The Harvester Press Limited
© 1975
First published in France as
La transition vers l'économie socialiste
by François Maspero, 1968

 


Prepared © for the Internet by David J. Romagnolo,
[email protected]
  (August 2002)


 

Contents




[ - Part 1 - ]

Preface to the English Edition

9


Forward


11


Chapter One   The problematic of the economy of transition


13

I
II
III


Present state of theory.
Proposals on terminology.
A fundamental feature of the transition period.

14
19
24


Chapter Two   The socio-economic framework and the
   organisation of social planning


 
31

I
 
II
III
IV
V


A general survey of the mode of organisation of present-day
planned economies.
Some passages from Marx and Engels.
The nature of the problems to be studied.
The diversity of forms of property in the means of production.
The commodity categories within the state sector.


31
32
33
34
37


1
 
2
3
 
4

The commodity character of part of the production of the state
sector.
The requirements of calculation.
The conditions for the disappearance of commodity categories,
according to Stalin's Economic Problems . . .
Discussion of the preceding theses.


37
38
 
39
40

VI
 


Statisation, socialisation and taking over of the means of
production by society.


42


1
2
 
3
 

The social implications of state ownership.
Statisation, socialisation, domination of the productive forces
by society.
Adaptation of property forms to the level of development and
the character of the productive forces.

43
 
44
 
47


(a)
(b)
 

The more or less social nature of the productive forces.
The degree of socialisation of the productive forces and the
levels and forms of ownership of the means of production.

48
 
50

4
 

The production-relations within the state sector of the socialist
economy.


55


(a)

Planned obligations to buy and sell.

56


page 6
 



(b)
 
(c)

Centralised economic management of certain branches of
production.
Vertical integration of economic activities.


60
65

5

Economic subject and juridical subject.

71


(a)

Determining the economic subjects.

72


(1)
 
(2)
 
(3)
 

Internal structuring of economic subjects and working
groups.
Economic hierarchy and administrative or political
subordination.
Economic subjects, planning authorities and admini-
strative orders.


76
 
82
 
83

(b)

Contractual relations.

86


(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Contracts for buying and selling.
Labour contracts.
Credit contracts.
Co-operation contracts.

86
87
87
88

(c)
 
(d)

The nature of the decisions to be taken by the different
economic subjects and social authorities.
The different types of hierarchy.


88

6
 

Some problems of planning connected with the existence of eco-
nomic subjects


94


(a)
 

The role played by economic subjects in the drawing up of
plans.


94


(1)
(2)
 

Procedures for consultation and participation.
Some factors influencing the content of the draft plan
prepared by an enterprise.

95
 
97

(b)
 

Some contradictions or weaknesses in the present practice
of business accounting and planning at enterprise level.


98

(c)
 

The degree of exactness and the more or less obligatory
character of enterprise plans.


101


(1)
(2)
(3)

Investments without security.
The annual character of the plans.
The quantitative indices.

101
103
103

(d)
 

Methods used by the planning organs to lay down produc-
tion targets.


104

(e)

Methods of crrying out the plans.

105

Conclusion

107





From Marx
to Mao

Other
Documents

Reading
Guide

On to
Part 2