Joan Robinson and Socialist Planning in the Years of High Theory

The poverty and misery of the 1930s were inescapably dire. The injustices of unemployment and of the distribution of wealth and income drove many to action. Elizabeth Durbin (1985) describes the British Labour Party in the 1930s as being concerned with the inequitable and unjust society, as manifest in general practical and also in theoretical issues. On the theoretical level, it had to define the proposed new socialist state and its rationales; on the practical level, it had to elaborate appropriate policies for introducing socialism into Britain through parliamentary democracy. The members of the Labour Party believed passionately in the ability to achieve a new society which was to be both more efficient and more just. The Soviet example served as a guide. The economic circumstances of the 1930s legitimised the intervention into the national and international economy which the Labour Party proposed to undertake when it came into office. The socialism of the Labour Party saw that there were two broad dimensions to the economy that were to be addressed: its allocative efficiency and its aggregative performance. It looked to the new economic theories of the 1930s to inform it on each of these problems. Joan Robinson’s own direct theoretical interests in particular put her at the centre of both these bodies of analysis.