[Marxism] =?Windows-1252?Q?Re:_=5B Marxism=5D Inflation_Delivers_a_Blow_to _Vietn?= amâ?Ts Spirits

[Louis Proyect]

Marvin:
>I don't know. Would you describe the NEP and similar openings to private and
>foreign capital by states where the bourgeoisie was expropriated as
>contributing to the advance of socialism - and, by extension, to "socialist
>relations".

The NEP was necessary, but it is wrong to speak of it advancing 
socialism. It was a retreat dictated by a disastrous civil war. The 
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the NEP were both designed to give the 
USSR breathing space--that's all.

>Incidentally, I'm no fan of the WTO, but it has been favoured by the 
>poorer countries, for all its defects, as affording more protection 
>than the tyranny of bilateral agreements imposed on them singly by 
>stronger rich countries.

I don't think "countries" is a very useful unit of analysis for Marxists.