Re: [OPE-L] Participatory and democratic production

[Paul Cockshott <wpc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> How do you ensure that the total proposals put forward correspond to a
> feasible plan?

Hi Paul:

Before the process of voting begins, every participant would have to
know  the total amount of resources available.  It's possible to
conceive of some specialized citizens' committees which has elected
representatives of different communities,  who would have to resolve
disputes.  The real problem here is cultural, rather than scientific:
what
is the process by which citizens come to realize for themselves that
their consumption patterns need to change for social and environmental
reasons?  The problem of internalities can only be resolved in a more
advanced and progressive socialist society than we have seen to date.
The issue isn't simply one of the presence or absence of abundance.

In solidarity, Jerry
-----------------------------

I agree you can not rely on abundance. But you need to propose a
workable social practice.
If you are deciding ex ante on production, the decisions of all the
participants have
To add up to a feasible plan. At the very least in your committee scheme
each 
Committee would need a budget of social that they had at their disposal
and proposed
Production would have to fall within that budget. 

Then you have to have a mechanism to allocate the budgets to committees.

I think that such deliberative processes are only feasible for 
a) the major outlines of the public budget for free services could be
voted on by the population
b) within the free services some sort of committee or dikasteria
structure could decide on sub-budgets

I think it would be very cumbersome for much consumer goods allocation
though.