essay on unemployment and underemployment

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Essay on Unemployment: 100 to 300 Words

Updated on
Mar 30, 2024

Writing an essay on unemployment provides an opportunity to explore a critical issue affecting societies worldwide. Unemployment, a multifaceted problem, has far-reaching consequences that touch upon various aspects of individuals, families, and nations. In this essay, we will delve into the complexities of unemployment, examine its causes and consequences, discuss government initiatives, and shed light on potential solutions.

Table of Contents

1 What is Unemployment?
2 Essay on Unemployment in 100 words
3 Essay on Unemployment in 200 words
4 Essay on Unemployment in 300 words
5 Tips to Ace in Writing An Essay

Must Read: The Beginner’s Guide to Writing an Essay

What is Unemployment?

Lack of jobs leads to unemployment. It is a very serious economic and social concern that is happening all around the globe leading to many social ills. This issue is a major one and hence many governments are trying to address it. When people of a nation are employed, that leads to the economic and social well-being of that nation. To address it, the education system needs to be modeled differently so as to increase the employability of people. In democracies, political parties use unemployment as a core issue in their election manifestos.

Essay on Unemployment in 100 words

Unemployment refers to the condition when individuals, capable and willing to work, are unable to secure gainful employment. It is a pervasive issue across the globe, with varying degrees of impact on societies. Unemployment results in financial instability, and emotional distress, and hampers individual growth. Governments and organizations must collaborate to create opportunities for employment through skill development and policy implementation.

Essay on Unemployment in 200 words

Unemployment, a pressing concern globally, stems from multiple factors that hinder the workforce’s engagement in productive activities. It affects both developed and developing nations, contributing to economic imbalances and social disparities. The consequences of unemployment include reduced income levels, increased poverty rates, and strained government resources. Moreover, the psychological toll it takes on individuals and families can be severe, leading to stress, depression, and strained relationships.

Essay on Unemployment in 300 words

The intricate web of unemployment is spun from a mix of causes, ranging from economic fluctuations to structural shifts in industries. Cyclical unemployment, driven by economic downturns, and structural unemployment, resulting from a mismatch between skills and job openings, are widespread forms. Additionally, technological advancements lead to technological unemployment as machines replace human labour.

Unemployment has cascading effects on societies. Diminished purchasing power affects market demand, thereby impacting economic growth. As unemployment rates rise, so does the burden on social welfare programs and the healthcare system. The phenomenon also fuels social unrest and political instability, making it a challenge governments cannot ignore.

Governments worldwide have initiated strategies to tackle unemployment. Skill development programs, vocational training, and entrepreneurship initiatives are designed to equip individuals with market-relevant skills. Furthermore, promoting labour-intensive industries and investing in sectors with growth potential can generate employment opportunities.

In conclusion, unemployment is a complex issue that necessitates a multi-pronged approach. Governments, industries, and individuals must collaborate to alleviate its impact. Effective policy implementation, education reforms, and the cultivation of entrepreneurial spirit can pave the way towards reducing unemployment rates and fostering a more stable and prosperous society.

Tips to Ace in Writing An Essay

Before we dive into the specifics of unemployment, let’s briefly discuss some tips to enhance your essay-writing skills:

Understand the Prompt: Ensure a clear understanding of the essay prompt to address all its components effectively.
Research Thoroughly: Gather relevant information from credible sources to build a comprehensive and informed essay.
Organize Your Thoughts: Create an outline to structure your essay logically, allowing your ideas to flow coherently.
Introduction and Conclusion: Craft a compelling introduction to engage your readers, and a succinct conclusion to summarize your key points.
Use Clear Language: Express your ideas using clear and concise language, avoiding jargon or overly complex vocabulary.
Provide Examples: Illustrate your points with real-life examples to enhance understanding and credibility.
Edit and Proofread: Revise your essay for grammar, punctuation, and coherence to ensure a polished final draft.

Also Read: Unemployment v/s Underemployment – What’s Worse?

Manasvi Kotwal

Manasvi's flair in writing abilities is derived from her past experience of working with bootstrap start-ups, Advertisement and PR agencies as well as freelancing. She's currently working as a Content Marketing Associate at Leverage Edu to be a part of its thriving ecosystem.

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Unemployment Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on unemployment.

Unemployment is a very serious issue not only in India but in the whole world. There are hundreds and thousands of people out there who do not have employment . Besides, the problems of unemployment are very severe in India because of the growing population and demand for jobs. Moreover, if we neglect this problem then it will be going to become the reason for the doom of the nation.

What is Unemployment?

Unemployment refers to a situation in which a skilled and talented people wanted to do a job. But cannot find a proper job due to several reasons.

Types of Unemployment

Now we know what is unemployment but unemployment does not only mean that the person does not have a job. Likewise, unemployment also includes people working in areas out of their expertise.

The various types of unemployment include disguised unemployment, seasonal unemployment, open unemployment, technological unemployment, structural unemployment. Besides, some other unemployment is cyclic unemployment, educated unemployment, underemployment, frictional unemployment, chronic unemployment, and casual unemployment.

Above all, seasonal unemployment, under unemployment, and disguised unemployment are the most common unemployment that is found in India.

Reasons for Unemployment

In a country like India, there is much reason for a large section of the population for being unemployed. Some of these factors are population growth, slow economic growth , seasonal occupation, slow growth of the economic sector, and fall in the cottage industry.

Moreover, these are the major reason for unemployment in India. Also, the situation has become so drastic that highly educated people are ready to do the job of a sweeper. Besides, the government is not doing his work seriously.

Apart from all these, a large portion of the population is engaged in the agricultural sector and the sector only provides employment in harvest or plantation time.

In addition, the biggest reason of unemployment in India is its vast population which demands a large number of jobs every year which the government and authorities are unable to provide.

Consequences of Unemployment

If things will go on like the current scenario then unemployment will become a major issue. Apart from this, the following things happen in an economy which is an increase in poverty, an increase in crime rate, exploitation of labor, political instability, mental health, and loss of skills. As a result, all this will eventually lead to the demise of the nation.

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Initiative by Government

The government has taken the problem very seriously and have taken measures to slowly reduce unemployment. Some of these schemes includes IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme), DPAP (Drought Prone Area Programme), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Employment Assurance Scheme, NRY (Nehru Rozgar Yojana), Training for self-Employment, PMIUPEP (Prime Minister’s Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Program), employment exchange, Employment Guarantee Scheme, development of organized sector, small and cottage industries, employment in forging countries, and Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana and few more.

Besides, these schemes the government also make some rules flexible, so that employment can be created in the private sector also.

To conclude, we can say that the problem of unemployment in India has reached a critical stage. But, now the government and local authorities have taken the problem seriously and working on it to reduce unemployment. Also, to completely solve the issue of unemployment we have to tackle the main issue of unemployment that is the vast population of India.

FAQs about Unemployment

Q.1 Why there is a problem of unemployment in India? A.1 Due to overpopulation and lack of proper skills there is a problem of unemployment in India.

Q.2 Define Disguised unemployment? A.2 Disguised unemployment refers to a form of employment in which more than the required numbers of people work in industry or factory. And removing some employee will not affect productivity.

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Unemployment Essay

500+ words essay on unemployment.

Unemployment is a serious problem among young people. There are thousands of people who do not have any work to do and cannot find work for themselves. Unemployment refers to the situation where a person wants to work but cannot find employment in the labour market. One of the major reasons that contribute to unemployment is the large population of India and the limited availability of resources. In this essay on unemployment, we will discuss all these issues responsible for unemployment in India and how we can overcome this problem. Students must go through this unemployment essay to get ideas on how to write an effective essay on the topic related to unemployment. Also, they can practice more CBSE essays on different topics to boost their writing skills.

