Socialism and capitalism - the two major economic systems pitted against each other during the Cold War - returned to center stage in a Janus Forum debate last night. An audience of about 80 people gathered to listen as Raymond Lotta, political economist and writer for the journal, Revolution, the self-described voice of the U.S. communist party, advocated socialism, while Glenn Loury, professor of economics, made the case for capitalism.
Speaking first, Lotta characterized "our current capitalist world" as one of unjust wars, imperial conflicts, discrimination and environmental degradation. He said capitalism has three rules - commodify everything, expand or die and achieve global dominance. "It's an anarchic system that lunges us into crisis," he said.
"We need a revolution to break the stranglehold," Lotta said. "Never before has the potential existed for change as much as now."
Lotta had with him a draft constitution for a "New Socialist Republic in North America," put forward by the Revolutionary Communist Party. He said the revolution should be based on the "new synthesis of communism" advocated by RCP Chairman Bob Avakian, adding he wanted the audience to see past their preconceptions.
"Okay, I said it, the word 'communism,'" Lotta said. "Many of you are thinking, 'robotification and tyranny,' but people think that because they've been lied to." He said a new socialist state would be better able to overcome divisions of class and ethnicity and protect the planet's ecosystems.
"The kind of society I'm talking about is not a utopia," Lotta said, concluding his argument.
Loury criticized Lotta's argument for its numerous "non sequiturs." He argued that though Lotta identified several flaws with capitalism, socialism is not necessarily the solution. "He has a problem, and that problem is history," Loury said.
"You have to think about the eradication of poverty, the massive expansion in standards of living, which billions of people on this planet have been able to enjoy," Loury said. People who have left socialist countries for capitalist countries have "voted with their feet," he said. "Let's just say the socialist societies never had an illegal immigration problem."
Loury also argued that central planning on a large scale is not practical. "Coordinating the actions of hundreds of millions of individuals, each with their own agendas and idiosyncratic information, is a massive coordination problem," he said. "It is solved by markets, private property and self-interest. All (Lotta) has to offer us is a dream."
The debate was followed by a question and answer session that lasted over an hour. Members of the audience asked Lotta and Loury about prison overcrowding, criminal trials, human psychology and communist history.
When asked about the financial crisis of 2008, Loury called it a "very bad show all around." The finance sector should not have been able to extort money from the rest of the country, he said. Lotta said the housing market typified capitalist irrationalism, arguing that basic human needs such as houses should not be commodified and "made the object of investment and speculation."
