Pelaxian Socialism

Pelaxian Socialism is a political, social, and economic philosophy of Marxist origing encompassing a range political theories, and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production. It includes the economic policies and movements associated with such systems. Social ownership can be public, collective, cooperative, or of equity.

While no single definition encapsulates the many types of principles, social ownership is the one common element that has been higlighted in the 21st century.

Historically Pelaxian Socialists disagreed about the degree to which social control or regulation of the economy is necessary, how far society should intervene and whether government, particularly existing government, is the correct vehicle for change. Pelaxian Socialism lines of thought have been divided in non-market and market forms. Non-market socialism substitutes factor markets and money with integrated economic planning and engineering or technical criteria based on calculation performed in-kind, thereby producing a different economic mechanism that functions according to different economic laws and dynamics than those of capitalism. A non-market socialist system eliminates the inefficiencies and crises traditionally associated with capital accumulation and the profit system in capitalism. The socialist calculation debate, originated by the economic calculation problem, concerns the feasibility and methods of resource allocation for a planned socialist system. By contrast, market socialism retains the use of monetary prices, factor markets and in some cases the profit motive, with respect to the operation of socially owned enterprises and the allocation of capital goods between them. Profits generated by these firms would be controlled directly by the workforce of each firm or accrue to society at large in the form of a social dividend.

Pelaxian Socialist politics has been both internationalist and nationalist in orientation; organised through political parties and opposed to party politics; at times overlapping with trade unions and at other times independent and critical of them; and present in both industrialised and developing nations. Social democracy originated within the Pelaxian Socialist movement, supporting economic and social interventions to promote social justice.

While retaining socialism as a long-term goal, since the post-Great War period the Socialist Party of Pelaxia has come to embrace a Keynesian mixed economy within a predominantly developed capitalist market economy and liberal democratic polity that expands state intervention to include income redistribution, regulation and a welfare state. Economic democracy proposes a sort of market socialism, with more democratic control of companies, currencies, investments and natural resources.

History

Meirelesism

Second Revisionist period: The Socialism of Cooperatives

The current trend of market socialism has become the increasingly predominant position among socialist and social-democratic circles, leading to a form of revisionism within Marxism itself. The most significant expression of this has been Meirelesism, considered the second revisionist period.

Meirelesism, named after Pedro Meireles, centers its economic philosophy on ensuring a horizontal organization of labor and its form of association, acquisition, and distribution of profits. It has been greatly influenced by the resurgence of cooperative movements at the end of the 20th century, whose origins can be traced back to the late 19th century.

Meirelesism emerged as a response to the challenges faced by socialist and communist movements during the last third of the 20th century, marked by the collapse of state socialism in several countries and the growing influence of globalized market economies. In response to the crisis of centralized socialism, Pedro Meireles proposed a reinterpretation of Marxism, where market dynamics and cooperativism play a crucial role in the transition to a socialist society. Rather than rejecting the market as an intrinsically capitalist mechanism, Meirelesism advocates for its "domestication" within a socialist framework, where the means of production remain in the hands of workers, but market mechanisms are used to drive efficiency and competitiveness. For Meireles, cooperatives were a fundamental vehicle in creating a new socialist economy. Unlike centrally planned economies, cooperatives allow for a horizontal organization of workers, who participate democratically in the management of production and the distribution of profits. However, unlike other socialist models, Meirelesism does not propose the abolition of the market but its transformation. In this sense, prices, supply, and demand still regulate the economy, but within a context where cooperatives control the means of production. While the market plays a role in the Meirelesian model, wealth distribution is regulated through progressive taxation, redistributive policies, and state control over strategic sectors of the economy (energy, telecommunications, natural resources). The goal is not to equalize incomes but to ensure that differences are reasonable and that there is universal access to basic services.

One of the key elements of Meirelesism is the notion that there can be no true political democracy without economic democracy. In this sense, workers are encouraged to have a voice and vote in decisions that affect their jobs and the direction of the companies in which they participate. This principle aligns with ideas of self-management and shared ownership, but with the particularity that competition remains a driving force that encourages innovation and productivity.

Meirelesism had a profound influence on the movement known as Pelaxian Socialism, a variation of market socialism that developed particularly in Pelaxia at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. This socialism, driven by Pelaxia's peculiar historical and economic situation, adapted Meirelesian ideas to the reality of a country in full transition towards modernity, where late industrialization and high social inequality had generated a deeply polarized society.

Pelaxian Socialism adopts many of the principles of Meirelesism, such as the importance of cooperativism and economic democracy, but adds a particular emphasis on the role of the state as a mediator between the tensions of the working and business classes. In Pelaxia, where the private sector has traditionally played a dominant role in the economy, Pelaxian Socialism proposes a mixed model: an active collaboration between the public and private sectors, where the state strategically intervenes in the markets to correct inequalities and guarantee access to essential goods and services.

At its ideological core, Meirelesism claims to be the true expression of modern socialism, as it argues that it tackles the root of the capitalist social relationship: the form of productive organization between people and the extraction of surplus value. It proposes alternative forms of appropriation of the means of production and redistribution of surplus value, without making the state the owner of the means of production. In political discourse, its explicitly Marxist rhetoric has drawn attacks from center-right and right-wing parties. Likewise, from the orthodox socialist left, it has been accused of being a violent form of Levantine reactionism, even being associated with Wittonian Socialism.