{"product_id":"the-contradictions-of-real-socialism-michael-a-lebowitz-9781583672563","title":"The Contradictions of Real Socialism: The Conductor and the Conducted","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhat was \"real socialism\"--the term which originated in \u003cbr\u003etwentieth-century socialist societies for the purpose of distinguishing \u003cbr\u003ethem from abstract, theoretical socialism? In this volume, Michael A. \u003cbr\u003eLebowitz considers the nature, tendencies, and contradictions of those \u003cbr\u003esocieties. Beginning with the constant presence of shortages within \u003cbr\u003e\"real socialism,\" Lebowitz searches for the inner relations which \u003cbr\u003egenerate these patterns. He finds these, in particular, in what he calls\u003cbr\u003e \"vanguard relations of production,\" a relation which takes the apparent\u003cbr\u003e form of a social contract where workers obtain benefits not available \u003cbr\u003eto their counterparts in capitalism but lack the power to decide within \u003cbr\u003ethe workplace and society. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhile these societies were able to claim major achievements in areas \u003cbr\u003efrom health care to education to popular culture, the separation of \u003cbr\u003ethinking and doing prevented workers from developing their capacities as\u003cbr\u003e fully developed human beings. The relationship within \"real socialism\" \u003cbr\u003ebetween the vanguard as conductor and a conducted working class, \u003cbr\u003ehowever, did not only lead to the deformation of workers and those \u003cbr\u003eelements necessary for the building of socialism; it also created the \u003cbr\u003econditions in which enterprise managers emerged as an incipient \u003cbr\u003ecapitalist class, which was an immediate source of the crises of \"real \u003cbr\u003esocialism.\" As he argued in The Socialist Alternative: Real Human Development, \u003cbr\u003e Lebowitz stresses the necessity to go beyond the hierarchy inherent in \u003cbr\u003ethe relation of conductor and conducted (and beyond the \"vanguard \u003cbr\u003eMarxism\" which supports this) to create the conditions in which people \u003cbr\u003ecan transform themselves through their conscious cooperation and \u003cbr\u003epractice--i.e., a society of free and associated producers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael A. Lebowitz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1583672567\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781583672563\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Monthly Review Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/01\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.61lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.27h x 5.53w x 0.94d","brand":"Michael A. Lebowitz","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43939784556799,"sku":"9781583672563","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_86f31912-1408-4e3e-801c-44edd3d8ddab.jpg?v=1681443464","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-contradictions-of-real-socialism-michael-a-lebowitz-9781583672563","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}