[Tony O]

He does conclude that the inefficiencies of the socialist system regarding the central planning for oil production and refining forced the soviets to more of a market based system.

[wotan]

It's good to see one person has bothered to read the article.

I'm amazed how many people will comment on an article without having even read it.

You're right. This article basically says it looks like the Soviet Union collapsed because their planned economic system was incapable of adapting to higher oil prices caused by production declines within the Soviet Union. So, they had to switch to a market system. Hardly a defense of socialism.