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From: kjm@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ken Montgomery)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Fascism and Socialism
Message-ID: <1722@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-May-85 12:24:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-ngp.1722
Posted: Fri May 10 12:24:13 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 12-May-85 01:40:44 EDT
References: <1051@uwmacc.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: U.Texas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
Lines: 39

>> [Daniel Kian McKiernan]
>> 
>>      Socialism is a social order in which, rather than allowing private
>> property and markets, decisions about the use of resources are made by
>> administrative institution (whether it be a bureaucracy or democratic
>> assembly).
>
>[Jeff Myers]
>
>Well, this is a rather Stalinist view of what socialism is.  My view (and that
>of many others) is that large clumps of means of production cannot be privately
>owned, but that small holdings are fine.

Where exactly is the threshold between small and large holdings?
For example, suppose Harry Fnord owns a dry cleaning shop, which
initially contains one machine.  If he buys another machine, does
he have a large holding yet?  How many does he have to own before
the Almighty State decides that he has too many and takes one or
more away from him?  Who decides where this threshold is?  What
right does the State have to enforce this threshold?  How is everyone
else to know that this threshold has been set at the correct level?

> Many are also convinced that the
>market process is necessary in a Socialist system in order to help ensure that
>production fits demand.

How can Harry Fnord be sure that he will be able to own enough
dry cleaning machines to meet the demand for their services,
when a bureaucrat from the Almighty State can wander in and
take one or more "excess" machines when ever "someone" (Who?
Blank out!) decides there is an "excess"?!

--
The above viewpoints are mine.  They are unrelated to
those of anyone else, including my cats and my employer.

Ken Montgomery  "Shredder-of-hapless-smurfs"
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