Socialism is a yearning for justice, community, and the greater realization of human potential. Cornel West calls it “the best accessible and reliable treatment we have of what socialism is, was, and should be.”
Understanding Socialism is a plainspoken text that disarms false narratives, confronts past failures, and offers a path to a fresh and modern understanding of socialism, by outlining what democracy in the workplace could look like.
Wolff not only explains what socialism is and has meant to its various proponents, he also looks at the transition from feudalism to capitalism as a model to help us visualize an evolution from our current socioeconomic state.
Understanding Socialism explores how socialist theory was used and applied to help shape the histories of countries such as Russia and China, and beyond. Wolff also analyzes the successes and defeats of those countries, the world's reactions to them, and how they offer important lessons for the building of a democratic, worker-controlled 21st-century socialism.
Richard D. Wolff is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor at the New School University in New York. His groundbreaking book Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism inspired the creation of the nonprofit organization Democracy at Work (www.democracyatwork.info).
Publication date: December 9, 2025
Introduction
Chapter 1: A Brief History: How Socialism Got to Its Here and Now
Chapter 2: What Is Socialism?
Chapter 3: Capitalism and Socialism: Struggles and Transitions
Chapter 4: Russia and China: Major Experiments in Constructing Socialism
Chapter 5: Two Anti-socialist Purges: Fascism and Anti-communism
Chapter 6: Socialism’s Future and Worker Co-ops
Conclusion
About the Cover: The Red Rose as a Symbol of Socialism
About the Author
About Democracy at Work
Further Reading
"Richard Wolff's book is the best accessible and reliable treatment we have of what socialism is, was, and should be.”
—Cornel West
“Lucid, brilliant, and uncompromising in his dissection of the capitalist system, [Wolff] also provides a sane and just socialist alternative to capitalist exploitation, one we must all fight to achieve.”
—Chris Hedges
“In the same accessible style that has made his programs and lectures such a hit, [Wolff] explains his subject in a way that's not only smart, but makes the rest of us feel smart. It's actionable intelligence.”
—Laura Flanders
"Wolff’s 138-page book is an accessible and insightful primer that undertakes a critical examination of the history of state-led socialism while offering a refreshing vision of a new model based upon workplace democracy."
—Gregory N. Heires
