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Origins of The Crisis in The USSR by Hillel Ticktin
Origins of The Crisis in The USSR by Hillel Ticktin
CONCLUSION
To reiterate, this is an important book for any honest enquirer into the nature of Stalinism. It is
difficult to imagine that it will be superseded until it has been translated into Russian and
Ukrainian and forms part of the internal critical debate that is already under way on the prospect
of the reforms. It is the development of critical thought within the intelligentsia and the working
class that the elite most fears and it is a process they are powerless to prevent. As Ticktin states:
'Indeed, whatever the reforms may be, there can be no hope whatsoever of their success if there
cannot be a critical discussion of their progress. This problem, however, is insuperable because
any real discussion must come up against the nature of socialism itself - with the majority
controlling, work become humanity's prime want, interchangeability of occupations within the
division of labour, and hence the abolition of the elite itself' (p.80).
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