I CONTINUE to be amazed by the ignorance of socialism displayed by its proponents.

D McLellan envisions a socialist state without money. Most leading Marxists have objected to unfair wages but not to wages per se. No-one has envisioned barter.

McLellan, like his predecessors, blames all the world's evils on capitalism. Like others, he refuses to acknowledge that even North Korea is a socialist state. Like others, he claims that socialism has not failed because it has never been tried. By contrast, capitalism cannot be improved because it is inherently evil.

The causes of poverty are multiple and include poor natural resources, discrimination, an uneducated work force and corruption.

Poverty in Africa today stems from far more than capitalism, which, on the contrary, alone offers Africa and other regions the way out of poverty.

Recently freed countries that could choose socialism have chosen capitalism. Why?

Finally, N Bliss' linkage of free trade with free immigration is bizarre. The right to sell goods elsewhere is not the same as the right to live elsewhere.

But if Bliss wants to link the two, I say that nations have every right to restrict both immigration and trade to suit themselves.

Robert Segal, Lancaster.