Socialism will be a society based upon production for use. But what does this\nmean? How could this work and what part could be played by information\ntechnology in socialism?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\nWhen describing the new society they are working for, socialists \nfrequently encounter the question of “how will it work?”. Questioners \noften assume that only with a system of money and prices can things \n“work”; that things just happen, without any need for them to \nparticipate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The market system of buying and selling may well “work”, in the sense\n that it continues to function with or without people trying to control \nwhere it takes us. After all, politicians nowadays seem to increasingly \nadmit how little control they have over the system they merely \nadminister. Yet, this unavoidable absence of conscious, social, control \nis precisely the problem. The new form of social organisation where \nproduction is organised solely for use may require more active \ninvolvement by people but this is the only way of running society in the\n interests of the whole population. So when replying to the question \n“how will it work?” socialists recognise that there is firstly a \nnecessity for the vast majority of people to understand and want \nsocialism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The way that things will “work” in socialism is through what we call \n“production for use”. This defining feature of socialism, is not \ndifficult to understand\u2013it simply means directly producing what is \nneeded, without the need for monetary exchange, as in capitalism. \nThroughout human history there has always been production solely for \nuse, starting with food gathering and tool making in hunter-gatherer \nsocieties. In modern day capitalism, there are many examples ranging \nfrom the activities of voluntary organisations to housework and \ngardening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Production for use<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In socialism, production directly for use will be the rule. Socialist\n production needs to be organised democratically\u2013a dictatorship \norganising production for use would not be socialism. In considering the\n relationship between democracy and production, the “how will it work” \nquestion demands some further answers. In building socialism, we need to\n consider how the preferences and opinions of the whole of society will \nbe reflected in the choices that are made about the production of goods \nand services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three specific questions about production in socialism come to mind. \nFirstly, a question about economic calculation, secondly the \ngeographical scale of decision making and thirdly incentives in a \nsocialist society. These are questions where the role of information \ntechnology (IT) in socialism can be an important in the answers offered \nby socialists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first question concerning economic calculation is put by \ndefenders of the free market. The market is said to be a decentralised \nmechanism for calculating demand in order to achieve the right level of \nsupply, as expressed through monetary expenditure. There are, of course,\n flaws in this argument\u2013money is not equally distributed, the market is \nnot such an elegantly decentralised system and does not achieve the kind\n of textbook efficiency as is claimed. Still, there is a need to show \nhow calculations about supply and demand would be approached in the \nabsence of the market system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be necessary to calculate the amount of inputs that would be\n needed to achieve a certain level of production. This kind of \ninput-output calculation would need to occur on different geographical \nscales\u2013from “local” forms of calculation to the regional and even \nglobal. This connects to our second question about the extent of \nlocalised versus centralised decision making in socialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking at local forms of organisation, individual units of \nproduction in capitalism (factories, offices etc) already have IT \nsystems for calculating the resources that are required in production, \nas well as stock control systems for managing the supplies of resources.\n Aside from the parts of that are concerned with monetary accounting, \nthese systems could be of use to the socialist society inheriting them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In any case, monetary accounting does not help with the input-output \ncalculations that are really needed in the planning of production. These\n calculations can be made in terms of quantities (whether it be \nkilograms, litres, watts or other units of measurement). They often are,\n even within capitalism. Indeed, in 1973 an economist Wassily Leontief \nwas awarded a Nobel prize for formulating a methodology for input-output\n analysis that could use such quantitative measurements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As well as utilising existing IT systems, many new developments would\n be needed in the local organisation of production. For example, the \noperations of the many different types of productive activity could be \nmade more open and accountable through improved public information. \nDecision-making and recruitment of people with certain skills are other \nareas where IT would enhance the organisation of production for use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moving onto the wider regional and global scales, it is often said \nthat production in modern society is too complex to be the subject of \ncalculation. Yet, even going back to the 1960s when computer technology \nwas in its early stages, “socialist” minded theorists have cited the \npotential use of computers for input-output calculation on the larger \nscale. Modern computing power means that the calculations needed even \nfor millions of products can be achieved in minutes. In fact, the \ncomputational scale of such calculations is small when compared to other\n uses of modern “super-computers” such as in weather forecasting (see \nTowards a New Socialism by W. Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell, \nSpokesman Books, 1993)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Large-scale mathematical processing may not be the problem it once \nwas, yet a socialist society would still face the question of how best \nto democratise production. IT could be used to provide universally \naccessible global sources of information about the different choices \nthat are faced in the planning of production. It is important to note \nthat the central storage of information does not necessarily mean that \ndecision-making must be centralised. The wider availability of \ninformation would itself facilitate the very democracy that socialists \nargue is needed to prevent the centralisation of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question of how far it will be possible to localise production \nand decision-making will remain a matter for debate both before and \nafter the socialist revolution. Certainly, local organisation seems \nappropriate for many kinds of production, some of which will not need to\n centralise much or even any of the information used in their planning. \nOther issues will need decisions on a larger geographical scale\u2013some \naspects of environmental management, for example. Discussion of these \nissues will benefit from the versatility of IT systems, which means that\n decision-making can occur at the most appropriate scale, whether it be \nlocal, regional or global.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the third question, about incentives, it is often asked what would\n motivate people in socialism to achieve new innovations. The main \nanswer to this lies in the completely new set of priorities and \nmotivations in which people would recognise the urgent need for \nachieving certain kinds of development (for example, developing \nrenewable energy sources and other ecologically sustainable forms of \nproduction). IT, in promoting knowledge sharing and co-operation, would \nalso be important in fostering innovation, as indeed it has been even \nunder capitalism. One example that socialists have noticed has been the \n“open source software” movement in which geographically separated people\n have collaborated over the internet to develop the computer platform \nLinux. Their work, at the cutting edge of the IT industry, has been \norganised on a voluntary basis, actively seeking to avoid the market \nrather than utilise it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A system of production solely for use would have a completely new set\n of priorities and the incentives to develop in these areas would arise \nfrom quite different sources such as the dynamics of co-operation, \ndemocracy and the greatly enhanced freedom to focus on those areas of \nproduction that are widely recognised to be of the greatest benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rapid development of computer technology offers a new kind of \nresponse to the pro-market arguments concerning calculation, \ndecision-making and incentives. The provision of information will be an \nessential part of the democratic structure of socialism and the task of \ndesigning the systems that can best manage this will be one of the \nbiggest challenges facing socialist society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The use of IT systems in socialism may not always be the aspect of \nthe new society that captures the imagination most. Some may even fear \nit leading to a nightmare scenario in which computers start to control \nus, rather than the other way round. These fears fail to acknowledge the\n potential for IT to facilitate rather than dictate social organisation,\n once it is used to work in the interests of the whole of society. IT \ncan provide the building blocks for new forms of organisation that \nsurpass anything that does or could ever exist in capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to the ‘Dream On’ Index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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