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The semiannual French review Les Possibles, a publication of Attac France, in its most recent issue (23) features a number of articles on planning for the ecological and social transition. Most are addressed to the issue of socialist planning vs. capitalist markets that was prominent in the debates of 20th century socialism. The contribution by Michael Löwy puts this debate in the ecosocialist framework that has emerged in this century. My translation of it is published below. Michael Löwy is a Franco-Brazilian philosopher and sociologist, and emeritus research director at Frances National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He is the author of numerous books, including The War of the Gods: Religion and Politics in Latin America and Fire Alarm: Reading Walter Benjamins On the Concept of History. He is also a leading member of the Global Ecosocialist Network. * * * Ecological and social planning and transition By Michael Löwy April 3, 2020 The need for economic planning in any serious and radical process of socio-ecological transition is winning greater acceptance, in contrast to the traditional positions of the Green parties, favorable to an ecological variant of market economy, that is, green capitalism. In her latest book, Naomi Klein observes that any serious reaction to the climate threat involves recovering an art that has been relentlessly vilified during these decades of market fundamentalism: planning. This includes, in her view, industrial planning, land use planning, agricultural planning, employment planning for workers whose occupations are made obsolescent by the transition, etc. This means bringing back the idea of planning our economies based on collective priorities rather than profitability .[1] Democratic planning The socio-ecological transition towards an ecosocialist alternative implies public control of the principal means of production and democratic planning. Decisions concerning investment and technological change must be taken away from the banks and capitalist businesses, if we want them to serve the common good of society and respect for the environment. Who should make these decisions? Socialists often responded: the workers. In Volume III of Capital, Marx defines socialism as a society of the associated producers rationally regulating their interchange (Stoffwechsel) with Nature. However, in Volume I of Capital, we find a broader approach: socialism is conceived as an association of free men, working with the means of production (gemeinschaftlichen) held in common. This is a much more appropriate concept: production and consumption must be organized rationally not only by the producers but also by consumers and, in fact, the whole of society, the productive or unproductive population: students, youth, women (and men) homemakers, retired persons, etc. Full: https://tinyurl.com/txtgz4u _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