Unemployment is measured by the unemployment rate, defined as the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. The unemployment rate for the year 2013-14 in rural India was 4.7%, whereas it was 5.5% for urban India. In the short term, unemployment significantly reduces a person’s income and, in the long term, it reduces their ability to save for retirement and other goals. Unemployment is a loss of valuable productive resources to the economy. The impact of job loss in rural and regional areas flows through the local community, damaging businesses.

Reason for Unemployment

An unemployed person is one who is an active member of the labour force and is seeking work but is unable to find any work for himself. There are multiple reasons behind the unemployment of a person. One of them is the slow economic growth, due to which jobs in adequate numbers are not created. Excessive dependence on agriculture and slow growth of non-farm activities also limit employment generation. Unemployment in urban areas is mainly the result of substantial rural migration to urban areas. This has also resulted in a labour workforce in cities. The lack of technology and proper machinery has also contributed to unemployment.

The present educational system is based on theoretical knowledge instead of practical work. Thus, it lacks the development of aptitude and technical qualifications required for various types of work among job seekers. This has created a mismatch between the need and availability of relevant skills and training. This results in unemployment, especially among the youth and educated people with high degrees and qualifications. Apart from it, the lack of investment and infrastructure has led to inadequate employment opportunities in different sectors.

Steps to Eliminate Unemployment

Various strategies and proposals have been implemented to generate employment. Many Employment programmes and policies have been introduced and undertaken to boost self-employment and help unemployed people engage in public works. The Government of India has taken several policy measures to fight the problem of unemployment. Some of the measures are the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Skill Development Mission, Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).

Despite the measures taken by the government, India remains a country experiencing severe unemployment problems. It can be resolved by imparting education in such a way that youth get the necessary skills so as to get employment easily. Setting up various vocational training and vocational courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students will help in finding employment for youth. The government needs to emphasise these courses at the primary level and make them a compulsory part of the curriculum to make students proficient in their early stages of life. Career counselling should be provided within schools and colleges so that students can choose a better career option based on their interests and ability. Government should create more job opportunities for the youth and graduates.

India is a fast-growing economy. There is an enormous scope for improvement in the unemployment sector. The various measures and steps taken by the government to increase the employment rate have succeeded to a great extent. The widespread skill development programmes have gained popularity across the nation. With better enforcement of the strategies, the employment level can be significantly improved. Although, we have to go a long way before we can say that all the people in India will get employment.

We hope this essay on unemployment must have helped students in boosting their essay-writing skills. Keep learning and visiting the BYJU’S website for more study material.

Frequently Asked Questions on Unemployment Essay

Is unemployment still an existing problem in india.

Yes, unemployment is still a serious issue in our country. Steps need to be taken by the government and also by the youngsters in India to improve this situation.

Is it necessary for schoolchildren to be informed about unemployment?

Students at this young age should definitely be informed about this topic as it will motivate them to study and aim for higher scores in exams.

What points are to be added to an essay topic on Unemployment?

Add details about different age groups of people suffering from this state of employment. You can focus on the fact that poverty is an indirect reason for unemployment and vice-versa. Then, suggest steps that can be taken to bring about an improvement in education and increase the percentage of literacy.

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Reasons for Unemployment

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Published: Mar 14, 2024

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Underemployment: Definition, Causes, and Example

James Chen, CMT is an expert trader, investment adviser, and global market strategist.

Investopedia / Julie Bang

Underemployment is a measure of the total number of people in an economy who are unwillingly working in low-skill and low-paying jobs or only part-time because they cannot get full-time jobs that use their skills.

Underemployment as well as unemployment is counted in U.S. government reports in order to provide a truer picture of the health of the job market.

Key Takeaways

Underemployment is a measure of employment and labor utilization in the economy that looks at how well the labor force is being used in terms of skills, experience, and availability to work.
It refers to a situation in which individuals are forced to work in low-paying or low-skill jobs.
Visible underemployment and invisible underemployment are types of underemployment.
Underemployment can be caused by a variety of factors, from economic recessions to business cycles.
The unemployment rate is calculated based solely on the labor force, which does not include persons who are not seeking a job.

Understanding Underemployment

Underemployment is calculated by dividing the number of underemployed individuals by the total number of workers in a labor force.

There are two types of underemployment: Visible underemployment is underemployment in which an individual works fewer hours than is necessary for a full-time job in their chosen field. Due to the reduced hours, they may work two or more part-time jobs in order to make ends meet.

The second type of underemployment is invisible underemployment . It refers to the employment situation in which an individual is unable to find a job in their chosen field. Consequently, they work in a job that is not commensurate with their skill set and, in most cases, pays much below their customary wage.

A third type of underemployment refers to situations in which individuals who are unable to find work in their chosen field quit the workforce altogether, meaning they haven't looked for a job in the last four weeks, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) definition of "not in the labor force."

The number of these workers skyrocketed during the onset of the economic crisis and lockdown in early 2020, which ultimately resulted in a substantial change in working conditions and coincided with a crash in the markets. It is statistically difficult to measure the third type of underemployment.

Causes of Underemployment

Underemployment can be caused due to several factors. The period during and after a recession, when companies downsize and lay off qualified workers, is characterized by underemployment. Underemployment jumped to its highest levels in the recession resulting from the global outbreak crisis.

According to a BLS report, the number of underemployed individuals in the U.S. economy decreased from 9 million during the fourth quarter of 2018 to 8.2 million in the same period a year later. On an overall basis, the agency estimated that there were 95 million people not in the labor force (including discouraged workers who had stopped looking for work) in Q4'19.

Another cause of underemployment is changes in the job market due to shifts in technology. As job descriptions change or jobs are automated, laid-off workers can be retrained or retired from the workforce. Those who do not have the resources or means to retrain themselves are generally susceptible to underemployment.

Weaknesses of the Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate counts those workers who are part of the labor force and actively seeking work but are currently without it. The unemployment rate receives the majority of the national spotlight, but that can be misleading as the main indicator of the job market's health, since it does not account for the full potential of the labor force.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 13.3% as of May 2020, but at the same time, the U.S. underemployment rate was 22.8%. The unemployment rate is defined by the BLS as including "as a percentage of the labor force (the labor force is the sum of the employed and unemployed)." A measure of underemployment is needed to express the opportunity cost of advanced skills not being used or being underutilized.

What's more, the unemployment rate is calculated based solely on the labor force, which does not include persons who are not seeking a job. There are many instances in which a person is able to work but has become too discouraged with an unsuccessful job hunt to continue to actively seek a job. The labor force participation rate is used to measure the percentage of the civilian population over the age of 16 who is working or seeking work.

The BLS compiles six different unemployment rates labeled U-1 through U-6. U-3 is the officially recognized unemployment rate, but U-6 is a better representation of the job market as it accounts for discouraged workers who have left the labor force, workers who are not utilizing their full skill set, and workers who have part-time employment but would rather be employed full time.

Example of Underemployment

For example, an individual with an engineering degree working as a pizza delivery man as his main source of income is considered to be underemployed. Also, an individual who is working part-time at an office job but would prefer to instead work full-time is considered underemployed. In both cases, these individuals are underutilized by the economy as they, in theory, can provide a greater benefit to the overall economy.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. " Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey: Concepts and Definitions ." Accessed June 30, 2021.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. " Not in Labor Force ." Accessed June 30, 2021.

Pew Research Center. " How the Coronavirus Outbreak Has – and Hasn’t – Changed the Way Americans Work ." Accessed July 9, 2021.

NCBI. " COVID-19 and the March 2020 Stock Market Crash. Evidence From S&P1500 ." Accessed July 9, 2021.

