For a Concrete Theory of Transition: The Political Practice of the Bolsheviks in Power

Jul 6, 2026

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Robert Linhart’s translated text examines the Soviet transition through an overdetermined development framework, using a balance sheet of strategy and tactics from the New Economic Policy (NEP). By reading Lenin’s practical analyses from 1918–23, it inventories class struggles and the “complex system of alliances,” identifying “thresholds” that force strategic turns. The NEP is treated as a revolutionary strategy that responds to and reconstitutes disrupted equilibria of social forces, requiring political transformation and a Cultural Revolution to socialize productive forces.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages37

Reading Time1 h 33 min

Rethinking Marxism Journal Context

Publication and Citation Details

Central Argument and Analytical Framework

War Communism, Objective Conditions, and Transitional Theory

Rethinking Marxism A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: [https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rrmx20](https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rrmx20) For a Concrete Theory of Transition: The Political Practice of the Bolsheviks in Power Robert Linhart | To cite this article: Robert Linhart | (2021) For a Concrete Theory of Transition: The Political Practice of the Bolsheviks in Power, Rethinking Marxism, 33:4, 476-511, DOI: 10. 1080/08935696 .2021.1972696 To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2021.1972696](https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2021.1972696) Published online: 23 Nov 2021. | Submit your article to this journal | | --- | | Article views: 48 | | View related articles | | View Crossmark data | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rrmx20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rrmx20) RETHINKING MARXISM, 2021 Vol. 33, No. 4, 476–511, [https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2021.1972696](https://doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2021.1972696) For a Concrete Theory of Transition: The Political Practice of the Bolsheviks in Power * Robert Linhart Translated by David Broder Robert Linhart’s translated 1966 text provides a framework for examining the Soviet transition as an overdetermined development, drawing a balance sheet of the strategy and tactics of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Reading Lenin’s shifting practical analyses of the situation from 1918–23, Linhart takes a thorough inventory of the principle (between the proletariat and the peasantry) and secondary class struggles—a “complex system of alliances”—and discerns the “thresholds” beyond which changes in the conjuncture imposed strategic turns and alternatives. Informed by a conception of a complex social formation in transition as unevenly articulated and marked by intense contradictions, Linhart analyzes the NEP as a revolutionary strategy that responded to and reconstituted the “disrupted equilibria” of social forces, operating (subjectively) against objective limitations. This necessitated not only the political transformation of state apparatuses but also, for Linhart, crucially emphasized a necessary Cultural Revolution to socialize the productive forces (popular control and accounting of production, circulation, and distribution). Key Words: New Economic Policy, Soviet Transition, Class Struggle/Alliance, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Social Formation, Political Strategy It’s well-known that Lenin attached the greatest importance to demonstrating—ashe repeatedly did—that war communism had been an error. But he also demonstrated that this error had been imposed on the Bolshevik government by the objective conditions of the class struggle and the strategy of its adversary: that is, capitalism. If we want to analyze a real transition phase, not from the viewpoint of subjective sociology, but from that of historical materialism, it is of primary importance that we take this proposition seriously. *This is a translation of an article originally published as “La NEP: Analyse de quelques caractéristiques de la phase de transition soviétique,” Études de planiﬁcation socialiste, no. 3 (March, 1966) S.E.R., Paris, 1966. It has been translated to English with the author’s kind agreement. Translation © 2021 Association for Economic and Social Analysis Revisiting Linhart 477 This also means seeing the proposition in its two aspects. On one hand, anyone who does not correctly analyze the objective conditions that forced the error would fall into idealist, retrospective daydreaming, judging the transition in a subjective and abstract way. This would thus prevent them from accounting for its speciﬁc causes and determinations. In 1922, Lenin refused the Mensheviks any right to critique the regime of war communism, even if the substance of this critique was the same as the one th

FAQs

What framework does Linhart use to analyze the Soviet transition?

Linhart treats the transition as an overdetermined development and balances strategy and tactics within the NEP.

How does Lenin’s 1918–23 analysis contribute to Linhart’s argument?

Linhart reads Lenin’s shifting practical analyses to map principle and secondary class struggles and to identify thresholds that determine strategic turns.

Why does the text emphasize a Cultural Revolution alongside political change?

The argument holds that transforming state apparatuses is necessary, but socializing productive forces through a Cultural Revolution is crucial as well.

Jul 6, 2026

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