Late Capitalism And Transition Society--Ernest Mandel’s Two Ideological Fronts

"Introduction" was divided into two sections. The first section introduced Mandel’s life story and works, especially the relationship between young Mandel and Marx-Trotskyism. The second section commented on domestic scholar’s study on Mandel firstly, and then introduced this essay’s main purpose and structure.The first chapter "The Conception and Methodology of ’Late Capitalism’" was divided into two parts. The fires section discussed development of the conception of ’late capitalism’. Mandel used three conceptions to represent the era after imperialism time in Marxist Economic Theory, Introduction to Marxist Economy and Late Capitalism respectively:"declining capitalism", "new capitalism" and "late capitalism". The conception of "declining capitalism" emphasized that capitalism had not changed in its essence level; the conception of "new capitalism" emphasized that capitalism was changing in its appearance level; the conception of "late capitalism" included those two sides of capitalism. The relationship among the three conceptions was:"thesis", "antithesis" and "synthesis". The second section discussed Mandel’s methodology named "intermediary theory", which is related to Mandel’s understanding of late capitalism. Mandel aimed to use "intermediary theory" to connect the essence level of capitalism which had not changed with the appearance level of capitalism which was changing. The essence level of capitalism was used to explain the appearance level of capitalism.The second chapter "Mandel’s Long Wave Theory and the Increase of the Average Profit in Late Capitalism Time" discussed Mandel’s long wave theory and used it to explain the increase of the average profit in late capitalism time, which was an important feature of late capitalism. The first section discussed the main contents of Mandel’s long wave theory:the key quota, stages and causes of long wave. The second section discussed three criticisms on Mandel’s long wave theory, through which we pointed out how to understand Mandel’s long wave theory correctly, which was closely linked to "intermediary theory". For Marxism, it was easy to explain the drop of the long wave, but it was difficult to explain the cause and duration of the rise of the long wave. Mandel used the accidental and historical factors to explain the cause of the rise of the long wave, and used technological revolution to explain the duration of the rise. The effect of these external factors on profit margin was not direct, but through some intermediary, which were six part-independent variables put forward by Mandel. The basic economic categories and the laws of capitalism were theoretical abstract, to which part-independent variables put forward by Mandel belonged. They would cause different results in different historical environment, such as the increase or the decrease of profit margin. The description of this process was a process from theoretical abstract to theoretical concrete. Using this way, Mandel attained the theoretical concrete of late capitalism, whose characteristic was of the rise of the long wave.The third chapter "The main Features and Basic Contradictions of Late Capitalism" discussed the main features and basic contradictions of late capitalism from three aspects:the capitalist economy was rational for each enterprise but irrational as a whole, which contradicted each other fiercely and made the state become stronger; the alienation of science, technology and mental labor were developing; the relationship between consumer-society and the basic contradictions of capitalism. Though the economy of late capitalism was still increasing, there were contradictions in each area of late capitalism:the automation was hindered; the potentialities of productive forces were fettered; the negative effects exceeded the positive effects increasingly for science and technology;...All these contradictions suggested that the production relations hindered the productive forces in late capitalism.The fourth chapter "Late Capitalism and New Colonialism" discussed the main features and basic contradictions of late capitalism on the level of international relationship, which was the continuation of the third chapter. This chapter discussed new colonialism in late capitalism from three respects in three sections respectively: the world economic structure in late capitalism, super profit and exchange of unequal values in late capitalism, new colonialism in China.The fifth chapter "Mandel’s Theory of Revolution" was divided into two sections. The first section discussed Mandel’s criticism on the theory of "socialism in one country". The world revolution came to a premature end, which caused the development of bureaucrat stratum in the Soviet Union. In order to keep their vested interest, the bureaucrat stratum must hinder the continuation of the revolution, which was the social cause of the theory of "socialism in one country". The practice of the theory of "socialism in one country" consolidated the situation that the world socialism revolution had come to a premature end, which was the most important cause of the fault of socialism in 20 century. Mandel maintained that we should go back to the theory of "world revolution", discard communism in one country, and rebuild "one center" in the world. The second chapter discussed Mandel’s criticism on European communism. European communism was the logic result of the theory of "socialism in one country". The tendency of the Communist Party in Europe was following in the footsteps of Social Democratic Party and merging into the capitalism society. The fundamental strategy of European Communism were avoiding the face-to-face conflict against the capitalist class and trying to change the capitalism society partly though congress struggle. Mandel pointed out that this strategy wasn’t new at all, which was the copy of "strategy of attrition" of Kautzky and had already failed miserably in history. Mandel maintained that the proletariat should build their own organizations, confronted with the organizations of the capitalist class, and strive for an insurrection without bloodshed when the power balance was to the advantage of the proletariat.The sixth chapter "Economic Features and Main Contradiction of Transition Society" was divided into three sections except for the introduction in the first section. The second section discussed the production relations and basic contradiction in the Soviet Union, the typical transition society. The third and fourth sections discussed the problem of bureaucracy, which was the main contradiction of the Soviet Union, the typical transition society. The third section discussed the objective and subjective causes of bureaucracy, and the relationship between them. The fourth section discussed the nature and tendency of bureaucracy, and the change in Mandel’s discussion on this problem.The seventh chapter "Countermeasures and Prospect of Transition Society" was divided into three sections. The first section discussed six problems we should attach importance to or countermeasures we should take in transition society:the best accumulation rate was not equal to the highest accumulation rate; the necessity and limitations of material and spiritual encourage; the way of the collectivization of agriculture; developing political democracy and cultural revolution; the relationship among countries of transition society; the relationship between the transition society and the capitalist world. The second section discussed Mandel’s expectations on socialist society from four respects:the limitations of socialism; the gradual achievement and influences of distribution according to need; the decline and fall of commodity economy; the value of leisure and the withering away of labor. The third section discussed the possibility of distribution according to need from Marxist theory of human nature, the possibility and necessity of building a rational society.The "Concluding Remarks" summarized the whole essay and gave out a general evaluation of Mandel’s thoughts.