Rediscovering Fire

Marx promoted the idea that economic laws were universal, but the Soviet Union tested his ideas on the premise that by eliminating private property they could eliminate markets and prices—and they tested that proposition on a grand scale. However, in managing an economy based on public ownership, they discovered that they could not repeal economic laws. By managing the consequences of their policies, the Soviets unintentionally relearned the basics of economics from scratch—essentially, rediscovering fire.