Nikolai Ziber
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Ivanovich Ziber was a Russian academic economist and one of the first advocates of Marxism
in Russia. His interpretation of Marxism differed sharply from that of early narodnik
economists like V.P. Vorontsov
and N.F. Danielson
and laid the groundwork for the 'orthodox' Marxism of G.V. Plekhanov
, V.I. Lenin and others.
and Friedrich Engels
. Ziber had written his dissertation of Marx and David Ricardo
, and in 1885, he published an expanded version of his thesis, David Ricardo and Karl Marx: Their Socioeconomic Research. In the 1870s, Ziber also contributed to such journals as Zanie and Slovo, expounding Marx' Capital (Vol. 1). A notable series of articles was entitled 'Marx' Economic Theory.'
Ziber defended Marx against critics like I.G. Zhukjovsky and B.N. Chicherin and was one of the first to criticise narodnik
economists like V.P. Vorontsov
and N.F. Danielson
along 'orthodox' Marxist lines later developed by G.V. Plekhanov
, P.B. Struve, V.I. Lenin
, D. Blagoev, and N. E. Fedoseev, among others. While Vorontsov argued that the development of industrial capitalism was impossible in Russia due to a lack of markets, and Danielson thought that, owing to Russia's belated development, capitalism was not necessary for industrial development, Ziber interpreted Marxism to entail that capitalism was an inevitable stage of development in the history of any society. (In this interpretation he was influenced by Marx' own Preface to the German edition of Capital, where Marx rebuts German writers who argued that Marx' analysis of British capitalism did not apply to Germany.) Since the development of capitalism was, according to Ziber, in its infancy in Russia in the 1870s and '80s, Russia's foreseeable future would consist of a lengthy period of capitalist modernisation. Although Ziber had contacts with progressive and oppositional circles, he thought socialism was a distant prospect for Russia, and seems to have had no contact with illegal revolutionary movements. His deterministic interpretation of Marxism entered the revolutionary movement through Plekhanov, Struve and the young Lenin. However, unlike Ziber, these revolutionary Marxists thought that, by the 1890s at least, capitalist industrialisation was far enough advanced to make a socialist revolution possible within the foreseeable future. (Nonetheless, in the 1880s and '90s, they all insisted that Russia's coming revolution would be 'bourgeois-democratic'.)
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
in Russia. His interpretation of Marxism differed sharply from that of early narodnik
Narodnik
Narodniks was the name for Russian socially conscious members of the middle class in the 1860s and 1870s. Their ideas and actions were known as Narodnichestvo which can be translated as "Peopleism", though is more commonly rendered "populism"...
economists like V.P. Vorontsov
Vasily Vorontsov
Vasilii Pavlovich Vorontsov was an influential Russian narodnik economist and sociologist, one of the principal protagonists in the controversy between narodnik and Marxist economists in the 1880s and '90s.-Life:V.P. Vorontsov came from a distinguished aristocratic family...
and N.F. Danielson
Nikolai Danielson
Nikolai Frantsevich Danielson was a Russian economist and sociologist.-Early Life:...
and laid the groundwork for the 'orthodox' Marxism of G.V. Plekhanov
Georgi Plekhanov
Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov was a Russian revolutionary and a Marxist theoretician. He was a founder of the Social-Democratic movement in Russia and was one of the first Russians to identify himself as "Marxist." Facing political persecution, Plekhanov emigrated to Switzerland in 1880, where...
, V.I. Lenin and others.
Life
N.I. Ziber was born on March 10 (22), 1844, in Sudak; he died in Yalta on April 28 (May 10), 1888. He obtained a law degree in 1866 from the University of Kiev, and a degree in economics in 1871. In 1873 he became a professor at the Department of Political Economy and Statistics at the University of Kiev. In 1875 he resigned his position and went to Switzerland and, subsequently, to London, England. In London in 1881 he became personally acquainted with Karl MarxKarl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
. Ziber had written his dissertation of Marx and David Ricardo
David Ricardo
David Ricardo was an English political economist, often credited with systematising economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists, along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. He was also a member of Parliament, businessman, financier and speculator,...
, and in 1885, he published an expanded version of his thesis, David Ricardo and Karl Marx: Their Socioeconomic Research. In the 1870s, Ziber also contributed to such journals as Zanie and Slovo, expounding Marx' Capital (Vol. 1). A notable series of articles was entitled 'Marx' Economic Theory.'
Ziber defended Marx against critics like I.G. Zhukjovsky and B.N. Chicherin and was one of the first to criticise narodnik
Narodnik
Narodniks was the name for Russian socially conscious members of the middle class in the 1860s and 1870s. Their ideas and actions were known as Narodnichestvo which can be translated as "Peopleism", though is more commonly rendered "populism"...
economists like V.P. Vorontsov
Vasily Vorontsov
Vasilii Pavlovich Vorontsov was an influential Russian narodnik economist and sociologist, one of the principal protagonists in the controversy between narodnik and Marxist economists in the 1880s and '90s.-Life:V.P. Vorontsov came from a distinguished aristocratic family...
and N.F. Danielson
Nikolai Danielson
Nikolai Frantsevich Danielson was a Russian economist and sociologist.-Early Life:...
along 'orthodox' Marxist lines later developed by G.V. Plekhanov
Georgi Plekhanov
Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov was a Russian revolutionary and a Marxist theoretician. He was a founder of the Social-Democratic movement in Russia and was one of the first Russians to identify himself as "Marxist." Facing political persecution, Plekhanov emigrated to Switzerland in 1880, where...
, P.B. Struve, V.I. Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, D. Blagoev, and N. E. Fedoseev, among others. While Vorontsov argued that the development of industrial capitalism was impossible in Russia due to a lack of markets, and Danielson thought that, owing to Russia's belated development, capitalism was not necessary for industrial development, Ziber interpreted Marxism to entail that capitalism was an inevitable stage of development in the history of any society. (In this interpretation he was influenced by Marx' own Preface to the German edition of Capital, where Marx rebuts German writers who argued that Marx' analysis of British capitalism did not apply to Germany.) Since the development of capitalism was, according to Ziber, in its infancy in Russia in the 1870s and '80s, Russia's foreseeable future would consist of a lengthy period of capitalist modernisation. Although Ziber had contacts with progressive and oppositional circles, he thought socialism was a distant prospect for Russia, and seems to have had no contact with illegal revolutionary movements. His deterministic interpretation of Marxism entered the revolutionary movement through Plekhanov, Struve and the young Lenin. However, unlike Ziber, these revolutionary Marxists thought that, by the 1890s at least, capitalist industrialisation was far enough advanced to make a socialist revolution possible within the foreseeable future. (Nonetheless, in the 1880s and '90s, they all insisted that Russia's coming revolution would be 'bourgeois-democratic'.)