A good Insider's analysis (from a member of the communist elite) is of how communism / (socialism as the eastern bloc countries like to call it) really works. Or mostly how it does not work. I spent my youth in Communist Hungary, and I was a true believer until I came across this book, which helped me to clearly see what was really going on. Back then, it was a banned book, with a jail term associated when caught reading it.
Great writer, and an interesting person.
One key insight for me was, that it is not the formal ownership, but the control of the means of production that really matters. Karl Marx, in his day did not quite get this right. Djilas points out the existence and special position of an "above the law" elite ruling class this type of system has. for those, who are living in a society organize don marxist principles, it can be hard to get past the propaganda. After all, the Marxist ideas seem more fair than the traditional, unfettered Capitalism. But as it turns out, the devil is in the details. In practice, all Marxist experiments deteriorated into a group of thughs and their friends and relatives taking most of the rewards, and running the economy in a wasteful and inefficient way. Some of the ruling classes got smart enough to pull back a bit and let everybody prosper, as long as they do not challenge the power structure or legitimacy of the rulers. (The Chineses model, although we could argue if that can be even called communist these days) . In any case the book is worth reading, esp. if you want a better understanding of this part of human history. He will provide the context for you.
Some familiarity with the Marxist ideas (the means of production, capital, the value and fair cost of labor, profit, extra-profit, the concept of exploitation etc. ) would be useful.
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