Beyond the Market: Re-anchoring the Discussion on Socialist Planning in the Marxist Foundations

The article argues that contemporary debates on socialist planning can only contribute to the revolutionary transformation of capitalist society if re-anchored in the unified economic and political analysis of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Although their remarks on planning were scattered, they consistently reflected both the economic characteristics inherited from capitalism and the political nature of socialism. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive framework for analyzing socialist planning, the socialist state, and popular involvement in power and planning. Presenting the main elements of this framework and engaging with contemporary planning models, the article develops its argument along four lines. First, the degree of socialization of labor inherited from capitalism requires central planning. Second, as the lower phase of communism, socialist construction needs a strong and active workers’ state to guide the conscious development of communist relations of production amid intense class struggle. Third, the action of this state, together with the development of communist productive forces and relations, is the precondition for genuine popular participation in power and planning. Fourth, this process must be led by a revolutionary workers’ party guided by developing revolutionary theory, particularly the political economy of socialism.