Primitive Accumulation in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

Starting from the Marxist concept of “primitive accumulation,” the process by which the toilers are forcefully separated from the means of production in the origins of capitalism, this article analyzes the role of the state in the process of capitalist restoration in Russia following the demise of the Soviet Union. The concrete form that that process assumed, the nature of the bourgeoisie and the type of capitalism the emerged from it, provide in turn the key to understanding the authoritarian nature of the Russian state. This is a so-called “managed democracy”—a state whose executive dominates both the popular classes and the bourgeoisie, even while serving the latter’s economic interests.