Why socialism can be nothing else than ‘real’: Lessons from ‘really existing socialism’ – Part II.

In Part I of this essay, we have seen some of the oppositions used in thinking about socialist economies (static vs. dynamic, closed vs. open economies, plan vs. market coordination). In this second part, I will deal with some of the premises on which thinking about the social consequences of socialist economies is based. I will look more particularly at the role of consumerist desires and informal networks of relations as a way to challenge how we think about both socialism and capitalism today.

New Labour's moral capitalism!

In a speech on 19 January 2012, the Labour Party leader Ed Miliband demanded a moral capitalism with a special emphasis on the protection of consumers. What he overlooks, however, is that the real causes of inequality and exploitation are rooted in the social relations of production. Interventions at the level of consumption will not rectify this.