[PEN-L:9261] Re: Why not be a utopian: real version

[Rosser Jr, John Barkley]

     Michael says that he thinks that "market socialism can 
not work."  I am not sure what he means by that.  There is 
a lot about the PRC I do not like, but it is working very 
well by many measures right now and it is market socialist, 
although not of the workers' managed variety that I 
advocate.  Perhaps it is the latter version that Michael is 
skeptical about.  Michael, are you buying the "they will 
hyperinflate and implode" story, or the Kornai "they are 
unstable and necessarily go capitalist" story?
     BTW, to anybody not acquainted with the basic 
references on workers' management some are
Benjamin Ward, "The Firm in Illyria," _American Economic 
Review_, 1958, vol. 48, pp. 566-589.
Jaroslav Vanek, _The Participatory Economy_, 1971, Ithaca: 
Cornell University Press.
Branko Horvat, _The Political Economy of Socialism_, 1982, 
Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.
     Also, a good recent review of many issues involved can 
be found in
John P. Bonin, Derek C. Jones, and Louis Putterman, 
"Theoretical and Empirical Studies of Producer 
Cooperatives: Will the Twain Ever Meet?" _Journal of 
Economic Literature_, 1993, vol. 31, pp. 1290-1320.
Barkley Rosser 
On Mon, 31 Mar 1997 07:44:28 -0800 (PST) Michael Perelman 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


> Sorry, I hit the wrong key the first time:
> 
> Now the quote:
> 
> Ruth Levitas. 1990. The Concept of Utopia (Syracuse: Syracuse University
> Press). 
>    35: "The real dispute between Marx and Engels and the utopian
> socialists is not about the merit of goals or of images of the future
> but about the process of transformation, and particularly about the
> belief that propaganda alone would result in the realization of
> socialism." 
> 
> I think she is only partly correct.  The other fault of the utopians is
> that they had made up blueprints in their head, which they wanted to
> impose on others.
> 
> Some on the list use the term to imply a search for a vision of an
> alternative.  In this sense, utopian is good.  We have really failed to
> communicate our vision of socialism.  As a result, too many people want
> to stay with the devil that they know, especially since the Soviet
> version of socialism was or has been made out to be so horrible.
> 
> That vision thing remains terribly important.  If we get all worked up
> about the departures from our own exact version of socialist planning,
> maybe we are being utopian in the bad sense.  I confess that I think
> that market socialism can not work.
> -- 
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>  
> Tel. 916-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
[EMAIL PROTECTED]