Economic Update: From The Old Socialisms To The New

[EU S14 E26] Socialisms: From the Old Socialisms to the New

On this week’s Economic Update, the entire program is devoted to how old socialism's rapid growth and global spread in the 19th and 20th centuries entailed a focus on the state. Key issues were: (1) would the socialist state limit itself to regulating capitalist enterprises and the market (as in many Western European nations) to enhance the well-being of the employee class or would the state itself own and operate enterprises and replace the market with state planning (as in the USSR), and (2) would the socialist strategy to acquire state power be reformist and electoral or revolutionary and armed. Concrete experiences in and with both kinds of old (i.e. state-focused) socialism led to self-criticisms from which a new socialism has emerged for the 21st century. The new socialism criticizes the state-focus of the old and prioritizes the transformation of the workplace over the social positioning of the state in and for the socialist vision and strategy.

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[WillFred-gg]

Rate cuts commence in June 2024, taking 6-8 months to complete. A potential crash, if any, might occur by March 2025. The soft landing narrative is gaining traction, making this big recession everyone is calling for less likely. With $1 million from a business sale, I'm seeking profitable investment opportunities for the next 3 years.

[weizhou]

Prof. Wolff should be the president of the US. He will do a good job, just like President Roosevelt did.

[saransong]

I never get notifications for your updates. 😢

Great job, btw!

[soberthinking]

“It is the heart of U.S. policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to save democracy from communism.” — Michael Parenti

[gabriel]

PRW - you're my mentor. Thanks to you, I've learnt lots.

[JasminaPakaski]

Dear prof. Wolf, I love your lectures and interviews. The topic of old and new socialisms interested me because I lived in Yugoslavia, which from the 60s and 70s developed a very specific, endemic kind of socialism - the self-governing socialism, under the moto "factories to the workers, the land to the farmers". It's a type of socialism very similar to the one that you described as the "socialism for the 21st century".
There was a great enthusiasm in the country to develop it, both from the political and the workers class. But it failed miserably. It failed not only because of predatory geopolitics which strived to dissolve the country, and/or historical & cultural preconditions, but also because of the inherent contradictories of the very concept. For example, one of the main governing bodies in the companies, factories etc. was the "worker' council", where representatives from various departments were delegated as members with limited time (a year or so). They would have discussed about all the issues concerning the better productivity, worker's rights etc. and would have voted for the suggested solutions. It seemed a fair process. But human nature is inherently corruptive and soon workers' councils perverted themselves into a bunch of corrupted cliques of people, people of this or that manager, who forced solutions in their interest. The next, interpersonal relations in the company would have became poisoned by it, people started to hate each other, not to work for the general good, but to personal hurt...
In conclusion, I'd like if you try to analyze this Yugoslavian very specific type of self-governing socialism in one of your lectures.
Thank you.
l

[andheydsj]

UK Here: Good video, but I feel the part you’ve probably missed for US audiences is understanding that this new socialism you’re talking about, takes a lot of its grounding and framework from the Anarchist movement, more specifically the radical ideas around Anarcho-Communism. It is largely an anti-statist movement, recognising the fallacy of trying to make the state look after peoples wellbeing, when the fundamental reason for the state existing in the first place was to protect private capitalists interests. So the state has to go. Secondly the Anarcho-Syndicalist movement has long been an advocate for work place democracy and strong unionisation. The most famous of which was a massive strike in Barcelona in 1917. Almost all of the working class rights and conditions around Europe exist today (and we’re all still much further left wing) because of anarchist, communist, socialist, unionist movements and policies. Despite our differences in terms of fundamental frameworks, the broader left wing MUST stand together on the majority of the issues, there are some middle ground ideas between Anarchism and communism, such as council communism. But largely we need a highly democratic system to enable every citizen a genuine voice over policies, laws and production.

[NestaVision]

You are - through your master classes - appreciated much more than you can ever imagine...

