«Is there a basic economic law of socialism? Yes, there is. What are the essential features and requirements of this law? The essential features and requirements of the basic law of socialism might be formulated roughly in this way: the securing of the maximum satisfaction of the constantly rising material and cultural requirements of the whole of society through the continuous expansion and perfection of socialist production on the basis of higher techniques.
Consequently: instead of maximum profits — maximum satisfaction of the material and cultural requirements of society; instead of development of production with breaks in continuity from boom to crisis and from crisis to boom — unbroken expansion of production; instead of periodic breaks in technical development, accompanied by destruction of the productive forces of society — an unbroken process of perfecting production on the basis of higher techniques» (put in bold type by the authors) (“The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR”, “Remarks on Economics Questions Connected with the November 1951 Discussion”, Chapter 7. “The Basic Economic Laws of Modern Capitalism and of Socialism”).
If one compares what Ford said about the goals of production in the society, about the purpose (function) and distribution of profit at an enterprise with Stalin’s definition of the fundamental economic laws of socialism one can see that Ford’s words fit into Stalin’s definition of the fundamental economic law of socialism very well. Therefore one needs to be very resourceful in justifying falsehoods if one seeks to negate the following conclusion:
Ford and Stalin were honest and conscientious laborers. They promoted the common cause of bolshevism (of which they might have had a slightly different understanding) in different countries, in different historic circumstances, but to the benefit of all workers (laborers) who earn their bread.
Yet before we carry on (proceed) to the explanation Stalin provided for the fundamental economic law of socialism and the means to bring it to life (implement it) we need to make yet one more digression.
Digression 6:
Political Economy of the Industrial Civilization
(In brief)
Let us start with making clear that all statements about some countries entering the «post-industrial» stage or being very near to entering it are nothing more than ravings of a madman or an attempt to impose this delirious view upon people in order to make «milking» them easier.
All the so-called «industrial» and «post-industrial» societies cannot do without products and services produced by means of industry, i.e. through a functioning multiindustrial system of production and consumption in its integrity. It is true that some countries have shoved out enterprises most unfriendly to the environment or most labor-intensive and now specialize in high technology, legal squabbles of all sorts, financial and stock-exchange speculations and putting up shows. This fact does not alter the core of the matter: they are still dependent on the technosphere.[105]
The authors of textbooks on political economy which students studied in the Soviet-era universities kept babbling about «the law of value», «the law of regular and balanced development of economy» without grasping the essence of the practical economy existing in the society and thereby evading the object region of political economy as a science. The content of post-Soviet textbooks on political economy is not much more credible. They are also meaningless and absurd when judged from the positions set forth in Digression 2: “The Axioms of Modern Economics”.
While the authors of those textbooks and lecturers on social sciences in schools and at universities babbled about economy many readers had no custom and ability of thinking independently. The consequence of these two factors combined is that quotations from “The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR” which we are going to consider in the next chapter 4.5 would seem unclear to many. They would seem unclear simply because they have no concrete knowledge of metrologically consistent terms which could describe the microeconomic and macroeconomic relations termed by Stalin as «the law of value», «the fundamental law of socialism», «the law of regular and balanced development of economy», etc.
These terms are a part of the sort of professional «slang» which was used by top party and government officials in the USSR of the Stalin era. Each of them covers a broad area of interconnected cultural and economic phenomena. That is why for the majority of our contemporaries who have no coherent understanding of the production and distribution processes in the society or have a twisted knowledge of them the following digression must be made in order to elaborate on the ideas stated quite briefly by Stalin in his work “The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR” which is in fact his address to all sane and well-meaning people.
There is none other «will» left after Stalin.[106]
The following digression deals with inter-branch proportions, defining objectives for production and distribution, market mechanism, addressed directive control and planning.
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The systemic integrity of any multiindustrial production having a historically formed set of technologies applied within the system can be characterized by the following three basic features:
In order to get the final product consumed by people and social institutions outside the production sphere (the state, public ass o ciations, etc.) one needs to produce intermediate (raw mater i als, semi-finished goods, components, etc.) and auxiliary pro d ucts (means of production, i.e. «investment goods») co n sumed within the produ c tion sphere.
Therefore full capacity of most branches of industry (usually termed «gross capacity») that includes both intermediate and final products is higher than the capacity of any such branch taken by i t self when measured against its final product only. In other words the efficiency factor of a multiindustrial system of production and co n sumption is always less than one ( or less than 100 % in a di f ferent representation ) because of the necessity to manufacture intermed i ate and auxiliary products.
Production of a certain range[107] of final products requires a definite ratio of the full (gross) capacities of all the industries constituting such multiindustrial system of production and consumption.
For example, in order to manufacture one car one needs mat e rials in amounts determined by the car’s design, technologies, pr o duction’s organization and general standard: this much of steel; this much of non-ferrous metals; this much or rubber and plastic; this much of glass; this much of transportation services, etc. All these goods and services are mostly delivered to the motor-car construction industry by other branches. Consequently the full (gross) capacity of, say, metallurgy, is the total volume of goods it delivers to other branches plus metal used for its own needs plus metal sold as the final product to consumers for everyday needs. The same approach should be applied to define production r e quirements and the full (gross) capacity of all other industries.