^^^^^^^ CB: Well ,that's a mouth full, but not ok.
"Private property" is a technical term with theoretical significance in Marxism * , so I think we can bring "private enterprise" in as an equivalent. Another form is "private ownership of the basic means of production."
As I mentioned on another post, to speak to the many in the US today, it is better to use popular slang terms anyway, so "private enterprise" is a good pop equivalent of the strict technical terms.
"Public ownership" as an element of socialism within capitalism as gradualism or evolution** instead of a Luxemburgian revolutionary leap ? Maybe. The point of the book theme I suggest is not so much to champion capitalist government ownership as a slow road to socialism. It is to expose the fraudulent claim that private ownership is more efficient than public ownership, that the Market "adds up", that Wall Street and other monopoly corporations "earn" their profit. This exposure is a premise to proposing a leap to socialism. "The system is broken". The next book could propose a new system.
Bourgeois propaganda and economics constantly champion "the Market", "The "Free" Market" ,as the best system for society and for us all.*** It justifies the gigantic profiteering of private enterprise as the most efficient mode. How can this be if Wall Street and GM are bankrupt , to the tune of trillions of dollars, and the vast majority of the rest of us pick up their tab ?
Book titles: _The "Free" Market is not Free_; _Capitalism doesn't add up_
*See the _Manifesto of the Communist Party_
"The distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property. But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few.
In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property. "
** I don't know whether this is actually from _Capital_ , but it's interesting in light of the Wall Street bankruptcy due to bad loans. If the quote is accurate, it would seem that Marx thought nationalization of banks under capitalism is a step toward communism..
"Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism. (Das Kapital, 1867)"
http://garyfong1.blogspot.com/2009/01/quote-from-karl-marx.html
Come to think of it, State ownership of banks and other basic enterprises is a big part of Marx and Engels' proposals for the steps to be taken while still within capitalism, contra Carrol's interpretation of Luxemburg.
"Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property, and on the conditions of bourgeois production; by means of measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionising the mode of production.
These measures will, of course, be different in different countries.
Nevertheless, in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. "
*** Here's an example of results of anti-public enterprise propaganda stupifying lots of Americans
TOWN HALL LUNACY INCLUDES OUTRAGED CALLS TO 'KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT OF MEDICARE,' WHEN MEDICARE IS GOVERNMENT By Joshua Holland, AlterNet Some can't reconcile what they believe about the propaganda that is fed to them with their own positive experiences with public programs like Medicare. http://www.alternet.org/politics/142174/town_hall_lunacy_includes_outraged_calls_to_%27keep_government_out_of_medicare%2C%27_when_medicare_is_government/