[lbo-talk] To each according to work

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Mon Apr 21 20:02:14 PDT 2008


Bill Bartlett wrote:
> At 7:59 AM -0500 21/4/08, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>
>>You also leave out completely everything that has to
>>happen between now and then. Hence you fantasize a socialist world
>>coming in with the flick of a switch. Sheer tomfoolery.
>
>
> The first thing that has to happen between now and then is to decide
> where we as a society want to go, which involves debate. So you are
> completely wrong, both sides of the debate are doing what is required
> and it is you who, in condemning the debate, is foolishly imagining
> that a socialist society can come into existence without taking the
> first step to make it so.

There is an important strategic question embedded in this thread: Do we need to decide what a socialist society should look like before we can do any work that could lead to a socialist future?

I wonder how much capitalist ideology is smuggled into the assumption that all social relations are first expressed in the individual's mind (cf. the capitalist mythology about the capitalist who profits by bringing his visions to fruition).

Is the first step toward socialism really imagining the details of a socialist society? (Serious question.)

Miles



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