دانلود کتاب The Political Economy of Cooperatives and Socialism

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Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Introduction
1 A tentative assessment of the importance of the materialistic conception of history
Introduction
Alchian and Demsetz’s theory of the firm
Is Alchian and Demsetz’s approach fully convincing?
The transition to socialism and the power of capital
Why is the materialistic conception of history so important?
Does socialism still exist in today’s world?
Socialism from utopia to scientific producer cooperative economics
2 Is historical materialism a deterministic approach? The democratic firm and the transition to socialism
Introduction
Does Marxism imply the assumption that history is heading in a given direction?
Further reflections on the notion of history in Marx and Marxism
Possible transition scenarios against the backdrop of market socialism
Is the capital-labour contradiction systematically escalating?
Is the transition to socialism a certainty or a conjecture?
Conclusion
3 Cooperation in the history of economic thought
Marx’s approach to producer cooperatives
The cooperative movement in the estimation of Marshall
Gramsci’s theory of factory councils
The separation of ‘the economic’ from ‘the social’ in Polanyi’s approach
Polanyi’s theory of the influence of ‘the economic’ on human feelings
Polanyi’s model of socialism
4 Socialism today
Introduction
Is the rise of a new mode of production a realistic assumption?
Producer cooperatives as a new production mode
The scientific core of socialism
Remote bankruptcy risks in democratic firms
5 Reform versus revolution: Struve’s critique of Marx
Introduction
The transition to socialism
Struve’s idea of social evolution
The roots of Marx’s revolutionary vision
The basic contradiction of capitalism and the Hegelian matrix of Marxism
A comment on Struve’s approach
The notion of modes of production in Marx
Further reflections on the notion of production modes
Criticisms of reformism
Conclusion
6 Competition in a democratic firm system: failures and constraints
Introduction
Solidarity in a system of democratic firms
Marshall’s idea of cooperation as a character-moulding agent
Income distribution in market socialism
Self-management and the ‘challenge of Minerva’
Conclusion
7 On dialectics and the basic contradiction in capitalism
Introduction
A few introductory notes on dialectics
Dialectics as the analysis of a totality with real oppositions
Dialectics as a method and a system of thought
Defining the basic contradiction of capitalism
The basic contradiction of capitalism from the perspective of orthodox Marxists
Conclusion
8 Is socialism a utopian dream?
Introduction
The selfish gene
Marx and Engels on human nature
A materialistic analysis of human nature in different economic systems
The revolt of elites against the backdrop of self-management theory
A summary analysis of Social Darwinism
Additional notes on the relevance of the selfish gene theory to socialism
Conclusion
9 Schweickart’s approach to economic democracy
Introduction
A workable form of socialism
Public investment funding
Investment control and publicly owned means of production
Is per capita allocation an efficient investment fund management method?
The unemployment issue
More criticisms of Schweickart’s model
Conclusion
10 Richard Wolff’s democracy at work; a cure for capitalism
Introduction
Wolff’s WSDE
The way WSDEs work
Ownership rights, markets and planning
Conclusion
11 Critical perspectives on self-management theory
Introduction
Obstacles to the establishment of producer cooperatives
The funding difficulties of producer cooperatives
Possible solutions to the funding problems of LMFs
Equity financing
Non-distributable reserves
Risk diversification in democratically managed firms
Further reflections on the financing difficulties of LMFs
12 Marxist criticisms of democratic firm management
Introduction
Early Marxist criticisms of democratic firm management
Further Marxist criticisms of democratic firm management
Peter Marcuse’s approach to producer cooperatives
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index