[PEN-L:28652] Re: Schweickart's Model

["Justin Schwartz" <jkschw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I'm afraid my knowledge of Schweickart is largely second-hand. Can you 
> perhaps list some of his most useful writings? Just a few as I am seriously 
> curtailed in regard to time and realistically would only have time to read 
> two or three. The more analytic the better.

ALl his stuff is very analytical. His big book is Against Capitalism 
(Westview 1996). He has a forthcoming book called Beyond Capitalism taht 
will be shorter and take into account subsequent criticisms. He has a lot of 
papers discussing aspects of the model, for example, in an a Bertell Ollman 
collection called Market Socialsim, the Decabte Among Socialists.

> My 'non-distributing service sector' is a European development -it's pushed 
> in the EU as part of their partnership model, viz, the inclusion of the 
> private, public, voluntary and community sector in the economic development 
> process.

Sort of a Mitbestimmung model, including unions and community groups in 
planning? The problem with including ad hoc groups in any other way than 
lobbying, unions aside of course, is that these tend to be rather 
unrepresentative of anything in particular and often undemocratically run, 
so it may end up giving a large voice to those who have the time, ebergy, 
and skill to organize a community group, regardless of whether this group 
has a  perspective oe represents an interest that is widely shared. Unions 
of course do represent a real interest and are another story.

I'm not a huge fan of the Social Partnership
> approach but do recognise the potential to use the openings it affords to 
> empower people and to counter anti-socialist arguments.

But which people?
> The term I used is just a short way of saying profit-making but not 
> profit-taking enterprises. In general these are currently to be found 
> operating in low profit sectors in some countries in Europe, where the 
> market has failed or wouldn't ordinarily develop. These enterprises are 
> usually locally generated and run by local communities. Co-operatives would 
> be a comparitor in the agricultural sector, except they are profit-taking.

So what happens to the profits made but not taken in the enterprises you are 
discussing?


> For me, the adoption of a MS economic development strategy appears to be 
> the only logical position given the total disrepute which socialist planned 
> economies have in the popular mind (despite their successes in the early 
> Soviet Union and under Ché in Cuba).

Agreed,

jks


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