Western Marxism And The Soviet Union: A Survey Of Critical Theories And Debates Since 1917

Marcel van der Linden is research director of the International Institute of Social History and Professor in the History of Social Movements at the University of Amsterdam

"Readers of a certain age will recall debates amongabout whether Russia was 'state capitalist' or a 'degenerated workers' state'. The debate was profoundly serious, since it raged among Stalin's victims, who needed to know why they had been defeated, and by what. Since the Russian experience is still used to vilify the idea of socialism, the debate remains relevant. Van der Lindenhas now produced a comprehensive scholarly account of the arguments."--Ian Birchall, London Socialist Historians Group