ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ideological consequences of views as to how it is claimed to operate at different stages of socialism. The law of planned and proportionate development is central to the distinction between undeveloped and advanced socialism. The chapter argues that, as with the law of value, advanced socialism suggests an economy in which balance is more 'perfect' than undeveloped socialism. In 1970s, many theorists in the Soviet Union felt that the transition to their own form of advanced socialism involved the shift to intensive development. Extensive development is a response to economic backwardness. The shift from extensive to intensive development and to advanced socialism ought to be seen in terms of a number of cycles. Intensive development is only possible under capitalism where enterprises go bankrupt if they neglect the efficiency of factors or production. Thus, the transition from extensive to intensive development in China will occur if and when China returns to the truly efficient economic system.
