Speed as Antidote to Bureaucratic Paralysis

“The naivety of the theory of the socialization of the means of production comes from neglecting implementation. For people to converge and mobilize, they need attractive ideas, but these ideas must lead to convincing results relatively quickly. If the results are not there, a real disbanding occurs as everyone turns to their own interests and loses interest in the collective project. This is essentially what leads to corruption and the ensuing violence, as we have shown in a recent text11.”

“Thus, the theory of industrializing industry crashed not because it was bad, but because it faced the underestimation of implementation issues, particularly the multiplicity of objectives imposed on state enterprises and the increasingly frequent intervention of pressure groups supporting one objective or another. The resulting politicization discouraged managers, demobilized staff, and questioned the objective. The goodwill of everyone, from the minister to the last employee, is not in question. It’s the system that was too complex and therefore could not be reasonably managed centrally. It is telling that B. Abdesselam, in his latest book, criticizes practically everyone; civil servants, private entrepreneurs, politicians, no one finds favor in his eyes, because he naively believes that wanting is enough to achieve. This great patriot is thus defeated by his own beliefs that he cannot confront with reality.”