From: michael a. lebowitz (mlebowit@SFU.CA)
Date: Mon May 23 2005 - 11:12:39 EDT
At 10:10 23/05/2005, Paul C wrote:
>Only one of the above - the USSR ever claimed to have been
>a workers state, and effectively gave up this claim
>with the new constitution in the late 30s which extended
>the franchise to the population in general.
>Most of the rest claimed to be 'Peoples democracies'
>
>The exception was the Czecho Slovak Socialist Republic,
>which was the only one other than the USSR that claimed to
>be a socialist republic.
>
>The term 'Workers state' is part of western trotskyist
>discourse, and was not used in the countries in question.
>Cuba was thus nothing special in this respect
>----------------------
All true. When talking about Marx's ideas, though, I think that
'workers' state' communicates the essence of his position better than
'Dictatorship of the Proletariat'./m
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at
Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-4111
fax: (58-212) 573-7724
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