SOCIALISM

Socialism is a political doctrine that upholds the principle of collectivity, rather than individualism, as the foundation for economic and social life.

Socialists favour state and co-operative ownership of economic resources, equality of economic condition and democratic rule and management of economic and social institutions.

The Form of Socialism without Ornament
Consumption, Ideology, and the Fall and Rise of Modernist Design in the German Democratic Republic
Eli Rubin, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Western Michigan University
Industrial designers who inherited the Bauhaus legacy experienced a dramatic reversal of fortunes in the socialist German Democratic Republic. The height of the Stalinist era in the Soviet Bloc, 1950–1953, meant a near complete shutdown of modernist and functionalist design and architecture. However, modernist designers found a niche later as the East German economy needed to mass-produce goods without sacrificing quality and with a particular modern appeal, in order to keep up with the shifting and competitive context of the Cold War and to satisfy the postwar generation of East German consumers. Eventually, heirs of Bauhäusler Mart Stam, such as Martin Kelm, found their way into positions of considerable power in the economic planning bureaucracy. The strange confluence of modernist designers and post-Stalinist socialism leads to one of the central questions of the article: is modern design – at least partially—inherently well-suited for the socialist command economy? - jdh.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/19/2/155

Everyday Socialism: States and Social Transformation in Eastern Europe, 1945-1965. A position paper
Mark Pittaway (The Open University) and Nigel Swain (University of Liverpool)
In the years following World War Two the countries of Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia) fell under the rule of Communist parties. In the two decades after the end of the war the societies of this region underwent major state-directed social change. Industry was nationalized and industrial employment expanded dramatically while private ownership of agricultural land was drastically restricted in the interests of collectivization. Attempts were made to integrate previously excluded groups into national life as the experiences of urban and rural living were transformed.
Despite the importance of this transformation it has either been analyzed from the standpoint of high politics and the mechanisms of repression employed by the state, or not at all. This seems strange given that the transformations of these two decades are vital to an understanding of social and cultural development under state socialism, and after. We would argue for this reason alone it is vital that historians and others in related disciplines subject the social history of this period to detailed examination. While individual historians are likely to examine social change in its many national and local contexts, we would also maintain that this work should be informed by a regional perspective that can enable real comparative analysis.
The paper sketches a framework for future research into the social history of the region in the two decades following World War Two. It argues that state socialism in the region attempted to create nationally bounded societies that were based on the performance of productive labour. While the state prioritized industry and privileged industrial labour, in societies with significant agrarian sectors the socialization of agriculture was especially important. Industrialization and collectivization in an Eastern European context blurred the boundaries between agriculture and industry without eliminating cultural distinctions based on the rural and the urban. The notion of a society based on a notion of "socialist" productive labour affected not only the factory and the collective farm, but environments populated by writers and artists, cities and villages, and even homes. - open.ac.uk/Arts/everyday-socialism/abstracts/pittaway.htm

Towards a re-interpretation of the economics of feasible socialism Dic Lo and Russell Smyth
This paper re-examines the debate on whether socialism is feasible from the perspective of the literature on the division of labour and organisational forms. The central argument is twofold. First, each of the major protagonists in the debate provide a partial explanation as to when market socialism, planned socialism and participatory socialism are feasible. Second, the different perspectives on when socialism is feasible can be reconciled through seeing the arguments in terms of specific techno-economic paradigms, which are underpinned by their own concepts of the division of labour and efficiency attributes. The authors show that theories on the economics of socialism reflect different techno-economic paradigms and that when, and whether, the various views on socialism are appropriate depend on the prevailing external conditions, economic growth path and mode of institutional arrangement. - cje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/6/791

New market socialism: a case for rejuvenation or inspired alchemy?
Dimitris Milonakis, Department of Economics, University of Crete.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the relative merits and drawbacks of two recent models of market socialism proposed by Bardhan and Roemer. This is done, first, by putting these models into the perspective of the history of economic thought. Thus, after presenting the basic elements of the early Lange model as well as the Austrian and ‘new information economics’ critiques, the necessary comparisons and contrasts are made to see what new light these new models bring into this debate. In addition, the internal consistency and coherence of these models is checked in terms of their own proclaimed goals. Last, a more radical methodological critique is provided. - cje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/1/97

