Is Communism Dead Forever? deals with the problems of transition in former communist countries from dictatorship and command economies to democracy and free market economies, recognizing the potential for a return to communism in many of the newly independent states, including the privatization of former state owned enterprises, along with the difficulty of changing the mentality of the workforce. James K. McCollum encourages the involvement of the democracies of the world in assisting with the transition from communism, so that these countries can become unthreatened democracies with free market economies.