contrast, the utopians seek change through general principles of ‘reason’ and
‘justice’.- A theory of revolution Such is the incompatibility of class interests, change can
only come through revolution. Although the Communist Manifestodescribes
revolution in violent terms, Marx’s later position was that revolutions can be
peaceful, even constitutional, but they will be violent if necessary. Because classes
are political as well as economic entities, they seek to control the state in their
own interest, so that the state has a class character. Utopians, by contrast, seek
peaceful and sometimes piecemeal change, appealing to all classes in society for
support, and invariably seeing the state as part of the solution rather than part
of the problem. - A theory of history All societies are basically moulded by the conflict between
the forces of production (which embrace science and technology) and the relations
of production (the system of ownership). These two elements form a basis upon
which arises a ‘superstructure’ that incorporates political institutions, educational
systems, culture and ideas. In class-divided societies the conflict between the forces
and relations of production creates the need for revolution, so that, under
capitalism, the social character of the forces of production comes into sharp and
increasing conflict with the private relations of production. That is why revolution
is inevitable. After this revolution, class divisions disappear, and with the
disappearance of these divisions the need for a state itself withers. - A theory of society Central to this theory of history is a theory of society which
argues that people enter into relations of production ‘independent of their will’.
This means that although human activity is a conscious activity, the consequences
of this activity are never the same as those intended. Capitalism is seen as a
system that unwittingly creates the working class, educates them through factory
production, goads them into struggle and ultimately drives them to revolution.
By way of contrast, ‘utopians’ do not see capitalism as a contradictory system:
a system that is self-destructive. They do not accept the particular role of the
workers in providing leadership to a political movement for social emancipation,
nor do they accept the need for a communist or socialist party to provide
leadership for revolution. Socialism, as far as they see it, is merely ‘desirable’ and
not inevitable.
The authoritarian consequences of ‘scientific socialism’
In our view, there are a number of problems with the theory (and not merely the
practice) of ‘scientific socialism’. We would list them as:
(a) the argument of inevitability – the major problem;
(b) the theory of class war;
(c) a rejection of ‘moralism’;
(d) the question of leadership – a relatively minor problem.
It will be argued that together these problems explain why Communist Party
(CP) states following the theory of ‘scientific socialism’ have proved vulnerable to
popular (even proletarian) protest. We have seen how attempts to make CommunistChapter 10 Socialism 219