SPECIAL ARTICLES

On " I n t e r m e d i a t e Regimes"
E M S Namboodtripad

The very description of the alignment of class forces visualised in Michael Kalecki's intermediate
regimes would make it clear that the concept does not apply to India,
From the dominating position which they acquired at the time of securing political power, the
bourgeoisie headed by big business proceeded to systematically consolidate their power.
Against them are ranged the majority of the people, from the rural and urban poor and the un-
employed to the better-off lower middle classes going right up to the still better-off rich peasants, small
and medium scale entrepreneurs, and so on.
It, therefore, passes one's comprehension how India can be described as belonging to the category
of intermediate regimes.
I ma, Indonesia and so on) were likely to is predominantly foreign controlled with
KALECKl's essay on the "Intermediate develop into states of national democra- a rather small participation of native ca-
Regimes" was originally published in cy, if some of them had not already be- pitalists".
1964. It appears to be based on the come such stales. (b) The class character of the regime
concept of 'national democracy', outlined Much has happened since then. Many being "lower middle class and rich pea-
at the I960 World Conference of the of those countries which were then con- santry", its antagonists are "from above,
Communist 'and Workers' Parties held at sidered to have already become national the upper middle class allied with for-
Moscow. The main document of the democracies, or were at least likely to eign capital and the feudal landowners;
Conference defined 'national democracy' become so in future, have gone through from below, the small landholders and
as "a state which consistently upholds counter-revolutions of one kind or landless peasants as well as the poor
its political and economic independence, another, thus throwing into doubt the urban population".
fights against imperialism and its mili- validity of the whole concept. It is pro- (c) The regime carries out its respon-
tary blocs, against military bases on its posed in the subsequent sections of this sibilities in such a way that "the feu-
territory; a state which fights against the note to reexamine the whole concept dals are generally deprived of political
new forms of colonialism and penetra- in the light of these developments. significance by the land reform". As for
tion of imperialist capital; a state which Let us, in the meanwhile, note that big business, it is opposed to the re-
rejects dictatorial and despotic methods Kalecki himself stated in a postscript to gime. It is checked in its opposition
of government; a state in which the peo- the 1967 edition of his essay that "al- only "by the fear of the urban and rural
ple are ensured broad democratic rights though Indonesia did not contradict at proletariat from which it is effectively
and freedoms , . . the opportunity to that time the pattern of intermediate re- separated by the ruling lower middle
work for the enactment of an agrarian gimes we outlined, it was by no means class". The regime for i's very exist-
reform and other democratic and social its repiesentative example". ence has to resist "pressure from impe-
changes and for participation in shaping K N Raj ("The Politics and Economics rialist powers aimed at restoration of
the government policy." of 'Intermediate Regimes'" July 7, 1973, the 'normal' rule of big business in
In the course of the discussions at the pp 1189-98) who gives "closer examini- which the foreign capital would play an
Moscow Conference itself, questions tion" to Kalecki's analysis uncritically appreciable role". It is this resistance
were asked regarding the type of coun- accepts the idea of intermediate regimes, to external pressure that helps "the
tries to which this concept was applic- rather than making a critique of the con- amalgamation of lower middle class with
able. The answer WAS that it would be cept as it was outlined in 1964 and the state capitalism": in the absence of this,
difficult to define the type of countries; mollifications required in it in the light "state capitalism would be destroyed and
what was required, in fact, was to bear of subsequent developments. the classical capitalism reinstated".
in mind the particular alliance of class
forces which would bring such states of This is not the only weakness in Raj's ESSENCE OF REGIME
"national democracy' into existence. It comments on the intermediate regimes. Intermediate regimes are, in short,
was a concept with which the Communist A far more serious weakness is that he anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and anti-big
and Workers' Parties in many countries tries to apply it to India. After men- business and at the same time anti
would have to work. (The actual formu- tioning the "questions of considerable working class -and anti-poor generally.
lation in the document is: "In the pre- importance" arising out of the concept The ability of the regime to contain both
sent historical situation, favourable do- of intermediate regimes, Raj says: sets of the classes and strata antagonis-
mestic and international conditions arise "Their relevance to India needs hardly tic to the lower middle class and rich
in many countries for the establishment to be mentioned". peasantry is the essence of the regime.
of an independent national democracy".) This is not wan-anted by — it is, in Possibilities for getting credits and other
It was however generally understood fact, contrary to what has been explicit- fonns of aid from the socialist countries
that several African and some Asian ly stated in — Kalecki's essay.' For: help resistance to pressures from the im-
countries which were in the thick of the (a) One of the conditions favouring perialist camp — a fact which is of key
anti-imperialist struggle and were colla- the emergence of intermediate regimes, importance according to Kalecki. This
borating with the socialist world (such according to Kalecki, is that "at the time assistance of the socialist countries and
as Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Guinea, Bur- of achieving independency big business the development of the economy bas< d

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thereon is the basis on which, Kalecki independence, big business in India was big business vis-a-vis foreign capital so
calculates, the lower middle class and much stronger than in Egypt" (emphasis as to enable it to resist the pressures ex-
rich peasantry would be able to resist added). erted by foreign capitalists and foreign
pressures from the feudals and big bu- From the dominating position which governments and to make the foreign
siness (within the nation) as well. they had acquired at the time of secur- capitalists come to terms with the In-
This very description of the align- ing political power, the bourgeoisie dian monopolists.