ECONOMIC CALCULATION UNDER SOCIALISM: THE AUSTRIAN CONTRIBUTION
KAREN I. VAUGHN, George Mason University, Economic theories of socialism during the 1930's were based on Walrasian general equilibrium models in which the central planning board was to function as the auctioneer. Socialists assumed that "market socialism" would achieve all the efficiencies characteristic of perfect competition while avoiding the serious market failures of real capitalist economies. The Austrians, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, argued that even market socialism would fail to achieve the efficiency of real market capitalism because Walrasian models used to construct the economic theory of socialism left out important features of real markets that generate efficient outcomes. Specifically, the entrepreneurial nature of the adjustment process, the importance of decentralized information and the role of incentives under vaying institutional settings. - ei.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/XVIII/4/535

The Uses of Failure: Christian Socialism as a Nomadic City of the Gift Economy - Trevor Hogan
Socialism is dead and Christianity, at least in the modern West, is not feeling too good either. What remains of the substantive goals, ethics, and ideals of socialism in an epoch of political defeat and in the aftermath of a century of tragic experiments? Are ‘still existing’ socialists simply nostalgic, seeking consolation in an opiate of lost dreams, or are there fragments of ideas and policies that constitute a still living politics of hope for humanity? Christian socialism is one socialist tradition well-suited to address these meta-questions of faith, meaning and goal, not least because it has no unitary political ideology, party or even movement. It is argued here that Christian socialism’s best legacy and use-value today is in its historic failure to be anything other than a modest discourse and practice of a social ethic of free association, political pluralism and a gift economy. To these ends, I use a case study of a clash between two rival versions of contemporary Christian socialism. I then explicate the more difficult and radical version to be found in the work of its leading representative. I outline Milbank’s arguments for Christian socialism as a counter ontology to the secular politics of the modern nation state, an alternative complex space that conceives of community as ‘nomadic city’, and a free market economy based on the poetic practice of gift-giving. This is an agenda, a discourse and a poetic practice bound to failure. Therein is its use value to socialism. - the.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/80/1/74

Making Farmers Conservative: Japanese Farmers, Land Reform and Socialism
James BABB, James BABB is Lecturer in Japanese politics in the Department of Politics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He has published two books, Tanaka: The Making of Postwar Japan (Longman, 2000) and Business and Politics in Japan (Manchester University Press, 2001), and is currently working on a variety of other projects examining Japanese politics and political history.
He can be reached at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK, or by e-mail at j.d.babb@newcastle.ac.uk.
Under the Allied Occupation, immediately after the end of Second World War, pent-up tenant farmer frustration was translated into substantial support for the Japan Socialist Party through the farmer union movement. This support was enhanced by the institutional mechanisms of the land reform process, particularly land reform committees (nochi iinkai), in which the Socialists played a predominant role. However, as the land reform process came to an end, the Socialists were unable to capture an emerging site of institutional influence over farmers, agricultural cooperatives (nokyo). This failure was due to Socialist fragmentation and competition for power in farmer unions with the Japan Communist Party and in the agricultural cooperatives with centrist conservative forces. The result was that the Socialists lost a key constituency that came to be dominated by the conservatives. Nonetheless, this conservatism of Japanese farmers was not due to inherent cultural orientations of the rural population nor was it simply a product of land reform. The transformation of farmers into a key pillar of conservative party support was the outcome of a political process. - ssjj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/8/2/175

Placing (Post-)Socialism
The Making and Remaking of Nowa Huta, Poland
This article explores the postwar development and transformation of Poland’s social, economic and political systems through an exploration of the continual remaking of the town of Nowa Huta in the south of the country. It examines the historical development of the town, linking these changes to wider transformations, including the construction of socialism in Poland, reform socialism in the 1960s and 1970s, the collapse of the Soviet-style economy in Poland in the 1980s and the creation of new market economies in the 1990s. Central to this restructuring is the fate of the town’s steelworks, once the largest in Europe and now undergoing privatization. The article argues that localities are, at least in part, constructed in the image of the dominant relations of production and authority, and that, in turn, economic, social and political practices in particular places play a role in constructing those relations. - eur.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/2/99

