Abstract

Socialists continue to believe what we have always believed: that we need to shape the economy to meet human needs. The economy exists to serve people, not the other way around. Profit-maximizing corporations distort the economy and the polity. In the United States today, few people share our full perspective, but in many policy areas, we can move toward a society that fosters greater equality and greater democratic decisionmaking in the economy. Thirty-two years ago, Michael Harrington wrote in these pages, "What Socialists Would Do in America—if They Could." It's still a good question. What would we do today if we could? Here are a few proposals of the sort that we used to call "transitional." If they were enacted and if people could see them work, the country might be ready for further leftward movement.

pdf

Share