ment of class forces visualised in Kalec- headed by big business preceded sys- The regime established in India on
ki's intermediate regimes would make it tematically to consolidate the power August 15, 1947 therefore has been one
clear beyond even a shadow of doubt gained by them. The step by step re- in which "the upper middle class allied
that the concept does not apply to India. duction in the number, ending in the with foreign capital and the feudal
For, it was not into the hands of the final integration and merger, of princely landlords" are participants, rather than
anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and anti big states into India; the abolition of the being antagonistic to it. Against them
business classes and strata (the middle zamindari, jagirdari and such other types are ranged the majority of the people,
classes and rich peasantry) that power of statutory landlordism; the series of from the rural and urban poor and the
passed from the British in 1947. I t was tenancy reforms culminating in the fix- unemployed to the better-off lower mid-
the bourgeoisie, headed by big business ation of ceilings on land-holdings — all dle classes going right upto the still bet-
and in alliance with the feudals, that these were calculated to consolidate the ter-off rich peasants, small and medium-
got into the seats of power. The lower ruling class alliance of the feudal and scale entrepreneurs, and so on.
middle classes and rich peasantry were, bourgeois classes headed by the lig
at that time, the camp followers of the bourgeoisie. The attempt was to trans- GADGIL'S PROPHECY
bourgeoisie and the landlords and were form the old-type feudal landlords liv-
A reference to this was made'by the
therefore under the illuson of sharing ing on rent collected from tenants into
late D R Gadgil as early as in Novem-
power. the new-type big landlords resorting to
ber 1960 when be talked of "the in-
The evolution of the economic and capitalist methods of exploitation; at the
crease on the one hand of the number
political thought of Indian nationalism same time, to create a narrow stratum
of shun and pavement dwellers and on
from the early pioneers (Ranade, Naoro- of big landlords and rich peasants (re-
the other of amenities like air-condi-
ji, Dutt and so on), through the 'mode- sorting to capitalist methods of exploi-
tioning and mushrooming of places of
rates' and 'extremists' to Gandhi and tation) out of the classes and strata
feeding and entertainment on the most
Nehru shows that a national (as opposed which had been prosperous tenants
extravagant international standards". 0
to comprador) bourgeoisie was emerg- under the old regime.
Looking into the "not-too-distant future",
ing and rapidly growing. This bourgeois Accompanied as this process is with Gadgil went on: "There is bound to be
class was systematically forging a two- wide opportunities for the modernised definite confrontation of the victual pos-
sided relation — there were conflicts rural gentry to enter the fields of com- sessors of political-economic power in
and contradictions, but within the broad merce and industry as entrepreneurs, it the c o u n t r y , the large business interests,
framework of friendship and co-opera- culminates in the transformation of the the top administrative and professional
tion — with imperialism and foreign- ca- old feudal exploiting classes into the ra- groups and the political parties supported
pital externally, and princely rulers andpidly-growing rural and urban bourgeois by them with the mass of the common
feudal landlords internally. The Gan- class. Together with such a process of people, and such a confrontation would
dhian tenets of non-violence, trusteeship,
consolidating the internal class alliance, have very serious results for the plan
non-interference in the affairs of princethe new regime so uses its newly-won and for stability and order in the coun-
ly states, and so on, supplemented as power as to strengthen the positions of try". Writing as he was shortly after a
they were by the more 'radical' Fabian big business within the class alliance, as threatened strike of Central Government
socialism of Nehru (in its Indian variant),
well as to forge relations of close colla- employees that did not take place,
were the most graphic expressions of the boration with foreign capitalism. Whe- he expressed the view that "the last
aspirations of the growing Indian bour- ther it was under Nehru in 1947-64, or alx>rtive strike of the Central Govern-
geoisie at whose head stood big business under Indira Gandhi who "was kept in ment employees may prove to have been
trying to collaborate with foreign capital
check" by such "reactionary representa- only the first in a series of disturbances
on 'equal terms', and also allied to prin-
tives of big business" as Morarji Desai and conflicts that may shake the coun-
cely rulers and feudal landlords. and S K Patil (1966-69), or again under try". (Excerpts from Gadgil's "Planning
The positive aspect of this bourgeois Indira Gandhi who "freed herself from" and Economic Policy in India".)
programme of struggle for freedom was the clutches of these "reactionary col- Gadgil's prophecy has come true.
that it mobilised, and brought under one leagues'' — wider every one of these Within the more-than-a-decade that has
banner, the entire Indian people — conditions, it was a regime of increasing passed since he made the above fore-
from the big business and feudals to the burdens being put on the shoulders of cast, the Central and State Government
urban and rural poor. For this very the rural as well as urban poor; the employees, as well as other sections of
reason, however, power passed from the small and medium-scale bourgeoisie middle class employees in the private
British into the hands of the top-most being crushed by the rapidly-growing and public sectors have gone on a large
dominant sections of the then Indian monopoly class; the ever-growing power number of bitterly-fought struggles, each
society. of a handful of the biggest monopoly of which did in a way mark the out-
This in a way is acknowledged by houses (the notorious 76 families). AH break of "disturbances and conflicts".
