* I would like to thank my former colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin, the participants in the Key Biscayne, Florida conference on “Capitalism and Socialism,” November 1987, and in particular Ellen Frankel Paul, for useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

¹ A recent interesting collection on the debate broadly understood is Machan, T.R., ed., The Main Debate: Communism versus Capitalism (New York: Random House, 1986).Google Scholar

² One of the few works coming out of the Left over the past 15 years which directly addresses the question of Soviet socialism adopts such an approach, treating the U.S.S.R. as indistinguishable from “other” capitalist nations is; Buick, A. and Crump, J., State Capitalism: The Wages System Under New Management (London: St. Martins, 1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³ Thus, for example, even a self-confessed “revisionist” socialist such as A. Przeworski has as his “worst case” that socialism be only as efficient as capitalism! Przeworski, A., Capitalism and Social Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴ Berger, P.L., The Capitalist Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1986).Google Scholar Also, on the general question of system comparison, see Eastil, R.D., Freedom in the World (New York: Freedom House, 1988).Google Scholar

⁵ Szymanski, A., Is the Red Flag Still Flying? (New York: Zed Press, 1978).Google Scholar

⁶ There was, however, a change in the 1985 handbook: the comparative section was moved from its traditional place at the front, to the back. Narodnoe khozyaistvo SSSR v 1985 g. (Moscow: Finansy i statistika, 1986), pp. 578–627.

⁷ On this, see Evans, A., “The Decline of Developed Socialism?,” Soviet Studies, vol. 38, no. 1 (January 1986), p. 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Sochor, L., The Ideology of Real Socialism (Munich: Research Project on the Crisis in Soviet-Type Systems, 1984).Google Scholar

⁸ see Chellappa, D., Soviet Economic Achievements: Their Significance For Developing Countries (New Delhi: Kalamkar Prakashan, 1978)Google Scholar, for a not particularly edifying example.

⁹ Solomon, S.G., ed., Pluralism in the Soviet Union (London: St. Martins, 1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁰ For example, G.W. Breslauer advanced a theory of “welfare state authoritarianism” – see his Five Images of the Soviet Future (Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, 1978). The concept of a “social contract” wherein the workers offer loyalty in return for job security and welfare benefits is widely accepted. See, for example, Hauslohner, P., “Gorbachev's Social Contract,” Soviet Economy, vol. 3, no. 1 (Spring 1987), p. 54.Google Scholar

¹¹ Rawls, J., A Theory of Justice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971).Google Scholar

¹² This point was made to the author by J. Higley, who presents his own version of the theory in Field, G. Lowell and Higley, J., Elitism (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980).Google Scholar For a review of the economic literature, and an application to the socialist countries of South East Europe, see Jackson, M.R., “Economic Development in the Balkans Since 1945 Compared to Southern and East Central Europe,” Eastern European Politics and Societies, vol. 1, no. 3 (Fall 1987), p. 393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³ Two examples of works which try to provide a systematic analysis of the structural features of socialism are Von Beyme, K., Economics and Politics Within Socialist Systems (New York: Praeger, 1982)Google Scholar; and Mieczkowski, B. and Zinam, O., Bureaucracy, Ideology and Technocracy: Quality of Life East and West (Charleston: East Illinois University Press, 1984).Google Scholar The present author also essayed an overview of the structural features of Soviet socialism; Rudand, P., The Myth of the Plan: Lessons of Soviet Planning Experience (La Salle: Open Court, 1985).Google Scholar

¹⁴ For a representative work, see D.E., Schulz and J.S., Adams, eds., Political Participation in Communist Systems (New York: Pergammon, 1981).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Schumpeter, J.S., Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976).Google Scholar Schumpeter's analysis of socialism does not, in the view of the present author, match the perspicacity of his analysis of capitalist democracy.

¹⁶ On these questions, see Connor, W.D., Socialism, Politics and Equality (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979)Google Scholar; and Kerblay, B., Modern Soviet Society (New York: Random House, 1983).Google Scholar On income inequality, see Echols, J.M. III “Does Socialism Mean Greater Equality?,” S., White and D., Nelson, eds., Communist Politics: A Reader (London: Macmillan, 1986), p. 361CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Jain, S., Size Distribution of Income: A Compilation of Data (Washington: World Bank, 1975).Google Scholar

¹⁷ See the collection edited by Lane, David, Labour and Employment in the USSR (Brighton, Sussex: Harvester, 1986).Google Scholar

¹⁸ Andrle, V., Managerial Power in the Soviet Union (New York: Saxon House, 1976).Google Scholar

¹⁹ Lampert, N., “Job security and the Law in the USSR,” Lane, , ed., Labour, p. 256.Google Scholar

²⁰ Mason, D.S., Public Opinion and Political Change in Poland, 1980–82 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar For similar data from former Soviet citizens, see Silver, B.D., “Political Beliefs of the Soviet Citizen: Sources of Support for Regime Norms,” J.R., Millar, ed., Politics, Work and Daily Life in the USSR (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²¹ As in, for example, George, V. and Manning, N., Socialism, Social Welfare and the Soviet Union (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980).Google Scholar

