Abstract

In the light of the great capitalist failures over the past two decades, it is necessary to reevaluate both the historical performance of, and historical justification for, socialism. Even if one follows the logic of mainstream economic theory, there is no clear theoretical case why socialism is necessarily inferior to capitalism. There is no clear evidence that the socialist economies performed worse than the capitalist economies in term of economic growth. But there is evidence that the socialist economies met the population's basic needs better than the capitalist economies, especially with countries in the periphery and semi-periphery included in the comparison. In the 21st century, the historical task of socialism is no longer about how to successfully compete against capitalism in the capitalist world system. Instead, as capitalism ceases to be a viable historical system, socialism may prove to be the only viable solution to the fundamental crisis confronting humanity