AP. " Jobless Rate Spikes to 14.7%, Highest Since Great Depression ." Accessed June 30, 2021.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. " Job Market Remains Tight in 2019, as the Unemployment Rate Falls to Its Lowest Level Since 1969 ." Accessed June 30, 2021.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. " Unemployment Rate ." Accessed June 30, 2021.

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Unemployment, Labor Laws, and Economic Policies in the Philippines

Cite this chapter.

Jesus Felipe 2 &
Leonardo Lanzona Jr. 3

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Unemployment and underemployment are the Philippines’ most important problems and the key indicators of the weaknesses of the economy. Today, around 4 million workers (about 12% of the labor force) are unemployed and another 5 million (around 17% of those employed) are underemployed. This Reserve Army of workers is a reflection of what happens in the economy, particularly because of its incapacity to provide jobs (especially in the formal sector) to its growing labor force. The social costs of this mass unemployment range from income losses to severe social and psychological problems resulting from not having a job and feeling insecure about the future. Overall, it causes a massive social inefficiency.

The authors thank participants at the workshop, Employment Creation, Labor Markets, and Growth in the Philippines (19 May 2005, Manila) for their comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the chapter. They also thank Rana Hasan for useful discussions on labor market issues.

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Felipe, J., Lanzona, L. (2006). Unemployment, Labor Laws, and Economic Policies in the Philippines. In: Felipe, J., Hasan, R. (eds) Labor Markets in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230627383_7

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Jobs market 'incredibly tight' despite rise in unemployment

Australia's headline unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.8 per cent in March, after employment fell by 7,000 people and unemployment rose by 21,000 people.

The small drop in employment led to the unemployment rate lifting 0.1 percentage points, up from 3.7 per cent in February.

However, a less noisy measure of unemployment gives a clearer picture of where the labour market's sitting.

Data shows the 'trend' unemployment rate remained steady in March — at 3.9 per cent — for the fifth month in a row, reflecting some underlying strength in the economy.

"Despite a small drop in employment, Australia's labour market remains incredibly tight," said Callam Pickering, APAC senior economist at global job site Indeed.

On Thursday, coinciding with the release of the March unemployment data, the Reserve Bank also published its latest edition of its quarterly Bulletin.

It had a special section that explained how the RBA assesses "full employment."

It said RBA officials look at a range of indicators to understand how "tight" the labour market is and, together, those indicators suggested conditions were still tight in the labour market but had eased relative to when things were "very tight" in late 2022.

That message was displayed in the below graphic.

The graphic compared the latest observation of key labour market indicators (blue dots) with observations of recent extreme labour market tightness from October 2022 (orange dots) and more typical labour market outcomes since the year 2000 (grey bars).

"The easing in the labour market since late 2022 is most evident in measures that tend to be leading indicators, such as firms’ employment intentions," the RBA Bulletin said.

Labour market easing, but cost-of-living pressures still biting

On Thursday, ANZ senior economist Blair Chapman said it looked like the labour market had "resumed easing" in March.

But he said it could still be running "slightly hotter" than the RBA was forecasting a few months ago, and unemployment may have to increase faster in coming months for the RBA to meet its inflation target.

And that relative tightness in the labour market, coupled with high inflation and cost-of-living pressures, means conditions remain tricky for many businesses.

Dr Corbin Barry, a Sydney dentist, says he's been finding it hard to recruit support staff who will stick around for the long term.

At the start of the year, Dr Barry had six employees at his newly-opened inner Sydney dental clinic — but now he's down to four.

"When I hired everyone at the practice, I was optimistic about what the future held for us as a small business," he said.

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Dr Barry said he'd noticed more patients were cutting back on dental treatment – treating it as a "discretionary" service during this high inflation environment.

Another challenge was giving his staff enough hours at work, and a sense of career progression.

"Even if they're working full time hours with me, I do find that they'll work an additional Saturday [elsewhere], for example, doing temporary work, to try and ensure that they can keep up with cost-of-living pressures," he said.

"When I wake up, my stress is, can I pay the staff this week? And how can I make sure that I can do that for the long term? Not 'what holiday am I going on in July?'," he said.

Wage growth to moderate

Gareth Aird, head of Australian economics at Commonwealth Bank, said the labour market was clearly loosening.

But he said it was only loosening at a "moderate" pace, which was at odds with the "very weak" growth in economic activity.

Gareth Aird stands in his house, wearing a suit but no tie. Green leaves are visible through a window behind him

However, he said he expected unemployment to keep rising this year, and tipped the unemployment rate to hit 4.5 per cent by December.

"According to Seek, the number of applicants per job ad continues to march higher," he said in a note on Thursday.

"Applicants per job ad are up by 67.7 per cent over the year. Indeed, applications per job ad are a little over 50 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.

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Mr Aird said the increase in labour market competitiveness was weighing on growth in advertised salaries.

"According to Seek, advertised salaries rose by 0.2 per cent in February (the same as January) … these are the slowest monthly rates of growth since December 2021," he said.

"Again, this is consistent with a loosening labour market. And it will also help to moderate the pace of wages growth in 2024, which will assist with the disinflation process."

EY senior economist Paula Gadsby said she expected the March unemployment data to provide the beginnings of a clearer read on underlying labour market conditions.

She said shifts in seasonal patterns impacted the data in the first two months of this year.

"The labour market remained in good shape in March with the unemployment rate below 4 per cent, the employment-to-population ratio remaining close to record high levels, and an increase in hours worked," she said.

"A gradual easing in the strength of the labour market is still expected as higher interest rates continue to flow through the economy," she said.

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The Moscow Trials and the "Great Terror" of 1937-1938: What the Evidence Shows

Grover Furr July 31 2010

[To be added at the end of Part One of "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform" ]

Since my two-part essay "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform" was written in 2004-5, a great deal more evidence has been published concerning the Opposition, the Moscow Trials of 1936, 1937, and 1938, the Military Purges or "Tukhachevsky Affair", and the subsequent "Ezhovshchina", often called "the Great Terror" after the title of the extremely dishonest book by Robert Conquest first published in 1968.

The newly-available evidence confirms the following conclusions:

* The defendants at the Moscow Trials of August 1936, January 1937, and March 1938, were guilty of at least those crimes to which they confessed. A "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" did indeed exist. It planned to assassinate Stalin, Kaganovich, Molotov, and others in a coup d’�tat , what they called a "palace coup" ( dvortsovyi perevorot ). The bloc did assassinate Kirov.

* Both Rights and Trotskyites were conspiring with the Germans and Japanese, as were the Military conspirators. If the "palace coup" did not work they hoped to come to power by showing loyalty to Germany or Japan in the event of an invasion.

* Trotsky too was directly conspiring with the Germans and Japanese, as were a number of his supporters.

* Nikolai Ezhov, head of the NKVD from 1936 to late 1938, was also conspiring with the Germans.

We now have much more evidence about the role of NKVD chief Nikolai Ezhov than we had in 2005. Ezhov, head of the NKVD (People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs), had his own conspiracy against the Soviet government and Party leadership. Ezhov had also been recruited by German intelligence.

Like the Rights and Trotskyites, Ezhov and his top NKVD men were counting on an invasion by Germany, Japan, or other major capitalist country. They tortured a great many innocent people into confessing to capital crimes so they would be shot. They executed a great many more on falsified grounds or no grounds at all.

Ezhov hoped that this mass murder of innocent people would turn large parts of the Soviet population against the government. That would create the basis for internal rebellions against the Soviet government when Germany or Japan attacked.

