Hilferding 1924 – Probleme der Zeit

Rudolf Hilferding 1924. Probleme der Zeit.

Editorial to the fist issue of the new journal, edited by Hilferding himself “Die Gesellschaft. Internationale Revue für Sozialismus und Politik”. In this article Hilferding outlines his conception of “organised capitalism”. In fact, it is may be one of the founding works of macro-economics!

Rudolf Hilferding’s conception of economic democracy is warmly welcomed and indeed corresponds to the economic policy approach of MIME – much of the works concentrate on the labour theoretical foundations of economic democracy.Hilferding’s approach is so much more clearer than modern 3rd way approaches. His positions are taken up also 4 years later in “Wirtschaftsdemokratie” edited by Fritz Naphtali. But Hilferding’s neglect of discussing the Russian October Revolution is a serious shortcoming. For Hilferding the socialist revolution and economic democracy were not compatible, a position untenable in the face of economic analysis and historical experience. The failure of the German social democrates not only to have failed to establish a socialist republic in 1918/19 but also not having established the institutional framework for economic democracy – not even after 1945! – is at the centre of the current European economic crisis.Balanced intra-euro area trade and the socialisation of investment are indispensable to European economic recovery! It is not very assuring to realise that these insights had been gained already in 1924

Comments are closed.