Abstract

The most devastating rebuttal of socialism – eclipsing all the evils and failures of the capitalist system – is that it just does not work; for which the prime evidence is the (alleged) dismal performance of the USSR’s economic model of state ownership and planning. Underpinning that narrative are pro-market theories which are falsified, in what they say about capitalism, by our daily experience; this article challenges their claims and explanations regarding socialism. The attempt to build an economy which could power the road to a communist future encompassed astonishing successes, as well as serious difficulties presaging its eventual defeat. To understand these problems, as well as the achievements, requires consideration of something which is absent from the prevailing narratives about the “actually existing socialism” of the 20th century: the huge importance of international technology transfers in economic development, and of the power deployed by the USA - during the Cold War, and increasingly again today – in imposing technology sanctions to reinforce its global dominance.