Ezhov lied to Stalin, the Party and government leaders about all this. The truly horrific mass executions of 1937-1938 of almost 680,000 people were in large part unjustifiable executions of innocent people carried out deliberately by Ezhov and his top men in order to sow discontent among the Soviet population.

Although Ezhov executed a very large number of innocent people, it is clear from the evidence now available that there were also real conspiracies. The Russian government continues to keep all but a tiny amount of the investigative materials top-secret. We can’t know for sure exactly the dimensions of the real conspiracies without that evidence. Therefore, we don’t know how many of these 680,000 people were actual conspirators and how many were innocent victims.

As I wrote in 2005, Stalin and the Party leadership began to suspect as early as October 1937 that some of the repression was done illegally. From early in 1938, when Pavel Postyshev was sharply criticized, then removed from the Central Committee, then expelled from the Party, tried and executed for mass unjustified repression, these suspicions grew.

When Lavrentii Beria was appointed as Ezhov’s second-in-command Ezhov and his men understood that Stalin and the Party leadership no longer trusted them. They made one last plot to assassinate Stalin at the November 7, 1938 celebration of the 21 st anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. But Ezhov’s men were arrested in time.

Ezhov was persuaded to resign. An intensive investigation was begun and a huge number of NKVD abuses were uncovered. A great many cases of those tried or punished under Ezhov were reviewed. Over 100,000 people were released from prison and camps. Many NKVD men were arrested, confessed to torturing innocent people, tried and executed. Many more NKVD men were sentenced to prison or dismissed.

Under Beria the number of executions in 1938 and 1940 dropped to less than 1% of the number under Ezhov in 1937 and 1938, and many of those executed were NKVD men, including Ezhov himself, who were found guilty of massive unjustified repression and executions of innocent people.

Some of the most dramatic evidence published since 2005 are confessions of Ezhov and Mikhail Frinovsky, Ezhov’s second-in-command. I have put some of these on the Internet in both the original Russian and in English translation. We also have a great many more confessions and interrogations, mostly partial, of Ezhov, in which he makes many more confessions. These were published in 2007 in a semi-official account by Aleksei Pavliukov.

Anticommunist Scholars Hide the Truth

All "mainstream" – that is, anticommunist – and Trotskyist researchers falsely claim that there were no conspiracies. According to them, all the Moscow Trial defendants, all the military defendants, and all those tried and sentenced for espionage, conspiracy, sabotage, and other crimes, were innocent victims. Some claim that Stalin had planned to kill all these people because they might constitute a "Fifth Column" if the USSR were attacked. Other anticommunists prefer the explanation that Stalin just tried to terrorize the population into obedience.

This is an ideological, anticommunist stance masquerading as an historical conclusion. It is not based upon the historical evidence and is inconsistent with that evidence. Anticommunist historians ignore the primary source evidence available. They even ignore evidence in collections of documents that they themselves cite in their own works.

Why do the anticommunist "scholars", both in Russia and the West, ignore all this evidence? Why do they continue to promote the false notions that no conspiracies existed and that Stalin, not Ezhov, decided to execute hundreds of thousands of innocent people? The only possible explanation is that they do this for ideological reasons alone. The truth, as established by an examination of the primary source evidence, would make Stalin and the Bolsheviks "look good" to most people.

Collectivization of Agriculture Saved The World from Nazis and Japanese…

We have an example of this ideological bias in the way anticommunist scholars and writers treat the Bolshevik collectivization of agriculture. Anticommunists have long attacked it as immoral and unjustified. Yet collectivization provided the capital for the crash industrialization of the USSR. And only industrialization made a modern Red army possible.

Without a technologically-advanced modern army the Nazis would have conquered the USSR. Then, with the resources and manpower of the USSR and the rest of Europe behind them, the Nazis could have invaded the British Isles. Nazi armies would have been a far more formidable foe against all Allied powers. Meanwhile the Japanese, strengthened by the petroleum of the Soviet Far East, would have been a far more formidable enemy for the USA in the Pacific war.

Millions more Slavs and Jews – "Untermenschen" to the Nazis – and millions more Europeans and American soldiers – would have been killed. That this did not occur can be attributed, in large part, to the Soviet collectivization of agriculture. This is an obvious conclusion. There was simply no other way than by collectivizing agriculture that the USSR could have industrialized, and thus stood up to the Nazis and Japanese.

The only alternative was the one promoted by the Right and Trotskyite conspirators: to make peace with the Germans and Japanese, even if that meant granting them huge trade and territorial concessions. That would have greatly strengthened the Axis powers in their war against the U.K. and the USA.

For purely ideological reasons anticommunists cannot admit that collectivization made it possible for the Axis to be defeated.

… And So Did The Defeat of the Conspirators in 1936-1938

Whether they were able to seize political power through a "palace coup", or whether they would have to rely on a German and/or Japanese attack as they only way they might be able to overthrow the Stalin government, the Opposition conspirators were planning some kind of alliance with the Axis.

In fact they would have had no choice, as they realized themselves. A USSR weakened by internal revolt, with or without an invasion from abroad, would have had to make trade, territorial, and ideological concessions to its major potential adversaries simply in order to avoid invasion and inevitable conquest.

At a minimum, a USSR led by some combination of conspirators would have made treaties with Germany and Japan that would have provided the Axis powers with huge natural resources, possibly with manufactured goods as well. The military conspirators were contemplating going much farther than mere trade with the Axis. They were contemplating an outright military alliance with Germany. That would have meant millions more soldiers to fight alongside the German Wehrmacht.

Therefore, in foiling the machinations of the Rights, Trotsky and his supporters, and the Military conspirators, Stalin saved Europe from Naziism – again!

No doubt this is why anticommunist "scholars" insist, in the face of all the evidence, that there were no conspiracies in the USSR and no collaboration with the Germans and Japanese. Once again they refuse to admit these truths on purely ideological grounds because doing so would seem to justify Stalin’s actions.

Bukharin, Not Stalin, To Blame for the Massive Repressions

One interesting aspect of this is that Nikolai Bukharin, leading name among the Rightists and one of its leaders, knew about the "Ezhovshchina" as it was happening, and praised it in a letter to Stalin that he wrote from prison.

It gets even better. Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a member of the Rightist conspiracy, as he himself was. No doubt that is why he welcomed Ezhov's appointment as head of the NKVD -- a view recorded by his widow in her memoirs.

In his first confession, in his now-famous letter to Stalin of December 10, 1937, and at his trial in March 1938 Bukharin claimed he had completely "disarmed" and had told everything he knew. But now we can prove that this was a lie. Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a leading member of the Rightist conspiracy -- but did not inform on him. According to Mikhail Frinovsky, Ezhov's right-hand man, Ezhov probably promised to see that he would not be executed if he did not mention his own, Ezhov's, participation (see Frinovsky's confession of April 11, 1939 ).

If Bukharin had told the truth -- if he had, in fact, informed on Ezhov -- Ezhov's mass murders could have been stopped in their tracks. The lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people could have been saved.

But Bukharin remained true to his fellow conspirators. He went to execution -- an execution he swore he deserved "ten times over" * -- without revealing Ezhov's participation in the conspiracy.

This point cannot be stressed too much: the blood of the hundreds of thousands of innocent persons slaughtered by Ezhov and his men during 1937-1938, are on Bukharin's hands.

Objectivity and Evidence

I agree with historian Geoffrey Roberts when he says:

In the last 15 years or so an enormous amount of new material on Stalin … has become available from Russian archives. I should make clear that as a historian I have a strong orientation to telling the truth about the past, no matter how uncomfortable or unpalatable the conclusions may be. … I don’t think there is a dilemma: you just tell the truth as you see it. ("Stalin’s Wars", Frontpagemag.com February 12, 2007. At http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/35305.html )

The conclusions I have reached about the "Ezhovshchina" will be unacceptable to ideologically-motivated people. I have not reached these conclusions out of any desire to "apologize" for the policies of Stalin or the Soviet government. I believe these to be the only objective conclusions possible based on the available evidence.

