Attempts in recent years to utilise market mechanisms in determining resource allocations, volume of production, wages, prices, etc., within the framework of a planned economy based upon some measure of "workers! self-management", together with problems of inflation and under-utilisation of resources which recent measures of currency reform and attempts at a closer association with the Common Market tried to solve, have focussed attention on the current developments in the Yugoslav planning system, A recent issue of the Yugoslav quarterly, Socialist Thought and Practice, contains several articles on the problems of economic and social development which not only raise issues of interest to students of Yugoslav affairs but also reflect current concerns of socialists here in Britain. "Some Observations on Planning" by the Vice-President of the Federal Assembly, Mijalko Todorovic attempts to grapple with one of the major problems common to all planned economies: the search for a decentralised, yet articulated planning; the maintenancé of coherently planned system of development while realising to the full the initiative of the workers in production, His main concern is to reach a position where the central plan is no longer an "inflexible programme, a lid that covers everything, based on force" but where "all economic responsibilities in production, distribution and exchange are directly in the hands of immediate producers,"" His central aim is to "change the balance of forces between social democratic and buremcratic tendencies," In seeking to do this he specifically rejects proposals regarding co-operation and consultation between the national planning agencies and the lower bodies as being"utterly insufficient", turning .. into only a "purely formal democracy (in which) planning would still retain its administrative-centralist character" and instead is concerned to see how "selfplanning" by the workers themselves, "without leaders or followers", is to be achieved. In reviewing the evolution of Yugoslaviats planning system, Todorovic points out that even with the changes that have taken place "we find in our consciousness the remnants of certain elements of Stalinism, a monstrous bureaucratictechnocratic approachs ».(where ).eforn becomes absolute and takes the place of content...(and)sseethe cult of bureaucratic centralism takes over," He goes on to specifically condemn that bureaucratism where "in the name of future reality, in the name of ideals, the material interests and the position of the working man are neglected," Todorovic goes on to consider the relationships between the various levels of the planning system and to delineate to each their sphere of responsibility with regard to prices, the market, the credit systen, resource allocation, output, income distribution, etc. As the necessary alternativa to centralised control, he stresses the great need for the development of co-operation among all the agents of economic activity for efficient planning on the basis of generalised social and economic objectives, The theme that he constantly stresses in the discussion of these problems is that centralisation and statism must be rejected by a socialist society seeking to base itself on self-government, since it is the negation of this and must lead in its absence to "bureaucratic-administmtive despotisn," In view of the seemingly intractable problems with which the Yugoslav economy is faced, disparity of levels of development between regions, persistent inflationary pressures, its weaknesses on the world markets, etce, one can only admire the brave words (presumably semi-offical at least) of Mijalko Todorovic and hope that these aspirations are capable of being translated into practice, that a planning system can be evolved which, as Todorovic says, "will not alienate the workers but will help towards the liquidation of his alienation."
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