Indeed, contrary to the assumptions of almost everyone—anti-Marxists and Marx’s supposed supporters alike—Marx makes it clear that the active, collective, and democratic participation of the working class in planning is not only morally desirable but practically essential to socialism—far more so than any legal change concerning who owns what. At the very least, the knowledge—tacit or otherwise—of the working class at large can be brought into the planning process. Indeed, this was Trotsky’s solution when he originally made the argument against Stalinism that Hayek is ripping off here.
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