An article in Jacobin promotes democratic economic planning

Hannah Bensussan, a post-doctoral researcher in political economy at the University of Sorbonne Paris Nord, published a text in Jacobin entitled Economic Planning Shouldn’t Be a Swear Word. The text highlights the importance of debating planning while understanding it not in a purified and idealized way, but as a practice integrated in the complex intermingling of social and political relations. Bensussan uses the Chilean Cybersyn project as a central example to her demonstration.

Hannah Bensussan defended a similar argument in a French text published in Nos Réovutions in February entitled La planification : concept de boomer, ou condition d’un socialisme démocratique ?

Here’s an excerpt of the text published in Jacobin:

For decades, many leftists dropped talk of economic planning due to its association with Soviet bureaucracy. But both the climate crisis and the reality of massive state intervention in capitalist economies have made democratic planning inescapable.

To read the full text: https://jacobin.com/2025/07/economic-planning-democracy-capitalism-crisis

A German translation of the text can be read here: https://jacobin.de/artikel/planwirtschaft-wirtschaftsdemokratie-cybersyn