The TL:DR here is that Wolff believes the USSR, China and Western social democracies are all transitional economic systems that got stalled or blocked before achieving socialism. The Chinese/USSR model is government controlling private companies, Western capitalism is the reverse, but in both cases employees are at the bottom of the hierarchy, whether working for state-owned enterprises, supervised private companies, or in highly regulated/unionized industries. His conclusion is that the underlying reason all of these attempts at transition from capitalism to socialism have become blocked up is because the employee/employer relationship remains at the base of the economic system--attacking that dyad is the way forward.
It says cold wars essentially force socialist states to stall their transition from state capitalism. He just believes internal forces played a greater role I guess
Yeah, he definitely mentions capital's attacks on transitional economic systems as a problem, seems to be pretty hopeful about the ability of the Chinese model to weather capitalist crises, and makes a point of saying that a new cold war would be bad. His argument is that simply reducing the outside pressure on transitional systems is not enough by itself--you also need to start dismantling employee/employer relationships. Bit of an early Bolshevik argument--the idea that we should "skip steps" and start doing communism sooner.
That said, it seems to me like the best change one can make in ones own life is to fight the fight that we all understand - our worker/employer relationships. It's something so direct that anyone can understand it (even without scary "communism") and it cripples capitalism, even if just by a tiny bit. My union has put a ton of pressure on leadership as of late, even issues that don't immediately concern us, like board members divesting from fossil fuels etc.
Just thinking from the perspective of praxis in my own life at least, and the life of the average American worker.
His conclusion is that the underlying reason all of these attempts at transition from capitalism to socialism have become blocked up is because the employee/employer relationship remains at the base of the economic system–attacking that dyad is the way forward.
Doesn't sound like a dictatorship of the proletariat to me
The TL:DR here is that Wolff believes the USSR, China and Western social democracies are all transitional economic systems that got stalled or blocked before achieving socialism. The Chinese/USSR model is government controlling private companies, Western capitalism is the reverse, but in both cases employees are at the bottom of the hierarchy, whether working for state-owned enterprises, supervised private companies, or in highly regulated/unionized industries. His conclusion is that the underlying reason all of these attempts at transition from capitalism to socialism have become blocked up is because the employee/employer relationship remains at the base of the economic system--attacking that dyad is the way forward.
More complex than that though, read the article!
Not bad, but it's weird to talk about "stalled socialist states" without mentioning capitalist interference.
It says cold wars essentially force socialist states to stall their transition from state capitalism. He just believes internal forces played a greater role I guess
Yeah, he definitely mentions capital's attacks on transitional economic systems as a problem, seems to be pretty hopeful about the ability of the Chinese model to weather capitalist crises, and makes a point of saying that a new cold war would be bad. His argument is that simply reducing the outside pressure on transitional systems is not enough by itself--you also need to start dismantling employee/employer relationships. Bit of an early Bolshevik argument--the idea that we should "skip steps" and start doing communism sooner.
That said, it seems to me like the best change one can make in ones own life is to fight the fight that we all understand - our worker/employer relationships. It's something so direct that anyone can understand it (even without scary "communism") and it cripples capitalism, even if just by a tiny bit. My union has put a ton of pressure on leadership as of late, even issues that don't immediately concern us, like board members divesting from fossil fuels etc.
Just thinking from the perspective of praxis in my own life at least, and the life of the average American worker.
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I meant direct violence, sabotage, attempted coups, and sanctions.
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I interpreted that by discussing the cold war, he is ignoring the direct interference in non-USSR socialist governments.
His conclusion is that the underlying reason all of these attempts at transition from capitalism to socialism have become blocked up is because the employee/employer relationship remains at the base of the economic system–attacking that dyad is the way forward.
Doesn't sound like a dictatorship of the proletariat to me