Lenin & Accounting-Reply to L. Proyect

[glevy at acnet.pratt.edu]

Howie makes a number of good points in his post.  I want to add a few
comments, though.

Howie wrote:

 Unless accounting is an entirely
> neutral function, equally and unproblematically applicable under capitalism,
> socialism and communism, the nature of the input of the experts into the
> technology will have an effect on the types of outcome it allows.


Good point.  Technologies are clearly not "neutral."

> Perhaps we need to separate two issues, an assessment of the relative
> simplicity of the task from the need to subject the function in question to
> democratic control. In some ways the two are entirely independent of one
> another.

I disagree with the above.  The two issues are interrelated. The
simplicity of a task allows for greater *potential* democratic control.

 Technological
> advances no doubt facilitate this, but they do not, it seems to me, exhaust
> what needs to be said about democratic control as a way of reshaping social
> relations.
>
Indeed.

Jerry



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