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OK, I bought the Kindle version and read the concluding chapter, which contains Pete's vision of a postcapitalist society. 1. Although in his discussion of councils he underestimates the feasibility of and need for workplace-based councils, I like the fact that he raises the possibility of councils based on a variety of social categories (a la past experiments or demands in Nicaragua, Czechoslovakia, etc.), e.g. health, profession, culture, etc., to which one could add nationality and gender. 2. I don't agree at all with his belief that socialism would be based on coops competing in a highly-regulated market, even if democratic bodies would supervise negotiations between such coops. As I've sad ad nauseam on this list and elsewhere, even in the initial stages of socialism, markets would only be necessary as accounting checks on democratic planning (using Leontief input/output matrices and similar tools). 3. Finally, Pete's vision - and mine - must be more solidly and concretely rooted in our historical assessments of past experiments, i.e. what do the overlapping critiques and suggestions of Rakovsky/Trotsky/Preobrazhensky -- and of revolutionary critics of other countries' experiments - say immediately about our utopian tale-spinning? On Fri, Mar 4, 2016 at 9:34 AM, Andrew Pollack <[email protected]> wrote: > This promises to be an interesting event (details below). > Comrades have no doubt seen my previous complaints about books claiming to > have found the solution to the various failures of past postcapitalist > experiments, books which totally ignore the concrete history of the most > important such experiment, that in the Soviet Union. > So I went hunting in Pete's new book with a somewhat (actually a very) > jaundiced eye. > To my pleasant surprise, one of his chapters is an extraordinarily > detailed - and honest - account of the economic, political and ideological > ideas and events in the 1920s in the Soviet Union. > His concluding chapter doesn't seem to be in the googlebooks version I > searched, but I'm hopeful - and I'm definitely going to hear Pete talk next > Monday: > > > > > > *It’s Not Over Learning from the Socialist Experiment Pete Dolack Monday, > Mar 7, 2016 at 7:30pm * > http://thecommonsbrooklyn.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=13351 > http://zero-books.net/books/its-not-over > It’s Not Over: Learning From the Socialist Experiment analyzes the 20th > century attempts to supplant capitalism to gain understandings for the > emerging and future movements that seek to overcome the political, economic > and environmental crises of today. As millions of people around the world > question the economic assumptions that they have long lived with, it is > inevitable that they will want to know more about attempts to supplant > capitalism in the past. > > It’s Not Over examines this history, from the Paris Commune to the fall of > the Soviet Union. The book analyzes the development of the October > Revolution, fully in context with its isolation after the failure of the > German revolution, and the Soviet Union’s trajectory and fall. The Prague > Spring of Czechoslovakia and Sandinista Nicaragua are also examined in > detail. The book concludes with a chapter on the limitations of capitalism, > and ideas and discussion of what a better world might look like. > > This history lives through the words and actions of the men and women who > made these revolutions, and the everyday experiences of the millions of > people who put new revolutionary ideas into practice under the pressures of > enormous internal and external forces. > > “As Cold War taboos on honest discussions of capitalism and socialism lose > their force, important books like this are emerging. They ask why > capitalism keeps provoking movements to go beyond it, why they have not yet > achieved that goal, and what we must learn from them so the next efforts > prove more effective. Dolack here contributes to the vital emerging > answers.” —Rick Wolff, author of Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism > and host of the Economic Update radio program > > Pete Dolack is an activist, writer and photographer who has worked with > several organizations focusing on human rights, social justice, > environmental and trade issues. He writes about the economic crisis and the > political and environmental issues connected to it on the Systemic Disorder > blog. His articles have appeared in popular publications including > CounterPunch, ZNet, The Ecologist and Green Social Thought. > > Sliding scale: $6/$10/$15 > > > * :: *Event listings & any > changes: http://thecommonsbrooklyn.org/events-list > http://thecommonsbrooklyn.org/civicrm/showevents > 388 Atlantic Ave. btw. Hoyt St. & Bond St., nr. A, C, G, 2, 3, 4, 5, B, Q, > R, F, D, N stops: > directions added at bottom of msg. > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