Remembering Socialism
On desire, consumption and surveillance
Breda Luthar, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Among the strongest individual memories of life in state socialism was the lack of desired goods, the culture of shortages, and the ‘dictatorship over needs’. This article analyzes the social experience of a culture of shortages, the symbolic value and public meaning of goods, and different practices in the acquisition of material artifacts.As a backdrop to a general discussion of consumption, material culture and desire in socialism, the focus is on the formal properties of the cultural and communicative practices of ‘going shopping to Italy’ in 1950s and 1960s Yugoslavia and draws on personal memories of former shoppers. It explores the system of interaction between border officials and shoppers/smugglers, the traumatic border-crossing experiences of facing customs officers as personalized power, gender divisions, ethnic and class differentiation involved in the shopping expedition, and feelings of foreignness, shame and inadequacy when faced with the ‘West’ in Trieste. - joc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/6/2/229

Market Socialism or Participatory Planning?
Pat Devine, Department of Economics, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL
This paper consists of a critical analysis of the British school of market socialism and a discussion of participatory planning as an alternative model for a socialist economy. It concludes that market socialism's claim to combine efficiency with socialist objectives is incoherent and that, unlike market socialism, models of participatory planning have the potential to contribute to the renewal of the socialist project. - rrp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/24/3-4/67

Toward a Socialism for the Future, in the Wake of the Demise of the Socialism of the Past
Thomas E. Weisskopf, Department of Economics, University of Michigan
In this paper I seek to explore what kind of socialist system can best make good on the socialist commitment to equity, democracy and solidarity - in the wake of the failure of the political-economic systems of the USSR and Eastern Europe. I identify and explore two alternative models of socialism - market socialism and participatory socialism - and conclude by endorsing a form of democratic, self-managed market socialism. - rrp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/24/3-4/1

Mill's `Socialism'
Dale E. Miller, Old Dominion University, USA
Insofar as John Stuart Mill can be accurately described as a socialist, his is a socialism that a classical liberal ought to be able to live with, if not to love. Mill's view is that capitalist economies should at some point undergo a `spontaneous' and incremental process of socialization, involving the formation of worker-controlled `socialistic' enterprises through either the transformation of `capitalistic' enterprises or creation de novo. This process would entail few violations of core libertarian principles. It would proceed by way of a series of voluntary transactions. Capitalists' property rights would be respected throughout. The process would take place within a national system of laws that permits private ownership of productive property and competition, and would not result in that system's overthrow. And, if we accept some basic tenets of Mill's social philosophy, the outcome at which we should expect the process to arrive is a `patchwork' economy in which capitalistic and socialistic enterprises exist side by side. - ppe.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/2/213

Computation, Incentives, and Discovery: The Cognitive Function of Markets in Market Socialism
DON LAVOIE
Decisive for the question of the feasibility of various versions of market socialism is the issue of the basic cognitive function markets are expected to provide. Three increasingly comprehensive interpretations of the cognitive function of markets, labeled computation, incentives, and discovery, are described and contrasted. Depending on how the basic cognitive role of markets is interpreted, very different judgments are possible on the feasibility of market socialism. Two types of market socialism are examined in terms of these approaches, and their shortcomings are attributed to their incomplete appreciation of the way knowledge is created, discovered, and conveyed in market processes. - ann.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/507/1/72

Perestroika, Socialism, and the Constitution
VALERY CHALIDZE
This article takes a general view of perestroika and analyzes certain possible changes in the Soviet Constitution. The recent struggle in Soviet society is viewed as competition between a previous tendency to unify social relations and recent demands for democratic pluralism in society. Further, the author discusses possible changes in the Soviet Constitution that could be brought about by perestroika. The Soviet Constitution must provide a juridical definition of socialism if the Soviet Union is to continue development of a socialist democracy. Finally, the author formulates a model juridical definition of socialism, which sets forth a socialism of rights and not a socialism of restrictions. - ann.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/506/1/98

