My argument is that orthodox economics and its application in the West have shown their limits so other ideas cannot be easily dismissed. Yes, failures of the

My argument is that orthodox economics and its application in the West have shown their limits so other ideas cannot be easily dismissed. Yes, failures of the Soviet Union are known. Totalitarian state murdering its own people, systemic corruption, weak exports and weak consumer goods, and of course, the arms race, made the quality of life in SU fall beyond that in the West significantly. Not that it proves anything about marxist ideas. In the beginning, marxist ideas were incredibly successful in Soviet Union. Prof. Wolff account of the history of Soviet Union is more informed and more interesting than "millions awful deaths". Also, in China we have an example of how big socialist state can work economically, those mistakes about consumer goods and exports were fixed.