ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that the political economy of the USSR is fundamentally capitalist in nature; and in considering it in a critical and theoretical fashion it is found that the Marxist critique of capital and the Autonomist Marxist understanding of class struggle to be tools of very substantial utility. It describes the overall theoretical orientation as communist. The book presents two ideas as fundamental. These are, first, that the basic stuff of history is class struggle; and second, that the essence of class struggle is class antagonism. The book focuses on the significance of class struggle in the region. It considers the ‘sovietological’ theories: that is, theories presented within the field of Soviet Studies but outwith the area of ‘Marxist critique.’ The book also presents a theoretical understanding of the class struggle under capitalism in general.
