I know I've mentioned Soviet agriculture before. The private land plots were much much much more efficient than the collective ones, presumably because the farmers were earning money doing it. As in, in 1960 private plots, while being 2% of total agricultural lots, produced 50% (!!!) of grain in the USSR.
--- On Fri, 2/27/09, SA <s11131978 at gmail.com> wrote:
> From: SA <s11131978 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] The SMB in a socialist economy?
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:24 AM
> Alan Rudy wrote:
>
> > But, surely, you are only suggesting that abolishing
> commodity exchange and
> > replacing it with top-down, undemocratic, and
> unrealizable bureaucratic
> > "plans" based on crappy data and
> unreasonable hopes and expectations on top
> > of undemocratic and largely unregulated workplaces is
> the only way to go?
> >
> > It strikes me that the Soviet Union represents a
> pretty lousy case to appeal
> > to as a straightforward "test" of this sort
> of thing.
> >
>
> No, the Soviet Union is a perfect test of this sort of
> thing. If you believe abolishing commodity exchange will
> abolish self-seeking as a human motivation in economic life,
> then that's what should have happened in the SU, even if
> the system contained all kinds of other flaws.
>
> The usual argument goes: "Economic life will always be
> marked by selfishness as long as there is commodity
> exchange." It sounds like you're now amending that
> argument to read: "Economic life will always be marked
> by selfishness as long as there is commodity exchange or
> 'bureaucratic' planning or 'crappy data' or
> 'unreasonable hopes.'" I'm sure the list
> could be lengthened ad infinitum. All societies have flaws,
> no? Where does that leave Charles Brown's plea?:
>
> > Couldn't there be competition but not
> > motivated by getting money ? Amateur
> > sports have competition
> > without money rewards to the winner.
> > It is conceivable that a whole
> > new system of motivation for
> > innovation could be developed.
>
> SA
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