Dear Chris,
State monopoly of the MOP is not merely an economic concept.
For workers it means that in every place of work State officials
decide ALL issues of work:: they decide the speed of the assembly line,
the production quotas, the machinery of production, how much will the
worker get
per hour, the overtime, the working conditions, (e.g. during Gorbachev's
last years there
was a major miners strike, and the strikers demanded - among other
things - to increase the
amount ofr soap allocated to each miner for washing himself after the
shift)
state officials decide how many workers will be allocated to every
task, hiring and firing,
and it also means Unions run by State officials.
In 1978 I asked a Polish friend if there were any strikes in the Poland.
He replied that there were but they are never reported in the press.
(since workers striking against a Worker's State is bad PR)
I asked how he knew about it. He said "occasionaly I read in the press
that a few dozen
workers from some factory were treated in the local hospital for dog
bites. I know they were
not bitten during work". For an eye witness report of a worker's life
in a State-owned economy
read "A worker in a Workers State" by Michael Harszti. (Penguin around
the late 1960s)
If people desire all this surely they can get organized to bring it all
back. Do they ?
I know there is a handful of Stalinists who formed a Party (run by his
grandson)
to bring back the good old times. But I don't think they represent the
majority.
sincerely,
Aki ORR
Chris Doss wrote:
Dear Chris,
Many thanks for your kind reply.
However, I ask you to consider the following
question:
The abolition of the State monopoly over all means
of production
and the introduction of private ownership of the
means of production
is a fundamental change in society. History is
replete with examples
of massive resistence to such changes. Why did
this change occur
in the USSR with hardly any resistence from the
population, and even
with their support.
It certainly was resisted. That's why Yeltsin had to
use tanks on the parliament in 1993 and steal the
election in 1996. Today most people would prefer some
kind of social-democratic arrangement, I think.
Why didn't the majority of the population of the
USSR oppose the abolition
of the State monopoly over the means of production
and the re-introduction
of private ownership of these means ?
The didn't oppose the abolition of the Soviet
government's monolopy over the means of production.
They are in favor of private ownership of the MOP at
the level of small and medium enterprises. They did
and do oppose privatization of the big state
monopolies. Putin's renationalization of Yukos was
greeted by the population with applause and huzzahs.
My answer is - the majority of the people in the
USSR rejected State
monopoly
over the means of production.
Most people didn't think in those terms. They weren't
economists.
=====
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone.
http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo
