Re: Darwin and Marx

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

Jerry wrote:

> If we "make use of the latest capitalist
> management theory in order to plan the economy", we end up creating a
> stratified "socialist" society with a very large social role for managers
> and "planners."
>

Why does one follow from the other ?

What I mean by socialism is society run by workers councils. These councils
are the means by which the worker class coordinates and runs all aspects of 
life.
They will be subject to the principle of instant recall - if a workplace doesn't
agree with the decision of its delegate the delegate can be replaced 
immediately.
The delegates will have the same wages as the people who elect them.

In order to make decisions correctly, the real state of affairs must be known.
Partly this will involve accounting procedures. We need to know how many 
tractors
per year such and such a factory can produce before we can consider whether to
switch the tyre factory's production to tractor tyres or not.
But this doesn't mean accountants will be in control of society - the workers 
councils
will run society. The workers councils will decide if Tractors or wheel chairs 
are
more important and prioritise accordingly.

Similarly, if there are management theories which help run and coordinate 
economic
organisations, they will be used in so far as they help a workers state ( ie a 
state
of workers councils ) coordinate different aspects of the economy.

For instance, a trendy management style at present is "process orientated 
management"
or words to that effect. Under capitalism, this is a way of making workers as 
flexible
as possible, and getting the most out of them. It is a development from 
Taylorism,
as you rightly point out.

But it does have a rational kernel - that the way work is organised should be 
flexible.
You don't start off with a rigid hierarchy and fit the work into the hierarchy, 
which is
how Taylorism works in practise , but change the way the work is organised in 
order to
fit the work. If there is capitalist literature available on this sort of 
thing, we
should make use of it, without making ourselves subservient to it.

These theories are just one part of capitalist culture which we cannot simply
throw away.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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