In this patron-requested episode, we discuss the proposals for participatory planning and economics developed by Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert. They contend that socialists should want to organize social production and consumption neither through authoritarian centralized planning, nor through market mechanisms, but by democratic consensus attained through federated workers’ councils. We appreciate the scope of the ambition and their visionary utopianism, and generally buy their criticisms of markets, but also discuss what we find unsatisfying in their approach. Mostly this means talking about how a system like the one they propose can’t stop a lazy scoundrel like Owen from defrauding the whole thing into the ground like it’s the USSR 2.0. But honestly it’s hard to hold that against them.

leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphil

References:

Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel, “Participatory Planning,” Science & Society 56.1 (1992): 39-59.

Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel, “In Defense of Participatory Economics,” Science & Society 66.1 (2002), 7-28.

Robin Hahnel, A Participatory Economy (AK Press: 2022).

Music: 

Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com