ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a critical analysis of matters in societies that made an effort to embark upon the path of socialism. It reviews the essential dimensions of socialism and theories on the nature of post-revolutionary or socialist-oriented societies. The chapter examines health care and health problems in societies established, at least initially, upon socialist ideals. A meaningful discussion of socialist health is ultimately grounded in our ability to make analytical distinctions between capitalism and socialism. Socialist-oriented societies implemented many of the requisites of socialism. The contradictions of socialist-oriented societies have been shaped by both internal and external forces. In response to threats, a bureaucratic administrative structure emerged on top of a socialist-oriented base consisting of nationalized property, formal public ownership of the means of production and centralized planning. The most commonly used criterion in defining the concept of socialist health system is public ownership of health services.
