Jack Lucero Fleck
Oakland, California

I enjoyed Revolution in the Air-- especially the history of the 1968-73 era that propelled the New Communist Movement (NCM) on a Marxist Leninist course. I also think Elbaum gave a fair and broadminded summary of the many groups that struggled for leadership of the NCM. The book is a valuable stimulant for reflecting on and drawing lessons from that experience.

My main difference with Elbaum's summation is on the question of the feasibility of socialism. I have come to agree with the argument put forth by conservative economist Ludwig Von Mises in his 1922 book, Socialism. Mises argued that the fundamental flaw of socialism is its inability to calculate prices--the calculation problem. This critical failing was not recognized by Marx and Engels, or by Lenin, Stalin, Mao, or the NCM for that matter. We all felt that socialism could be managed by some fairly straightforward accounting mechanisms, which were never spelled out.

Von Mises, observing the chaos that ensued in Germany after various nationalization attempts by the Social Democrats, accurately predicted that socialism would not be able to out-produce capitalism because it could not make rational economic decisions. The history of the 20th Century has proven that von Mises was correct. My observations on three trips to Cuba have all further convinced me of the correctness of Von Mises description of the problem.

Without accurate prices that reflect supply and demand, production decisions are hopelessly muddled. In Marxist terms, the price has to represent the socially necessary labor time embodied in a product. But how is price determined if there is no competition to ensure that the most effective techniques, materials, and skills are used to produce the product?

A relevant book is The Economics of Feasible Socialism, by Alec Nove, written in 1983. Nove is sympathetic to Marxism but argues that Marx, Lenin, Bukharin, et al did not understand the need for markets to avoid top heavy, inefficient, and repressive bureaucracy.

Nove's book is more a critique of traditional Marxist thinking, and the practice of socialist countries, than it is a plan for how to actually solve the calculation problem. Nove does provide a sketchy outline of a model of socialism at the end of his book. He suggests that there should be at least six competing cooperatives in every sphere of production. Just how these cooperatives would come in and out of being in response to all the needs of society is highly conjectural.

The failure of the NCM must be understood in the context of the failure of socialism. What is needed today is a new vision, one that is possible. Those who continue to put forth "socialism" as their vision only bring about irritated groans from an audience who knows that we've been there and done that.

In his book, Eco-Economy, Lester Brown quotes Oystein Dahle, retired vice-president of Esso, who says, "Socialism collapsed because it did not allow prices to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow prices to tell the ecological truth." Capitalism as it is currently operating does not appear capable of reforms that will protect the environment, eliminate poverty and racism, or stop U.S. imperialism without militant mass action such as the Seattle protests. That's why I like Elbaum's thoughts about cadre organizations which can capture the enthusiasm of activists and work effectively in mass movements.

Cadre need to have a vision of social justice--a vision that defends democracy, trade unionism and environmental regulations around the world, and opposes racism, sexism, homophobia, corporate pillaging, and U.S. militarism. Cadre need a dialectical materialist world view, but without the baggage of a disproven vision of socialism.

The struggle to resolve the contradictions of capitalism will require more than voting, but it will require convincing people that we are on target with our identification of the problems and our proposed solutions, and that means winning elections. I think the Rainbow approach of fielding progressives in primaries and then backing whichever Democrat wins the primary against the Republicans makes more sense than third party efforts, which end up electing Republicans.

I thank Max Elbaum for a well written, thought-provoking book. I welcome any comments via email at: venceremos@igc.org

PS My 1992 paper, "Is Socialism Possible?--Che Guevara vs. Ludwig von Mises," goes into more detail about the calculation problem. It is on the web at: http://home.igc.org/~venceremos/chevsmis.htm

PPS I have been working to salvage what is correct about dialectical materialism. So I started a web site, "Dialectics for Kids", about three years ago. I'd be interested in anyone's feedback on that (please check it out at http://home.igc.org/~venceremos/ ).

PPPS Three books for further reading on the calculation problem: From Marx to the Market, by Wlodzimierz Brus and Kazimierz Laski, 1991. From Marx to Mises, by David Ramsey Steele, 1992 Economic Calculation in the Socialist Society, Trygve J.B. Hoff , 1940