I think the "lesser" is because capitalism works but causes lots of destructive side-effects, while communism doesn't work at all (and according to the article,

I think the "lesser" is because capitalism works but causes lots of destructive side-effects, while communism doesn't work at all (and according to the article, apparently can have some of the same kinds of side-effects, which was news to me). In one sense this makes capitalism worse, because it can keep chugging along wreaking havoc instead of collapsing. But in another sense it's "less dysfunctional".