MARKET SOCIALISM AS A DISTINCT SOCIOECONOMIC FORMATION INTERNAL TO THE MODERN MODE OF PRODUCTION

This paper argues that, during the present historical period, only one mode of production is sustainable, which we call the modern mode of production (MMP). Nevertheless, there can be (both in theory and in practice) enough differences among the specific forms of MMP prevailing in different countries as to justify the identification of distinct socioeconomic formations, one of them being market socialism (MS). In its present stage of evolution, MS in China and Vietnam allows for a rapid development of productive forces, but it is seriously flawed from other points of view. We argue that the development of a radically reformed and improved form of MS is far from being an inevitable historical necessity, but constitutes a theoretically plausible and auspicable possibility