Kalecki himself in a passage quoted by of which leads steadily to a confronta- Supported as these middle class
Raj in his note: "Without taking into tion between the ruling classes on the employees are by the organised force
consideration the existing economic con- one hand and the common people on the the industrial workers and enjoying the
ditions, one might expect more 'social- other. sympathy of all other sections of the-
ism' from a Nehru than from a Nasser. At the same time, the state power
* D R Gadgil, "Planning and Econo-
I t was however the other way round, wielded by the ruling classes is so used mic Policy in India", Foreword, p
because at the time of gaining political as to strengthen the position of Indian XIV.

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people, these, struggles show that the not be the same as those made with Furthermore, in the very process of
middle classes, as well as the rural and reference to the society in which the the development of the revolutionary
urban poor, are today ranged with the feudal lords and their serfs are the movement and of the capitalist socio-
working class against big business unci main contending classes and about economic transformations that continu-
the feudals; even the rich peasant and which Marx was writing in his historical ously take place, the top sections from
the non-big sections of the bourgeois e works. among these classes or strata are won
are therefore potential allies of the for- The question therefore arises: what over to the camp of counterrevolution.
mer against the latter. It, therefore, are the middle classes or middle strata Hence the need of a systematic struggle
passes one's comprehension how in view in the present-day world where capital- against the vacillations and compromis-
of these undeniable facts, which were ism has transformed itself from the ing tendencies shown by them — a
clear even in 1964 when Kalecki's essay original competitive capitalism to the struggle whose aim is to win over the
was produced in its original form, Ka- present-day monopoly capitalism — and overwhelming bulk of these classes and
lecki could have included India in the that too in each of the different groups strata to the camp of the revolution.
intermediate regimes, of countries, such as those of developed Thirty-two years after the Sixth Con-
capitalism, less developed capitalism, gress of the Communist International
underdeveloped or developing capitalism, made this analysis, tht- 1960 Conference
completely backward areas, and so on? of the Communist and Workers Parties
A good deal of space is devoted by
A scientific approach towards finding (from whose main document we have
Raj to clear the "ambiguity" regarding
an answer should he a concrete study already quoted at the beginning of this
the exact implications of the term lower
of the entire historical background paper declared that: " . . . t h e urgent
middle class used by Kalecki. He makes
against which the people in the parti- tasks of national rebirths facing the
references to Marx and Engels, who had
cular group of countries are carrying on countries that have shaken off the
also used the terms, middle class and
their struggle for freedom, democracy colonial yoke cannot be effectively ac-
middle strata in order to find out what
and socialism, rather than creating one complished unless a determined struggle
Kalecki must have meant.
or another criterion such 'as "a defined is wag<*d against imperialism and the
For those who are familiar with Marx- range of income", "the nature of pro- remnants of feudalism by (ill the patrio-
ist-Leninist literature, however, there duction relationship which entitles the tic forces of the nation united in a
cannot he any ambiguity about the owner to that income", and so on, as single national democratic front" (em-
meaning of 'middle -lass'. As the very Raj does. Alter all, the definition of phasis added).
word 'middle' signifies, the term is wide the term middle class is not for the
This document makes three things
enough to embrace all those strata which sake of a definition, but as an instru-
stand between the two main antagoni- clear: Firstly, "the alliance of the work-
ment with which the struggle of the
stic classes into which society was ing class and the peasantry ... is the
people for transforming society is to be
divided -at the dawn of history — the basis of a broad national front".
strengthened, As Marx stated in his
exploiters and the exploited. The charac- Secondly, "the extent to which the
w e l l known thesis on Feuerbach, the
ter ot the middle class therefore changes national bourgeoisie participates in the
point is "not to understand the world
along with changes in the character of liberation struggle also depends to no
but to change it".
the antagonistic classes. small degree upon i!s (the working
The world communist movement has class-peasant alliance's) strength and
In relation to a social order which is made such a concrete analysis of pre- stability". Thirdly, "a big role can be
feudal in character and in which the two sent-day human society, on the basis of played by the national patriotic forces,
antagonistic classes are the feudal lords which it has also worked out the by all elements in the nation prepared
and their serfs (or semi-serfs), the middle strategy and tactics of the world revolu- to figh!: for national independence,
class consists of all those who do not tion. The Communist International in against imperialism".