I make no claim that the Soviet leadership was free from error. Stalin’s vision of a socialism leading to communism was obviously faulty in that it did not come to pass. During Stalin’s time, as during the short period of Lenin’s leadership, the Soviets made a great many errors. Error is, of course, inevitable in all human endeavor. And since the Bolsheviks were the first communists to conquer and hold state power, they were in unknown waters. It was inevitable, therefore, that they would make a great many mistakes – and they did.

However, any objective study of the evidence and the historical record shows that there was simply no alternative to forced collectivization and industrialization – except defeat at the hands of some combination of capitalist powers. Likewise, the fact that the Right, Trotskyite, and Military conspiracies really did exist but were snuffed out by the Soviet leadership, which managed to out-maneuver Ezhov and foil his conspiracy as well, proves that once again the USSR – "Stalin" – saved Europe from Naziism and all the Allies from an immense number of additional casualties at the hands of the Axis powers.

* Bukharin's two appeals for clemency, both dated March 13, 1938, were reprinted in Izvestiia September 2, 1992, p. 3. They were rejected, and Bukharin was executed on March 15, 1938. I have put them online in English here.

Additional Bibliography

Ezhov’s interrogations: I have translated all of Ezhov’s interrogations available to me as of July 2010 and put them online here:

http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhovinterrogs.html (Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhovpokazaniia.html )

Lubianka. Stalin I NKVD – NKGB – GUKR "SMERSH". 1939 – mart 1946 . Moscow, 2006.

Frinovsky confession of April 11, 1939, pp. 33-50. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/frinovskyeng.html (Russian original here: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/frinovskyru.html )
Ezhov confession of April 26, 1939, pp. 52-72. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov042639eng.html (Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhovru.html )

Petrov, Nikita, Mark Jansen. "Stalinskii pitomets" – Nikolai Ezhov . Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2008, pp. 367-379.

Ezhov confession of August 4, 1939. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov080439eng.html (Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov080439ru.html )

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Bukharin's Last Plea: Yet Another Anti-Stalin Falsification." http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/bukhlastplea.html - translation of Russian original published in Aktual’naia Istoriia for February 2009 at http://actualhistory.ru/bukharin_last_plea

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Nikolai Bukharin's First Statement of Confession in the Lubianka" in English translation, Cultural Logic 2007 - http://clogic.eserver.org/2007/Furr_Bobrov.pdf

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Pervye priznatel'nye pokazaniia N.I. Bukharina na Lubianke." Klio No. 1 (2007). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/furrnbobrov_klio0107.pdf

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, eds. "Lichnye pokazaniia N. Bukharina." Klio (St. Petersburg), No. 1 (2007). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/furrnbobrov_klio0107.pdf

Furr, Grover. "Evidence of Leon Trotsky's Collaboration with Germany and Japan." In Cultural Logic for 2009. http://clogic.eserver.org/2009/Furr.pdf

Holmstr�m, Sven-Eric. "New Evidence Concerning the 'Hotel Bristol' Question in the First Moscow Trial of 1936". Cultural Logic 2008. At http://clogic.eserver.org/2008/Holmstrom.pdf

Furr, Grover.Khrushchev Lied: The Evidence That Every "Revelation" of Stalin's (and Beria's) Crimes in Nikita Khrushchev's Infamous "Secret Speech" to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25, 1956, is Provably False. Kettering, OH: Erythros Press & Media LLC, 2011. At Amazon.com ; at Erythros Press & Media : at Abebooks.com ; at Abebooks.co.uk (United Kingdom)

Furr (‘Ferr’), Grover Antistalinskaia podlost’ ("Anti-Stalin Villanies"). Moscow: Algoritm, 2007. Home page: http://www.algoritm-kniga.ru/ferr-g.-antistalinskaya-podlost.html Brief summary in this interview: "The Sixty-One Untruths of Nikita Khrushchev" (Interview with Grover Furr). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/litrossiainterv0608_eng.html (original here: http://www.litrossia.ru/article.php?article=3003 )

Pavliukov, Aleksei. Ezhov. Moscow: Zakharov, 2007.

Eurasia Review

A Journal of Analysis and News

Moscow Using Statistical Games To Hide Rising Unemployment

By Paul Goble

Russia is not only suffering from far more unemployment and underemployment than the powers that be there are reporting, but that country is likely to see a dramatic rise in the number of people without jobs and driven into poverty as a result over the course of the next year, according to independent Moscow experts.

Last week, Tatyana Nizhegorodskaya of “Versiya” reports the Russian statistics agency Rosstat reported that “the situation with unemployment in Russia is slowly but surely beginning to improve,” noting that in January 2010, the number of Russians hired exceeded the number fired ( versia.ru/articles/2010/mar/09/bezrabotitsa_prodolzhaet_rasti ).

But independent analysts, she says, argue that “such joyous indicators” are the result of statistical sleight of hand and are designed to make reports fit as closely as possible with the Russian government’s “planned” figure of unemployment of 2.2 million, lest Russians conclude that the government’s programs in this area have “failed.”

A close examination of the Rosstat figures in fact and even more a comparison with those offered by the International Labor Organization (ILO show that what Moscow officials are saying has little or no connection with the situation Russian workers now face – and even more what the latter will face during the coming months.

Not only are the Rosstat figures incomplete – they are based on only 75 federal subjects rather than all, almost certainly leaving out the North Caucasus republics where unemployment is at crisis proportions – but they reflect “administrative pressures” – Moscow has told governors they will be graded down if they report rising unemployment.

Moreover, Nizhegorodskaya continues, the ILO says that Russian unemployment now is 8.2 percent, nearly four times the official figure, but as FBK analyst Igor Nikolayev told her, “even the ILO statistic does not reflect the real picture of the labor market in Russia” at the present time.

In his view and that of other independent analysts, unemployment in Russia now stands at “around 10 percent,” a figure not so shocking when compared to those elsewhere. “However,” the “Versiya” journalist says, Moscow analysts are concerned that one measure of unemployment suggests that the situation in that regard is worsening rapidly.

They note, she writes, that “the number of unemployed for each job vacancy already for two years has continued to grow rapidly,” a trend that “means that the modernization and expansion of enterprises planned by the government is not taking place.” Instead, Russian companies are continuing to contract, even if official statistics don’t dwell on this yet.

In January 2009, these analysts report, there were 16 unemployed for each vacancy; but by October 2009, that figure had risen to 20.2 and at the start of 2010, it was 24.1, an increase in nearly 50 percent, at a time when the Russian powers that be were claiming that they had made significant progress in fighting unemployment.

There are various ways for companies to hide what is going on, she reports, including getting those let go to sign documents saying that they are leaving voluntarily, a phenomenon that those in low-skill positions often agree to but that those in higher paying positions, such as in the financial sector, seldom do.

Yevgeny Gontmakher, the outspoken deputy head of the Moscow Institute of World Economics and International Relations, told “Versiya” that “the situation with unemployment [in Russia] is deteriorating,” with most of those who have lost a job being unable to find a new one after more than a year of looking.

Moreover, there is a large amount of hidden unemployment, he noted, the result of government pressure to keep firms operating even though they in fact do not provide real jobs. Some of those enterprises, such as AvtoVAZ, will begin to shed workers this year, however, because management despite pressure from above has no choice left.

