Socialism
(roberts_2023?)
What is wrong with the theory of state capitalism is that it is based on formal logic
not on a dialectical analysis. Formally, there is capitalism and socialism. With formal logic,
if the features of socialism in an economy do not exist, i.e. collective production by produc-
ers in association for direct consumption without markets or monetary exchange, then an
economy must be capitalist. An economy is either black or it is white. But this is not a dia-
lectical analysis. Everything is in motion and in transition from one thing to another; and
from one mode of production to another. In a transitional economy, there are elements of
old mode of production and there are elements of a potentially new mode of production –
side by side. Just as the duck-billed platypus has elements of mammalia (it suckles its young),
it also has elements of reptilia (it lays eggs). The transition from capitalism to socialism does
not happen overnight; black and white are thus both present.
However, a dialectical approach in this context also means recognizing when a quali-
tative change has taken place, opening up the potential for a new economy. The duck-billed
platypus has made a qualitative transition to mammalia (because it suckles its young and is
warm-blooded). A transitional economy from capitalism to socialism is defined from its
start by the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist state machine and its replacement by
a proletarian state and that state can only survive if the means of production and resources
are expropriated from the capitalist class, atomizing that class as a ruling class. With state
planning as the next step, the laws of motion of the transitional economy are qualitatively
different from a capitalist economy. This is not socialism, but no longer is it capitalism.
There is no need to invent another stage in the transition called “state capitalism”.
18 Socialism
(roberts_2023?)
What is wrong with the theory of state capitalism is that it is based on formal logic not on a dialectical analysis. Formally, there is capitalism and socialism. With formal logic, if the features of socialism in an economy do not exist, i.e. collective production by produc- ers in association for direct consumption without markets or monetary exchange, then an economy must be capitalist. An economy is either black or it is white. But this is not a dia- lectical analysis. Everything is in motion and in transition from one thing to another; and from one mode of production to another. In a transitional economy, there are elements of old mode of production and there are elements of a potentially new mode of production – side by side. Just as the duck-billed platypus has elements of mammalia (it suckles its young), it also has elements of reptilia (it lays eggs). The transition from capitalism to socialism does not happen overnight; black and white are thus both present. However, a dialectical approach in this context also means recognizing when a quali- tative change has taken place, opening up the potential for a new economy. The duck-billed platypus has made a qualitative transition to mammalia (because it suckles its young and is warm-blooded). A transitional economy from capitalism to socialism is defined from its start by the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist state machine and its replacement by a proletarian state and that state can only survive if the means of production and resources are expropriated from the capitalist class, atomizing that class as a ruling class. With state planning as the next step, the laws of motion of the transitional economy are qualitatively different from a capitalist economy. This is not socialism, but no longer is it capitalism. There is no need to invent another stage in the transition called “state capitalism”.