AS Lenin had pointed out in his pamphlet Tax in Kind, “... only by series of attempts – each of which, taken by itself, will be onesided and will suffer form certain inconsistencies — will complete socialism be created by the revolutionary cooperation of the proletarians of all countries.” And this socialism again is also a stage which will be superseded by a higher stage, that of communism. In the stage of socialism, all forms of bourgeois society, market pressures, division of labour, will persist minus die: 'big' bourgeoisie. Bourgeois forms of ownership will persist alongside public-state forms of ownership, in its early, rather prolonged phase which might also see two systems, of capitalism and socialism, co-existing in a single country.

But this in itself will be replaced by a higher stage where even bourgeois forms like state, money, division of work, et al will disappear  the very notion of exchange through money, which breeds alienation, and which is bound to breed alienation in the socialist stage also, will vanish. All of this would happen as a natural process, through trial and error, leaps and bounds.

Late socialist society would be based on a level of technological development where the whole relationship between the capitalist and the worker is rendered absurd, where virtually there is no 'worker' but people managing their own work and the sophisticated workings of Finance capital, held together by mutual economic, political, cultural and social interests and receiving the full reward of their work as per their ability.

Communism would be a higher stage of this phase of social development where even old style, mutual interests, and the political-social structures they throw up, would not be necessary to 'hold' people 'together'. Individual men and women would be self dependent, technically expert, social beings in a 'natural' sense, with their individual work naturally contributing to the society and the society naturally fulfilling their needs.

Under socialism, property will not be abolished. Capitalist property would co-exist with public-state property in the early phase while later, both may give way to 'social property' with individual belongings and possessions being received according to ability. Under communism the very category of property would vanish in a world where every man or woman would naturally 'own' everything and society will inscribe on its banner the great principle : “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”.

Like socialism, communist society will also have its own contradictions which will propel it further forward.