book with reference to the old post- 1917regime, including its economy.

The debate on the Soviet question -- wherever it appears in the book -- is
basically with the tendencies within the broad spectrum of the left. For those on
the right, neither Marx nor an analysis of the Soviet economy ill the light of
Marx's theoretical categories hits been of any importance except perhaps as
scholastic curiosities. Needless to add, there is nothing personal about this debate.
The individuals concerned appear here uniquely is representatives of certain
tendencies, and, in the debate, issue is taken with those tendencies. In the book
considerable space is devoted to the debate with Paul Sweezy. Much more than
the general indebtedness which I, like many others studying Marx "Critique,"
owe to him, I am personally indebted to him and his distinguished colleague Harry
Magdoff in so many different ways that it is not possible to sufficiently
acknowledge my gratitude to them here. Let me stress that in my arguments with
Sweezy I, following an ancient Indian tradition, have remained well within the
bounds of debate between a master and his pupil.

The writings of Karel Kosik, Roman Rosdolsky and Maximilien Rubel have,
in their different ways, considerably helped me in my Marx reading. I have also
learnt a great deal from Charles Bettelheim's works on the USSR as well its from
my personal association with him over a long period. He particularly helped by
his unfailing observations on a large portion of the manuscript which I had the
occasion to send him in parts over a period of time. I am also grateful to the
following friends and colleagues who either commented on parts of the manuscript
or helped in various other ways: Kevin Anderson, Asit Bhattacharyya, Rosalind
Boyd, Adam Buick, Antonio Callari, Guglielmo Carchedi, Bernard Chavance, Iona
Christopher, Walter Daum, Neil Garston, Peter Hudis, Louis Gil, Michael
Goldfield, Rodney Green, John McDermott, Fred Moseley, Frank Thompson, John
Weeks, Tom Weisskopf, John Willoughby, Behzad Yagmaian, and Paul Zarembka.
I owe a special debt to Dr. James Ice, Praeger's acquisitions editor for economics,
for his suggestions concerning the formal aspects of preparing and submitting the
manuscript.

A word about the citations in the book from the non-English sources. I have
preferred to translate them from their original versions, wherever available, even
when their English versions existed. This preference is explained by my respect
for the original texts, as well as a sense of dissatisfaction felt with regard to their
existing English versions. This is particularly the case with Marx's texts. To
remain close to Marx's texts. I have tried to translate them its literally as impossible.
I should point out, in this connection, that Marx's language was not completely
free from what is considered today as sexism. In order not to tamper with his texts
I have retained that language in the translation.

A final word. Throughout the manuscript I have used first person plural ("we").
instead of the first person singular ("I"), referring to its author. The basic reason
is that I do not think any author can really claim that all the ideas in the particular

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