Mikhail Gorbachev: The Decay of Socialism and the Renaissance of Eastern Europe (From the Perspective of an Insider)
Ceslav Ciobanu
This article provides an insider’s view of Gorbachev’s policy "perestroika and glasnost" as it related to the former Central and Eastern European socialist countries. The author describes Gorbachev’s relations with the leaders of communist parties of the Warsaw Treaty. A participant in many of Gorbachev’s meetings with his counterparts, the author analyzes the emergence of democracy and market reforms in these countries. He observed two distinct groups of socialist leaders, one relatively progressive and reform oriented and the other consisting of hardliners with traditional views opposed to any political and economic change. The author describes their attitude toward Gorbachev’s reforms. Based on his personal experience with the Soviet leader, the author also identifies some of the characteristics that made Mikhail Gorbachev one of the most distinguished leaders of the twentieth century, based on his personal experience with the Soviet leader. The author’s description highlights lesser-known aspects of Gorbachev’s performance that complete a portrait of this complex person. - eep.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/18/1/45

The Void of Acceptable Masculinity During Czech State Socialism
The Case of Radek John's Memento
Libora Oates-Indruchová, Masaryk University, Brno; Pardubice University, Czech Republic
During Czech state socialism, masculinity in cultural representations was bound up with the official sociology, and thus, it was likely to be discredited in popular perception. As the dominant ideology took over the main existing models, the concept of masculinity was devoid of any alternative model. The popular novel published during the last years of state socialism, which this article considers as a case study, fills the void of masculinity with the body as the last resort to which a man seeking an alternative can turn in this situation. - jmm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/4/428

Socialism and the Tragedy of the Commons: Reflections on Environmental Practice in the Soviet Union and Russia
Natalia Mirovitskaya, Marvin S. Soroos
Socialism can be looked upon as a fourth potential strategy for avoiding Garrett Hardin's "tragedy of the commons." The other three are social pressure, regulations, and division of the resource into private sections. In theory, having a common resource used exclusively by a community, rather than by private parties, eliminates the personal profit motive, thereby opening up possibilities for more rational resource management. Exposés on the severe environmental degradation in the former Soviet Union have caused many to conclude that socialism is basically a flawed system in regard to environmental management. We question here whether this is an appropriate conclusion to drawfrom the Soviet experience. The paperfirst reviews some of the writings of Marx and Engels on the relationship between man and the environment and how their dictates were implemented and distorted in the Soviet State by Lenin, Stalin, and later leaders. An assessment of the condition of the environment in the former Soviet Union is offered, with comparisons being drawn to the United States,followed by a look at how the environmentfared even worse as political and market reforms were introduced in thefirst years of the new Russian Federation. The conclusion is drawn that the former Soviet Union does not offer a true test of the potential of socialist systems for environmental stewardship, but that these systems can be diverted toward other ends which take a heavy toll on the environment. - jed.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/4/1/77

Neither Socialism nor Capitalism: The Emergence of a New Economic System in the Former Soviet Union
William N. Trumbull, Department of Economics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506-6025 USA
Using a multidimensional classification of economic systems, this article explores the possibility that the former Soviet Union is undergoing a transition from centrally planned socialism to a new system unlike any that currently exists. The legacy of the former system impedes the transition to capitalism, which suggests that the transition will be a very long one or will result in an entirely new system. Policy recommendations will be naive or irrelevant if they assume that banking, labor, housing, and other markets will function like known capitalist markets. - irx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/15/3/307

Post-Planning Socialism and Markets: The Economic Conflicts
George Warskelt, Carleton University, Ottawa
Communism in the East has collapsed. Is socialism fated then to be stillborn and without a future? With the failure of the planned economy, socialist economists have widely argued in favour of employing markets to decentralize and democratize the public ownership economy. However, projects that include market controls imply restriction of technological change. In the final analysis it would be better to forget grand, all-encompassing socialist schemes and work on building up socialism piece by piece. - eid.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/13/4/481

