[PEN-L:1881] Decentralism

[JDevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (James Devine)]

jwhull writes: >>I cannot agree more strongly with John Gulick's
and Doug Henwood's characterization of the US left/liberal
obsession with "decentralization." Whatever the value of its
utopian vision ..., I do not see that it provides us with any
analytic tools to get us there. <<

I agree: given the globalization of capital, etc., it's hard to
see how decentralism will get us anywhere but backward.

But it's important to realize that the decentralist impulse is a
distorted manifestation of something important, i.e., the effort
to democratize society.

One of the reasons for the attraction of decentralist utopias is
the failure of centralized institutions in the past (bureaucratic
socialism in the USSR, etc.) I think that in order to get people
away from decentralist dreams, we need to figure out how to
democratize the centralist institutions that seem to be so hard
to get rid of, such as the state. How does the "revolutionary
power of the masses" get institutionalized, made permanent? (The
opposite of bureaucracy, Louis, is not decentralism, but
democracy.)

Decentralism under capitalism simply means succumbing to the
capitalist juggernaut. We have to figure out the best way to
combine centralism and decentralism under socialism.

in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine   jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.