Capitalist Efficiency and Socialist Efficiency
In: Monthly review: an independent socialist magazine, Band 28, Heft 3, S. 19-39
ISSN: 0027-0520
Three interrelated theoretical questions stemming from recent work on production are considered: (1) Can capitalists use technologies & structures that control workers even if they are not cost minimizing? (2) Why is it not advantageous for workers in a period of socialist transition to develop the most efficient production process & expand the forces of production as quickly as possible, even if this is degrading to the workers? (3) Do capitalist production relations provide the basis for a revolutionary force which would not only overthrow capitalist relations, but also sustain the struggle along the socialist path? It is argued that the answers depend upon new & more rigorous conceptualizations for capitalist efficiency & socialist efficiency. The efficiency of a production process is of two types: (A) quantitative, realizing the greatest set of output for a given set of physical inputs; & (B) qualitative, the degree of reproduction of the class relations of a mode of production. Production processes are capitalist efficient if they best reproduce capital control over the production process & minimize resistance to this control. A production process is socialist efficient if it maximizes the control of the working class over the means of production & minimizes the possibility of this control reverting to capitalist domination. The necessities of socialist efficiency require a greater focus on the collective experience of workers as workers. M. Migalski.