[LauraKamienski]

I highly highly recommend a book called Vulture Capitalism by Grace Blakely. I think it's one of the most important current works today. It explains how and why socialism within capitalism can and does not work in terms of the current day economic and technological capitalist system. It is primarily a discussion about economic versus state. And the false idea that the state can somehow exist above, beyond, and separate from economics.

[ariesmarsexpress]

I was a sort of liberal socialist before I had a chance to experience China first hand for extended periods of time. I am now a U.S. card carrying communist (literally, I think we have cards just to make that line funny lol). The U.S. version of communism is not nearly as advanced as the CPC (some people still say CCP), but you have to start somewhere. I think the two things that made me change my mind about liberal socialism (or even liberal democracy) to a less than liberal approach were:

1. Competency - The level to which competency plays a factor in one's position in the government in the CPC is radically different from randomly picking someone "you can have a beer with" in liberal democracy. Not only do you have to know what you are doing, you have to prove it, and the people have to agree with you by direct feedback, or you can lose your position and/or not move up in the government.
2. Free-Market Capitalism - In the U.S. we like to talk about Free Market Capitalism as if it somehow promotes freedom because it has "Free" in the name. What I have come to know is that when capitalism is "free" to run amok on its own without supervision, it will ultimately buy your "democracy" and what you have after that is anyone's guess, but whatever it ends up being, 99% plus of the people will no longer be represented or cared about in any form other than for more tax dollars.

In the U.S., the powers that be are no longer occupied by manipulating you into voting a particular way. They know how you will vote because they have done all the manipulation over time. Some people believe X and some people believe Y already. They are only concerned with the manipulation of how it looks. Sure you vote, but on what exactly? I assure you, the Like you click on this video has far more of a real world effect than any vote you have taken in your life time in the U.S. They are really only concerned with you not coming to the realization that your vote doesn't mean anything at all. It is a show. Kind of an expensive show, but a show nonetheless.

[DimitarBerberu]

Yugoslavia had that Socialism (not converted to Culture yet). The factories belonged to the workers, but were not converted fully in practice & then the Wester Capitalists destroyed all of that :(

[lucianfiul]

Can’t play ‘capitalism’ without the working class 🤘🏾

[davepetrovich]

I consider myself (69 year old third generation Socialist) a student of Wolff for a decade or more. He makes complicated issues easily understood. Thank you.

[michaelloong]

Socialism, capitalism, communism are theories for academic school of learning. How to make use of these theories successfully in a country depends entirely on having a competent leader who can lead the country in a positive way. He needs his countrymen to be united to fulfill their aspiration. China' imperial ruler of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) had the world largest economy due their practice of Confucius teaching that emphasizes that the strength of a government ultimately is based on the support of the people and virtuous conduct of the ruler.. Recent China history shows Chinese leaders practice Confucius teaching, communism, socialism and capitalism in successive stages, First stage getting rid of the corrupt officials and warlords, 2nd stage providing foods and housing to all and 3rd stage, allowing private individuals do business to become rich.4th stage eradicating poverty entirely and achieve economic success. China calls their ideological system as "Socialism With Chinese Character" However, if official corruption is rampant, China will be doomed irrespective of political ideology. .

[orionmedivh]

Actually it's already happening! Look at Huawei, a co-op, employee owned company, probably the most innovative, competitive and resilient one in China.

[MrCeleek]

Richard you are a great teacher, you really simplify things. your logic is crystal clear

[dashamac]

"People often say, with pride, 'I'm not interested in politics.' They might as well say, 'I'm not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future.' ... If we mean to keep any control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics." Martha Gellhorn

[Juv]

Actually from what I read, China's "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" is based on 'effective market, effective government', Scientific Socialism. This is the most advanced form we have right now.

[angelicafrancisco]

You are an outstanding teacher !!
I love ❤️ learning from you . Thank you so very much!
I will order the three volume trilogy .
You make learning interesting 🤨

[eduanolivier]

Thank you prof.Wolff for every word you ever speak.