ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates two aspects of class dynamics in post-Soviet Russia: the historical interconnection between the tsarist and post-Soviet variants of Russian capitalism, and dependency theory, as it involves class relations within Russia as well as between the ruling classes of Russia and the Western powers. It concludes with an assessment of how Russia's relationship with the West conforms to dependency theory. Tsarist capitalism, like present-day Russian capitalism, was highly dependent on foreign capital, which imposed "crushingly usurious" conditions to make colossal profits and hindered Russia's own economic development. Soviet socialism nevertheless achieved undoubted successes, especially in light of the enormous obstacles it faced—not least being its having to go it alone, beset from its inception by a predatory and aggressive world capitalism, by armed occupation, economic boycott, and fascist attack. In 1998 Russia was "fundamentally dependent" on international investors, particularly the IMF, for its financial stability, which was by then funding more than one-quarter of government expenditures.
