(OPE-L) an empirical question re socialism

[gerald_a_levy <gerald_a_levy@xxxxxxx>]

Has anyone recently conducted an empirical investigation using

input-output data which explored the capacity of  a) a given

capitalist social formation and b) the world-wide economy to

provide for the material needs of workers _following_ the

socialization of the productive forces, an end to 'luxury' production, 

and the abolition of 'waste' of  resources on the realization of

surplus value,  etc.?

 

To rephrase the question and put it in context:  Many Marxists have

argued -- at least going back to Engels- that  the current state of

the productive forces had developed to a point where with the

redistribution of wealth following a socialist revolution and with

a change in the relations of production that would eliminate the

waste of  labor and means of production that a society could,

among other things,  provide for the material needs of people in

that society and simultaneously reduce the labor time required

to produce that output.   To quote Engels:

 

"no individual can throw on the shoulders of others his share in

productive labor, this natural condition of human existence; and

in which, on the other hand, productive labor, instead of being

a means of subjugating men, will become a means of their

emancipation, by offering each individual the opportunity to

develop all his facilities, physical and mental, in all directions and

exercise them to the full -- in which, therefore productive labor will

become a pleasure instead of a burden.  Today this is no longer a

fantasy, no longer a pious wish.  *With the present development

of the productive forces*, the increase in production that would follow

the very fact of the socialization of the productive forces, coupled

with the abolition of the barriers and disturbances, and the waste

of products and means of production, will suffice, with everyone

doing his share of work, to reduce the time required for labor to a

point  which, measured by our present conceptions, will be small

indeed." (Engels, _Anti-Duhring_, emphasis added, JL).

 

My question seeks to empirically test this proposition.  Suppose

we examine input-output tables for all nations: couldn't estimates

be derived of the capacity of society to provide for needs and wants

(assuming that there are assumptions made about the redistribution

of wealth and the change in the division of labor, etc.)?  "With the

current development of the productive forces",  what  'basket' of goods

could workers on average expect? ...  and what would be reasonable

estimates concerning  the  working time/worker  to produce that

output?    Has anyone done such an empirical study?  Are there

problems with the way in which I have posed these questions?  If so,

how would you re-pose the questions? 

 

I am particularly interested in an *international* empirical study

because of the differences in standards of living internationally

among workers (especially given the presence of mass poverty

in many areas of the world).   Just how big is the international

'pie' and how big a slice can each worker expect?

 

In solidarity, Jerry