A Socialism for the Twenty-First Century

Towards the ‘Full and Free Development of Every Individual’

Series: 

Author:
Tony Smith
Marx called for a society where the ruling principle is ‘the full and free development of every individual.’ Capitalism neither is nor can be such a society. Domination, worsening ecological crises, and many other pathologies are its intrinsic features—not bugs that can be corrected. But is there truly a better way to organize society? And if we can imagine one, can we be confident it could be put into practice? The answer to both questions is an emphatic ‘Yes!’ This book makes the case. It describes in detail a workable model of republican socialism, a vision of socialism worth fighting for.
Copyright Year:
2025
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73815-7
Publication:
30 Jun 2025
Hardback
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73812-6
Publication:
10 Jul 2025
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Tony Smith is Emeriturs Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at Iowa State University. His most recent books are Globalisation: A Systematic Marxian Account and Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism: Marx and Normative Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century.
Preface
List of Figures

1 Introduction
 1 Nine Claims
 2 Summary of the Book

2 Capitalism (and Capital)
 1 The ‘Standard View’
 2 Capital: A Macro-monetary Totality
 3 The Case against Capitalism: Essential Determinations and Systematic Tendencies
 4 Conclusion

3 The Present Moment of World History
 1 Technological Change and Valorisation in Contemporary Capitalism
 2 From a ‘Golden Age’ to a Global Slump
 3 Neoliberalism
 4 Conclusion

4 A Socialist Constitution
 1 Marx’s Ruling Principle
 2 ‘Free Development’ (1): Self-Governance without Domination
 3 ‘Free Development’ (2): The Freedom of Particular Social Individuals
 4 ‘Full Development’: Universal and Particular Needs
 5 Two Solidarity Constraints
 6 Further Principles
 7 Conclusion

5 The Local Level (1): The Democratic Determination of Social Needs and Production Proposals
 1 The Social Determination of Social Needs
 2 Two Notes
 3 The Investment Requests of Production Collectives
 4 The Estimation of Costs
 5 Retained Earnings and Market Socialism
 6 Conclusion

6 The Local Level (2): Social Investment, Social Production, and Social Exchange
 1 The Allocation of Social Investment
 2 The Process of Production
 3 The Acquisition of Consumption Goods
 4 Conclusion

7 The Role of ‘Money’ in Socialist Accounting
 1 Some Questions
 2 A Note on Money in Capitalism
 3 Some Relevant Determinations of the Socialist Alternative
 4 Conclusion

8 Regional Networks of Production and Exchange
 1 Some general remarks on regional production
 2 Regional production for social needs and the solidarity constraints
 3 Regional production networks and the coordination of social investments
 4 The regional innovation system
 5 Conclusion

9 Socialism on the National and International Levels
 1 The transition to the national and international levels
 2 Production for social needs on the national and international levels
 3 The Social Transaction Centre
 4 A note on the implications of the first solidarity constraint on the international level
 5 National and international Democratic Assemblies
 6 National and international Agencies
 7 The national and international innovation systems
 8 The fraught relationship with the remnants of capitalism
 9 Conclusion

10 Incentives and Efficiency in the Socialist Model
 1 Incentive objections
 2 Efficiency objections
 3 Conclusion

11 Socialism and the ‘Realm of freedom’
 1 The realm of freedom in capitalism and socialism: some contrasts
 2 Commons-based peer production in contemporary capitalism
 3 The realm of necessity and the realm of freedom: a dialectical unity-in-difference
 4 An emancipatory promise fulfilled: commons-based peer production and the socialist project
 5 Conclusion

12 Conclusion
 1 Why socialism is needed
 2 The republican socialist model: a summary
 3 How do we get there from here?

Appendix
Bibliography
Index
This book is especially relevant to academic libraries, advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty in philosophy and the social sciences with an interest in social theory. It will also appeal to independent scholars focused on Marxian thought, critiques of capitalism, and socialism.
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