In its ideal form, capitalism contains two essential ingredients. The first is the deliberate pursuit of personal profit as the goal of economic activity. As Max Weber remarked, the outstanding characteristic of capitalism is production “for the pursuit of profit, and ever-renewed profit” (Robertson 1987: 463). The second essential ingredient is market competition as the mechanism for determining what is produced, ad what price, and for which consumers. If the government attempts to regulate the supply of,

Nevertheless, there is still more evidence of there is a ‘phoney’ capitalism that has evolved. Laissez-faire capitalism, is not present simply by a policy of privatisation, yet it means, “Unrestricted freedom in commerce,” (Collins English Dictionary, 1979: 823) the complete separation of the state from economic activity. These conditions do not exist in Russia, the legal system remains anti-business and no businessman can count on a legal system that upholds contracts. The theft of Western aid, as we have seen by Shleifer, Hay and the HIID, and by state-favoured gangsters is only further proof that a corrupt government, not private business, runs the Russian economy. The Western aid came from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an anti-capitalist agency. The IMF acquires its funding from taxes on Western producers, no true capitalist system would permit let alone agree to such an affair (Salsman, R., 2000).

Following the repercussion of the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the imperialist bourgeoisie, its ideologies and petty bourgeois hangers-on were triumphant, claiming that communism was dead, over and done with and that Marxism-Leninism was a thing of the past. An ideology irrelevant to the needs of modern society, and that capitalism alone could provide a solution to the needs of humanity, and therefore this system was eternal; representing the ultimate, rather than a transitional, phase in humanity’s long development (Workers Party of Belgium, 1998). The capitalist market, it was claimed, would quickly wipe out the backward economic legacy of Stalinism and bring growth and development to Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). (Socialism Today, 1998) The capitalists proclaimed they had laid the foundations for a new era of faster world growth. One of the foundations was the Asian economic ‘miracle’, which in 1997 fell to its knees. Another was the peaceful integration of the former Stalinist states into the world market of capitalism.

In conclusion, from the removal of price controls in 1992 by President Yeltsin, the devaluing of the rouble, and the numerous change in the Prime Ministerial position, we have seen evidence of the political changes that have shaped the character of the Russian economy since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. A capitalist system, plagued by high inflation, corruption of both government and of Western aid makes it distinctive in the economic order. It can be argued that the ‘crony’ capitalism that exists, due to the barter agreements, non-pay of wages or taxes and the illusion of a virtual economy, is merely a form of socialism (Salsman, R., 2000). One definite remains, that the form of capitalism, if even, is not a true ‘Laissez-faire’ economy. Russia’s economic problems are premised on a fundamental, but are nearly omnipresent. The effects of the Russian collapse, moreover, will not be confined to the economic-financial sphere. It will provoke a far more intense political and social crisis in Russia. Workers who are already suffering from the primitive gangster-capitalism will be forced to fight for survival.

Before the default of August 1998, production had fallen to less than half its 1990 levels, and 1990 was not a good year. Overall investment was one fifth of 1990 levels; in the metal and engineering industries, it is 5% of the 1990 level (Ticktin, H., & Weissman, S., 1998:1). In the global financial markets, Russia’s position was just as severe, it’s $140 billion of external debt, made up a large portion of the pool of ‘financial instruments’ (loans, stocks, currencies, etc) traded in the network of ‘emerging markets’ (Socialism Today, 1998: 2).

Some topics in this essay:
Soviet Union, Ticktin Weissman, Ickes BW, Financial Times, Vladimir Potanin, Party Belgium, Chechnya Ferguson, Gaddy Ickes, Max Weber, CIS Socialism, virtual economy, soviet union, ticktin weissman, workers party belgium, form capitalism, workers party, weissman 1998, party belgium, russian economy, ticktin weissman 1998, august 1998, party belgium 1998, belgium 1998, wolosky ls 2000, soviet union 1991,