Conclusion To Part I
The introduction of a socialist system of society engenders profound economic and political changes. What are the effects of these changes—to repeat the question we have already asked at the beginning of this inquiry—on international economic cooperation?
Part II. International Economic Order Versus Struggle for World Domination: A Theoretical Analysis of the International Economic Implications of Socialism
Introduction
We have seen in Part I that socialism leads to a profound transformation of the internal order of national states which, nevertheless, continue to exist as independent political units. There will be only national “collectivities” represented by their respective national governments.
Chapter VI. The Problem of Value and Economic Calculations in Acollectivist Economy
The socialist founding fathers openly refused to express themselves in detail on the working of a socialist economic order. “When Lenin, in 1917, wrote State and Revolution, he had no conception of the problem of economic calculation and of the difficulties involved in centrally directing the economic process of a modern national economy. His goal was ‘to organize the entire economy according to the model of the post office’. . . .
Chapter VII. Planned Foreign Trade and Its Consequences for International Economic Relations
The foreign trade monopoly of a collectivist state must make decisions of the following nature: what kinds and quantities of goods and services are to be imported and exported? What are the prices at which these goods are to be bought and sold? What criterion is to be used to measure the profitability of these transactions? Evidently, if there exists no reliable method of ascertaining scarcity, these questions cannot be answered satisfactorily.
Chapter VIII. Liberal Versus Socialist Economic Order. A Comparative Analysis
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
Here we must reflect for a moment. Do not our conclusions with respect to socialist international economic relations strikingly coincide with those drawn up by Hilferding with respect to the monopolistic stage of capitalism? Does not the growth of mighty industrial combines equally destroy the price mechanism based on competition and replace it by power, arbitrariness, and chance?
Chapter IX. Economic Development and the Problem of International Economic Order
In Chapter VIII, the major aspects of international economic order were treated in a general way. But can our judgment in favor of the liberal economic order and its policy implications be maintained in a world consisting of regions with widely differing degrees of economic development? Is it not conceivable that the collectivist approach, despite its numerous grave disadvantages, is more conducive to economic growth than a free market system?
Chapter X. The Fundamental Problem of World Planning; Conclusion to Part II
As a conclusion to Part II, the fundamental problem of world planning is examined. Our exposition is based on the threefold answer that has been given by socialists to the cardinal question: who is to make the economic decisions for the peoples of the world? It is recalled that the following bodies were envisaged to fulfill this function: (1) international organizations; (2) the authorities of an international federation; and (3) an internationally oriented vanguard party.
Part III. The Test by Practical Experience
Introduction
In this concluding part we will examine the reality of collectivist international economic intercourse. It would, of course, far exceed the scope of this study to deal exhaustively with the by now very numerous instances of (more or less) centrally planned economies conducting foreign trade relations. Thus, we shall set aside the international economic consequences of western war and postwar planning as well as the day-to-day problems faced by underdeveloped countries that are organized along socialist lines.
