Petty theft in the nationalized economies of communist countries is largely caused by the workers' realization that what is not stolen is going to be wasted anyway. Moreover, ideological slogans about the workers' ownership of the means of production, contradicted by reality, provoke bitterness and cynicism, as well as disrespect for state property. Under communism, the enormity of economic tasks entrusted to the state produces growth in state power and bureaucracy. This unification of political and economic power in the state bureaucracy does not provide a sufficient base for stimulating and structuring production. Consequently, an underground economic market develops under principles more akin to capitalism than communism. While economic crimes in communist and capitalist countries have some features in common, differences are caused by the differing ideologies and economic realities. While economic crimes in capitalist countries tend to violate laws to control the excessive acquisitiveness that may be stimulated by the capitalist system, economic crimes in communist countries are violations of the fundamental principles of the formal economic structure. Such deviancy tends to be spawned by the large scale failure of official ideology to deliver a thriving economy. Seventeen references and one note are provided. (Author summary modified)