In the book the author discusses the reasons for the collapse of the socialist system in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. He analyses the roles of economic and political factors and of the USSR. He concludes that the lack of legitimacy of the communist regime, the disintegration of the Communist Party and its ideology were at least as important reasons as increasing lag behind the West in technology and the declining standard of living.

This book discusses the evolution of ideas about the desirable combination of planning and market in the former Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary since the 1960s, when major economic reforms started, up to 1991 when the countries have been engaged in a transformation of their economies into market economies. It also discusses the common and contrasting features of the debates which evolved in the countries under review.