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Lakiersky Has Produced a Commendable Book. He Suc- Ceeded in Presenting a Comprehensive Analysis of the Economic System and the Distribution of Income in Yugoslavia

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Lakiersky Has Produced a Commendable Book. He Suc- Ceeded in Presenting a Comprehensive Analysis of the Economic System and the Distribution of Income in Yugoslavia Nevertheless, 1�'lakiersky has produced a commendable book. He suc- ceeded in presenting a comprehensive analysis of the economic system and the distribution of income in Yugoslavia. In short, such a careful study de- serves a wide audience. Zeljan Suster University of New Haven Socialist Dilemmas: East and West. Edited by Henryk Flakierski and Thomas T. Sekine. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1991. xi, 151 pp. $39.95. Socialist �3ilemmas: Eaat and West contains eight papers first read at the Political Economy Workshop at York University in 1988. The papers, while quite heterogeneous, all reflect the intellectual discomfort of former and current socialists in a world which seems nearly to have assumed them away. Three pieces (by Tadeusz Kowalik, Dusan Pokorny, and Thomas Sekine) offer theoretical guidance for socialists under the "New World Order"; two articles (by Louis Lefeber and Leo Panitch) reflect on the reasons for the limited electoral successes of West European leftists; finally, three chapters (by Wlodzimierz Brus, Henryk Flakierski, and Kazimiersz Laski) offer empirical insight into the fall of the Communist bloc. Among the theoretical pieces, Kowalik's "Toward a Mixed Socialist Economy" discusses the road back from Communism for Eastern Europe. Kowalik hopes that the end of Communism will not imply the end of socialist ideals and contends that some "third road" (perhaps collective self-management arrangements) might be the least costly means for reforming the former Eastern bloc. He admits, however, that the seemingly dominant intellectual fashion in post-totalitarian Poland is liberalism a la Friedman and Hayek. 1 Sekine's "Socialism as a Living Idea" provides an alternative vision for the future, urging socialists to focus their attention on environmental is- sues and on the proper (small-scale, communal) organization of society for preservation of the environment. For most readers, unfortunately, this po- tentially valuable paper will be confusing and unhelpful. It defines "social- ism" as the opposite of capitalism, and maintains that "capitalism is up- side-down and unnatural ... because it ignores agriculture...." Such rhetoric only serves to raise the odds that the "practically minded" will find the proposals here utopian, as Sekine predicts. Pokorny's "Socialism: Reflections on an Idea" also offers suggestions for the renewal of the meaning of "socialism." These suggestions have to do primarily with ethnics and with the reinvigoration of politics, but are marred by some shaky claims when it comes to economics. It is not imme- diately clear, for example, why "explicit political compacts become neces- sary" for the rationality of investment determination. The supporting con- tention that an unknown future makes "rational" individual decision-mak- ing impossible seems to ignore "rational expectations" theory. Thus, the hopeful (for socialist) conclusion that investment decision-making must or will remain largely political is a belief open to much more controversy that Pokorny admits. On the successes of Western socialist parties, Lefeber surveys "The Socialist Experience in Greece" under Papandreou. He concludes some- what anachronistically (and with little justification) that inadequate party organization may be the chief cause of the policy-making difficulties and diminished electoral success of the Greek socialists in recent yeara. A simi- lar conclusion is reached in Leo Panitch's contribution regarding the fail- ures of socialist parties throughout Western Europe to remain truly "so- cialist." Finally, three empirical pieces are devoted to the reality of "actually existing socialism" in the East. In "The 'March Into Socialism': Expectations and Reality," Brus describes the series of historical events which made the Marxian/Schumpeterian hypothesis of an inevitable tran- sition of advanced capitalism into socialism sseem highly unlikely. Capitalism did not fall into ever greater crises; socialism grew most in quite backwards nations; socialism in Eastern Europe.was imposed, not homegrown. (This is a readable survey, and might serve as nice material for students in comparative systems courses.) In further contradiction of common assumptions in support of social- ism, Flakierski's "Does Yugoslavia's Self-Management System Promote Income Equality?" discusses the considerable pay differences fox similar jobs which have persisted under Yugoslav self-management. This phe- nomenon is an evident problem for those who would stress the fairness of this form of socialism. Similarly, Laski's piece on "An Economic Comparison of Poland and Spain" concludes that the growth of Polish out- put and labor productivity lagged noticeably behind that of Spain for the period 1950-1980, leaving Polish labor productivity at 43.6 percent of the Spanish level in 1980. Thus, evidence for higher dynamic efficiency under a planned economy is weakened. In sum, socialists are left to explaining why socialism has seemed neither inevitable, nor fair, nor efficient. That intellectuals with interests in socialism have suffered seilbacks is evident throughout this volume. Pokorny speaks of an "older and sadder" state of affairs; Brus finds himself admitting that "his earlier arguments now seem unconvincing; Kowalik says that he had "erred disastrously." In this regard the book has a certain value, if only for its insights into the problems faced by (often wistful) socialist thinkers in the light of the fall of Communism. True, an attempt is made in the introduction to comoince the reader of a parallel between the breakdown of Communism in the East and that of the so-called "Keynesian consensus" in the West. This compari- son is unconvincing. Surely, the changes now transforming Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the former East Germany go far beyond the fluctuations in the successes of Britain's Labour Party. Despite the talk of Neoconservative victory in America, little has changed since 1980 in the size or role of government. There may have been a rout of socialist intellec- tuals, but fundamental rollbacks of socialist welfare-state policies in the West have been more discussed that enacted. In sum, Socialist Dilemmas contains several well-done, interesting papers, and deserves to be in many libraries. Its audience will be limited, .
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