According to Amin, there are two fundamental variables about the concept “people's democracy.” The first is that people's democracy emerges from the political and social demands of the "working classes." So, neoliberal bourgeoisie and companies integrated into the global economy have nothing to do with people’s democracy. The second fundamental variable is that the principle of "equality" constitutes the backbone of people’s democracy. This equality is not about economy or culture alone. It includes freedom of expression and association, participation of large segments of society in the state administration, and equality of women and men, as well as transfer of the ownership of means of production to workers. According to Amin, if any of these components of equality is compromised, it is impossible to talk about people's democracy. After analyzing the fundamental variables of the concept of people's democracy in this way, Samir Amin describes its necessary preconditions. These preconditions are "secularism" and "break with the capitalist world system," in order of importance. Compromising any of these two preconditions will pave the way for a decisive failure on the road to create people's democracy for the periphery countries. A fact confirmed by the experiences of periphery countries in modernization and socialism in the 20th century is that the countries that have failed to realize the principle of secularism or chosen the way of “catching up with” developed capitalist countries without breaking with the capitalist world system have not been able to reach these goals.

Keywords: Historical materialism, social classes, socialism, democracy, secularism, gender