People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity
Any Scholarship and theory 1
Affiliation(set)

Most people

Any Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) 3 Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 2 Labour Party (United Kingdom) 2 Ukrainian People's Republicstate 1 Communist Party of China 1 French Communist Party (PCF) 1 Communist Party of Poland (KPP) 1 Polish Socialist Party (PPS) 1

All 8 affiliations

China

Communist Party of China 1

France

French Communist Party (PCF) 1

Poland

Communist Party of Poland (KPP) 1 Polish Socialist Party (PPS) 1

Soviet Union

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 2

Ukraine

Ukrainian People's Republicstate 1

United Kingdom

Labour Party (United Kingdom) 2 Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) 3
Position
Any Western Marxist theorists 1
Citizenship
Any France 1
Background
Any France 1
Era(set)
Any

People of the wider world

The revolutionary wave and the world war1917–1945 10 The Cold War and decolonization1945–현재 6 Scholars of this history1892–현재 1
French Communist Party (PCF) Scholars of this history 1892–현재 Clear all
GlossaryFrench Communist Party (PCF)

Charles Bettelheim

Charles Bettelheim
French Communist Party (PCF) Western Marxist theorists France France 1913–2006 ○ Natural causes

French Marxist economist who theorized the USSR as state capitalism and shaped Third World development economics

'Control by the producers over their conditions of existence requires the development of entirely new social relations.' — Economic Calculation and Forms of Property (1971)

French Marxist economist. Founder of CEMI, he pioneered Soviet planning studies and served as economic advisor to Nasser, Nehru, and Ben Bella. In the 1963 Cuban 'Great Debate' he opposed Che Guevara's centralized industrialization, arguing for decentralized planning with market elements. Drawn to Maoism, he collaborated with Althusser to critique Marxist 'economism,' insisting socialism requires active political reshaping of social relations, not mere state ownership. His Class Struggles in the USSR (1974–1982) theorized the Soviet Union as state capitalism; Le Monde (1972) called him 'the most visible Marxist in the capitalist world.'

Career timeline
  • 1933Joined Jeunesses communistes, then French Communist Party
  • 1936Five months in Moscow, witnessed purges, excluded from PCF
  • 1944–1948Official at Ministry of Labor, Director of Studies at EPHE
  • 1950sEconomic advisor to Egypt, India, Algeria; UN expert for India's Second Five-Year Plan
  • 1958Founded CEMI at EHESS
  • 1963Cuban 'Great Debate': opposed Che Guevara's centralized industrialization
  • 1966–1977President of Franco-Chinese Friendship Association
  • 1974–1982Published Class Struggles in the USSR (3 vols.), theorizing USSR as state capitalism