Indeed, Gontmakher concluded, “2009 was the last year when the regional powers that be had the opportunity to artificially restrain indicators” of unemployment. They no longer do in most cases, and consequently, dramatic increases in employment statistics are likely unless the powers that be simply falsify reporting.

This situation, Nizhegorodskaya says, “is complicated also by the fact that when speaking about the unemployed, officials as a rule consider only certain groups of the population, namely workers of large and mid-sized enterprises.” That is because Moscow directs most of its attention to them, but this focus means that some six million people are not counted at all.

Russian government statistics also do not include “citizens who formally do not have any work but at the same time are able to conclude short-term contracts with enterprises and thus receive some income.” This group, Moscow experts told “Versiya,” amounts to another 13 million people.

If all these groups of unemployed or underemployed are added together, Tatyana Maleva, the director of the Moscow Independent Institute of Social Policy, the number of Russians involved is “on the order of 26 million,” roughly the number of people who are “employed for instance in a country like Italy.”

There is no one way to count unemployment, and every government wants to put the best face on the situation and the impact of its policies. But the Russian powers that be seem even more willing than most to distort the situation, something that makes the development of policies there that will help those without work all the more difficult.

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Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at [email protected] .

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The Quest for Quality Jobs: Dr. Arvind Panagariya's Insights

New Delhi ,
May 02, 2024,
Updated May 02, 2024, 4:41 PM IST

In a thought-provoking discussion on the phenomenon of jobless growth, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission of India, challenges the conventional understanding of unemployment. He emphasizes that while the perception of joblessness may prevail, data from credible sources such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey indicates a consistent decline in the unemployment rate. However, the real issue lies in the quality of jobs being created, as evidenced by low productivity levels and widespread underemployment. Panagariya highlights the disproportionate distribution of the workforce, with a significant portion engaged in agriculture and micro/small enterprises, leading to subpar output per worker. He debunks skepticism surrounding GDP data integrity, asserting the complexity and robustness of the data collection process. Ultimately, Panagariya advocates for policy interventions to address the root causes of underemployment and foster the creation of higher-quality jobs to enhance productivity and drive sustainable economic growth.

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Unemployment and Its Social Consequences Essay

Introduction, unemployment, unemployment and its social impacts.

Social existence is characterized by a variety of activities and occurrences in individuals’ lives. Such occurrences are characterized by experiences in individuals’ lives that can be viewed as either success or failure. Though people fail to perceive life in its broader perspective and on the contrary limit their personal evaluations on individual bases, there is an indisputable link between an individual’s experience and society.

The sociological imagination is the understanding of the relationship between an individual’s life experience and society. This paper seeks to discuss the topic of unemployment. The paper will look into unemployment and its relation to social aspects.

Unemployment is a common issue that has been facing people over time. Data records with respect to unemployment have over time been varying just like the reported data of newly created jobs in the United States. The annual unemployment rates from the year 1990 have, for example, registered up to over thirty-five million jobs being lost in one year. According to Stone and McCraw (2007), the year 2001 recorded the highest rates of unemployment with the year 1993 reporting the least. Though corresponding created job opportunities are reported to be consistent with the rate of job loss, there are fears that the nature of created jobs is not as secure as the jobs that are being compromised.

One of the causes of the job loss in the country is workers’ mobility that records the loss and the corresponding gains. There are also cases of workers being fired and even job losses and gains due to “companies startup, fail, downsize, upsize and filling of vacancies” (Stone & McCraw, 2007, p. 6) left by the mobility or the firing aspects. Unemployment is therefore a common experience among people in society.

Unemployment may arise under a wide range of circumstances such as loss of jobs due to an individual being fired or the employing entity facing strains into downsizing or closure. An individual can also be jobless after leaving college and prior to any employment attachment. The impacts of such unemployment are however the same and range from impacts being felt at a personal level as well as those that are felt at social levels. One of the impacts of unemployment that connects the unemployed individual with the social fraternity is the lost self-esteem that an individual suffers. This has a dual way perspective.

Low self-esteem can be driven from within the unemployed individual who might start self-isolation from peers who are employed and are financially stable. The peers might as well drive the isolation by looking down upon the unemployed individual and failing to offer social support. Loss of identity in social networks has also been identified to be an impact of unemployment. This can similarly be caused by the individual or the social group. There is also the effect of family breakdown due to instability induced by unemployment. A spouse can, for example, walk out of the marriage as a result of the induced financial strains (Aph, n.d.).

Unemployment can therefore be said to induce social consequences in an individual’s life. Unemployed individuals may have the feeling that they do not equal to those who are employed. These consequences can either be driven by the society or the individual thereby creating the link between individual experiences and society.

Aph. (n.d.). Consequences of unemployment . Web.

Stone, J & McCraw, J. (2007). Unemployment: The Shocking Truth of Its Causes, Its Outrageous Consequences and What Can Be Done About It . Victoria, Canada: Trafford Publishing.

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Ian Birchall | ETOL Main Page

Ian Birchall

Lukacs as literary critic, (april 1969).

From International Socialism (1st series), No. 36 , April/May 1969, pp. 36–38. Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL) .

‘But reality can be seized and penetrated only as a totality, and only a subject which itself is a totality is capable of this penetration ...’ [1]

The publication of Goethe and his Age [2] is a welcome addition to the works of Georg Lukacs available in English. [3] If Marxism is to offer an acceptable world-view to a new generation, the need for works of theory to embrace fields such as literature is very great, and Lukacs’ work can help to break down the deep parochialism of the British Left. [4] At the same time Lukacs’ literary writings contain many weaknesses associated with his political acceptance of Stalinism. There are signs that the bourgeois opponents of Marxism in the cultural field are giving up shadow-boxing with Zhdanov in favour of an attack on Lukacs. This short essay does not attempt a full account of Lukacs’ literary writings, but merely suggests some of their more apparent strengths and weaknesses.

Literature, along with philosophy, was Lukacs’ major interest in his early years in Budapest and Berlin. The First World War and the Hungarian Revolution of 1919 obtruded themselves forcibly into his academic world, and throughout the twenties, when his most notable work in philosophy and political theory was written, he seems to have abandoned literary criticism in favour of direct political involvement in the controversies of the Third International. Only after he had repudiated his earlier work and begun his long sojourn in Moscow did he turn back to literary criticism.

Lukacs’ capitulation to Stalinism cannot be interpreted in terms of cowardice or careerism. Rather it represents a response to the downward turn in the international revolutionary movement. Unwilling to take the desperate gamble of the Left Opposition, and horrified by the impact of fascism on the German culture he loved, Luckacs could see not alternative to Stalinism. One can see parallels not only with many of the old Bolsheviks, but with such writers as Ilya Ehrenburg. Marxism itself is not exempt from the historical pressures it seeks to study. In periods of working-class advance we find the emphasis on human action which characterises Lukacs’ History and Class Consciousness (1923); in periods of defeat, it is replaced by a mechanistic determinism which offers the long-term consolation that ‘history is on our side’. That Lukacs’ work is sensitive to such pressures is suggested by his support in 1956 for the Nagy Government – if not for the Hugarian working class.

