Abstract

This essay will attempt to assess the validity of Nikolai Bukharin's “theory of equilibrium,” a theory that was central to one of the most extensive philosophical debates in the history of the international socialist movement. The historical importance of Bukharin, as editor of Pravda, Izvestia, and Bolshevik, as a member of the Russian Politburo and as President of the Comintern, is well documented. His theoretical work, less appreciated today, also occupied a unique place in the praxis of Russian history. As a popularizer of Marxism, Bukharin weaned an entire generation of Bolshevik Party cadre in the philosophical and economic foundations of proletarian revolution.