Populating no man's land : economic concepts of ownership under communism

Bibliographic Information

Populating no man's land : economic concepts of ownership under communism

edited by János Mátyás Kovács

(Revisiting communism : collectivist economic and political thought in historical perspective)

Lexington Books, c2018

  • : cloth

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This edited volume opening the new series Revisiting Communism: Collectivist Economic Thought in Historical Perspective focuses on the concepts of ownership, the cornerstone of political economy in Soviet-type societies. The authors' main objective is to contribute to the still unwritten chapter on collectivism in the history books of modern economic thought. They trace the lengthy evolution of economic ideas of property reform under communism leading from the doctrine of blanket nationalization to projects of moderate privatization in eight countries of Eastern Europe and China. The comparative analysis sheds light upon the tireless attempts of reform-minded economists in communist countries to populate the no man's land of "social property" with quasi-private economic actors such as bodies of workers' self-management and managers of state-owned companies. For a long time, these were expected to crowd out the communist nomenklatura from its actual ownership position without challenging the primacy of collective property rights. The fact that even the most radical reformers came to the conclusion that such surrogate owners would not be able to break the power of the ruling elite only on the eve of the 1989 revolutions demonstrates the immense strength of collectivist ideas. The authors coin the term "trap of collectivism" to warn those demanding nationalization or other forms of non-private ownership today: it is rather easy, even with the best intentions, to walk into this trap but it may take long decades to break out from it.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: Why Ownership? Why Communism? by Janos Matyas Kovacs Chapter 1: From Nationalization to Nowhere. Ownership in Bulgarian Economic Thought (1944-1989), by Roumen Avramov Chapter 2: From Control of the 'Commanding Heights' to Control of the Whole Economy and Back. Chinese Ownership Theories Since 1949, by Fan Shitao Chapter 3: From Nationalization to Privatization. Understanding the Concept of Ownership in Czechoslovakia (1948-1990), by Julius Horvath and Vitezslav Sommer Chapter 4: Ownership under East-German Communism-A One-Way Street, by Hans-Jurgen Wagener and Franz Rudolph Chapter 5: From Two to One (And Only)? Theorizing Ownership in Communist Hungary, by Janos Matyas Kovacs Chapter 6: From Soviet-type Ownership through Self-Management to Privatization. Debating Ownership in Communist Poland, by Maciej Tyminski Chapter 7: The Silence of the Herd. Exploring Ownership Concepts in Communist Romania, by Radu Ioan Simandan, Gabriel Claudiu Mursa and Vlad Pasca Chapter 8: Fighting Dogma, Rescuing Doctrine. Toward a History of Ownership Debates in Soviet Economic Literature, by Oleg Ananyin and Denis Melnik Chapter 9: Social Property and the Market. An Uneasy Symbiosis in Yugoslavia, by Joze Mencinger Conclusion: Expeditions to No Man's Land. Comparing Economic Concepts of Ownership under Communism: An Evolutionary View, by Janos Matyas Kovacs About the Contributors

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