 Socialism and Kornai’s Revolutionary PerspectiveChapter Chapter 5 in The Legacy of Janos Kornai, 2025, pp 49-73 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract In this paper, I argue that the principal message of Janos Kornai’s work was to underscore that the dysfunctional properties of socialism are endemic and systemic, and cannot be ‘reformed’. In a sense, Kornai’s role was similar to the French Encyclopedists in preparing the ground for France’s 1789 revolution. Kornai’s intellectual contribution was to formulate a revolutionary discourse emphasising the sterility of half-measure, cosmetic changes and reform packages. His conclusion was based on two foundations: (1) the unity or what Kornai calls the ‘coherence’ of socialism as a system, and (2) rejection of market socialism as hopelessly confused. Accordingly, reforms would introduce inconsistencies at best, without solving socialism’s chronic problems. Moreover, the inconsistencies of the half measures would erode socialist systems, inevitably leading to revolution. This paper will examine Kornai’s two tenets of revolutionary discourse and his final conclusion in light of Hungarian economic reforms that started on January 1, 1968. Keywords: Classical socialism; Market socialism; Reform socialism; Revolution; Socialist institutions; System paradigm; Transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:pshchp:978-3-031-83239-0_5 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-83239-0_5 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought from Palgrave Macmillan |
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