belong to either of these two classes. its documents has identified the aftisan,
The decay of feudal society and the the petty bourgeois intelligentsia, the The political alliance envisaged by
growth of capitalism led to a differenti- students and such like, the peasantry, the Marxist-Leninists therefore is one
ation in the middle class, a part of them and the national bourgeoisie, as the main of the overwhelming bulk of the people
developing into the modern bourgeoisie, classes and strata that stand between — from the poorest and the most down-
most of the rest being thrown into the the working class on the one hand and trodden in the urban and rural areas
ranks of proletarians. This was the imperialism and its hangers on in the to sections of propertied classes who,
situation being described by Marx in colonial, semi-colonial and dependent though opposed to the bulk of the
his historical writings from which Raj countries on the other. (See "Docu- working people, are even more opposed
has giv n certain extracts. ments" of the Sixth Congress held in to imperialism* feudalism ami monopoly
In the new capitalist society which 1928.) domination, since their small and
has grown out of the ashes of the old All these classes and strata are objec- medium scale properties are under attack
feudal society too, there are middle tively interested in the anti-imperialist, by these reactionary forces.
classes which however are not the same anti-feudal, anti-monopoly, democratic The main document of the I960 Con-
as in the old feudal society. The main revolution, since they are continuously ference also deals with the situation in
classes contending against each other under attack from imperialism and its the developed capitalist countries many
in bourgeois society being the bourgeo- allies. They are however prevented of which, it points out, "are under the
isie "and the proletariat, the middle from playing a consistent role in the political, economic and military domina-
classes or middle strata consist of all anti-imperialist revolution by the fact tion of US imperialism". Therefore it
those who, by and large, are neither that they are, in varying degrees, con- is necessary for the working class and
the sellers nor purchasers of labour nected with such forms of property as the people in such countries "to direct
power. Marx and Engels had, at times, rally them against the working class and the main blow against US imperialist
to describe the situation in such socie- other sections of the urban and rural domination and also against monopoly
ties. These descriptions naturally can- poor. capital and other domestic reactionary

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forces that betray the interests of the he refers to the Indonesian experience ed People's Government of Spain, it is
nation. In the course of this struggle, in such a way as to throw the whole well known, was the first major con-
all the democratic patriotic forces of the concept into doubt. Nevertheless, he frontation between the international
nation come together in a united front speculates on the existence of a power- revolutionary and counter-revolutionary
fighting for the victory of a revolution ful socialist camp acting as a new fac- forces which culminated in the Second
aimed at achieving genuine national tor which helps the middle strata, for World War. Chile shows that counter-
independence and democracy, which the first time in history, to play oif revolution is still powerful enough to
create conditions for passing on to the their enemies, above and below, against mount its attacks in selected countries
tasks of socialist revolution". each other. even though, on a world scale, it is
The question of alliance between tho What has happened not only in Indo- much weaker today than four decades
working class and the middle classes, in nesia but in several other countries, ago.
fact, is as old as in the early clays of including Chile, has already shown in Furthermore, the detente itself gives
Marx and Engels. ''The Communist practice how deceptive this notion is. new opportunities to the forces of world
Manifesto" declared: "The Communists capitalism to penetrate the ranks of the
everywhere support every revolutionary WAR B E T W E E N S Y S T E M S international revolutionary movement,
movement against the existing social and not excluding the ranks of a section of
Ever since the early days of the
political order of things. I n all these people even in socialist countries. It
Soviet state, a continuous bitter war
movements they bring to the forefront, is significant that, before and at the
between the two systems has been the
as the leading question in each, the Helsinki and Geneva conferences,
characteristic feature of world politics.
property question, no matter what its imperialist powers have been demand-
Every advance registered by the Soviet
degree of development at the time. ing (with the threat of slowing down
Socialist state before the Second World
Finally, they labour everywhere for the the process of detente) that socialist
War; the historic victories won by the
union and agreement of the democratic powers, including the Soviet Union,
Soviet Union in that war; the emerg-
parties of all countries". should so change their internal political
ence ol a number of new socialist coun-
In their subsequent writings, Marx system as to allow what they call "free
tries after the war ended; the great ad-
and Engels combatted the idea, fostered exchange of persons and ideas", i e,
vance of the national liberation movement
by a section in the Social Democratic that the states of the dictatorship of the
which forced the imperialist powers to
movement that the working class is proletariat should abandon their revolu-
retreat" in several paris of the world,
poised against 'a reactionary mass'. In tionary vigilance against the espionage,
giving at least formal recognition to the
the darkest period of reaction in Ger- subversive activities, etc. of the imperi-
freedom and sovereignty of almost all
many (1856), Marx wrote: 'The whole alist powers.
thing in Germany will depend on the colonial, semi-colonial and dependent
countries - - all these weakened capital- Even a.s it is, the imperialist powers
possibility of backing the proletarian
ism and strengthened socialism on a are able to get at certain individuals
revoluh'on by some second edition of the
world scale. Particularly remarkable is and groups to organise subversion of the
Peasant War".
