The dramatic events of the last year in Eastern Europe have shattered the intellectual foundations of socialism. As East and West move closer to market economics and seek to redefine socialism, Anthony de Jasay cogently argues that the attempt to reconstruct socialism by advancing the doctrine of market socialism - an attempt to combine the efficiency of markets with egalitarianism and common ownership of property - must fail because 'market socialism is a contradiction in terms'. In Market A Scrutiny, the author powerfully demonstrates that, whatever the rhetorical camouflage, 'social property' ultimately is state ownership, a productive sector in which property rights are not private, transferable and divisible. 'Social property' will neuter the market and render what is left impotent to guarantee the very efficiency which is the objective of the New Left in seeking to harness the market to socialism.