Socialists have a better plan for how to run society
The Socialist Workers Party statement of principles, discusses the need for democratic planning
Barricade, the Paris Commune, May, 1871 by André Devambez
Socialism is about ordinary people taking back control of the economy. It is built on the assumption that working people can make the decisions needed to run the economy.
Economists present capitalism as a “pure” market model. They claim that consumer choices dictate the flow of goods and the success or failure of firms—without any planning.
Apparently these choices force the markets to meet our needs. But we don’t make or break the fortunes of companies by constantly changing what we buy. And the market doesn’t meet our needs. Firms produce things that nobody really needs and are a planet-destroying waste.
At the same time they produce other things that we do need but don’t get—because we don’t have the money to buy them. The market allocates resources and values things very badly.
In a democratically planned economy, decisions about the use of resources would be made on the basis of discussion by those directly affected.
While you can’t really vote on whether a surgeon should cut to the left or the right, you can decide how many hospitals, how many surgeons society trains and so on.
Or take housing. In one way there is no housing crisis, no shortage of housing but a shortage of housing people can afford. So as a start requisition empty properties, the mansions and second and third homes of the rich.
But a permanent solution involves planning. Use the census to estimate the housing needs of the population and establish a public house-building programme, employing thousands to build slightly more houses than are needed.
Then make the provision of a decent residence for every group or individual a basic right, in the same way that everyone has a right to healthcare or education.
Capitalist markets are planned. But from supply chains to where to put roads there is incompetent planning.
Capitalist planning is done by a minority to keep their power and wealth. Democratic planning is crucial to moving beyond the market economy.
We have to dismantle the enormous parasitic financial sector. You can’t have democratic planning and let hedge funds continue. We have to put the population at large in control of money.
A democratically planned economy would be based on the principle that the decisions are taken by those directly affected.
This would require a massive decentralisation of power—something that is an essential part of the revolutionary process to get rid of capitalism. This would be a world away from the tightly controlled bureaucracy that ran society inside of Stalinist regimes in eastern Europe.
As far as possible decisions would be taken at the local level by workplace and neighbourhood assemblies, or by the councils of delegates elected by those assemblies.
Karl Marx’s insight during the Paris Commune of 1871 was that these forms of organisation would develop before the new society was created in the process of fighting the old society. The same methods of self-organisation that would be the basis of a self-managing society are needed today by the exploited and oppressed to resist and, ultimately, to overthrow capital.
A socialist society comes out of the real struggles of people and gives economic democracy to the mass of people. It’s about people deciding how society should be organised.
In a socialist society firms producing the same thing could cooperate. This would cut down on the waste of competition. It would also generate solutions to problems faster.
In a post-capitalist society, shorn of managers, advertising and all the other nonsense of capitalism, the creativity of millions will be unleashed. The possibilities for people to make themselves anew, as Marx put it, are immense.
But if we are to have democratic planning, we also need democratic control of the world’s resources, as well as the workplaces, factories and farms. This means social ownership of the means of production—socialism.
This is the third in a series of columns that discuss What We Stand For, the Socialist Workers Party statement of principles, printed every week in Socialist Worker (see page 18). For the full series go to tinyurl.com/WWSF2024
The Socialist Workers Party statement of principles, discusses the need for democratic planning
Barricade, the Paris Commune, May, 1871 by André Devambez
Socialism is about ordinary people taking back control of the economy. It is built on the assumption that working people can make the decisions needed to run the economy.
Economists present capitalism as a “pure” market model. They claim that consumer choices dictate the flow of goods and the success or failure of firms—without any planning.
Apparently these choices force the markets to meet our needs. But we don’t make or break the fortunes of companies by constantly changing what we buy. And the market doesn’t meet our needs. Firms produce things that nobody really needs and are a planet-destroying waste.
At the same time they produce other things that we do need but don’t get—because we don’t have the money to buy them. The market allocates resources and values things very badly.
In a democratically planned economy, decisions about the use of resources would be made on the basis of discussion by those directly affected.
While you can’t really vote on whether a surgeon should cut to the left or the right, you can decide how many hospitals, how many surgeons society trains and so on.
Or take housing. In one way there is no housing crisis, no shortage of housing but a shortage of housing people can afford. So as a start requisition empty properties, the mansions and second and third homes of the rich.
But a permanent solution involves planning. Use the census to estimate the housing needs of the population and establish a public house-building programme, employing thousands to build slightly more houses than are needed.
Then make the provision of a decent residence for every group or individual a basic right, in the same way that everyone has a right to healthcare or education.
Capitalist markets are planned. But from supply chains to where to put roads there is incompetent planning.
Capitalist planning is done by a minority to keep their power and wealth. Democratic planning is crucial to moving beyond the market economy.
We have to dismantle the enormous parasitic financial sector. You can’t have democratic planning and let hedge funds continue. We have to put the population at large in control of money.
A democratically planned economy would be based on the principle that the decisions are taken by those directly affected.
This would require a massive decentralisation of power—something that is an essential part of the revolutionary process to get rid of capitalism. This would be a world away from the tightly controlled bureaucracy that ran society inside of Stalinist regimes in eastern Europe.
As far as possible decisions would be taken at the local level by workplace and neighbourhood assemblies, or by the councils of delegates elected by those assemblies.
Karl Marx’s insight during the Paris Commune of 1871 was that these forms of organisation would develop before the new society was created in the process of fighting the old society. The same methods of self-organisation that would be the basis of a self-managing society are needed today by the exploited and oppressed to resist and, ultimately, to overthrow capital.
A socialist society comes out of the real struggles of people and gives economic democracy to the mass of people. It’s about people deciding how society should be organised.
In a socialist society firms producing the same thing could cooperate. This would cut down on the waste of competition. It would also generate solutions to problems faster.
In a post-capitalist society, shorn of managers, advertising and all the other nonsense of capitalism, the creativity of millions will be unleashed. The possibilities for people to make themselves anew, as Marx put it, are immense.
But if we are to have democratic planning, we also need democratic control of the world’s resources, as well as the workplaces, factories and farms. This means social ownership of the means of production—socialism.
This is the third in a series of columns that discuss What We Stand For, the Socialist Workers Party statement of principles, printed every week in Socialist Worker (see page 18). For the full series go to tinyurl.com/WWSF2024
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