the victory of the national liberation proletarian regime from inside, tho
The question therefore is not to find notorious Sakharov case in the Soviet
forces in Vietnam which, in a way, has
the exact criterion for defining the strata Union highlights the dangers arising out
foreed the imperialist camp to make an
or sections of society which are to be of the detente. They are trying to use
"agonising reappraisal" of their strate-
included in the term middle class. The detente to further widen the scope of
gies and tactics in world politics.
point is to make a concrete and objec- these subversive activities.
tive estimation of the basic interests of These "reappraisals" forced on im-
every stratum or section of society, perialism have, of course, led to what If the imperialist camp can become
with a view to doing systematic work is called a detente in the relations so self-confident and arrogant even in
to win over as many of them as possible between the two (capitalist and socialist) relation to the mightiest socialist coun-
towards revolution and against counter- camps in world politics. It would how- try in the world, the Soviet Union, it
revolution. ever be an illusion to think that the goes without saying that the intermediate
detente has so weakened capitalism on regimes about which Kalecki talks are
IV a world scale that it is unable to all the more liable to be victims of such
launch further attacks either on the so- attacks by the imperialist powers. Seve-
Kalecki's concept of intermediate cialist camp or on the national liberation ral counter-revolutions in the Asian and
regimes, however, goes contrary to this movement. As a North Vietnamese paper African countries, referred to earlier,
revolutionary concept of winning over assessed the situation: " ... the imperial- and the latest counter-revolution, in Chile
the middle strata into the camp of re- ists pursue a policy of detente with some go unmistakably to prove that the anti-
volution. It is even speculates on the big countries in the world in order to working class and anti-poor leaders of
possibility of these middle strata play- have a free hand to consolidate their the lower class and urban peasantry
ing a role independent of both the con- forces, oppose the revolutionary move- (who constitute the ruling classes in
tending classes in present-day society. ments in the world, repress the revolu- Kalecki's intermediate regimes) will
Kaleeki begins his essay with an tion in their own countries and stamp either be bought over or overthrown by
acknowledgement of the fact that these out national liberation movements while the imperialist powers. The "upper mid-
middle strata have never in history never giving up their preparations for a dle classes allied with foreign capital
played an independent role. ("When- new war". and the feudal landowners" who, ac-
ever social upheavals have enabled the The correctness of this assessment is cording to Kaleeki, are antagonistic to
representatives of these classes to rise graphically illustrated by the counter- the intermediate regime will most cer-
to power, they have invariably served revolution in Chile which is a new tainly take advantage of every opportu-
the interests of big business often align- edit ion of what happened in Spain nearly nity to conspire with foreign imperialist
ed with the remants of the feudal four decades ago. The revolt of the powers and take their countries into the
system.") At the end of his essay Spanish military junta against the elect- path of normal capitalist development,

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December 1, 1973 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

even if (and this is a very big if) the Congress of the Communist International about at once, but in the process of
lower middle class and rich peasantry held at Moscow in 1920, that Lenin transition from the democratic dictator-
refuse to surrender. raised the question: "Are we to con- ship of the proletariat and peasantry to
The perspective outlined at the 1960 sider as correct the assertion that the the socialist dictatorship of the prole-
Conference of the World Communist capitalist stage of economic develop- tariat: where the revolution develops
and Workers' Parties was that "the ment is inevitable for backward nations directly as a proletarian revolution it is
world socialist system is becoming the now on the road to emancipation and presumed that the proletariat exercises
decisive factor in the development of among whom a certain advance towards leadership oVer a broad agrarian pea-
society . .. the peoples who are build- progress is to be seen since the War?" sant movement".
