State socialism: Difference between revisions

State socialism is often referred to by right-wing detractors simply as ''socialism'', including [[Austrian School]] economists such as [[Friedrich Hayek]]<ref>Hayek, Friedrich (1944). ''[[The Road to Serfdom]]''. Routledge Press. {{ISBN|0-226-32061-8}}. {{oclc|30733740}}.</ref> and [[Ludwig von Mises]],<ref>Von Mises, Ludwig (1936) [1922]. ''[[Socialism (book)|Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis]]''. London: Jonathan Cape. {{oclc|72357479}}.</ref><ref>Von Mises, Ludwig; Raico, Ralph, trans.; Goddard, Arthur, ed. (1962) [1927]. ''[[Liberalism (book)|The Free and Prosperous Commonwealth: An Exposition of the Ideas of Classical Liberalism]]''. Princeton, D. Van Nostrand. {{ISBN|978-0442090579}}.</ref> who continually used the term ''socialism'' as a synonym for central planning and state socialism.<ref>Block, Walter (15 January 2013). "Was Milton Friedman A Socialist? Yes". ''MEST Journal''. '''1''' (1): 11–26. {{doi|10.12709/mest.01.01.01.02.pdf}}. "In section 2 of this paper we base our analysis on the assumption that socialism is defined in terms of governmental ownership of the means of production. [...] The most technical and perhaps the most accurate definition of this concept is, Government ownership of all of the means of production, e.g., capital goods." [...] Socialism may be broken down into its voluntary and coercive strands. In the former case, there are the nunnery, convent, kibbutz, commune, collective, syndicalist, cooperatives, monastery, abbey, priory, friary, religious community; in the latter, the economies of socialist countries such as Cuba, North Korea, the USSR, Nazi Germany, etc. We will use the word 'socialism' in the latter understanding throughout this paper. [...] The Nazi ''socialist'' government was not extreme in its explicit ownership of the means of production. But that version of socialism, that is, fascism, was earmarked by implicit state ownership, or control, of capital goods."</ref> This is notable in the United States, where ''socialism'' is a pejorative term to mean state socialism used by [[Conservatismmembers inof the United States|conservatives]] and [[LibertarianismRight-wing inpolitics|political the United States|libertariansright]] to stop the implementation of [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] and [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] policies, proposals and to criticize the public figures trying to implement them.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/01/06/the-failure-of-american-political-speech|title=The failure of American political speech|last=Jackson|first=Samuel|newspaper=The Economist|date=6 January 2012|access-date=15 June 2019|quote=Socialism is not "the government should provide healthcare" or "the rich should be taxed more" nor any of the other watery social-democratic positions that the American right likes to demonise by calling them "socialist"—and granted, it is chiefly the right that does so, but the fact that rightists are so rarely confronted and ridiculed for it means that they have successfully muddied the political discourse to the point where an awful lot of Americans have only the flimsiest grasp of what socialism is.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in New York {{!}} Harry S. Truman |url=https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/289/rear-platform-and-other-informal-remarks-new-york |access-date=2022-08-30 |website=www.trumanlibrary.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Astor |first=Maggie |date=2019-06-12 |title=What Is Democratic Socialism? Whose Version Are We Talking About? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/us/politics/democratic-socialism-facts-history.html |access-date=2022-08-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> One criticism especially related to state socialism is the [[economic calculation problem]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Economic calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth|access-date=11 November 2019|last=Von Mises|first=Ludwig|author-link=Ludwig von Mises|year=1990|publisher=Mises Institute|url=https://mises.org/sites/default/files/Economic%20Calculation%20in%20the%20Socialist%20Commonwealth_Vol_2_3.pdf}}</ref><ref>Hayek, Friedrich (1935). "The Nature and History of the Problem". "The Present State of the Debate". ''Collectivist Economic Planning''. pp. 1–40, 201–243.</ref> followed by the [[socialist calculation debate]].<ref>Durlauf, Steven N.; Blume, Lawrence E., ed. (1987). ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online''. Palgrave Macmillan. {{doi|10.1057/9780230226203.1570}}.</ref><ref>Biddle, Jeff; Samuels, Warren; Davis, John (2006). ''A Companion to the History of Economic Thought, Wiley-Blackwell''. p. 319. "What became known as the socialist calculation debate started when von Mises (1935 [1920]) launched a critique of socialism".</ref><ref>Levy, David M.; Peart, Sandra J. (2008). "Socialist calculation debate". ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics'' (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|978-0333786765}}.</ref>