Hi Chris,
Have you considered that it might in fact be very difficult for the directors of large companies to tell the truth, in view of the multifaceted nature of the reality they are responsible for, and the social contradictions of an economy based on private enterprise ? As regards the former, to tell the total story might fill a book, which you do not have time for; as regards the latter, private enterprise business secrets and the consequences of everything you say and do, require a diplomatic approach.
Yes indeed.
I am largely in agreement with what you wrote. I think you are right to emphasise the question of the legal ownership of the means of production, and the question of class interest. But in technical terms there is a substantial problem about selecting information and communicating.
Like others, I have been impressed by the arguments of Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell who wrote in "Towards a New Socialism" 1993, that the power of modern computers is sufficient to manage a complex economy. That must be even more the case now. But I am not sure they adequately addressed the question of how one level of the economy would select information to report up. Schweickart in his model of "economic democracy" has the same problem.
The capitalist mode of production is ruthless at economising labour time in the interests of the accumulation of capital. A more democratic or socialist mode of production could tend towards minimising the amount of work done within each unit of labour time. This might slow the pace of technological change, and might be well worth it, in return for the massive increase in use values across the world, by the spread of the existing technology in a socially responsible way.
But as the cluster of newsitems I sent up yesterday illustrated, there is a problem of reporting by the top intelligentsia running companies in both the capitalist sector and the not for profit sector.
Consciousness after all is selective. We each select what to make conscious and share on this list. If access to future development funds, or the right to retain a portion of your accumulated surplus depends on what you report, the upper intelligentsia under socialism or capitalism will be selective, and from time to time will be dishonest and corrupt.
It may be that these contradictions are only resolved when we are at the stage of communism, when our needs are more than easily met by the abundance of use values, commodity exchange does not dominate social bonding, and work is humans' prime need.
Meanwhile yes, lets have more transparency about reporting even if it means massive reports buried in the internet, and reforms that consciously undermine the private ownership of the means of production by capital, and alteration in the status of workers as sellers of labour power, by changes such as tax credits, and better, citizens income.
And a bit of class struggle. Especially if the top strata no longer trust their elite intelligentsia.
Chris Burford London
