Re: re-market socialism

[Justin Schwartz <jschwart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Enlightenment not having arrives and argument having failed. Luftmensch
resorts to sarcasm. Alas. --jks

On 28 Jan 1996, Michael Luftmensch wrote:

>
> LETTER FROM SCHWEICKARTVILLE
>
> Greetings Comrades! - I am writing to you from the market socialist future in
> order to correct the grave misapprehensions some of you seem to harbour about
> what market socialism holds in store.
>
> Understand that ours is a society wonderfully free of all conflict. The
> pernicious aspects of the market economy have simply withered away.
> Self-interest and competition - the bane of your existence - no longer thwart
> cooperation. Exploitation has vanished along with all the other deadly sins
> which plagued market society in the past. Our entrepreneurs are socialist
> heroes - selfless in their devotion to the operation of the market. Our
> workers are models of productivity, joyously oiling the market mechanism,
> singing songs of praise to Schweickart as they toil. And our politicians are
> models of decency, men of integrity who would never think of uttering the
> dreaded P-word.
>
> Contrast these happy times with your own unhappy era, and you will understand
> the deep pity I feel for you. Your markets were arenas of conflict. Cut
> throat competition was the order of the day. Your lives were never free of
> fear and anxiety - for who could know whose throat would next be cut. In
> those bleak times, it was, I suppose, perfectly understandable for you to be
> obsessed by conflict and struggle.
>
> All that has now become history. Harmony is the rule in Schweickartville, and
> in those rare instances when discord rears its head - admittedly, few and far
> between - we have recourse to the words of the Sage. It is to his writ we
> turn for guidance, for Schweickart, all-seeing visionary that he was,
> bequeathed to humanity a model. All that is required of us is to apply it.
> What could be simpler?
>
> No doubt, you will ask how all this came about, how out of the bowels of
> market capitalism there emerged a golden egg. And indeed, we too would be
> much preoccupied by this mystery, if not for our naturally lofty frame of
> mind. There are turns and twists in the tide of history that simply defy
> understanding. Long ago, our predecessors agreed not to inquire too deeply
> into how the model was to be put into practice. We respect that decision and
> advise you to do likewise.
>
> Yours,
> A. Comrade
>
>
>
>
>
>
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