Re: [OPE] socialist planning in capitalist firms

> On 2010-06-10 19:46, Alejandro Agafonow wrote:
>>
>> This higher phase of communist society where all the springs of
>> co-operative wealth flow more abundantly, to recall Marx, literally
>> requires a *replicator* like the one in Star Trek in order to
>> synthesize goods at infinitely zero labor costs. As long as we don’t
>> have it, we have to think in a feasible socialism able to deal with
>> scarcity at least as good as capitalism does.

The canard about zero opportunity costs exploited especially by Nove in
FEASIBLE SOCIALISM is right up there with the MudPie Theory of value
Brendan Cooney deconstructs. You can attribute infinite silliness to Marx
if you presuppose bourgeois ideological assumptions on reading him, and Nove
does that. Nove’s vision of socialism is feasible because it doesn’t
challenge the defining features of capital – he doesn’t challenge the
separation of productive entities and he doesn’t challenge the separation of
working producers from their conditions of production. To do either of
these, he thinks, would be utopian and romantic, not to say irresponsible.
So, as he acknowledges, his feasible socialism likely is not really any
different from capitalism with a human face. But actually there is no
evidence that latter is feasible.

So Marx is supposed to anticipate a world with zero opportunity costs. Now
how does such a world come to be except in someone’s fevered imagination?
Thinking that this was Marx’s idea supposes an astonishing philosophical
shallowness on his part. If I type this post there is, believe me, an
opportunity cost. Nove recognized that. But then why suppose Marx is in
search of zero opportunity costs? What Marx says is that the springs of
productive wealth will flow *more* abundantly. But Nove supposes he
imagines a society where an individual -- notice, a completely isolated
individual who lacks altogether associational ties with his neighbors that
are worth mentioning, and acting alone, that is, without any discussion or
consultation with them about alternatives -- goes to the common store and
takes what she or he wants. Endlessly. Yes, that is indeed some other
planet, but it is not Marx, who recognized that the social metabolism we
live certainly engages a material nature that is finite. Where then does
the vision of infinite abundance come from? How about the wet dreams of
bourgeois imagining – M-C-M’-C-M’ and on and on without limit and now no
longer as the imagined use values the coin in my pocket can stand in for but
instead as actually accessible use values without any conceivable reality
check, – oh yeah!

Do salads of pearls capture Marx’s vision of socialism, or did that have
something to do with his critique of money economies?!

It’s interesting to compare all this with how the bourgeoisie reacts when
there actually is abundance. Ideas are abundant and can be shared virtually
cost free. But in that case the bourgeoisie drops all conversation about
the fantasy of zero opportunity costs and insists instead on privatizing the
commons. Through the miracle of ideology it creates scarcity where there is
abundance and imagines infinite abundance where there is scarcity.

howard

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Zachariah" <davez@kth.se>
To: "Outline on Political Economy mailing list" <ope@lists.csuchico.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: [OPE] socialist planning in capitalist firms

> On 2010-06-10 19:46, Alejandro Agafonow wrote:
>>
>> This higher phase of communist society where all the springs of
>> co-operative wealth flow more abundantly, to recall Marx, literally
>> requires a *replicator* like the one in Star Trek in order to
>> synthesize goods at infinitely zero labor costs. As long as we don’t
>> have it, we have to think in a feasible socialism able to deal with
>> scarcity at least as good as capitalism does.
>>
>>
>
> I would agree with this. The 'higher phase' as a general idea is a
> reflection of 19th century optimism more than anything else. That said,
> a realistic scenario the point is to let the citizens collectively
> decide what should be distributed according to that principle, e.g.
> healthcare or digital music.
>
> //Dave Z
> _______________________________________________
> ope mailing list
> ope@lists.csuchico.edu
> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
>

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Received on Thu Jun 10 19:53:48 2010