Abstract
The basic criticism of contemporary society by radical reformers can be summarised in the statement that a market economy is inhumane. In the interests of making society more humane, the market economy should be replaced by a genuinely humane community. The main elements of the organisation of such a community would be collective ownership and control by industrial workers, that is, by the direct producers.
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Notes and References
Karl Marx, Capital: a Critique of Political Economy, Vol. III, edited by Frederick Engels, translated from the first German edition by Ernest Untermann (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1909) pp. 227–9; Early Writings, edited by T. B. Bottomore (London: C. A. Watts, 1963).
Branko Horvat, An Essay on Yugoslav Society (New York: International Arts and Sciences Press, 1969) p. 135.
Marx, The Paris Commune 1871, edited and introduced by Christopher Hitchens (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1971) p. 97.
Mihailo Markovic, ‘Entfremdung und Selbstverwaltung’, in Ernst Theodor Mohl et al., Folgen einer Theorie. Essays über ‘Das Kapital’ von Karl Marx (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1967) p. 200.
Svetozar Stojanovic, Between Ideals and Reality; a Critique of Socialism and its Future, translated by Gerson S. Sher (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973) pp. 121 and 211.
Ibid., p. 119. See also Henri Lefèbvre, Die Zukunft des Kapitalismus (Munich: List, 1974) p. 166.
Helmut Leipold, Betriebsdemokratie—ökonomische Systemrationalität (Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer, 1974) p. 95.
Jaroslav Vanek, The General Theory of Labor-Managed Market Economies (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1970) p. 265 et seq.
Gudrun Lemân, Arbeiterselbstverwaltung in Jugoslawien. Publication 48 (Cologne: Bundesinstitut für Ostwissenschaftliche und Internationale Studien, 1973) p. 47 et seq.
Eirik Grundtvig Furubotn and Svetozar Pejovic, ‘Property Rights and Economic Theory: a Survey of Recent Literature’, in The Journal of Economic Literature, Cambridge, Massachusetts Vol. 10, 1972, p. 1137 et seq.
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© 1989 Trade Policy Research Centre
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Watrin, C. (1989). Towards a More Humane Society?. In: Peacock, A., Willgerodt, H. (eds) Germany’s Social Market Economy: Origins and Evolution. Trade Policy Research Centre. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20145-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20145-7_8
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