ABSTRACT
This chapter captures conservative ideological representation of Soviet-style socialism, means for progressive, future directed, transformatory agency. For French Marxist Charles Bettelheim, the riddle of Soviet-style socialism reduces to the point that immediate post-revolutionary nationalizing of the commanding heights of the economy and subsequent instituting of economic planning do not in themselves guarantee a successful transition to socialism. In historical materialism, the Marxian approach to material life in human history, general notions of "surplus appropriation" may be used only in the comparative light of Marxian political economy. En route to advancing our alternative Marxian approach to socialism it is vital that we clear a set of nagging issues off the table. The inveighing against 'blueprints' of the future was intended as a strong caution to all varieties of utopian socialists of Marx and Frederick Engels's day over their spinning models of new societies without a clear grasp of what precisely capitalism is.