ing socialism and communism, the re- The reply given was: " . . . in the (c) Colonial and serni-colonial coun-
volutionary movement of the working negative. If the victorious revolutionary tries (China, India, etc) and dependent
class in the capitalist countries, the proletariat conducts systematic propa- countries (Argentina, Brazil, etc) "hav-
n a t i o n a l liberation struggle of the op- ganda among them, and the Soviet gov- ing the rudiments of, and in some cases
pressed peoples and the general demo- ernments come to their aid with all the considerably developed industries, but
cratic movement — these great forces of means at their disposal — in that event in the majority of eases in-adequate for
our time are merging into one powerful it will be mistaken to assume that the independent socialist construction; with
current that undermines and destroys backward peoples must inevitably go feudal medieval relationship, or 'Asiatic
the world imperialist system". through the capitalist stage of develop- mode of production' relationships pre-
Kalecki, on the other hand, considers ment. Not only should we create inde- vailing in their economies and in their
the strengthening of the socialist system pendent contingents ot fighters and political superstructures; 'and in which
to have been a factor enabling the parly organisations in the colonies and the principal industrial, commercial and
lower middle classes and the rich pea- the backward countries, not only at banking enterprises, the principal means
santry in several countries to become once launch propaganda for the organisa- of transport, the large landed estates,
"the proverbial calves that suck two tion of peasant Soviets and strive to plantations, etc, are concentrated in the
cows", whatever has happened since he adapt them to the pre-capitalist condi- hands of foreign imperialist groups". In
wrote his essay however shows that, tions. but the Communist Internatioanal such countries, "the principal task is,
behind the apparent attempt at "suck- should advance the proposition, with the on the one hand, to fight against feuda-
ing two cows", the ruling classes of the appropriate theoretical grounding, that lism and pre-capitalist forms of exploi-
so-called intermediate regimes are, in with the aid of the proletariat of the tation and to systematically develop the
fact, becoming the tools of foreign im- advanced countries backward countries peasant agrarian revolution; on the other
perialist powers. can go over to the Soviet system and hand, to fight against foreign imperia-
through certain stages of development, lism for national independence. As a
to communism without having to pass rule, transition to the dictatorship of the
Neither the practical experience ot through the capitalist stage." proletariat in these countries will be
history in the making nor the theoreti- Cautioning against trying to indicate possible only through a series of pre-
cal premises of Marxism-Leninism in advance the way in which this could paratory stages the outcome of a
therefore support the thesis propounded be done, and saying that this would whole period of transformations of the
by Kalecki that the lower middle classes "be promoted bv practical experience", bourgeois democratic revolution into
and rich peasantry can establish re- Lenin stated categorically; "It has socialist construction will be possible
gimes which keep clear of both the ca- been definitely established that the idea only if direct support is obtained from
pitalist and the socialist camps exter- o r the Soviets is understood by the mass the countries in which proletarian dicta-
nally, and the two main contending of the working people in even the most torship is established'',
class forces internally. Even in those remote nations, that the Soviets should (d) Still more backward countries,
cases where, for a brief period, the mid- be adapted to the conditions of a pre- as in some parts of Africa, "where
dle strata use the power won by them capitalist social system, and that the there are no wage workers or very few,
against their antagonists above and be- Communist Parties should immediately where the majority of the population
low, t h e y have before long to choose work in this direction in all parts of still lives in tribal conditions, where
either the path of capitalist develop- the world". survival of primitive tribal forms still
ment or the path of genuine socialist It was on the basis of this Leninist exist, where the national bourgeoisie is
transformation. If they choose the for- perspective that the Sixth World Cong- almost non-existent, where the primary
mer, they naturally align themselves ress of the International (held in 1928) role of foreign imperialism is that of
with world capitalism; it t h e y choose dealt with "the principal types of re- military occupation and usurpation of
the latter, they have necessarily to align volution" as applicable to different land". In such countries "the central
themselves with world socialism. Such types of countries. The division of coun- task is to fight for national indepen-
is the inexorable logic. of an international
tries and their respective revolutions was dence, Victorious national uprisings in
situation where the contradiction bet- as follows: these countries may open the way for
ween the two systems is the decisive (a) Countries of highly developed their direct development towards socia-
element. capitalism, the United States, Germany, lism and their avoiding the stage of
United Kingdom, etc — "In such coun- capitalism provided really powerful as-
V tries the fundamental political demand sistance is rendered to them by the
It would be useful in this context to of the programme is direct transition to countries in which the proletarian dic-
examine the Marxist-Leninist approach the dictatorship of the; proletariat". tatorship is established".
to the forms of transition as applicable (b) Countries with a medium deve- It will be noticed that common to
to what are now known as 'developing lopiment of capitalism, Spain, Portugal, all the "principal types of revolutions"
countries', since the concept of inter- Poland, Hungary, the Balkan countries, is the revolutionary unity of all sections
mediate regimes can be applicable only etc — " I n these countries the dictator- of the people oppressed by capitalism;
to such countries. It was at the second ship of the proletariat may not come a unity cemented by the alliance of the

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ECONOMIC WEEKLY POLITICAL WEEKLY
December 1, 19 72

working class and peasantry led by the the world communist movement which ly gives up even the framework of the
working class; a unity of the lighting made these distortions has already prov- alliance of the working people under
people in every country separately, ed to be right opportunist in essence. the leadership of the working class to
hacked by the direct support of the The collaboration of a section of the which the revisionist elements within
counitry or countries where the dictator- Communist movement in countries like the Communist and Workers' Parties in
ship of the proletariat has been esta- India and Sri Lanka with the bourgeois- the world communist movement formal-
blished. In other words, the class strug- landlord regimes in their respective ly adhere. His intermediate regime
gle within every country taken sepa- countries — a collaboration which has does not even make the pretence ol ap-
rately is to be integrated with the class received the blessing of the fraternal plying the Marxist-Leninist concept of
struggle on the world arena. Popular parties headed by the CPSU — is the popular unity under the leadership of
unity against the exploiting classes at most graphic example of the manner in the working class. He, on the other
home, reinforced by the militant unity which the concept of national democracy, hand, conceives of the lower middle
of the international working class — which had an apparently revolutionary class and rich peasantry pitting them-
such is the perspective of the world content when it was formulated at the selves against the working class and
communist movement developed by the 1960 Conference, has been used to other sections of the working people.
