The First Socialization Debate (1918) and Early Efforts Towards Socialization

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. The First Socialization Debate of 1918: Was the Socialization Commission Doomed to Failure Right from the Start?

   • Hans A. Frambach

   Pages 1-16

3. From “Finance Capital” to “Organized Capitalism:” Socialization in Rudolf Hilferding’s Writings Under the Influence of Ferdinand Tönnies

   • Jan Greitens

   Pages 17-30

4. Visions of Socialization and Political Reality—the Position of Labour Minister Heinrich Brauns

   • Daniel Eissrich

   Pages 31-44

5. Different Views of Socialization Strategies in Germany Since the First Socialization Debate

   • Karl-Heinz Schmidt

   Pages 45-59

6. Socialization Proposals: The Aspect of Labor Participation

   • Jürgen Backhaus, Ursula Backhaus

   Pages 61-73

7. Anti-Semitism Versus Democracy and Welfare State in the Weimar Republic

   • Hans-Dieter Bernd

   Pages 75-84

8. Otto Neurath’s Concepts of Socialization and Economic Calculation and His Socialist Critics

   • Günther Chaloupek

   Pages 85-98

9. Socialization Concepts of Non-socialist Economists in Austria: Karl Pribram, Gustav Stolper, Joseph Schumpeter

   • Günther Chaloupek

   Pages 99-110

10. From Socialisation to Regulation—The Secularisation of Dutch Social Democracy

    • Andries Nentjes

    Pages 111-130

11. Joseph Schumpeter, the Euthanasia of Capitalism

    • Frits van Holthoon

    Pages 131-144

12. Three Models of a Supply Side Socially Oriented Political Economy to Recover a National Identity of the Workers and Small Business Middle Class Under Parliamentarian Democracy—Schumpeter, Rathenau, and Hilferding

    • Francesco Forte

    Pages 145-157

13. Suffrage Extension and Redistribution: The Role of National Identity, Interest Group Conflict and Corporativism

    • Francesco Forte, Elena Seghezza, Giovanni B. Pittaluga

    Pages 159-189

14. Ludwig von Mises’ Argument Against the Possibility of Socialism: Early Concepts and Contemporary Relevance

    • Ludwig Van Den Hauwe

    Pages 191-222

15. On the (Im)Possibility of Socialist Calculation: Marschak Versus Mises

    • Harald Hagemann

    Pages 223-235

This book discusses the 1918 European socialization debate, its consequences, and its relevance a century later. Following the end of the First World War, the disastrous social and economic situation facing Europe led to calls for socialization of central economic sectors, as well as measures for the improvement of work conditions and social security. This book rekindles the debate, presenting the basic issues of socialization from different European countries and taking into account current developments. The chapters track the socialism debate in Europe from its initial inception in 1918 and examine the ways in which it has shaped the public discourse in the years following, drawing theoretical connections between the conditions that created the environment for the debate to begin and contemporary social and political trends. This book will be of particular interest to graduate students and researchers of socioeconomics, ethics, the history of economic thought, history, and political science. 

• Germany
• Austria
• Ratesystem
• Socialism
• nationalization
• economics

“The authors’ style is remarkably clear, sober, and rigorous: the use of graphs and algebra is reduced to a minimum, and the language is deliberately non-technical and highly readable. ... the book can legitimately be regarded as an excellent work, which both captures the quintessence of the socialisation debate and describes its historical evolution in a systematic and extremely lucid way. Thanks to the authors’ contributions … . ” (Roberto Lampa, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 28 (4), 2021)

• Faculty of Economics, Law and the Social Sciences, Erfurt University, Erfurt, Germany

  Jürgen Backhaus

• Department of Economic Research (Retired), Austrian Chamber of Labour, Vienna, Austria

  Günther Chaloupek

• Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

  Hans A. Frambach

Jürgen G. Backhaus (*1950), JSD 1976, PhD (Econ) 1985, Professor of Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology at Erfurt University 2000-2015. Between 1986 and 2000, he has held the chair in Public Economics at Maastricht University. In 2006 he received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Knight’s Cross), in September 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Thessaly (Greece). In 1994 he founded (with Frank H. Stephen) the European Journal of Law and Economics. He has published 60 books and monographs, about 200 articles in refereed journals and book chapters, 28 scholarly notes and 63 reviews. His research interests span economics, but also neighboring disciplines such as law, fiscal sociology and environmental sciences.

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