Studies in Critical Social Sciences346 Marxism and the Socialist Transition

Last century, the workers made their revolution, smashed the capitalist state and began building their own—but were politically expropriated by the Stalinist bureaucracy. In this time of deeper capitalist crisis, we need radical conclusions to relaunch the socialist revolution in the 21st century. We have before us the immeasurable historical laboratory of the Russian Revolution, the greatest revolution of our time, and also the most terrible bureaucratic counterrevolution. The working class fought, won, seized power, and expropriated the capitalists: a remarkable anti-capitalist feat. But it was then politically expropriated by the bureaucracy—that “tissue of practical illusions” which became a “political class”, degenerated the character of the state into a bureaucratic one, and blocked the socialist transition. This experience is ours to grasp and draw radical conclusions from. Socialist transition is a social, economic, and political process, in which real workers’ power is essential to lead the way.