Dühring’s “socialitarian” model of economic communes and its influence on the development of socialist thought and practice

Abstract

This paper considers the influence of Eugen Dühring’s 1876 model of economic communes on the development of a peculiar non‐Marxian stream of market socialist models, characterized by the fact that the self‐managed production units are open. In the 1934 Breit and Lange model of market socialism, the organization of the economy is thought to be in the form of large self‐management trusts, whose market power is limited by openness. Very similar features can also be found in Franz Oppenheimer’s previous model of industrial cooperatives. Herztka’s Freeland model of settlement cooperatives represents another development of Dühring’s original blueprint. Through Oppenheimer, Dühring’s ideas paradoxically exerted an intellectual influence on the initial institutional form of Jewish settlements in Palestine. Otherwise Dühring’s model of economic communes shows remarkable similitude with Mao’s organization of the Chinese economy, pointing to a possible influence through the extensive quotes in Engels’ AntiDühring.