The Dispossessed imagines what a stateless communist society might look like, making it kind of a mirror image of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Both novels portray anti-statist societies existing in inhospitable environments, but while Moon is a Harsh Mistress portrayed an anarcho-capitalist society where lack of money & property is literally grounds to be killed, The Dispossessed portrays a society which has no money or property. The Dispossessed is thus much more ambitious than Moon is a Harsh Mistress, because at this point in history, it is easier to imagine capitalism colonizing the Moon than it is to imagine what creating & maintaining a completely anarchist communal society would look like. I also feel like The Dispossessed has a more mature view of social & family relationships than Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I first read Moon is a Harsh Mistress & the Left Hand of Darkness when my girlfriend (now wife) took a sci fi literature class, which asked students to compare & contrast the two novels; as you can see from my review, the teacher totally should have assigned The Dispossessed instead.