Market Socialism
Not to be confused with Capitalist Communism.
Market Socialism, clipped to MarkSoc, is an economically left-wing ideology that is unique as a leftist ideology in that it is one of the few that views markets as beneficial. Market Socialism was born in the 18th Century, when what would later be known as Classical Liberalism and Mutualism had their first lovechild, who was first written about in The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.
MarkSoc wants widespread workers' self-management within the framework of a market economy. Each worker can either directly own their workplace or vote to elect their managers.
History
Market Socialism emerged as a response to classical liberalism, in fact, the most widely known Market-Socialist literature, the Principles of a Political Economy is a series of essays by John Stuart Mill as a direct response to the Wealth of Nations.
Conceptions
Employee Funds
The wage-earner fund was a proposal by Rudolf Meidner to transition from a capitalist economy to a market socialist one. The companies with more than 50 employees would have 20% of their profits taxed to allow the funds to buy up shares in the companies. Since the trade union representatives control those funds, collective employee ownership will be possible after two decades.
Illyrian model
Prominent economists in Yugoslavia, such as Jaroslav Vaněk and Branko Horvat, advocated for this type of Market Socialism. Workers would be the owners in their enterprises, and daily management would abide by one worker, one vote principle. Profits from the worker co-ops will directly compensate the employees within. Each labor-managed firm will compete in open and free markets, and they may be able to form cooperative federations. It's possible to have a laissez-faire form of market socialism with this.
Titoism / Self-governing socialism
Like the Illyrian model, workers' self-management was also implemented. The difference was that government intervention in the economy was far-reaching. The workers didn't own the firms they worked in, or as the 1974 constitution put it, "...no one has rights of ownership over the social means of production..." Like many other Market Socialists, Titoism believed in a strong welfare state for the citizens.
Lange-Lerner Model
There would be a market for final goods, while the state owns the means of production. The government will set prices for capital goods by trial and error until they reach the equilibrium between supply and demand. The workers would still democratically manage the state-owned enterprises, and there would be social dividends thanks to the socially-owned capital and natural resources.
Personality and Behaviour
MarkSoc is quite disdainful of other, more radical socialists, as well as capitalists. They look down on other leftist ideologies for preventing the beneficial aspects of markets from proliferating in a File:Soc.png socialist system, as well as looking down on rightist ones for the perceived corruption and suffering in their systems.
MarkSoc thinks they are the ultimate ideology and insists on everyone reading 1000 pages of economic theory to prove their point. They sometimes get caught up in their own self-importance, but they truly care about trying to help the workers of the world.
How to Draw
- Draw a ball.
- Fill the ball white.
- Draw at the top a red hammer.
- Below that, draw two red arrows crossing each other.
- Below that, draw a red star.
- Add the eyes, and you're done!
Color Name | HEX | RGB | |
---|---|---|---|
Red | #EC1D26 | 236, 29, 38 | |
White | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 |
Relationships
Friends
- Democratic Socialism - They're fellow socialists and supporters of cooperatives.
- Mutualism - My more wacky influence.
- Libertarian Market Socialism - My freedom-loving descendent.
- Social Democracy - Good friends of mine, although they're still capitalists. I̶’̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶k̶e̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶
- Nordic Model - Same as above.
- Distributism - Pretty much on the same page, but they're a little more religious than I am.
- Social Distributism - A good friend of mine.
- Titoism - Most successful form of me.
- Goulash Communism - The market reforms to improve living standards are good, but you could've incentivized more workers' self-management.
- Yellow Socialism - A bit too reactionary social-wise, but otherwise he's cool.
Frenemies
- Capitalism - Sorry dude, your markets are cool, but your bosses are not. We also both like Adam Smith but for very different reasons.
- Classical Liberalism - Same as above, I also enjoy Smith's works, but you're still a capitalist.
- Liberalism - We share a lot of the same ideals, but not practical solutions.
- Democratism - Soon.
- Social Corporatism - Better than regular corporatism, but still too hierarchic.
Enemies
- Fascism - A corporatist economy is not even close to what I advocate for, especially with the class collaboration that it requires.
- Marxism–Leninism - I fit the official definition of "Socialism" so stop calling me a fake socialist!
- Stalinism - I AM SOCIALIST, OK?
- Hoxhaism - Stop calling any socialist ideologies that stray even slightly further from Stalinism revisionist!
- Dengism - YOU ARE NOT ME! YOU ARE State Capitalist!
- Corporatism - My opposite.
- State Capitalism - Stop pretending to be me we are pretty different.
- Left Communism - Why do you hate me?
Further Information
Literature
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
- Principles of Political economy by John Stuart Mill
- Chapters on Socialism by John Stuart Mill
- On the Economic Theory of Socialism by Oskar Lange
- Market, State, and Community: Theoretical Foundations of Market Socialism by David Miller
- Why Market Socialism?: Voices from Dissent by Frank Roosevelt, David Belkin, and Robert L. Heilbroner (1994)
- After Capitalism by David Schweickart
- Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism by Richard D. Wolff
- Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It) by Elizabeth Anderson
Online Communities
Wikipedia
- Market Socialism
- Market Socialism Economy
- Laissez-Faire Socialism
- Lange Model
- Economy of SFRY
- Socialist self-management
- Labor theory of value
People
Videos
- AskProfWolff: What is the difference between market socialism and centralized socialism? by RichardDWolff
- Can We Do It Ourselves? by Friatidningar
Gallery
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Annoyed MarkSoc