ABSTRACT
Capitalism was a socioeconomic formation before an ideology had been developed for its defense. Socialism and communism requires ideological defenses before they are brought into being as socioeconomic formations. Karl Marx provides a partial description of his socialist vision in the first volume of Capital. He embarks on a rare exercise, which is to have us imagine a future post-capitalist society. Friedrich Engels also provides a partial solution to the problem that involves social planning. He explains that state ownership of the productive forces is not sufficient to resolve the class conflict inherent in capitalism. The solution can consist only in the practical recognition of the social nature of the modern forces of production, and therefore in the harmonizing of the modes of production, appropriation, and exchange with the socialized character of the means of production.
