We easily forget the economic rationale that Marx taught us, namely, that socialism would have to provide unprecedented abundance if it were to sustain social liberation of any kind. With a few notable exceptions, leftists no longer find it fashionable to discuss economics at all beyond the now routine rejection of a "command economy" and some disingenuous mumbling about the necessity for markets. But where is there a serious attempt to determine the extent to which any socialism could function without a command economy or to show how a socialist economy could integrate markets? A few left-wing economists, most notably Louis Ferleger and Jay Mandle, tried to raise these questions long before the collapse of the socialist economies, but they were effec- tively shut out of the left-wing press and are still ignored. And we may doubt that the wry remark of Nancy Folbre and Samuel Bowles, two other respected left-wing economists, will cause a wrinkle: "Leftwing economists— among whom we count ourselves—have thus far failed to come up with a convincing alternative to capitalism." (Nancy Folbre and Samuel Bowles, letter to the Nation, Nov. 29, 1993; and see also, Louis Ferleger and Jay R.Mandle, A New Mandate: Democratic Choices for a Prosperous Economy, University of Missouri Press, 1994).--Genovese
