Gramsci and Trotsky in the Shadow of Stalinism: The ... - Indymedia

76 Gramsci and Trotsky in the Shadow of Stalinismform of totalitarianism, reflecting on its bureaucratic degeneration and onthe elimination of intraparty democracy.According to Benvenuti and Pons, Gramsci’s later notes, beginningfrom 1932 in the face of the Stalinist “revolution from above,” display a mixof support and critical distance. It is important to be clear about the kindof support and critical distance that can be plausibly read into Gramsci’sreflections. His was a Marxist, not liberal-pluralist or “democratic-socialist”critique of the Soviet Union. His support for revolution and for the dictatorshipof the proletariat in the abstract, and of the October Revolution asits concrete expression, is never withdrawn or called into question. Gramscinever advocated a policy of class-collaboration with the bourgeoisie and neveradopted a reformist understanding of socialism as growing from within theinstitutions of bourgeois democracy. 138 Gramsci’s use of the concept of totalitarianismcan be especially confusing on this score. In one sense, the termwas used by Gramsci as a statement of fact, describing the one-party characterof the Soviet Union—a trait that Gramsci did not categorically reject,and in fact supported, in so far as it described the experience of the earlySoviet regime under Lenin. But even in its more normative sense, Gramsci’suse of “totalitarianism” does not automatically cast him among the ranks ofliberal-pluralist critics. 139 Gramsci distinguished between “reactionary” and“progressive” totalitarianism with clear historical referents: the Italian fascistregime and the Soviet Union. 140 The concept of “progressive totalitarianism,”which is certain to offend today’s delicate sensibilities, simply reflectedGramsci’s belief that the dictatorship of the proletariat, as established in theSoviet Union, was the necessary step in the transition toward a free and equalcommunist society. The real crux of Gramsci’s reflection was not a rejectionof the Russian Revolution, but the question of the possible degeneration ofthe regime, its causes, and the proper kind of critical support that should beextended to it. 141 Benvenuti and Pons well understand this crucial point. 142It is from this standpoint that they proceed to map out a series of pertinentnotes from Gramsci, decoding them and explaining their significance withrespect to the degeneration of the Soviet Union.One of the most important notes in establishing Gramsci’s critiqueof the organizational aspects of Stalinism was written in April 1932. In it,Gramsci describes the phenomenon of “statolatry,” explaining how, “Forcertain social groups, which before their ascent to an autonomous state lifehave not had a long period of independent cultural and moral developmentof their own . . . a period of ‘statolatry’ is necessary and even opportune.” 143This vague and somewhat abstract formulation referred to the working class,which, unlike the bourgeoisie under feudalism, was unable to develop in