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Domination, ecological crises and many other pathologies are intrinsic features of capitalism, not bugs that can be corrected. But is a better way of organizing society possible? Marx called for a society where the ruling principle is “the full and free development of every individual”. Capitalism neither is nor can be such a society. But if we can imagine one, can we be confident it could be put into practice? The answer to both questions is an emphatic ‘Yes!’ This book makes the case for a workable model of
republican socialism, a vision of socialism worth fighting for.
List of contents
PrefaceList of Figures1
Introduction1 Nine Claims
2 Summary of the Book
2
Capitalism (and Capital)1 The ‘Standard View’
2 Capital: A Macro-monetary Totality
3 The Case against Capitalism: Essential Determinations and Systematic Tendencies
4 Conclusion
3
The Present Moment of World History1 Technological Change and Valorisation in Contemporary Capitalism
2 From a ‘Golden Age’ to a Global Slump
3 Neoliberalism
4 Conclusion
4
A Socialist Constitution1 Marx’s Ruling Principle
2 ‘Free Development’ (1): Self-Governance without Domination
3 ‘Free Development’ (2): The Freedom of Particular Social Individuals
4 ‘Full Development’: Universal and Particular Needs
5 Two Solidarity Constraints
6 Further Principles
7 Conclusion
5
The Local Level (1): The Democratic Determination of Social Needs and Production Proposals1 The Social Determination of Social Needs
2 Two Notes
3 The Investment Requests of Production Collectives
4 The Estimation of Costs
5 Retained Earnings and Market Socialism
6 Conclusion
6
The Local Level (2): Social Investment, Social Production, and Social Exchange1 The Allocation of Social Investment
2 The Process of Production
3 The Acquisition of Consumption Goods
4 Conclusion
7
The Role of ‘Money’ in Socialist Accounting1 Some Questions
2 A Note on Money in Capitalism
3 Some Relevant Determinations of the Socialist Alternative
4 Conclusion
8
Regional Networks of Production and Exchange1 Some general remarks on regional production
2 Regional production for social needs and the solidarity constraints
3 Regional production networks and the coordination of social investments
4 The regional innovation system
5 Conclusion
9
Socialism on the National and International Levels1 The transition to the national and international levels
2 Production for social needs on the national and international levels
3 The Social Transaction Centre
4 A note on the implications of the first solidarity constraint on the international level
5 National and international Democratic Assemblies
6 National and international Agencies
7 The national and international innovation systems
8 The fraught relationship with the remnants of capitalism
9 Conclusion
10
Incentives and Efficiency in the Socialist Model1 Incentive objections
2 Efficiency objections
3 Conclusion
11
Socialism and the ‘Realm of freedom’1 The realm of freedom in capitalism and socialism: some contrasts
2 Commons-based peer production in contemporary capitalism
3 The realm of necessity and the realm of freedom: a dialectical unity-in-difference
4 An emancipatory promise fulfilled: commons-based peer production and the socialist project
5 Conclusion
12
Conclusion1 Why socialism is needed
2 The republican socialist model: a summary
3 How do we get there from here?
AppendixBibliographyIndex
About the author
Tony Smith is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at Iowa State University. His most recent books are
Globalisation: A Systematic Marxian Account and
Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism: Marx and Normative Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century.
