Notes About Selected Literature About Socialism
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Socialism in the Twentieth Century: a Historical Reflection
THE ＧＬＯＢＡＬＩＺＡＴＩＯＮ ＆ ＧＯVＥＲＮＡＮＣＥ ＰＲＯＪＥCＴ， ＨＯＫＫＡＩＤＯ ＵＮＩＶＥＲＳＩＴＹ ＷＯＲＫＩＮＧ ＰＡＰＥＲ ＳＥＲＩＥＳ Socialism in the Twentieth Century: a historical reflection Ⅰ－１１ Donald Sassoon, University of London ＊ Paper for the Symposium, East Asia-Europe-USA Progressive Scholars’ Forum 2003 , 11-15 October, 2003. ＊ None of these papers should be cited without the author’s permission. East Asia-Europe- USA Progressive Scholars’ Forum, 2003 Socialism in the Twentieth Century: a historical reflection Donald Sassoon Queen Mary, University of London 1. Introduction Those who venture to discuss the meaning of socialism confront two distinct but not incompatible strategies: the essentialist and the historical. The essentialist strategy proceeds in conventional Weberian fashion. Socialism is an ideal-type, empirically deduced from the activities or ideas of those commonly regarded as socialists. Once the concept is constructed, it can be used historically to assess concrete political organisations, their activists and thinkers and measure the extent to which they fit the ideal type, why and when they diverge from each other, and account for exceptional behaviour. This procedure, of great heuristic value, is still broadly accepted and widely used, even though its theoretical rigour is highly dubious as the analysis rests on a somewhat arbitrary selection of the ‘socialist’ organisations and individuals used to produce the ideal-type concept of socialism. This procedure has the added disadvantage that, if strictly adhered to, it does not allow for historical change. Once the ideal-type is defined, novel elements cannot easily be integrated into it. However, life must go on, even in sociology. So when something new turns up, such as a revisionist interpretation, all that is required is to hoist the ideal-type onto the operating table, remove -if necessary- the bits which no longer fit, and insert the new ones. -
Was the Cold War Necessary? the Revisionist Challenge to Consensus History Norman M
was the cold war necessary? the revisionist challenge to consensus history norman m. wilensky Nearly ten years ago, seventy-five distinguished students of American history participated in a poll measuring the performance of thirty-one presidents from George Washington to Dwight Eisenhower. Each par ticipant in the poll helped to place the presidents into five general categories: "Great/' "Near Great," "Average," "Below Average," and "Failure." One of the surprise rankings was the "Near Great" mark accorded to Harry Truman, ninth on the list. Only the five "Great" presidents—Lincoln, Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Wilson and Jeffer son—and three "Near Great" executives—Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt and Polk—preceded Truman. John Adams and Grover Cleveland, who immediately followed Truman, completed the "Near Great" group. What qualities and achievements elevated Truman above many other presidents? He was, according to these historians, a strong executive who acted masterfully and farsightedly in foreign affairs. Summarizing the poll for his fellow historians, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. noted that Tru man "discharged impressively the awesome obligations devolving on the United States as the leader of the free world in the cold war with Soviet Imperialism." The Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin airlift, the Point Four program and the intervention in Korea "all con stituted landmarks in an assumption of global responsibilities undreamed of only a few years before." Yet, less than a decade after the poll, this estimate is being dramatically challenged by historians of the cold war.1 A recent book sharply critical of cold war policies as well as Truman's role is Rexford G. -
![Ludwig Von Mises, Socialism: an Economic and Sociological Analysis [1922]](https://docslib.b-cdn.net/cover/7400/ludwig-von-mises-socialism-an-economic-and-sociological-analysis-1922-67400.webp)
Ludwig Von Mises, Socialism: an Economic and Sociological Analysis [1922]
The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Ludwig von Mises, Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis [1922] The Online Library Of Liberty This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Liberty Fund. It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request. The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq. To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project, please contact the Director at [email protected]. -
Alan Greenspan: Adam Smith
Alan Greenspan: Adam Smith Remarks by Mr Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System, at the Adam Smith Memorial Lecture, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, 6 February 2005. * * * Kirkcaldy - the birthplace, in 1723, of Adam Smith and, by extension, of modern economics - is also, of course, where your Chancellor of the Exchequer was reared. I am led to ponder to what extent the Chancellor's renowned economic and financial skills are the result of exposure to the subliminal intellect-enhancing emanations of this area. *** In the broad sweep of history, it is ideas that matter. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. As John Maynard Keynes famously observed: "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back."1 Emperors and armies come and go; but unless they leave new ideas in their wake, they are of passing historic consequence. The short list of intellectuals who have materially advanced the betterment of civilization unquestionably includes Adam Smith. He is a towering contributor to the development of the modern world. In his Wealth of Nations, Smith reached far beyond the insights of his predecessors to frame a global view of how market economies, just then emerging, worked. In so doing, he supported changes in societal organization that were to measurably enhance world standards of living. For most of recorded history, people appear to have acquiesced in, and in some ways embraced, a society that was static and predictable. -
