On December 6, 2023, we will give an introductory lecture in Dresden.
We are sharing with you the event text from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Saxony:

Introduction to the “Basic Principles of Communist Production and Distribution”

With Jordi and André Kistner (“Initiative for Democratic Labor Time Calculation”)

In 1930, when the repressive and exploitative tendencies in the Soviet Union were becoming ever more apparent, the workers’ movement was split into two hostile camps, and fascist movements across Europe were gaining more and more support, a small group of dissident communists from Germany and the Netherlands wrote the pamphlet “BASIC PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNIST PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION.”

It was motivated by a relentless critique of the Leninist model of party- and state-socialism as well as its moderate social democratic variant, which had been the subject of the so-called “socialization debate” of the 1920s. Their critique was rooted in the idea of workers’ self-management and in the experience of the council movement during the revolutionary waves at the end of World War I.

But how can a socialist planned economy be organized without central state control and without money? This was the question that the Group of International Communists (Holland) tried to answer — and their answer was a decentralized planned economy based on labor time accounting.

This lecture aims to introduce both the historical context of the debate at the time and the nearly forgotten core ideas of council communists.

About the speakers: Jordi and André are members of the association “Initiative for Democratic Labor Time Calculation,” which was founded in 2021. Their goal is to encourage deeper reflection on the economy of a future society and to help the political left move out of its defensive position. They see great potential in a decentralized planned economy based on labor time accounting.

In cooperation with: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation: Society Analysis and Political Education e.V.

Location:
Wir AG
Martin-Luther-Straße 21
01099 Dresden

Date & Time:
December 6, 2023
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM