This book discusses the 1918 European socialization debate, its consequences, and its relevance a century later. Following the end of the First World War, the disastrous social and economic situation facing Europe led to calls for socialization of central economic sectors, as well as measures for the improvement of work conditions and social security. This book rekindles the debate, presenting the basic issues of socialization from different European countries and taking into account current developments. The chapters track the socialism debate in Europe from its initial inception in 1918 and examine the ways in which it has shaped the public discourse in the years following, drawing theoretical connections between the conditions that created the environment for the debate to begin and contemporary social and political trends. This book will be of particular interest to graduate students and researchers of socioeconomics, ethics, the history of economic thought, history, and political science. 

Jürgen G. Backhaus (*1950), JSD 1976, PhD (Econ) 1985, Professor of Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology at Erfurt University 2000-2015. Between 1986 and 2000, he has held the chair in Public Economics at Maastricht University. In 2006 he received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Knights Cross), in September 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Thessaly (Greece). In 1994 he founded (with Frank H. Stephen) the European Journal of Law and Economics. He has published 60 books and monographs, about 200 articles in refereed journals and book chapters, 28 scholarly notes and 63 reviews. His research interests span economics, but also neighboring disciplines such as law, fiscal sociology and environmental sciences.

Chapter 1: Introduction to the First Socialization Debate.- Chapter 2: The First Socialization Debate of 1918.- Chapter 3: From Financial Capital to Organized Capitalism.- Chapter 4: Visions of Socialization and Political Reality.- Chapter 5: Different Views of Socialization Strategies in Germany since the First Socialization Debate.- Chapter 6: Socialization Proposals.- Chapter 7: Anti-Semitism versus Democracy and Welfare State in Weimar Republic.- Chapter 8: Otto Neurath's Concepts of Socialization and Economic Calculation and his Socialist Critics.- Chapter 9: Socialization Concepts of Non-Socialist Economists in Austria.- Chapter 10: Three Models of Schumpeter, Rathenau, Hilferding of Neo-Capitalist Economy to Recover a National Identity of the Masses.- Chapter 11: From Nationalization to Planning.- Chapter 12: Suffrage Extension and Redistribution.- Chapter 13: The Mises-Lederer-Marschak Controversy.- Chapter 14: Mises'Argument Against the Possibility of Socialism.- Chapter 14: The Euthanasia of Capitalism.-