> On Nov 23, 2025, at 15:11, Michael Meeropol via groups.io > <[email protected]> wrote: > > but it presents in very shortened form my "take" on how to describe an > "American socialism"
That made me think about how our concept of a socialist economy has morphed away from nationalization towards something else. I think that "something else" is the subject of your take. I have lost faith in the Leninist strategy of using the state to build socialism. State control worked to the detriment of democratic control by working people. IMHO, the nation replaced the aristocracy and capitalist classes with a bureaucracy rather than putting workers in control. We can imagine what a nation that's run by worker councils might look like, but we have never seen such a mode of governance for anything but a short period of time. I ordered Wolff's book to get his description and will look over Alperovitz's websites (https://www.pluralistcommonwealth.org/ may be defunct). I'm curious about the historical force that is the "dead hand" of the past: Socialism with Russian characteristics reproduced an authoritarian state after overthrowing the Czarist state just as socialism with Chinese characteristics has produced two leaders with the powers of the Emperor. The Qing Dynasty fell two generations before the CPC took power, but so much else remained the same by the time of the Chinese Revolution and after. Mark -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39486): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39486 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116410536/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
