>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 07/13/00 03:11PM >>> Lou says that market socialism is finished. If so, so is socialism, since the Hayek-Mises critique of planning remains without a credible answer on the left. Better pack it in, then. ))))))))))))) CB: Speak for yourself. (((((((((((( As I say, while particular theses and claims of the AMs are debtable, and they cannot be all right together, since there was vigorous disagreement among them, and stillis amongst theremaining ones, the project did not collapse because it run into insuperable objections or problems it could not solve. It collapsed, to the (rather considerable) extent that it has, because many ofits leading lights lost interest. Among the most valuable work that remains in the body of work created by the AMs is the subtle and articulated defense of various forms of market socialism, notably Schweickart's Against Capitalism. S has a new book coming out summarizing the big book and dealing with subsequent objections. There will be a panel at the RPA in Chicago on this this fall. (I will be on it.) --jks In a message dated Thu, 13 Jul 2000 11:09:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: << >I think AM was abandoned rather than died of natural causes. Too many of the leading participants gave up on socialism or any kind of advocacy for it. This was, I think, for broad sociological reasons, the failure of a left movement to emnerge after the collapse of communism, the feeling of futility at banging your head against the wall, the sense that from a political practical point of view, red flags and hammers and sickles are impediments and not assets, etc. The idea of talking about Marxist questions with rigor and clarity, using any tools that are available from philosophical analysis and mainstream social science, which is the heart of AM, that is as viable as it ever was. > >--jks One other key element of the demise of AM is the market socialism they often upheld. When the Gorbachev experiment failed, when the CCP went off the deep end welcoming in Nike, etc., when Yugoslavia imploded, it made it more difficult to talk about the benefits of including market mechanisms in a socialist society. If AM is finished, so is market socialism. Louis Proyect The Marxism mailing-list: http://www.marxmail.org >>