Communist International on the basis transform sections of the militant work-
of the perspective originally mapped ing class movement into a 'loyal ally' VI
out by Lenin. of the bourgeois-landlord ruling classes.
Raj's paper has the merit of bringing
The main document adopted by the Many of those who had either parti- out the contradictions inherent in the
1960 World Conference of Communist pated in formulating the main docu- class alliance on which the concept of
and Workers' Parties was supposed to ment of the 1960 Conference, or sub- intcimediate regimes rests. He ,subjects
be an application of this Leninist pers- sequently endorsed it, had their to scrutiny the interests of the two main
pective to the post-Second World War reservations and doubts even at that shata — lower middle class and rich
situation. It was supposed to have been time. Subsequent developments have peasantry — in relation to prices, tax-
drafted within the framework of this further confirmed their doubts and ation. use of state controlled credit in-
theoretical understanding. It was how- reservations. What subsequently hap- stitutions. etc. His conclusion is: "On
ever vitiated by many revisionist dis- pened in countries which were sup- account of the class composition of these
tortions dating back to the Twentieth posed to have the possibility of esta- regimes and their inability to enforce
Congress of the CPSU in 1956. The blishing the states of national democracy policies that can generate surpluses, not
document does undoubtedly repeat has once again proved the wisdom of only is the growth of state capitalism
many of the Leninist concepts in words. Lenin who, at the Second Gongress itself blunted but it helps more to pro-
Hence its unanimous acceptance by 81 of the Communist International, laid mote the development of private cap-
national parties at the Conference and down that the task in such countries lalisin. To some extent the remedies
its subsequent endorsement by the is: " . . . to exert every effort to apply the can be expected to emerge from out of
various national centres of the world basic principles of the Soviet system the contradictions themselves and the
communist movement. in countries where the pre-capitalist re-alignments they lead to, but given
relations predominate, by setting up the highly fragmented and heterogen-
ABANDONMENT OF LENINIST working people's Soviets . . . to support eous character of the social structure
PERSPECTIVE the bourgeois democratic national move- in these countries one cannot be sure
Behind this apparent adherence to the ments only on condition that in these in which direction the changes will take
Leninist premises of the world commu- countries the elements of future prole- place. Once the forces of private capi-
nist movement regarding the revolu- tarian parties are brought together talism gain strength the bureaucratic
tionary transition, however, was an out- and trained to understand their special and military apparatus of the state may
look which led hi practice to a virtual tasks . . . to enter into a temporary well be used, like the instrument of
abandonment of the revolutionary alliance with bourgeois democracy in state capitalism itself, to shift the balance
essence of the Leninist perspective. The the colonial and backward countries, of power further in their favour. If such
necessity for a worldwide struggle for not to merge with it, under all circum- a shift is to be prevented, and interme-
peace and against war; the significance stances to uphold the independence of diate regimes made a transitional phase
of peaceful co-existence as one of the the proletarian movement". in the evolution towards a genuinely
forms of class struggle in the world more broad-based political and econo-
The essence of the strategic line laid
arena; the possibility and necessity of mic system, they may need to shed
down by Lenin therefore was that the
strivingfor peaceful transition where- altogether the alliance with the rich
revolutionary movement in such coun-
ever possible: the maximum use of peasantry (and the 'upper middle class'
tries should be so developed that the
bourgeois parliamentary institutions in general) and secure stronger (and
slowly-emerging proletarian elements
wherever they exist for mobilising and more enlightened) organisational sup-
can exercise their leadership over the
uniting the revolutionary classes and port from among the lower classes.
rest of the working people against the
strata — all these were so distorted as Whether and how such a shift in align-
remnants of pre-capitalism and against
to disarm the revolutionary movement ments can be brought about depends
the emerging capitalist classes. But the
(in separate countries as well as inter- however on political processes about
strategy and tactics adopted by the re-
nationally) and to lead to right opportu- which little can he said on the basis of
visionist leadership in many Communist
nist practices. a priori reasoning".
