STATE CAPITALISM

LENIN; On State Capitalism, During the Transition to Socialism

TO ARMAND HAMMER
11.V.1922
Dear Comrade Hammer!

Excuse me please; I have been very ill; now I am much, much better. ·
Many thanks for Your present-a very kind letter from Ameri- can comrades and friends who are in prison. I enclose for You the letter to Comrade Zinoviev or for other comrades in Petrograd if Zinoviev has left Petrograd.
My best wishes for the full success of Your first concession:
such success would be of great importance also for trade relations between our Republic & United States.
Thanking You once more. I beg to apologize' for my bad English. Please address letters & telegrams to my secretary (Fotieva or Smolioninoff). I shall instruct them.

Yours truly, Lenin
Vol. 45, pp. 542-43

TO J. V. STALIN FOR MEMBERS OF THE R.C.P.(B.) C.C. POLITBUREAU
Urgent Secret

To Comrade Stalin with a request to circulate all Politbureau members (being sure to include Comrade Zinoviev)
On the strength of this information from Comrade Reinstein, I am giving both Armand Hammer and B. Mishal a special recommendation on my own behalf and request all C.C. members to give these persons and their enterprise particular support. This is a small path leading to the American “business” world, and this path should be made use of in every way. If there are any objections, please telephone them to my secretary (Fotieva or Lepeshinskaya), to enable me to clear up the matter (and take a final decision through the Politbureau) before I leave, that is, within the next few days.

24/V. Lenin
P. S. 27 /V. I have held this back pending a reply from Comrade Zinoviev. The reply came in on 26/V.
Lenin
Written on May 24 and 27, 1922
Vol. 45, p. 559

RECOMMENDATION FOR ARMAND HAMMER
The bearer, Doctor Armand Yulievich Hammer, is secretary of the United American Company, the first stock company to obtain from us a concession, namely for the asbestos mines in the Urals. This firm also has a contract to supply Russia with a quantity of grain in exchange for Russian goods and is also the sole agent for Russia for motor cars, trucks and tractors of the American Ford works and for agricultural implements of the big American firm Mollin Plough Company. ·

The United American Company differs from the usual capitalist companies by its sympathetic attitude to Soviet Russia and we are greatly interested in its being given ever, opportunity to fulfil its tasks successfully.

I therefore instantly request all representatives of Veshtorg, the railway administration and other representatives of the Soviet Government in Russia and abroad to accord representatives of this Company not only due attention and polite treatment· but also all possible cooperation, avoiding all red tape and the like.

Written on May 24, 1922
Translated from Lenin Miscellany XXXVII, p. 365 English translation © Progress Publishers 1982

From INTERVIEW WITH ARTHUR. RANSOME, "MANCHESTER GUARDIAN" CORRESPONDENT
Question. Judging by usual capitalist standards, the economic situation should be worse. Judging by communist standards, the situation should also be worse (decline of heavy industry). And yet, everybody I meet admits that his conditions are better than they were a year ago. Evidently, something is taking place that neither capitalist nor communist ideology allows for. Both presuppose progress. But what if, instead of progressing, we are receding? My question is—is it not possible that we are not marching forward to new prosperity, but are reverting to the old conditions? Is it not possible that Russia is going back to the period of agricultural production approximately commensurate with her needs, and to a brisk home trade only slightly affected by foreign imports? Is not such a period conceivable under the proletarian dictatorship as it was formerly under the feudal dictatorship?

Answer. Let us first “judge” by “usual capitalist standards”. Throughout the summer our ruble remained stable. This is an obvious sign of improvement. Furthermore, the revival of peasant production and of light industry is beyond doubt. This, too, is an improvement. Lastly, the State Bank has obtained a net revenue of no less than 20,000,000 gold rubles (this is at the lowest estimate; actually, it obtained a larger sum). A small sum, but the improvement is beyond doubt. A small sum, but it undoubtedly marks the beginning of an increase in the funds available for heavy industry.

To proceed. Let us now judge by communist standards. All the three circumstances enumerated above are assets also from the communist viewpoint, for in this country political power is in the hands of the workers. The step towards the stabilisation of the ruble, the revival of peasant production and light industry and the first profits obtained by the State Bank (i.e., the state) are all assets from the communist viewpoint too.

How is it that although capitalism is the antithesis of communism, certain circumstances are assets from the two opposite viewpoints? It is because one possible way to proceed to communism is through state capitalism, provided the state is controlled by the working class. This is exactly the position in the “present case”.

The decline of heavy industry is a loss to us. The first profits obtained by the State Bank and the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trademark the beginning of an improvement in this field, too. The difficulties here are enormous; but the situation is by no means hopeless.

Let us proceed further. Is it possible that we are receding to something in the nature of a “feudal dictatorship"? It is utterly impossible, for although slowly, with interruptions, taking steps backward from time to time, we are still making progress along the path of state capitalism, a path that leads us forward to socialism and communism (which is the highest stage of socialism), and certainly not back to feudalism.

Foreign trade is growing; the ruble is becoming more stable, although the progress is not altogether without interruptions; there is an obvious revival of industry in Petrograd and Moscow; a small, a very small beginning has been made in accumulating state funds for the purpose of assisting heavy industry, and so on, and so forth. All this shows that Russia is not receding, but advancing, although, I repeat, very slowly, and not without interruption.

Written on November 5, 1922
Vo1. 33, pp. 403-404