Publisher's Synopsis
Michel Beaud offers a clear and realistic assessment of socialist thought over the past two centuries. It develops the view that the USSR, China, and the regimes of Eastern Europe evolved in directions unforeseen by nineteenth-century socialists. Beaud sees these societies as neither capitalist nor socialist. He rejects calling them "state capitalist" because this term does not adequately describe the social relations existing in these societies. Similarly he rejects the term "actually existing socialism" because the growth of state power in these societies directly counters the long-standing socialist hope for a reduction of state power. Beaud instead develops the category "state collectivist" to describe societies in which the means of production are collectivized, under centralized bureaucratic state control. While Marx did not see the possibility of collectivization that was not beneficial to the proletariat, in fact in these societies, Beaud stresses, the state has become the chief oppressor.;Socialism in the Crucible of History provides a balanced view of the transformations taking place in these rapidly changing societies. It is particularly valuable for its combination of historical and economic analysis. It is also unusual in its deep hope for radical change, tempered by a stark and realistic examination of the historical record. First published in France in 1981, this translation is based on the second French edition of 1985 and the author's 1989 additions to the final chapter.
