Materials on Socialism and Conservatism

Here, as usual, are links to way more material than I can reasonably expect you to study. But I do want everyone to look at the first four items on this list, at least.

There is a concise and orderly account of socialism by Prof. D. W. Haslett of the University of Delaware in the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, online at http://www.xrefer.com/entry/553560. Prof. Haslett also has a brief discussion of 'worker control' at http://www.xrefer.com/entry/553903

While you're in the neighborhood, read Anthony O'Hear's attempt to sum up conservatism: http://www.xrefer.com/entry/551667 (The resources available at xrefer are fabulous.)

Excerpts from Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom (criticizing the socialist ideal): http://www.woldww.net/classes/Political_Ideas/Hayek%20-%20excerpts%20from%20'road%20to%20serfdom'.doc

For a classic vision of a socialist society please read chapters 1, 5, 6, 7, and 9 of Ralph Bellamy's "Looking Backward" indexed at http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bellamy-ed/works/backward/index.htm This novel describes the experiences of a wealthy young man who lives in Boston in 1887, somehow falls into a state of suspended animation, and wakes up in a socialist society in the year 2000. Read more, if you like.

The same site that has Bellamy's book (Marxists.org) has a whole library of marxist texts.

Mike Lepore has assembled a set of quotations from more or less orthodox Marxists about what socialism would be like: http://www.idsi.net/~lepore/soc/like.htm

David McMullen's Socialism web site has brief and relatively clear explanations of a fairly traditional version of socialism: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~dmcm/

Michael Albert & Robin Hahnel describe their verson of socialism, which they call participatory economics, here: http://www.zmag.org/ParEcon/writings/hahnelURPE.htm

Two economists (one American, one British) have a book and several articles on line that defend the viability of central planning against the 'Austrian School' criticisms. The introduction to their book, which offers a nice overview of their thinking, is available as a separate page here: http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/socialism_book/intro.html. Links to the whole book and some more technical articles are here: http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/socialism_book/

A chapter on comparative economic systems from an excellent on-line economics text (by Prof Roger A. McCain of Drexel University):

http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/prin/txt/comsysf/ApxToC.html