The chasm between huge individual wealth and the abject misery of hundreds of millions of people persists and can, in many cases, be said to be widening. The author's view is that the conflict between the rapaciousness of "the system" and popular discontent has to provide the conditions for a new social order. Socialism, in some form, argues Silber, is an essential element in a future for the whole human race. This book is an attempt to look at both the doctrines of Marx and Lenin, weighing this against the practice of socialism in the Soviet Union. The author argues that it is now incumbent on those who devoted their lives to socialism to undertake a rigorous analysis of its failure in the USSR and to understand the history and achievements of Soviet socialism.