In her new book, economist Mariana Mazzucato explodes the myth that wealth is created solely by a select few trailblazing entrepreneurs, and lays out how our collective innovation can be put into the service of a more equal economy.
As far back as the “New Economic Policy” initiated by Lenin in the early 1920s to set the war-torn Soviet economy back on its feet, the idea of combining markets with socialist forms of property ownership has had considerable appeal …
Disagreements may arise because of differences in opinion and evaluation or because of differently known and understood facts and logic. I sympathize with the spirit of Thomas Weisskopf’s essay (Dissent 1992), but I want to make three specific comments about …
Karl Marx ruled out any role for the market in a post-capitalist economy. “Within the cooperative society based on common ownership of the means of production,” he wrote in the Critique of the Gotha Program, “the producers do not exchange …
The idea of a market-based form of socialism was first given serious attention in the 1920s, when it was promoted by moderates within the socialist movement as an alternative to the marketless form of socialism identified with Marx’s vision of …
Fashioning models for a successful socialist economy is an idiosyncratic inclination these days, but one that we share with John Roemer. He’s not willing to concede that the socialist project has been buried irretrievably beneath the wreckage of communism, and …
I will respond to the Barkan and Belkin points seriatim. On government control of investment: There have been, and are, selective credit controls in many capitalist countries, and the “lobbying hordes” that Barkan and Belkin fear have not swept down …
David Miller’s “A Vision of Market Socialism” (Summer 1991) is a thought-provoking contribution to Dissent’s ongoing discussion of this topic. He deserves our appreciation for the way in which he specifies five basic socialist values and then defends his model …
Since the fall from power of the ruling parties in Eastern Europe during the amazing events of autumn 1989, most commentators in the West and the East have proclaimed the death of communism. If communism is defined as consisting of …
The collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe reopens the question whether there is any form of socialism that might be adopted, with popular support, in the advanced societies. The experience of communism sug- gests, fairly unequivocally, that such a …
The collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe reopens the question whether there is any form of socialism that might be adopted, with popular support, in the advanced societies. The experience of communism suggests, fairly unequivocally, that such a system …
The term “scientific socialism” is an oxymoron. Science pertains to the study of what is, whereas socialism is a vision of what can or should be. To deny scientific status to socialism is not to denigrate its central importance. It …
Capitalism doesn’t work: the 1930s proved that. Communism doesn’t work: the 1980s proved that. So what works? Socialism—of the democratic variety, of course. But, viewed concretely, as it is applied in practice, what is socialism today? The answer is—the mixed …
American socialism has endured many crises. But these have mostly been, or appeared to be, crises of agency and strategy, brought on by repeated failures to build the movement or by capitalism’s disconcerting capacity to emerge strengthened from depression and …
Poking around Slightly-Imaginary-Sweden (SIS), even the skeptical socialist is impressed. A solidaristic wage policy (centralized bargaining to achieve equal pay for equal work nationwide) forces unproductive enterprises to shape up or go under. This boosts overall economic efficiency. Strong tax …