and Workers' Parties (as also in India)
It is not within the province of this led to the transformation of the organis-
paper to give a detailed explanation of ed working class into a collaborating ally
how these revisionist distortions are con- of the bourgeois-landlord classes. While agreeing with Raj where he
tained in that document. Suffice it to Kaleckfs concept of the intermediate brings out the inherent contradictions of
say that the practice of that section of regimes goes a step further. It formal- the intermediate regimes as visualised

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by Kalecki, one has to point out that his (a) "The urban and rural paupers are (i) "directly or through their tenant
own concept of the intermediate regimes antagonistic towards the ruling class". fanners systematically exploit wage la-
appears to go wrong both in practice (b) "The land reform is conducted in bour and the neighbouring small (and,
ant! iai theory. That Raj includes India, such a way that a major share of the not infrequently, part of the middle)
with its class domination of the bour- land available goes to the rich and me- peasantry";
geoisie arid landlords, among the inte- dium-rich peasants while the small land- (ii) "do not themselves undertake any
mediate regimes has already been men- holders and the rural proletariat receive manual labour";
tioned, Added to it is the fact that the only very little land". (iii) "and are in the main descendants
edge of his criticism is directed not (c) "Insufficient effort is made to free from feudal lords, or are real financial
against the dominant classes (monopo- the poor peasantry from the clutches of magnates, or else a mixture of both these
lies, feudal or other types of landlords, moneylenders and merchants and to categories of exploiters and parasites."
tribal, caste and other leaders of an es- raise the wages of farm labourers". The 'big' or 'rich' peasants, on the
sentially pre-capitalist society), but (d) "The resulting agrarian situation is other hand are : "capitalist entrepre-
against the class of small property own- one of the factors limiting agricultural neurs in agriculture who, as a
ers, salaried intelligentsia and so on: output within the general economic rule, employ several hired labourers
"As between the different components growth as under the prevailing agrarian and are connected with the 'pea-
of the intermediate class, most of those relations the small farms are unable to santry' only in their low cultural level
who are better organised and apparently expand their production". habits of life and the manual labour
more responsive to radical ideas (such as they themselves perform on their farms".
It is the merit of Kalecki's essay that
the administrative and technical person- According to this (Lenin's) definition,
it brings out these contradictions which
nel belonging to the lower cadres in the the big landowners of Kuttanad, for
are inherent in his concept, even though
public and private sections, teachers, instance, are not rich peasants but big
journalists, etc) are interested essentially he lists other factors which would en-
able the regime to prevent these contra- landowners. According to Raj's defini-
in limited sectarian objectives. Not sur- tion. however, they are by and large rich
prisingly, the political elements which dictions from so developing as to lead
to a crisis. peasants.
favour a more revolutionary approach This difference in definition is impor-
are faced with the choice between align- Raj, on the other hand, concentrates
tant because it leads to a difference in
ing themselves with social groups whose on the contradictions between the strug-
the strategic line to be adopted towards
commitment is me e verbal than ideolo- gles waged by the more vocal and bet-
the Kuttanad types of landlords on the
gical (in the way they would like it to ter-organised sections of society and the
one hand and small landowners on the
be) and spending longer years in the needs of a developing economy. He
r other. According to Raj's definition, all
wilderness organising forces which are orgets in the process that the real con-
those who live on rentier income (from
intrinsically difficult to organise. More tradictions lie elsewhere, i e, in the re-
the biggest to the smallest) would be
often than not, the easier path is chosen, fusal of the ruling classes to break with
in the enemy camp. According to Le-
and consequently even professedly revo- foreign capital and to carry out genuine-
nin's definition, on the other hand, the
lutionary movements tend to be char- ly anti-landlord agrarian reforms and to
rich peasants who contribute manual
acterised more by slogans". break the iron grip of the monopolies.
labour in the cultivation process, as
Tin's criticism by Raj reminds one of well as the pauperised landowners, would
the propaganda carried on by the leaders
VII be included among those towards whom
of the ruling party against the demands Before T conclude, I want to refer to the policy of "unity and struggle" has
and movements of middle class em- the difference between landlord and to be adopted — unity to the extent to
ployees for higher emoluments and bet- rich peasant as given in Raj's paper. which they are prepared to join the ranks
ter conditions of service. "A small sec- Landlords according to him "depend of the common people in their struggle
tion, organised and vocal, holding the mainly on rentier income" while the against big landlords, monopoly capita-
majority to ransom" — such is the al- rich peasant is "one who organises pro- lists 'and foreign capitalists; struggle to
legation made by the ruling circles duction with hired labour but puts in t h e extent to which t h e y take up posi-
against middle class employees. The or- very little labour of his own and might tions of hostility to the agricultural
ganised industrial working class too is also be deriving other property income labourers and poor peasants. Raj's de-
denounced for "going on strike for from activities such as money-lending". finition of landlords and rich peasants
higher emoluments, even though they are This goes contrary to Lenin's definition, therefore is in a way connected with his
already getting several-fold of what the according to which big landowners are tactical approach which is based on sus-
agricultural labourers 'and the unemploy- those who picion of the small property owners.
ed are getting". The political parties
that support the middle class employees
and the organised working class in
these struggles are also denounced by
the ruling circles for 'allegedly mining
the national economy for the opportunist
purpose of getting popular support. Raj's
criticism of this section of the fighting
people and the political parties support-
ing them appears to give support (even
if unintended) to this propaganda bar-
rage of the ruling circles.
The basic contradictions inherent in
the intermediate regime as envisaged by
Kalecki, in fact, are:

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