Racing the Enemy Roundtable, Alperovitz on Hasegawa -1
H-Diplo Roundtable- Racing the Enemy Roundtable , Alperovitz on Hasegawa Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005) Roundtable Editor: Thomas Maddux , CSU Northridge Roundtable Participants: Michael D. Gordin, Gar Alperovitz, Richard Frank, Barton Bernstein, David Holloway Commentary by Gar Alperovitz, University of Maryland, College Park Tsuyoshi Hasegawa’s new book Racing the Enemy is subtitled “Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan,” and the author clearly believes a central contribution to be the emphasis he gives to the concept of a “race” between Truman and Stalin as World War II in the Pacific drew to a close. Hasegawa does offer important new insights in connection with this issue, much of which will be of particular interest to specialists (especially information drawn from Soviet materials). However, by far the most important contribution of the book has to do with our understanding of a related but different matter-namely, how, precisely, Japan came to surrender, and what the critical factors were which led to the final decision. Non-specialists are not always aware of the difficulties which have faced historians concerned with this question. For almost half a century after World War II American scholars have been seriously handicapped by their lack of Japanese language skills and by the paucity of Japanese documents. Robert Butow’s 1954 book Japan’s Decision to Surrender was the primary and often only source of basic information on Japanese decision-making. In recent years this has begun to change. Herbert Bix, a researcher with language sophistication and knowledge of modern Japanese scholarship, offered his analysis in his 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning Hirohito . -
NATO Expansion: Benefits and Consequences
University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2001 NATO expansion: Benefits and consequences Jeffrey William Christiansen The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Christiansen, Jeffrey William, "NATO expansion: Benefits and consequences" (2001). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 8802. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/8802 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ■rr - Maween and Mike MANSFIELD LIBRARY The University of M ontana Permission is granted by the author to reproduce this material in its entirety, provided that this material is used for scholarly purposes and is properly cited in published works and reports. **Please check "Yes" or "No" and provide signature** Yes, I grant permission X No, I do not grant permission ________ Author's Signature; Date:__ ^ ^ 0 / Any copying for commercial purposes or financial gain may be undertaken only with the author's explicit consent. MSThe»i9\M«r«f»eld Library Permission Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. NATO EXPANSION: BENEFITS AND CONSEQUENCES by Jeffrey William Christiansen B.A. University of Montana, 2000 presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The University of Montana 2001 Approved by: hairpers Dean, Graduate School 7 - 24- 0 ^ Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. -
Cooperative Localism: Federal-Local Collaboration in an Era of State Sovereignty
DAVIDSON_BOOK 5/17/2007 5:10 PM COOPERATIVE LOCALISM: FEDERAL-LOCAL COLLABORATION IN AN ERA OF STATE SOVEREIGNTY Nestor M. Davidson* INTRODUCTION................................................................................... 960 I. BACKGROUND: FEDERAL-LOCAL COOPERATION AND CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE................................................... 964 A. The Importance of Direct Federal-Local Cooperation...... 966 B. Local Autonomy and the Intermediary of the States.......... 975 II. LOCAL GOVERNMENT POWERLESSNESS AND STATE SOVEREIGNTY .............................................................................. 979 A. Plenary State Control of Local Governments and the Unitary State........................................................................... 980 B. Modern Federalism, State Sovereignty, and Local Governments.......................................................................... 984 III. THE TRADITION OF FEDERAL EMPOWERMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ............................................................................ 990 A. Cracks in the Façade of the Unitary State............................ 991 1. Local Disaggregation from the States............................ 991 2. Shadow Constitutional Protection for Local Autonomy ........................................................................ 994 B. Federal Empowerment of Local Governments .................. 995 1. Autonomy and the Authority to Act.............................. 996 2. Fiscal Federalism, Local Spending, and State Interference ..................................................................... -
Participatory Economics & the Next System
Created by Matt Caisley from the Noun Project Participatory Economics & the Next System By Robin Hahnel Introduction It is increasingly apparent that neoliberal capitalism is not working well for most of us. Grow- ing inequality of wealth and income is putting the famous American middle class in danger of becoming a distant memory as American children, for the first time in our history, now face economic prospects worse than what their parents enjoyed. We suffer from more frequent financial “shocks” and linger in recession far longer than in the past. Education and health care systems are being decimated. And if all this were not enough, environmental destruction continues to escalate as we stand on the verge of triggering irreversible, and perhaps cataclys- mic, climate change. yst w s em p e s n s o l s a s i s b o i l p iCreated by Matt Caisley o fromt the Noun Project r ie s & p However, in the midst of escalating economic dysfunction, new economic initia- tives are sprouting up everywhere. What these diverse “new” or “future” economy initiatives have in common is that they reject the economics of competition and greed and aspire instead to develop an economics of equitable cooperation that is environmentally sustainable. What they also have in common is that they must survive in a hostile economic environment.1 Helping these exciting and hopeful future economic initiatives grow and stay true to their principles will require us to think more clearly about what kind of “next system” these initiatives point toward. It is in this spirit -
Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism. -
Comparing Capitals
owen hatherley COMPARING CAPITALS he main theoretical frame for analysing cities over the last two decades has been the notion of the ‘Global City’—an urban studies paradigm which runs in tandem with official, pseudo-scientific rankings of where is the most Global (is Tyours an Alpha or Beta Global City?). These cities, which usually grew out of imperial entrepôts—London, New York, Shanghai, Barcelona, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Lagos—are the spokes of global net- works of media, tourism, ‘creativity’, property development and, most importantly, finance capital. Of that list, only one—London—is the capi- tal city of a nation-state, although Rio is an ex-capital and Barcelona a devolved one. Göran Therborn’s Cities of Power, although it doesn’t let itself get bogged down in the issue, is explicitly a riposte to the idea of the Global City, and the peculiar Monocle-magazine vision of trans-national, interconnected, intangible (yet always apparently locally specific) capital- ism that it serves to alternately describe and vindicate. The ‘economism’ of Global City studies, he argues in his introduction, ‘leaves out the power manifestations of the urban built environment itself. Even the most capitalist city imaginable is not only business offices and their connections to business offices elsewhere.’1 Cities of Power is instead an analysis solely of capital cities, as built and inhabited ‘forms of state formation and their consequences’. In an unusual move for a sociolo- gist, Therborn pursues this study for the most part not through local economies or societies, but through the architectural and monumental practices of representation and expression of power. -
Socialist Planning
Socialist Planning Socialist planning played an enormous role in the economic and political history of the twentieth century. Beginning in the USSR it spread round the world. It influenced economic institutions and economic policy in countries as varied as Bulgaria, USA, China, Japan, India, Poland and France. How did it work? What were its weaknesses and strengths? What is its legacy for the twenty-first century? Now in its third edition, this textbook is fully updated to cover the findings of the period since the collapse of the USSR. It provides an overview of socialist planning, explains the underlying theory and its limitations, looks at its implementation in various sectors of the economy, and places developments in their historical context. A new chap- ter analyses how planning worked in the defence–industry complex. This book is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in comparative economic systems and twentieth-century economic history. michael ellman is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He is the author, co- author and editor of numerous books and articles on the Soviet and Russian economies, on transition economics, and on Soviet economic and political history. In 1998, he was awarded the Kondratieff prize for his ‘contributions to the development of the social sciences’. Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 128.122.253.212 on Sat Jan 10 18:08:28 GMT 2015. http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9781139871341 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2015 Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 128.122.253.212 on Sat Jan 10 18:08:28 GMT 2015. -
THE NATIONALIZATION of INDUSTRY* JOHN Jewkest
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW REVIEW VOLUME 20 SUMMER 1953 NUMBER 4 THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY* JOHN JEWKESt I. CLAIMS FOR NATIONALIZATION ATIONALIZATION IS A METHOD of organizing and administering in- dustry whereby the community owns the means of production and the government is, at least in the last resort, responsible for its control. The crux of the idea is that the whole of one industry falling within the boundary of one nation should be subject to a unifying influ- ence. Contemporary nationalization, therefore, is a piecemeal and em- pirical approach to much wider ideas-such as that the whole of industry within one country should be brought under state operation or that the whole of the industry in the world might be usefully organized.to work to- gether under some supernational authority. This piecemeal approach, one industry at a time or one country at a time, is reflected in the view that certain industries are "ripe" for nationalization whilst others are not yet in fit form for the transfer from private to public hands.' * This article was originally presented at a dinner held in honor of Professors Jewkes and Roy Forbes Harrod at the University of Chicago, April 10, 1951. t Professor of Economic Organization, Merton College, Oxford University. I The tests for "ripeness" as set forth by different writers are confusing and not always consistent. Kautsky, The Social Revolution 144 (1902), argued that the big industries should be nationalized first: "Without a developed great industry socialism is impossible. Where, however, a great industry exists to a considerable degree it is easy for a socialist society to concentrate production and to quickly rid itself of the little industries." J.