An investigation into the metric space generated by commodity exchange. Shows that this is an non-Euclidean space. Provides empirical data comparing labour and electricity as the possible supports for this metric space.

We make the argument that what failed in the USSR was not socialist planning as such, but a particular and definitely flawed variant of same, and suggest the outlines of an alternative system of planning. The paper is complementary to our 1993 book, "Towards a New Socialism."