IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pophec/v23y2024i3p273-294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What makes communism possible? The self-realisation interpretation

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Kandiyali

Abstract

In the Critique of Gotha Programme , Karl Marx famously argues that a communist society will be characterised by the principle, ‘From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!’ I take up a question about this principle that was originally posed by G.A. Cohen , namely: what makes communism (so conceived) possible for Marx? In reply to this question, Cohen interprets Marx as saying that communism is possible because of limitless abundance, a view that Cohen takes to be implausible for ecological reasons. I develop a new interpretation of Marx's position. On this interpretation, people in communist society achieve self-realisation through providing others with the goods and services required for their self-realisation. Coupled with a reasonably high (but not immense) development of productive power, self-realisation generates conditions in which people can produce according to their abilities and receive according to their needs. I defend this view as an interpretation of Marx and I argue that it represents a more plausible account of what makes communism possible than Cohen's interpretation in which technological advance and limitless abundance play the predominant role.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Kandiyali, 2024. "What makes communism possible? The self-realisation interpretation," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 23(3), pages 273-294, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:pophec:v:23:y:2024:i:3:p:273-294
    DOI: 10.1177/1470594X231219764
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470594X231219764
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1470594X231219764?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John E. Roemer, 1994. "A Future for Socialism," Politics & Society, , vol. 22(4), pages 451-478, December.
    2. Jens Jørund Tyssedal, 2023. "Good work: The importance of caring about making a social contribution," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 22(2), pages 177-196, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Zweifel & H. E. Frech, 2016. "Why ‘Optimal’ Payment for Healthcare Providers Can Never be Optimal Under Community Rating," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 9-20, February.
    2. Naoki Yoshihara & Roberto Veneziani, 2009. "Exploitation as the Unequal Exchange of Labour: An Axiomatic Approach," Working Papers 655, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    3. Gaetano Cuomo, 2011. "NOTE BIBLIOGRAFICHE: JOSSA B. (2010), Esiste un'alternativa al capitalismo? L'impresa democratica e l'attualitá del marxismo, Manifestolibri, Roma," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 64(254), pages 177-180.
    4. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2022. "Computational methods and classical‐Marxian economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 310-349, April.
    5. Costas Panayotakis, 2012. "Scarcity, capitalism and the promise of economic democracy," International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 104-111.
    6. Jin, Zhangfeng, 2021. "The Legacies of the Soviet Influence in the 1950s: China's 156 Major Industrial Projects," GLO Discussion Paper Series 932, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Christopher Wonnell, 1998. "Roemer and Market Socialism," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1), pages 37-46.
    8. Gaetano Cuomo, 2015. "Imprese cooperative e democrazia economica," STUDI ECONOMICI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(116), pages 5-38.
    9. Paul Cantor, 1996. "To Privatize or Not to Privatize: That is the Question; What is the Answer?," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 96-111, March.
    10. H. E. Frech & Peter Zweifel, 2017. "Market Socialism and Community Rating in Health Insurance," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 59(3), pages 405-427, September.
    11. Sujian Guo, 2005. "Designing Market Socialism: Trustees of State Property," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 207-224.
    12. Douglas W MacKenzie, 2018. "Social Dividends, Entrepreneurial Discretion, and Bureaucratic Rules," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(1), pages 30-48, January.
    13. Michael Howard, 2005. "Basic income, liberal neutrality, socialism, and work," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(4), pages 613-631.
    14. Emilio Carnevali & Matteo Sommacal, 2024. "On the takeover mechanism in market socialism," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 223-243, April.
    15. Martinez-Alier, Joan & Munda, Giuseppe & O'Neill, John, 1998. "Weak comparability of values as a foundation for ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 277-286, September.
    16. Kaushik Basu, 2016. "Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9299.
    17. John Marangos, 2004. "Modelling the privatization process in transition economies," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 585-604.
    18. Pranab Bardhan & John E. Roemer, 1994. "On the Workability of Market Socialism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 177-181, Spring.
    19. Theodore Burczak, 2009. "Why Austrian socialism?," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 297-300, September.
    20. Benoît Walraevens, 2023. "Ideologies and Utopia: A Ricoeurian Reading of Thomas Piketty," Post-Print hal-04195650, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:pophec:v:23:y:2024:i:3:p:273-294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.