I was discussing failures of socialism with someone the other day and they pointed to Yugoslavia during the 80’s as an example where “socialism worked.” To be honest I really don’t know a whole lot about this instance, so I was wondering if anyone here had any suggestions on how to tackle that issue. What were some of the issues they had with calculation, etc?
Well, Yugoslavia under Tito, starting in the 1960s began a privatization campaign mixed with market reforms. Rothbard wrote a little about it. This continued right up to Tito’s death in 1980. So in reality, Yugoslavia was the first ‘communist in name only’ country. Of course today China, Laos and Vietnam follow this as well.
Thanks.
Do you happen to know where I can find Rothbard’s thoughts on it?
The discussion was originally over Cuba (he was defending it’s healthcare system and whatnot) and I mentioned the problems of calculation that seems to be inherent in all socialist models, so then he mentioned Tito and Yugoslavia in the 80’s as an example of a “successful” socialist country.