²² Glasnost has partially opened the door to public discussion of homelessness – in Czechoslovakia, at least. For example, one news magazine carried a story on a couple with two children who were living in a van in a Prague parking lot; Vondracek, D., “Ale maji se radi,” Mlady svet, no. 2, 1988, p. 15.Google Scholar

²³ see Macauley, A., Economic Welfare in the Soviet Union (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979)Google Scholar; and Matthews, M., Poverty in the Soviet Union (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar For recent data, see Trehub, A., “Social and Economic Rights in the Soviet Union,” Radio Liberty Supplement, no. 3 (1988)Google Scholar; Bush, K., “Retail Prices in Moscow and Four Western Cities,” Radio Liberty Supplement, no. 1 (1987)Google Scholar; Vinokur, A. and Ofer, G., “Inequality of Earnings, Household Income and Wealth in the Soviet Union in the 1970s,” in J.R., Millar, ed., Politics, p. 171.Google Scholar On the US side, see Patterson, J.T., America's Struggle Against Poverty, 1900–80 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981).Google Scholar

²⁴ See Rutland, The Myth, ch. 8, for a review of the Soviet health care system.

²⁵ Szelenyi, I. and Manchin, R., “Social Inequalities in Eastern Europe,” M., Rein, ed., Stagnation and Renewal in Social Policy (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1987), p. 110.Google Scholar

²⁶ Pryor, F.L., “Growth and Fluctuations of Production in OECD and East European Countries,” World Politics, vol. 37, no. 2 (Summer 1985), p. 204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁷ Burawoy, M. and Lukacs, J., “Capitalist and Socialist Work,” American Sociological Review, vol. 50, no. 6 (December 1985), p. 723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁸ For the bravest effort to compile data, see Van Den Berg, G.P., The Soviet System of Justice: Figures and Policy (Boston: M. Nijhoff, 1985), p. 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar for East European data.

²⁹ Hollander, P., Soviet and American Society: A Comparison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978)Google Scholar, ch. 4.

³⁰ See, for example, G.W., Lapidus, ed., Women, Work and Family in the Soviet Union (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1981).Google Scholar

³¹ To my knowledge, no Soviet writers have directly addressed the question of how their society would measure up against the Rawlsian criteria of social justice. A Soviet philosopher, Mal'tsev, G.V., gave an accurate summary of Rawls's ideas in the book Problemy gosudarstva i prava v sovremennoi ideologicheskoi bor'be (Moscow: Yuridicheskaya literature, 1983), p. 145.Google Scholar He is surprisingly uncritical of the content of Rawls's ideas (surprising because the book's title refers to the “ideological struggle” with the West), and merely reproaches Rawls for a lack of realism and a naive faith in the independence of the law.

³² For a summary view of the state of Soviet philosophy, see Scanlan, J.P., Marxism in the USSR (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986).Google Scholar

³³ Joke, reported in New York Times, 6 July 1969, p. E6Google Scholar, recounted in Ulc, O., Politics in Czechoslovakia (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1974), p. 45.Google Scholar

³⁴ Macfarlane, A., The Origins of English Individualism (Oxford: Blackwell, 1978).Google Scholar

³⁵ Of course, phenomena such as geographic mobility or living with parents do not reflect the free choices of individuals within the U.S.S.R.: they are largely a product of state policies, the housing shortage, and other forces beyond the power of the individual citizen. However, they nevertheless produce a more collectivist culture, even if they are not caused by such a culture.

³⁶ This is the thrust of the widely discussed work by Bellah, R.et al., Habits of the Heart (New York: Harper and Row, 1986).Google Scholar

³⁷ Berlin, I., Four Essays on Liberty (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969).Google Scholar See also Howard, R.E. and Donnelly, J., “Human Dignity, Human Rights and Political Regimes,” American Political Science Review, vol. 80, no. 3 (September 1986), p. 801CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Lane, D., “Human Rights Under State Socialism,” Political Studies, vol. 32, no. 3 (September 1984), p. 349CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also Kadarsky, A., Human Rights in American and Russian Political Thought (New York: University Press of America, 1982).Google Scholar

³⁸ B. Silver, “Political Beliefs.”

³⁹ It is clearly a standard Soviet tactic to respond to Western criticism by turning the Western arguments around against the West itself. For example, one Soviet author keen to disprove the Totalitarian model did so by, among other arguments, accusing bourgeois society itself of developing a “totalitarian character”; Shikin, Yu.M., Sotsial'noe edinstvo i totalitamoe obshchestvo (Leningrad: Lenizdat, 1982), p. 33.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Marrus, M.R., The Unwanted: European Refugees in the Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).Google Scholar

⁴¹ see Dowry, A., Closed Borders (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987)Google Scholar, for a survey of the migration issue.