Structure, Economic, a sector of a country’s economy represented by a specific type of economy based on a certain form of ownership of the means of production and the relations of production corresponding to it, and coexisting with other forms of economy. It is characteristic of other types of capitalism’s economic structure to exist alongside the dominant capitalist mode of production. These include the peasant economy and small commodity production, based on personal labour, which are left over from the past to continue their existence in bourgeois society. In a number of capitalist countries there are vestiges of feudal relations and even elements of the slave form of labour in the economy. The developing young states typically have a multistructural economy with a substantial proportion of feudal and semi-feudal relations, vestiges of primitive communal economy and patriarchal economy. In the developing countries that have chosen a non-capitalist path of development, the public sector assumes an increasing role in the economy, wide use is made of the state capitalist sector, and cooperative forms of agricultural production develop. The number of economic structures and their share in the economy of a given country depend on the level of socio-economic development and specific structure of its national economy. In the period of transition from capitalism to socialism, the economy remains multistructural for quite a considerable time. This period is characterised by the presence of three basic economic structures—the socialist, small commodity and capitalist. There are social classes corresponding to these: the working class, the petty bourgeoisie (mainly peasantry), and the bourgeoisie. Patriarchal and state capitalist structures may also still survive. The leading and decisive role in the economy during the transition period is played by the socialist structure, based on state power, embracing the main means of production in the form of property of the whole people, and developing according to the economic laws of socialism, which begin to operate when it emerges. The socialist structure is formed as a result of a socialist revolution through nationalisation of big capitalist enterprises and the construction of new state-owned ones. The patriarchal (subsistence) economy and small commodity production are inherited by the proletarian state from the bourgeois system. During the period of transition, these structures are decisively influenced by the socialist structure; until they are gradually transformed on socialist principles, the state makes temporary use of them to strengthen the economic positions of socialism. The private capitalist structure is eliminated in the struggle with the socialist one according to the principle of "who will triumph over whom”. The state capitalist economic structure, based on a combination of two opposing forms of property (state socialist and private capitalist) is formed during the transition period in order to promote the development of the country’s economy and is permitted by the state, under its control and regulation restricting the capitalist tendencies within this structure. State capitalism assists in the transformation of enterprises belonging to small and middle capitalists. As socialism gains in strength and develops, state capitalism changes and its enterprises become socialist ones. During the building of socialism, the socialist structure becomes totally dominant in both town and country, in industry, agriculture, trade and all other sectors of the national economy.