New class

New classis apolemicterm bycriticsof countries that followed the Soviet-typestate socialismto describe the privilegedruling classofbureaucratsandCommunist party functionarieswhich arose in these states.^[1]^[2]Generally, the group known in theSoviet Unionas thenomenklaturaconforms to the theory of the new class.^[3]^[4]The term was earlier applied to other emerging strata of the society.Milovan Đilas' new-class theory was also used extensively byanti-communistcommentators in theWestern worldin their criticism of theCommunist statesduring theCold War.

Red bourgeoisieis apejorative synonymfor the term new class, crafted by leftist critics and movements like the1968 student demonstrations in Belgrade.New class is also used as a term in late 1960spost-industrial sociology.

Milovan Đilas' analysis

A theory of the new class was developed byMilovan Đilasthe Vice President of theFederal People's Republic of YugoslaviaunderJosip Broz Tito,who participated with Tito in theYugoslav People's Liberation Warbut was laterpurgedby him as Đilas began to advocatedemocraticandegalitarianideals, which he believed were more in line with the waysocialismandcommunismshould look like.^[5]There were also personal antagonisms between the two men, and Tito felt Đilas undermined his leadership. The theory of the new class can be considered to oppose the theories of certain ruling Communists, such asJoseph Stalin,who argued that their revolutions and/or social reforms would result in the extinction of any ruling class as such.^[6]^[7]It was Đilas' observation as a member of a Communist government that Party members stepped into the role of ruling class, a problem which he believed should be corrected through revolution. Đilas' completed his primary work on his new class theory in the mid-1950s. While Đilas was in prison, it was published in 1957 in the West under the titleThe New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System.^[8]

Đilas posited that the new class' specific relationship to themeans of productionwas one of collective political control, and that the new class' property form was political control. For Đilas, the new class not only seeks expanded material reproduction to politically justify its existence to theworking classbut also seeks expanded reproduction of political control as a form of property in itself. This can be compared to the capitalist who seeks expanded value through increased sharemarket values, even though the sharemarket itself does not necessarily reflect an increase in the value of commodities produced. Đilas used this argument about property forms to indicate why the new class sought parades, marches and spectacles despite this activity lowering the levels of material productivity. Đilas proposed that the new class only slowly came to self-consciousness of itself as a class. On arriving at a full self-consciousness the initial project undertaken would be massiveindustrialisationin order to cement the external security of the new class' rule against foreign or alternative ruling classes. In Đilas' schema, this approximated the 1930s and 1940s in the Soviet Union. As the new class suborns all other interests to its own security during this period, it freely executes and purges its own members in order to achieve its major goal of security as a ruling class. After security has been achieved, the new class pursues a policy of moderation towards its own members, effectively granting material rewards and freedom of thought and action within the new class, so long as this freedom is not used to undermine the rule of the new class. Đilas identified this period as the period ofKhrushchev's government in the Soviet Union. Due to the emergence of conflicts of policy within the new class, the potential for palace coups, or populist revolutions is possible, as experienced in Poland and Hungary, respectively. Finally, Đilas predicted a period of economic decline, as the political future of the new class was consolidated around a staid programme of corruption and self-interest at the expense of other social classes. This can be interpreted as a prediction of theLeonid Brezhnevso-calledEra of Stagnationby Đilas. Đilas also heavily criticizedSoviet imperialist practicesfor violating the national sovereignty of Eastern European countries and the unequal price exchange in trade between the USSR and these republics. He predicted that these countries would desire more sovereignty and independence from the totalitarian communist imperialist system. This can be interpreted as the prediction ofRevolutions of 1989.Djilas also predicted that theTitoistresistance of the USSR and the development ofnational communismwould eventually lead to the renounce of communism and the demise of the international communist order as a whole.^{[original research]}

While Đilas posited that the new class was a social class with a distinct relationship to themeans of production,he did not claim that this new class was associated with a self-sustainingmode of production.This claim, withinMarxisttheory, argues that the Soviet-style societies must eventually either collapse backwards towards capitalism, or experience a social revolution towards realsocialism.This can be seen as a prediction of the downfall of the Soviet Union.Robert D. Kaplan's 1993 bookBalkan Ghosts: A Journey through historyalso contains a discussion with Đilas,^[9]who used his model to anticipate many of the events that subsequently came to pass in the former Yugoslavia. Đilas also argues that a communist society has three phases: the revolutionary phase, the dogmatic phase, and the non-dogmatic phase. The new class does not perish despite attempts to moderate communist practices such as Yugoslavia’sworkers' self-managementor the reversal of Stalinist totalitarian policies ofKhrushchev Thaw.Djilas argues these moderations are only concessions of the communist bureaucracy to appease the working class and therefore consolidate their new class rule. Marxists likeErnest Mandelhave criticised Djilas for ignoring the existence of a new socio-economic system, which cannot be reconciled with the old class system.^[10]

