Historical Materialism and Democratic Firm Management

Abstract

This article starts from the premise that the precondition for the unreserved acceptance of historical materialism and, hence, Marxism is the belief that a new production mode will arise and take the place of capitalism after its suppression. From this perspective, however, the new production mode to rise from the ashes of capitalism is not the Soviet-type central planning model, but a system of democratically managed firms. If socialism is equated with worker control of firms, it is contended, Marxism will become more viable than ever, although it will need to be approached from a different viewpoint.