From Socialism to Social Democracy
Party Organization and the Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil
David Samuels, University of Minnesota
Luis Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in Brazil’s 2002 presidential election brought to power Latin America’s largest leftist party, the Workers’Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores [PT]). The PTwon because it moved to the center, and voters regarded this shift as credible. The party’s transformation is puzzling, because political scientists do not expect strategic flexibility in "mass bureaucratic" parties, which the PT resembles. Although exogenous factors are important, the key to understanding the party’s strategic adaptation lies with its internal institutions, which generate substantial leadership accountability. The weight of pragmatists in the rank and file grew in the 1990s following the party’s success in subnational executive elections and its consequent need to demonstrate results in office. These rank-and-file members could influence the party’s direction because of the party’s internally democratic institutions. The PT’s transformation reveals that strategic flexibility can emerge in mass parties evenwhen the leadership lacks autonomy. - cps.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/37/9/999

Organization Structure as Ideology
The State Socialism Experiment
Shahid L. Ansari, Jan Bell, Heidemarie Lundblad
This article uses an institutional framework to study how state socialist ideology influenced organization structure, governance modes, and administrative practices in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). An in-depth analysis of one organization, the Staatliche Porzellan Manufaktur Meissen (Meissen) was undertaken, employing qualitative field research methods. Our study shows how state socialism, as a complete institutional environment, imposes structures and practices on organizations. The methods that Meissen employed to buffer its technical core against the demands of the institutional environment are explored. Administrative practices' role in rationalizing and legitimating state ideology are highlighted; we further show that those structures and practices most influenced by state ideology were the first ones to be discarded when the regime was overthrown. - jmi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/3/229

Individual Transitions to Socialism
Ian Forbes, John Street
This article proceeds from the assumption that the transition to socialism must take account of individuals as they are, not as they might be. The emphasis on the individual appears to be inconsistent with the marxian basis of socialist thought. Attempts to resolve this inconsistency have led marxists to concentrate on cultural and psychological explanations of people within capitalist society. We criticise these attempts, and argue for a view of the individual in society which recognises personal autonomy yet acknowledges the role of structural forces in social change. Given this model, we then ask if there is any indication of individual changes within contemporary capitalism which promote the transition to socialism. In contrast to the pessimistic interpretations which dominate the literature, we argue that the present psychological and cultural states of individuals within capitalism can engender socialist change. - tcs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/3/1/17

Hitler's National Socialism as a Religious Movement
Gary Lease
Since before 1945 many have dedicated themselves to analyzing the National Socialist Movement in Germany as an ideological event. Strangely, there has been little attention paid to the remarkable parallels in this Movement with aspects of the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. Even more striking, there has been little notice of the similarity between Hitler's National Socialism and the religious phenomenon in general. This aspect, however, is of such fundamental importance to understanding the National Socialist Movement that it must be made more explicit.
Of key importance in pursuing such an investigation is the realization of the general nature of any religious movement. Such a movement is always ideological in character and strives to establish a representative and all-inclusive understanding of reality. This understanding, once communicated as knowledge, is then extended to encompass all of a particular society's life. These various stages in the development of a religion are seen to be paralleled in the National Socialist experience.
Carl Schmitt, a young Catholic legal scholar, pointed this out as early as 1922 in his fundamental piece on Political Theology. This work provided a theological foundation for the establishment of the dictatorship in the political sphere which was later established by Hitler's National Socialist Movement. More important, however, are the direct religious parallels to be found in some neglected witnesses to Hitler's thought and development; i.e., in a number of the early propaganda films from 1933 and 1934. An analysis of them shows a remarkable attempt to construct a national and socially valid liturgical act representing key elements from the Judeo-Chrustian tradition.
One also finds in selected Christian thinkers, such as Faulthaber and Schmaus, remarkable agreement and support for the major theological/political tenants of the National Socialist Movement. In fact, every effort is made on their part to incorporate those insights into the Christian tradition as they understand it, while at the same time trying to provide legitimacy for them by using that very same tradition. The investigation is thus able to conclude with a preliminary "theology" of Hitler's National Socialist Movement, pointing out the clear and unmistakable parallels and points of departure common to it and the Judeo-Christian Messianic tradition. It will be difficult in the future to ignore the fact that this kind of political and social movement is often, if not exclusively, to be understood as an extension of the religious understanding and tradition of the particular society in which it takes shape. - jaar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/XLV/3/351

Socialism is dead