In a sense, then, literature offered Lukacs a retreat from action, an alternative to the political defence of Stalinism. At the same time, his choice of the essay form in most of his literary writings has a deeper significance. In his first major work, The Soul and the Form (1911), Lukacs wrote an essay on the essay form, arguing that the essayist stood midway between the poet and the philosopher. The poet deals only with things, which are unproblematic; the philosopher with ideas and the solution of problems. The essayist, while being concerned with general problems, cannot provide solutions, and approaches the general only by way of the specific, frequently taking works of literature as his starting point. For Lukacs under Stalinism, the ambiguous form of the critical essay allowed him to pursue, in an oblique form, the problems that run through his earlier work. In History and Class Consciousness Lukacs wrote:

‘The category of totality, the domination, determining and in all fields, of the whole over the parts, is the essence of the method which Marx took from Hegel.’ [5]

He shows [6] that the achievement of such totality demands the transcendence of individualism. The individual – whether isolated capitalist or fragmented worker – sees the social world as subject to a destiny beyond his control. Action is possible only if he accepts the laws of society as ‘natural laws’, or if he retreats into a purely ethical position. The working class, organised in the form corresponding to its consciousness – the Party – is able to overcome the false dichotomies of bourgeois thought: individual and society, ethics and science, theory and practice, etc. [7]

This theme of totality is a crucial problem for working-class consciousness and organisation, for developing the ability to ‘perceive oneself and the instant of one’s action as a moment of the totality, of the process, to see “defeat” as a necessary stage towards victory.’ [8] But it all raises a central question for the study of literature.

Vulgar Marxism and the bourgeois tradition in the sociology of literature have converged in taking a one-sided point of view. They have attempted to situate works of literature within a social-historical totality, but they have neglected to study the way in which a writer creates a totality within the work. Just as a political organisation is not merely the product of historical conditions, but seeks actively to. change those conditions, so a writer is not merely the product of his age, but seeks, actively to comprehend it. A dialectical study of Shakespeare would not content itself by remarking that his plays centre around a class struggle of nobility versus bourgeoisie, but demonstrate how the dramatic form concentrates and concretises this struggle in a way quite different from a work of history or economics.

Hence the concern with literary form that marks all of Lukacs’ writings. The earliest treatments of this theme go back to his Hegelian phase before the First World War – The Soul and the Form (1911), and The Theory of the Novel [9] The latter work is made unnecessarily obscure by its abstract and at times curiously lyrical style, but it makes a significant advance in the exploration of the theme of totality. Under Hegelian influence, Lukacs relates literary forms to historical epochs. He contrasts the modern age with what he calls the ‘closed civilisations’ of Greece and mediaeval Christianity, a world less rich than our own, but less problematic because of the overriding sense of totality. To this age belongs the epic. With the collapse of this closed civilisation the novel appears – a form for which Lukacs attempts the following explanation:

‘The novel is the epic of a time when the extensive totality of life is no longer immediately given, of a time for which the immanence of meaning to life has become a problem, but which, nonetheless, has not ceased to aim at totality.’ [10]

There is no attempt to connect this disintegration of totality in consciousness with the specific social and economic forms of capitalism, but an important step towards a dialectical concept of totality in class consciousness has been taken. When Lukacs returned to the problem of totality in the novel with The Historical Novel (1937), he had gone through a complex destiny of revolution in Budapest and counter-revolution in Moscow, and it is necessary to separate the strands in his work with care. The final section, a crude eulogy of third-rate novelists prepared to appear on anti-fascist platforms, and complete with a reference to Trotskyist nuisances’ [11] , is a Popular Front period piece. But the earlier section on the nineteenth century historical novel is a masterly analysis of literary totality. Lukacs shows how the historical novel is born from an awareness of his historical change produced by the French Revolution; and how, as a form, it represents an attempt at a methodological coming-to-terms with historical change. The most important distinction is that between the drama and the novel; the drama represents a ‘totality of movement’ – a closed system with complete economy of detail, while the novel represents ‘totality of objects’, a rendering of circumstances in all their richness. Thus he compares the treatment of the family in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks : in Shakespeare the ‘extreme and ... typical movements form a completely closed system’, while in Mann we see the ‘breadth and abundance of the real circumstances of family life ...’ [12] Scott, the great historical novelist, inspired Balzac, whom Marx and Lukacs agree in seeing as one of the greatest realist novelists of all time. The concept of totality is central to Lukacs’ theory of literary realism and the distinction he makes between realism and naturalism. In History and Class Consciousness he had argued that the whole is not the sum of the parts, but rather determines the parts. Therefore realism will not be achieved by the accumulation of factual details, but by the creation of coherent significant structures which give a place and a meaning to every detail. Naturalism, on the other hand, leads to the very opposite – the tendency in modem art to collage the sticking together of isolated observed details in haphazard juxtaposition. This is not totality, but on the contrary, the admission of failure in any attempt to create a meaningful totality. [13]

The concept of totality is also central to another theme in Lukacs’ work, the much more ambiguous one of humanism. The major essay in History and Class Consciousness , called Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat shows how capitalist production destroys man as a totality.

‘The process of labour is fragmented, in an ever increasing proportion, into abstractly rational partial operations, and this disrupts the relations of the worker to the product as a totality, and reduces his labour to a special function repeating itself mechanically.’ [14]

Such fragmentation in production necessarily leads to false dichotomies, such as reason versus feeling. In the work on Goethe and his Age Lukacs vigorously attacks the traditional views of literary history and the distortions of fascist intellectuals who seek to impose such false dichotomies on the history of German culture. The great age of humanism, which had realised in theory if not in practice the ‘unified and comprehensive development of the human personality’, was the Enlightenment. Lukacs demolishes the myth that Germany never had an Enlightenment (which would make it especially prone to fascism), and shows that despite certain reactionary sentiments on a purely political level, Goethe himself represents the culmination of the Enlightenment. But this very humanism, at times so powerful and healthy, and at times so abstract and pernicious, is a key to the great weakness of Lukacs’ work. In discussing the relation of the literary representatives of the petty-bourgeoisie to the class itself, Marx says:

‘According to their education and their individual position they may be as far apart as heaven from earth. What makes them representatives of the petty-bourgeoisie is the fact that in their minds they do not get beyond the limits which the latter do not get beyond in life’. [15]

Similarly Lukacs, in character totally alien to the narrow-minded thugs who held power in the Kremlin, is nonetheless a literary representative of the Soviet bureaucracy. Because of this, Lukacs is unable to see that the analysis he himself applied to the French bourgeoisie of the nineteenth century, that of a ruling class validating itself in the name of revolution, is equally applicable to the Stalinist ruling class. If he criticises this class, it can be only in the name of individual humanism, not from the standpoint of a class. Similarly, he cannot go beyond the point of view of the Communist Parties in the West, who derive their legitimacy from the Russian Revolution, and cannot therefore adapt to changed circumstances, such as the greater weight and sophistication of the working class. In short, for Lukacs history stops dead in 1917; a lucid analysis of political and literary events before then, but only a distorting parody of what came after.

For the modern world, Lukacs recognises two forms of realism, critical realism and socialist realism. The theory of critical realism depends on the belief that the bourgeois intellectual still has a positive role to play. The cult of peaceful coexistence actually led Lukacs to write in 1955:

The real dilemma of our age is not the opposition between capitalism and socialism, but the opposition between peace and war. The first duty of the bourgeois intellectual has become the rejection of an all-pervading fatalistic angst , implying a rescue operation for humanity rather than any breakthrough to Socialism’. [16]

Against this perspective, he sees as politically the most important task the building of a Peace Movement in which all ideological tendencies merge, and artistically the continuation of the great tradition of the nineteenth century liberal novel. The hero of this phase is Thomas Mann, compared to Goethe for his concern with the ‘totality of human relationships’. [17] Mann, with his development from a purely unpolitical stance to his courageous opposition to Hitler, fits the Popular Front paradigm perfectly. All that critical realism need do is to show ‘readiness to respect the perspective of socialism’. [18] The active presentation of the working class is unnecessary.

