Page:Neurath O. (1942) International Planning for Freedom.pdf/1



Perhaps we are on the eve of what some time will be called the 'Planning Revolution', comparable with the 'Industrial Revolution'. Planning is becoming almost universal: planning as a war measure, planning as economists' anti-slump medicine, planning as a pleasure for architects and planning as a characteristic of the new pattern of our society.

The men responsible for the war effort, irrespective of their political opinions, found the traditional market insufficient in dealing with the war and therefore they organized a comprehensive control of production and consumption not only on a national but also on an international scale.

Many ask why should this pattern of organisation be of use for war and not for peace too? In war, social engineers estimate the efficiency of the whole organization with regard to the successes of the fighting forces, the endurance of the civilians and a final victory. In peace time, we have no common goal as clear as this. One could ask to what extent comprehensive planning would improve the standard of living, a goal of which not only the Atlantic Charter but also other declarations speak explicitly.

Some people think that we should be in a position to compare the different possible changes of our life in such a future society, based on planning, with, as it were, a comprehensive standard, composed of the standards which may be elaborated by the experts in the single fields.

We shall see that arguing in terms of the one best standard can hardly be maintained, and in addition, that one cannot compute the various standards elaborated by various experts: technicians stress the importance of technical efficiency as a matter of course, whereas industrial engineers are interested in the assembling of machines and workers, and in the increase of the efficiency of labour; biologists and physicians sometimes propose certain standards of health, architects standards for buildings. But the computation of all these results is not sufficient because the elements in question are interrelated with one another, and also what re-