The representatives of Russian 'populism' were convinced that capitalism
had no future in Russia, and this conviction brought them to the problem
of capitalist reproduction. V. V. laid down his theories on this point
in a series of articles in the review _Patriotic Memoirs_ and in other
periodicals which were collected and published in 1882 under the title
_The Destiny of Capitalism in Russia_. He further dealt with the problem
in 'The Commodity Surplus in the Supply of the Market',[277] 'Militarism
and Capitalism',[278] _Our Trends_,[279] and finally in _Outlines of
Economic Theory_.[280] It is not easy to determine Vorontsov's attitude
towards capitalist development in Russia. He sided neither with the
purely slavophil theory which deduced the perversity and perniciousness
of capitalism for Russia from the 'peculiarities' of the Russian
economic structure and a specifically Russian 'national character', nor
with the Marxists who saw in capitalist development an unavoidable
historical stage which is needed to clear the way towards social
progress for Russian society, too. Vorontsov for his part simply asserts
that denunciation and acclamation of capitalism are equally futile
because, having no roots in Russia, capitalism is just impossible there
and can have no future. The essential conditions of capitalist
development are lacking in Russia, and love's labour's lost if the state
tries to promote it artificially--one might as well spare these efforts
together with the heavy sacrifices they entail. But if we look into the
matter more closely, Vorontsov's thesis is not nearly so uncompromising.
For if we pay attention to the fact that capitalism does not mean only
the accumulation of capital wealth but also that the small producer is
reduced to the proletarian level, that the labourer's livelihood is not
assured and that there are periodical crises, then Vorontsov would by no
means deny that all these phenomena exist in Russia. On the contrary, he
explicitly says in his preface to _The Destiny of Capitalism in Russia_:
'Whilst I dispute the possibility of capitalism as a form of production
in Russia, I do not intend to commit myself in any way as to its future
as a form or degree of exploiting the national resources.'
Vorontsov consequently is of the opinion that capitalism in Russia
merely cannot attain the same degree of maturity as in the West, whereas
the severance of the immediate producer from the means of production
might well be expected under Russian conditions. Vorontsov goes even
further: he does not dispute at all that a development of the capitalist
mode of production is quite possible in various branches of production,
and even allows for capitalist exports from Russia to foreign markets.
Indeed he says in his essay on 'The Commodity Surplus in the Supply of
the Market' that 'in several branches of industry, capitalist production
develops very quickly'[281] [in the Russian meaning of the term, of
course--R. L.].
'It is most probable that Russia, just like any other country, enjoys
certain natural advantages which enable her to act as a supplier of
certain kinds of commodities on foreign markets. It is extremely
possible that capital can profit by this fact and lay hands upon the
branches of production concerned--that is to say the (inter)national
division of labour will make it easy for our capitalists to gain a
foothold in certain branches. This, however, is not the point. We do not
speak of a merely incidental participation of capital in the industrial
organisation of the country, but ask whether it is likely that the
entire production of Russia can be put on a capitalist basis.'[282]
Put in this form, Vorontsov's scepticism looks quite different from what
might have been expected at first. He doubts whether the capitalist mode
of production could ever gain possession of the entire production in
Russia; but then, capitalism has not so far accomplished this feat in
any country of the world, not even in England. Such a brand of
scepticism as to the future of capitalism appears at a glance quite
international in outlook. And indeed, Vorontsov's theory here amounts to
a quite general reflection on the nature and the essential conditions
of capitalism; it is based upon a general theoretical approach to the
reproductive process of social capital as a whole. Vorontsov gives the
following very clear formulation of the specific relations between the
capitalist mode of production and the problem of markets:
'The (inter)national division of labour, the distribution of all
branches of industry among the countries taking part in international
commerce, is quite independent of capitalism.
'The market which thus comes into being, the demand for the products of
different countries resulting from such a division of labour among the
nations, has intrinsically nothing in common with the market required by
the capitalist mode of production.... The products of capitalist
industry come on the market for another purpose; the question whether
all the needs of the country are satisfied is irrelevant to them, and
the entrepreneur does not necessarily receive in their stead another
material product which may be consumed. Their main purpose is to realise
the surplus value they contain. What, then, is this surplus value that
it should interest the capitalist for its own sake? From our point of
view, it is the surplus of production over consumption inside the
country. Every worker produces more than he himself can consume, and all
these surplus items accumulate in a few hands; their owners themselves
consume them, exchanging them for the purpose against the most
variegated kinds of necessities and luxuries. Yet eat, drink and dance
as much as they like--they will not be able to squander the whole of the
surplus value: a considerable remnant will be left over, of which they
have to dispose somehow even though they cannot exchange it for other
products. They must convert it into money, since it would otherwise just
go bad. Since there is no one inside the country on whom the capitalists
could foist this remnant, it must be exported abroad, and that is why
foreign markets are indispensable to countries embarking on the
capitalist venture.'[283]
The above is a literal translation, showing all the peculiarities of
Vorontsov's diction, so that the reader may have a taste of this
brilliant Russian theorist with whom one can spend moments of sheer
delight.
