Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 21:46:06 +0100
Subject: Re: varieties of actually existing socialism


Thanks for an interesting and thought provoking peice. There are other
factors which affect things in the DPRK and Cuba as well. Blockades
imposed by the USA have increased the pressure to survive. This has
caused such dire economic distortions, that it is a wonderful
acheivement to exist at all. 

I know very little about Slovenia. I will find out some more on that
subject.

Rosser Jr, John Barkley wrote:

>      It is important to talk about various movements
> around the world, but it is also important to consider
> the status of various models that exist in terms of
> what might actually be followed upon a coming to power
> of any such movement.  I see four major existing
> models:
>      1)  The DPRK (North Korea).  The last fully
> functioning command socialist economy, it has done
> much better economically than many currently give it
> credit for.  Although way behind the southern ROK in
> official per capita income, it is near the ROK in real
> quality of life and is much better in gender equality
> and income equality.  In the mid-60s it was well ahead
> of the ROK in real per capita income, a status it
> maintained into the 70s before its "juche" isolation
> and being caught between the USSR and PRC in their
> conflict began to seriously negatively affect it.
> Today it is in serious difficulty after having been
> cut off by the fy the Soviets with the end of the CMEA
> and the apparent lack of strong interest by the PRC in
> aiding it significantly.  The current food
> difficulties are heavily weather-related, but also may
> reflect deforestation due to energy needs since the
> end of Soviet energy assistance.  What is striking is
> that, despite a small opening at Ronjin, the DPRK is
> the only regime that appears to be resisting the
> global trend towards market capitalism.  But it is
> doing so with a falling real per capita income, an
> extreme internal political repressiveness, and an
> extreme cult of personality.
>      2)  Cuba.  Cuba has a much looser system in many
> ways than the DPRK's but also remains one of the few
> mostly command socialist systems.  It has, however, in
> the face of the cutoff of Soviet aid and the
> continuing and heightened US embargo and hostility,
> opened up to some foreign direct investment,
> especially in tourism, as well as some marketization.
> The result has been increases in inequality and a dual
> currency economy, although apparently the decline of
> income has halted and the economy may be growing
> again.  There continues to be internal political
> repressiveness justified by the severe external threat
> from the US.  But, given its excellent health system
> and high educational levels, especially in comparison
> with the systems in most other Latin American
> countries (Costa Rica and Uruguay are its only
> meaningful rivals in these areas) the Cuban model
> remains one for serious consideration.
>      3)  The PRC.  The socialist market economy of
> China represents both the best and the worst of its
> genre.  Unlike most socialist economies it is growing
> rapidly, indeed is the world's most rapidly growing
> economy.  However, this is accompanied by a rapidly
> increasing degree of inequality both regionally and
> within areas, rising unemployment, and serious
> environmental problems.  It is also accompanied by a
> clear trend towards market capitalism, albeit
> gradually and in a very peculiar way.  Basically there
> are three sectors, an essentially stagnant old command
> socialist sector, the town and village enterprise
> (TVE) sector of locally owned market
> socialism, and the outright market
> capitalism in the SEZs where foreign
> capital, much of it from overseas
> Chinese dominates.  The positive
> potential here is the TVE sector which
> provides a possible model for other
> countries, although there is much
> exploitativeness among some of these
> enterprises, despite their base in the
> old Maoist brigades and communes.
> Needless to say, the PRC continues to
> be internally very politically
> repressive.
>      4)  Slovenia.  Here we have the
> success story of worker-managed market
> socialism, coming out of the wreckage
> of the former Yugoslavia.  It can be
> argued that its success was at the
> expense of other republics, but it has
> been successful, with the highest per
> capita income of any current or former
> socialist economy.  It is now
> democratic and drifting towards market
> capitalism, albeit towards a form with
> workers' ownership predominating.  It
> still has a majority state ownership and largely
> continues the old Yugoslav model, but with it working,
> unlike what happened in most of the rest of
> Yugoslavia.  This model has much to offer, but its
> drift to market capitalism is unsettling.
>      Broadly there would seem to be a dilemma between
> the extremes of the DPRK and Slovenia, one clearly
> resisting market capitalism, but in very serious
> trouble and extremely repressive internally, the other
> relatively successful and maintaining a form of
> socialism, while drifting towards a modified market
> capitalism.  It may be, as Doug Henwood has pointed
> out, that what is needed are some reasonably
> successful DPRK's in order to maintain both the
> Slovenias as well as even the more capitalist but
> still socially progressive social democracies such as
> Sweden.  I do not have any easy answers to this
> dilemma.
> Barkley Rosser
>  rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu


-- 
Comradely,

Richard.                     
      New Worker Online http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2853



     --- from list marxism2-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---