Similarity to other analyses

Mikhail Bakuninhad made a point in hisInternational Workingmen's Associationdebates with Marx in the mid-to-late 19th century of bureaucrats becoming a new oppressive class in socialist states. This idea was repeated after the Russian revolution by anarchists likePeter KropotkinandNestor Makhno,as well as some Marxists. In 1911,Robert Michelsfirst proposed theIron law of oligarchy,which described the development of bureaucratic hierarchies in supposedly egalitarian and democraticsocialistparties.^[11]It was later repeated by a leader of the Russian Revolution,Leon Trotskythrough his theory ofdegenerated workers state.Mao Zedongalso had his own version of this idea developed during theSocialist Education Movementto criticize theChinese Communist PartyunderLiu Shaoqi.This wide range of people over the decades had different perspectives on the matter, but there was also a degree of core agreement on this idea.^{[citation needed]}

Đilas'New Classhas also been likened to theprofessional–managerial classseen in advanced capitalist societies.^[12]In fact, originating withJames Burnham's famous discussion thereof,^[13]there is a whole tradition that posits a purportedly very troublesome convergence between especially the Chinese and Western political order along such lines.^[14]

John Kenneth Galbraith and post-industrial sociology

Canadian-American economistJohn Kenneth Galbraithalso wrote about a similar phenomenon under capitalism, the emergence of a technocratic layer inThe New Industrial StateandThe Affluent Society.The new-class model as a theory of new social groups in post-industrial societies gained ascendency during the 1970s as social and political scientists noted how new-class groups were shaped by post-material orientations in their pursuit of political and social goals.^[15]New-class themes "no longer have a direct relationship to the imperatives of economic security."^[16]

References

^Sinyavsky, Andrei(1991). "Stalin: The State–Church".Soviet Civilization: A Cultural History.Arcade Publishing. p. 91.ISBN 978-1559701594.
^Fernandez, Neil C. (1997). "The Class Struggle: A Critique of 'Marxist' Theories".Capitalism and Class Struggle in the USSR: A Marxist Theory.Ashgate Publishing.pp. 162–163.ISBN 1840141867.
^Wasserstein, Bernard (2007).Barbarism and civilization: a history of Europe in our time.Oxford University Press.p. 509.ISBN 978-0-19-873074-3.
^Rosenberg, William G.; Siegelbaum, Lewis H., eds. (1993).Social Dimensions of Soviet Industrialization.Indiana University Press.p. 8.ISBN 0-253-20772-X.
^"Il grande accusatore della 'nuova classe'"[The great accuser of the 'new class'].La Repubblica(in Italian). 22 April 1984. Archived fromthe originalon 31 July 2019.Retrieved31 July2019.
^van Ree (2002),p.138:"Stalin saw the Soviet state after the demise of classes as a classless institution."
^van Ree (2002),p.141:"... 'in essence' there was 'no dictatorship of the proletariat now either. We have a Soviet democracy'. The reason was that there were only external enemies to suppress. (quote from Stalin, May, 1946)"
^Schemann, Serge (21 April 1995)."Milovan Djilas, Yugoslav Critic of Communism, Dies at 83".The New York Times.
^Kaplan, Robert (1993)."A discussion with Milovan Đilas".Balkan Ghosts.St. Martin's Press.
^Mandel, Ernest(1979)."Why the Soviet Bureaucracy Is Not a New Ruling Class".Ernest Mandel Internet Archive.Retrieved20 September2021.
^Hyland, James L. (1995).Democratic theory: the philosophical foundations.Manchester, England, UK; New York, New York, USA:Manchester University Press.p. 247.
^Szymanski, Al (1979). "A Critique and Extension of the PMC". In Walker, Pat (ed.).Between Labour and Capital.Boston: South End Press. pp. 49–66.ISBN 0-89608-038-2.
^Burnham, James (1941).The Managerial Revolution: What is Happening in the World.New York: John Day Co.
^Lyons, N. S. (3 August 2023)."The China Convergence".The Upheaval.Retrieved19 February2024.
^Bruce-Briggs, B. (1979).The New Class?.New Brunswick, NJ:Transaction Publishers.
^Inglehart, Ronald (1971)."The Silent Revolution in Europe: the intergenerational change in post-industrial society"(PDF).American Political Science Review.65:991–1017.doi:10.2307/1953494.JSTOR 1953494.S2CID 145368579.

Bibliography

van Ree, Erik (October 28, 2002).The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin: A Study in Twentieth Century Revolutionary Patriotism(hardcover)(1st ed.).Routledge.p. 138.ISBN 978-0700717491– viaGoogle Books.

External links

Collection of writings by and on Shachtmanon theWorkers' Libertywebsite
Max Shachtman Internet ArchiveatMarxists Internet Archive
GhostofChristO1. (2023, 12 April).Alienated Elites: The New Class and Its Discontents.https://paroxysms.substack /p/alienated-elites
GhostofChristO1. (2023, 19 April).The Problem of the "New Elite".https://paroxysms.substack /p/the-problem-of-the-new-elite

[1] Sinyavsky, Andrei(1991). "Stalin: The State–Church".Soviet Civilization: A Cultural History.Arcade Publishing. p. 91.ISBN 978-1559701594.