Later, in 1895, Vorontsov summarised the same views in his book
_Outlines of Economic Theory_ now claiming our attention. Here he takes
a stand against the views of Say and Ricardo, and in particular also
against John Stuart Mill who denied the possibility of general
over-production. In the course of his argument he discovers something no
one had known before: he has laid bare the source of all errors the
classical school made about the problem of crises. This mistake lies in
a fallacious theory of the costs of production to which bourgeois
economists are addicted. No doubt, from the aspect of the costs of
production (which according to Vorontsov's equally unheard-of assumption
do not comprise profits), both profit and crises are unthinkable and
inexplicable. But we can only appreciate this original thought to the
full in the author's own words:
'According to the doctrine of bourgeois economists, the value of a
product is determined by the labour employed in its manufacture. Yet
bourgeois economists, once they have given this determination of value,
immediately forget it and base their subsequent explanation of the
exchange phenomena upon a different theory which substitutes "costs of
production" for labour. Thus two products are mutually exchanged in such
quantities that the costs of production are equal on both sides. Such a
view of the process of exchange indeed leaves no room for a commodity
surplus inside the country. Any product of a worker's annual labour
must, from this point of view, represent a certain quantity of material
of which it is made, of tools which have been used in its manufacture,
and of the products which served to maintain the workers during the
period of production. It [presumably the product--R. L.] appears on the
market in order to change its use-form, to reconvert itself into
objects, into products for the workers and the value necessary for
renewing the tools. As soon as it is split up into its component parts,
the process of reassembling, the productive process, will begin, in the
course of which all the values listed above will be consumed. In their
stead, a new product will come into being which is the connecting link
between past and future consumption.'
From this perfectly unique attempt to demonstrate social reproduction as
a continuous process in the light of the costs of production, the
following conclusion is promptly drawn: Considering thus the aggregate
bulk of a country's products, we shall find no commodity surplus at all
over and above the demand of society; an unmarketable surplus is
therefore impossible from the point of view of a bourgeois economic
theory of value.'
Yet, after having eliminated capitalist profit from the costs of
production by an extremely autocratic manhandling of the bourgeois
theory of value, Vorontsov immediately presents this deficiency as a
great discovery: 'The above analysis, however, reveals yet another
feature in the theory of value prevalent of late: it becomes evident
that this theory leaves no room for capitalist profits.'
The argument that follows is striking in its brevity and simplicity:
'Indeed, if I exchange my own product, representing a cost of production
of 5 roubles, for another product of equal value, I receive only so much
as will be sufficient to cover my expense, but for my abstinence
[literally so--R. L.] I shall get nothing.'
And now Vorontsov really comes to grips with the root of the problem:
'Thus it is proved on a strictly logical development of the ideas held
by bourgeois economists that the destiny of the commodity surplus on the
market and that of capitalist profit is identical. This circumstance
justifies the conclusion that both phenomena are interdependent, that
the existence of one is a condition of the other, and indeed, so long as
there is no profit, there is no commodity surplus.... It is different if
the profit comes into being inside the country. Such profit is not
originally related to production; it is a phenomenon which is connected
with the latter not by technical and natural conditions but by an
extraneous social form. Production requires for its continuation ...
only material, tools, and means of subsistence for the workers,
therefore as such it consumes only the corresponding part of the
products: other consumers must be found for the surplus which makes up
the profit, and for which there is no room in the permanent structure of
industrial life, in production--consumers, namely, who are not
organically connected with production, who are fortuitous to a certain
extent. The necessary number of such consumers may or may not be
forthcoming, and in the latter case there will be a commodity surplus on
the market.'[284]
Well content with the 'simple' enlightenment, by which he has turned the
surplus product into an invention of capital and the capitalist into a
'fortuitous' consumer who is 'not organically connected with capitalist
production', Vorontsov now turns to the crises. On the basis of Marx's
'logical' theory of the value of labour which he claims to 'employ' in
his later works, he expounds them as an immediate result of the surplus
value, as follows:
'If the working part of the population consumes what enters into the
costs of production in form of the wages for labour, the capitalists
themselves must destroy [literally so--R. L.] the surplus value,
excepting that part of it which the market requires for expansion. If
the capitalists are in a position to do so and act accordingly, there
can be no commodity surplus; if not, over-production, industrial crises,
displacement of the workers from the factories and other evils will
result.'
