We proudly announce that Cosmonaut will be sponsoring and presenting at this year’s Socialism 2022 conference, hosted in Chicago from September 2-5th. We will be hosting a panel titled “In Defense of Socialist Planning”,Sunday, September 4th, 1 pm – 2:30 PM Central Time:
A major goal of socialists is to win the fight for democracy by extending democracy to the economy. Capitalism is a contradictory couple of the “free market” and the dictatorship of the workplace. The “free market” implies anarchy of production and production for profit but not human-welfare. The dictatorship of the workplace means the rigorous planning of the labor process and intense exploitation of labor. For Marxists, economic democracy means planning , the planning of the economy in a way to assure the welfare of human-beings and the health of the planet. So what is planning? How is it distinguished from market mechanisms of distribution? Can there be a “free market” in socialism? How does planning contribute to the goal of democracy? What will allow for planning i.e. the social and material conditions necessary to make planning feasible? This talk hosted by three members of Cosmonaut Magazine will hope to address these questions and more. The talk is divided into three parts: 1) Basics on Planning: Definition and Values 2)Market and Capitalism, Planning and Socialism 3) Social and Material Conditions on Planning: Technology and Social Organization
Register for the conference here.
