Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (Second Edition Text) by Joseph A. Schumpeter

Author:Joseph A. Schumpeter [Schumpeter, Joseph A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sublime Books
Published: 2018-04-17T16:00:00+00:00

IV. SAVING AND DISCIPLINE

Finally, what about the functions at present discharged by the bourgeoisie that the socialist régime is bound to take away from it? Under this heading we shall discuss Saving and Discipline.

As regards the first—a function almost entirely discharged by the bourgeoisie and especially its higher ranks—I am not going to argue that saving is unnecessary or anti-social. Nor am I going to ask the reader to rely on the individual comrades’ propensity to save. Their contribution need not be neglected but it would be inadequate unless the socialist economy is to be thought of as quasi-stationary. Much more effectively, as we have seen, the central authority can do all that is now being done through private saving by directly allocating part of the national resources to the production of new plant and equipment. The Russian experience may be inconclusive on many points, but it is conclusive on this. Hardships and “abstinence” have been imposed such as no capitalist society could ever have enforced. In a more advanced stage of economic development it would not, in order to secure progress at the capitalist rate, be necessary to impose nearly as much. When a quasi-stationary stage has been reached by the capitalist predecessor, even voluntary saving may be sufficient. The problem, though always solvable, again shows that different situations require different socialisms and that the idyllic type can be successful only if economic progress is held to be of no account, in which case the economic criterion ceases to be relevant, or if economic progress though appreciated for the past is held to have gone far enough to be of no account for the future.

As regards discipline: there is an obvious relation between the efficiency of the economic engine and the authority over employees which, by means of the institutions of private property and “free” contracting, commercial society vests with the bourgeois employer. This is not simply a privilege conferred upon Haves in order to enable them to exploit Have-nots. Behind the private interest immediately concerned there is the social interest in the smooth running of the productive apparatus. Opinions may differ fairly as to how far in a given situation the latter is actually served by the former and as to the extent of functionless hardship which the method of entrusting the social interest to the self-interest of employers used to inflict on the underdog. But historically there cannot be any difference of opinion either as to the existence of that social interest or as to the general effectiveness of that method which moreover, during the epoch of intact capitalism, was evidently the only possible one. Hence we have two questions to answer. Will that social interest persist in the socialist environment? If so, can the socialist plan supply the required amount of authority whatever it may be?

It will be convenient to replace the term authority by its complement, authoritarian discipline, which is taken to mean the habit, inculcated by agents other than the disciplined individuals themselves, of obeying orders and of accepting supervision and criticism.

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