Socialism and Referenda

From Wikipedia:

Referendum:

A referendum (plural referendums or referenda), ballot question, or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. The referendum or plebiscite is a form of direct democracy ideally favoring the majority.

Socialism:

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society.

They seem to be compatible, don’t they?

Referenda should be a natural option for a socialist community when it comes to selecting a decision process that would be used for allocating resources and formulating public policies. This, of course, does not mean that whenever we see a referendum we also see socialism and vice versa. Members of privately owned settlements can successfully use referenda (which they usually do) for decision making and no matter how perfectly socialistic given society would be, with its population increasing it would stumble upon problems of information costs and found itself in need for some level of delegation of power.

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You’re currently reading “Socialism and Referenda” by Michał Gancarski

Published:
11:41 pm, October 7, 2008
Categories:
Between Markets and Politics
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