After the Revolution: The Ambiguities of Class Struggle

Abstract

But what social class held power in Soviet Russia? This question, already apparent with the victory of the October Revolution, became more insistent and painful after the introduction of the NEP and the emergence of a class of capitalists who lived in luxury while the great majority of the population was forced to live in poverty and want. An international debate began. Gramsci suggested that the economically advantaged class (the NEP capitalists) should not be confused with the politically dominant class (the proletariat represented by the Bolshevik party). But of course not everybody agreed…