[2] Fernandez, Neil C. (1997). "The Class Struggle: A Critique of 'Marxist' Theories".Capitalism and Class Struggle in the USSR: A Marxist Theory.Ashgate Publishing.pp. 162–163.ISBN 1840141867.

[Wasserstein-3] Wasserstein, Bernard (2007).Barbarism and civilization: a history of Europe in our time.Oxford University Press.p. 509.ISBN 978-0-19-873074-3.

[4] Rosenberg, William G.; Siegelbaum, Lewis H., eds. (1993).Social Dimensions of Soviet Industrialization.Indiana University Press.p. 8.ISBN 0-253-20772-X.

[5] "Il grande accusatore della 'nuova classe'"[The great accuser of the 'new class'].La Repubblica(in Italian). 22 April 1984. Archived fromthe originalon 31 July 2019.Retrieved31 July2019.

[EvR2002page138-6] van Ree (2002),p.138:"Stalin saw the Soviet state after the demise of classes as a classless institution."

[EvR2002page141-7] van Ree (2002),p.141:"... 'in essence' there was 'no dictatorship of the proletariat now either. We have a Soviet democracy'. The reason was that there were only external enemies to suppress. (quote from Stalin, May, 1946)"

[8] Schemann, Serge (21 April 1995)."Milovan Djilas, Yugoslav Critic of Communism, Dies at 83".The New York Times.

[9] Kaplan, Robert (1993)."A discussion with Milovan Đilas".Balkan Ghosts.St. Martin's Press.

[10] Mandel, Ernest(1979)."Why the Soviet Bureaucracy Is Not a New Ruling Class".Ernest Mandel Internet Archive.Retrieved20 September2021.

[11] Hyland, James L. (1995).Democratic theory: the philosophical foundations.Manchester, England, UK; New York, New York, USA:Manchester University Press.p. 247.

[12] Szymanski, Al (1979). "A Critique and Extension of the PMC". In Walker, Pat (ed.).Between Labour and Capital.Boston: South End Press. pp. 49–66.ISBN 0-89608-038-2.

[13] Burnham, James (1941).The Managerial Revolution: What is Happening in the World.New York: John Day Co.

[14] Lyons, N. S. (3 August 2023)."The China Convergence".The Upheaval.Retrieved19 February2024.

[15] Bruce-Briggs, B. (1979).The New Class?.New Brunswick, NJ:Transaction Publishers.

[16] Inglehart, Ronald (1971)."The Silent Revolution in Europe: the intergenerational change in post-industrial society"(PDF).American Political Science Review.65:991–1017.doi:10.2307/1953494.JSTOR 1953494.S2CID 145368579.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

v t e Marxist phraseology and terminology
Philosophy and politics (Marxist)	Barracks communism Base and superstructure Bourgeoisie Bourgeois democracy Bourgeois nationalism Bourgeois revolution Bourgeois socialism Capitalist mode of production Class struggle Commodification Dialectics Dictatorship of the proletariat Historical materialism Imperialism Liquidationism Lumpenproletariat Means of labor Metabolic rift Petite bourgeoisie Primitive accumulation of capital Proletarian internationalism Proletarian revolution Pure communism Revisionism Revolutionary spontaneity Revolutionary wave Scientific socialism Socialist mode of production Super-imperialism Theoretician Two-stage theory Wage slavery Workers of the world, unite! Workers' council Workers' control World communism World revolution
Sociology and economics (Marxian)	Critique of political economy Accumulation of capital Capital Capitalist mode of production Crisis of capitalism Commanding heights of the economy Commodity Commodity production Dominant ideology Exchange value Free association Law of value Materialism Means of production Mode of production Productive forces Production for use Relations of production Ruling class Simple commodity production Socialist mode of production Socially necessary labour time Socialization Social murder Subject of labor Surplus value Use value Value Worker cooperative
Marxist–Leninist	Anti-revisionism Cadre Central Committee Democratic centralism Dual power Enemy of the people Foco General line of the party National liberation New class People's democratic state Politburo Political rehabilitation Popular front Real socialism Revisionism Revolutionary terror Self-criticism Socialist accumulation Socialism in one country Social fascism Social imperialism Soviet democracy Democracy in Marxism United front Vanguardism
Trotskyist	Deformed workers' state Degenerated workers' state French Turn Permanent revolution Social revolution Transitional demand Uneven and combined development United front World revolution
Maoist	Antagonistic contradiction Anti-revisionism Capitalist roader Continuous revolution theory The East wind prevails over the West wind Four Olds Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Mass line New Democracy Whole-process people's democracy One Divides Into Two People's war Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun Revisionism Revolutionary base area Revolution is not a dinner party Social imperialism Struggle session
Other	People's Multiparty Democracy