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First published in 1985, this book provides a comprehensive reappraisal of the diverse Communist development strategies that shaped the twentieth century. Robert Bideleux emphasises the appalling human and economic costs of the most widely adopted ‘Stalinist’ strategies of forced industrialisation and rural collectivisation. He also reconsiders the powerful arguments in favour of the most feasible and cost-effective alternatives to Stalinism, including ‘village communisms’ and ‘market socialisms’. A highly readable and challenging study, this reissue will be of particular value to students with research interests in Development Studies, East European History and Politics.
Preface; 1. Russia and the fate of peasant societies: Marx versus Engels 2. The case for village communism: from Herzen and Bakunin to Chayanov and Gandhi 3. The quicksands of Leninism: Vladimir Ulyanov 4. The momentous industrialization debate: an introduction 5. Creeping socialism: Bukharin versus Lenin 6. ‘Least-cost’ industrialization strategies: from Bazarov and Krasin to Kondratiev and Trotsky 7. Socialist forced industrialization strategies: Preobrazhensky, Feldman and Stalin 8. The Chinese road to Stalinism 9. Further lessons from forced industrialization: Russia, China and Eastern Europe 10. The Cuba syndrome 11. Yugoslavia, Hungary and the vicissitudes of market socialism 12. The results of rural collectivization; Statistical appendix (tables); References and further reading (with list of abbreviations); Index