The concept of ‘socialist realism’ is a more sensitive one for Lukacs than it was for Zhdanov. Nonetheless, it implies the same basic conservatism. At worst, it is the realism of the accepted fact, the glorification of what is at the expense of what might be. At best it involves a critique of abuses in terms of individualist, and thus ethical, humanism. In the essay Solzhenitsyn and the New Realism [19] , Lukacs attacks the art of the Stalin era as naturalism, not realism. But his praise is reserved for the portrayal of ‘a being whose humanity nothing could destroy or disfigure’, and he sees Solzhenitsyn’s work as being ‘a symbolic whole, with a meaning for all humanity’, in which ‘the origins of this bureaucracy and the groupings within it ... remain outside the bounds of the narrative’. [20]

Thus neither critical nor socialist realism goes beyond the limits of liberal humanism. What Lukacs leaves out of his picture is the writer who is revolutionary both in his conscious acceptance of Marxism, and in his treatment of literary form, who tries to write from the standpoint of the working class and its new modes of struggle, and develop new forms to fit the content. Yet such writers do exist – Sartre, Brecht and Breton, to name of three highly diverse cases – though most of them are an embarrassment of official Communism. In a controversy of the early twenties Trotsky argued against any idea of a specifically proletarian culture. [21] But Trotsky, the eternal optimist, did not foresee that fifty years after 1917 workers would be excluded from power in every country on earth. Lukacs in his very salutary concern for totality tends to concentrate on those writers who achieve complete totality within their work, in a harmonious construction rather than those who strive towards totality while engaged in struggle.

As a result, the formal potentialities of modern literature are underemphasised. And this is not merely the case when he is a hack supporter of censorship, as in his statement that Thomas Mann’s Dr Faustus in the ‘fullest artistic and intellectual confirmation’ of the decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on modern music. [22]

More serious is his treatment of Brecht. Here he argues that ‘Brecht’s political didacticism, his attempt to impose intellectual schemata on the spectator turned his character into mere spokesmen.’ However Brecht developed in a later stage to the portrayal of ‘a complex dialectic of good and evil. Problems of society have become problems of humanity, subsuming the inner conflict and contradictions of the warring parties.’ [23] To assert that the only way to avoid didacticism is by retreating from politics to ethics is to avoid the very central problem of all Brecht’s work – and incidentally to stand History and Class Consciousness on its head. Similarly he argues that Surrealism has a positive aspect, as a stage in the evolution of Eluard and Aragon into socialist writers. But a greater poet than either of these, André Breton, remained a Surrealist while being a life-long revolutionary (albeit a Trotskyist). He is not mentioned. [24] Thus the problem of revolutionary art is again evaded.

In reading Lukacs it is important to criticise radically the heritage of Stalinism. Nonetheless, his concern with totality in form and content, and his humanism, when it is historical, and not abstract and ethical, will help lay the bases for a more wholly revolutionary literary criticism. Bob Dylan has lamented ‘I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now’. If only it were possible that the younger Lukacs might write a critique of the reified consciousness of his older self.

1. Histoire et Conscience de Classe , Paris 1960, p. 60.

2. Merlin, 36s.

3. Also available are Studies in European Realism , Essays on Thomas Mann , The Meaning of Contemporary Realism , The Historical Novel . Our gratitude to Merlin Press for publishing all but the first named may be tempered bv regret at the continuing absence in English translation of any major work written before Lukacs’ act of ‘self-critism’ in 1925.

4. As an example one may quote one of the best recent examples of literary criticism written by a committed socialist. Raymond Williams’ Modem Tragedy (Chatto & Windus, 1966), written in 1964. This contains one passing reference to the work of Lukacs, in which Williams comments that he appears to be more a post-Hegelian than a Marxist, without giving any indication as to which period of Lukacs’ work he is referring to. The work of the Lukacsian Lucien Goldmann on the ‘tragic vision’ is never mentioned. To regret this parochialism is in no way to endorse the thesis argued by Perry Anderson that in order to be a Marxist it is necessary to be foreign – or at least Irish.

5. Histoire et Conscience de Classe , p. 47.

6. In the essay Rosa Luxemburg, Marxist , Ibid. , pp. 47–66.

7. For a full treatment of this theme cf. Lucien Goldmann, Is There a Marxist Sociology ( IS 34 ).

8. Histoire et Conscience de Classe , p. 65.

9. Written 1914, published in 1920. Available in French translation, La Theorie du Roman , Gonthier, 1963

10. Ibid. , p. 48.

11. The Historical Novel , p. 256. In the French translation (Payot, 1965, p. 301). Trotskyists are not merely ‘nuisances’, but ‘vermin’

12. The Historical Novel , pp. 92–95.

13. It is arguable that Lukacs, like Engels, seriously underestimates Zola in this connection, for Zola unlike his mediocre imitators, does produce a meaningful intertwining of individual and social destiny in his best novels

14. Histoire et Conscience de Classe , p. 115.

15. The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte , Marx and Engels, Selected Works , Moscow 1958, 1, p. 275.

16. The Meaning of Contemporary Realism , p. 92.

17. Essays on Thomas Mann , p. 50.

18. The Meaning of Contemporary Realism , p. 93.

19. The Socialist Register , 1965

20. Ibid. , pp. 208, 206, 210

21. Literature and Revolution , chapter VI.

22. Essays on Thomas Mann , p. 71.

23. The Meaning of Contemporary Realism , pp. 87–88.

24. Ibid. , p. 104.

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The Moscow Trials and the "Great Terror" of 1937-1938: What the Evidence Shows. Grover Furr July 31 2010 [To be added at the end of Part One of "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform"]. Since my two-part essay "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform" was written in 2004-5, a great deal more evidence has been published concerning the Opposition, the Moscow Trials of 1936, 1937 ...
Moscow Using Statistical Games To Hide Rising Unemployment
Russia is not only suffering from far more unemployment and underemployment than the powers that be there are reporting, but that country is likely to see a dramatic rise in the number of people ...
The Quest for Quality Jobs: Dr. Arvind Panagariya's Insights
Ultimately, Panagariya advocates for policy interventions to address the root causes of underemployment and foster the creation of higher-quality jobs to enhance productivity and drive sustainable ...
Unemployment and Its Social Consequences Essay
Loss of identity in social networks has also been identified to be an impact of unemployment. This can similarly be caused by the individual or the social group. There is also the effect of family breakdown due to instability induced by unemployment. A spouse can, for example, walk out of the marriage as a result of the induced financial ...
India's employment crisis: Jobless growth, threat of automation, and
Furthermore, though the overall (open) unemployment rate appears low and stable, it hides a significant degree of underemployment, that is, individuals willing and able to work additional hours in a reference week. Underemployment was 8.1 per cent in 2012 and rose to 9.1 per cent in 2019 before declining to 7.5 per cent in 2022.
Ian Birchall: Lukacs as Literary Critic (April 1969)
At the same time, his choice of the essay form in most of his literary writings has a deeper significance. In his first major work, The Soul and the Form (1911), Lukacs wrote an essay on the essay form, arguing that the essayist stood midway between the poet and the philosopher. The poet deals only with things, which are unproblematic; the ...

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Essay on Unemployment: 100 to 300 Words

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Essay on Unemployment in 200 words

Essay on Unemployment in 300 words

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Unemployment Essay for Students and Children

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Underemployment: Definition, Causes, and Example

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Unemployment, Labor Laws, and Economic Policies in the Philippines

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Jobs market 'incredibly tight' despite rise in unemployment

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The Moscow Trials and the "Great Terror" of 1937-1938: What the Evidence Shows

Anticommunist Scholars Hide the Truth

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… And So Did The Defeat of the Conspirators in 1936-1938

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Moscow Using Statistical Games To Hide Rising Unemployment

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The Quest for Quality Jobs: Dr. Arvind Panagariya's Insights

Unemployment and Its Social Consequences Essay

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