation.
Charles Bettelheim’s classic account of Class Struggles in the USSR tells a horrible story. Allow me to quote from the book:
Dear Reader,