According to Vorontsov, however, it is '_the inadequate elasticity of
the human organism_ which cannot enlarge its capacity to consume as
rapidly as the surplus value is increasing', which is in the end
responsible for these evils. He repeatedly expresses this ingenious
thought as follows: 'The Achilles heel of capitalist industrial
organisation thus lies in the incapacity of the entrepreneurs to consume
the whole of their income.'
Having thus 'employed' Marx's 'logical' version of Ricardo's theory of
value, Vorontsov arrives at Sismondi's theory of crises which he adopts
in as crude and simplified a form as possible. He believes, of course,
that he is adopting the views of Rodbertus in reproducing those of
Sismondi. 'The inductive method of research', he declares triumphantly,
'has resulted in the very same theory of crises and of pauperism which
had been objectively stated by Rodbertus.'[285]
It is not quite clear what Vorontsov means by an 'inductive method of
research' which he contrasts with the objective method--since all things
are possible to Vorontsov, he may conceivably mean Marx's theory. Yet
Rodbertus, too, was not to emerge unimproved from the hands of the
original Russian thinker. Vorontsov corrects Rodbertus' theory merely in
so far as he eliminates the stabilisation of the wage rate in accordance
with the value of the aggregate product which, to Rodbertus, had been
the pivot of his whole system. According to Vorontsov, this measure
against crises is a mere palliative, since 'the immediate cause of the
above phenomena (over-production, unemployment, etc.) is not that the
working classes receive too small a share of the national income, but
that the capitalist class cannot possibly consume all the products which
every year fall to their share.'[286]
Yet, as soon as he has refuted Rodbertus' reform of the distribution of
incomes, Vorontsov, with that 'strictly logical' consistency so peculiar
to him, ultimately arrives at the following forecast for the future
destiny of capitalism: 'If industrial organisation which prevails in W.
Europe is to prosper and flourish further still, it can only do so
provided that some means will be found to destroy [_verbatim_--R. L.]
that portion of the national income which falls to the capitalists'
share over and above their capacity to consume. The simplest solution of
this problem will be an appropriate change in the distribution of the
aggregate income among those who take part in production. If the
entrepreneurs would retain for themselves only so much of all increase
of the national income as they need to satisfy all their whims and
fancies, leaving the remainder to the working class, the mass of the
people, then the régime of capitalism would be assured for a long time
to come.'[287]
The hash of Ricardo, Marx, Sismondi and Rodbertus thus is topped with
the discovery that capitalist production could be radically cured of
over-production, that it could 'prosper and flourish' in all eternity,
if the capitalists would refrain from capitalising their surplus value
and would make a free gift to the working class of the corresponding
part of the surplus value. Meanwhile the capitalists, until they have
become sensible enough to accept Vorontsov's good advice, employ other
means for the annual destruction of a part of their surplus value.
Modern militarism, amongst others, is one of these appropriate
measures--and this precisely to the extent to which the bills of
militarism are footed by the capitalists' income--for Vorontsov can be
counted upon to turn things upside down--and not by the working masses.
A primary remedy for capitalism, however, is foreign trade which again
is a sore spot in Russian capitalism. As the last to arrive at the
table of the world market, Russian capitalism fares worst in the
competition with older capitalist countries and thus lacks both
prospects as to foreign markets and the most vital conditions of
existence. Russia remains the 'country of peasants', a country of
'populist' production.
'If all this is correct,' Vorontsov concludes his essay on 'The
Commodity Surplus in the Supply of the Market', 'then capitalism can
play only a limited part in Russia. It must resign from the direction of
agriculture, and its development in the industrial sphere must not
inflict too many injuries upon the domestic industries which under our
economic conditions are indispensable to the welfare of the majority of
the population. If the reader would comment that capitalism might not
accept such a compromise, our answer will be: so much the worse for
capitalism.'
Thus Vorontsov ultimately washes his hands of the whole thing, declining
for his part all responsibility for the further fortunes of economic
development in Russia.