'Basic human needs' is presented as a concept of another development in contrast to the, until recently, prevailing concept centred on maximizing accumulation, fixed investment, growth of output and 'modernization*. BHN does not reject accumulation or growth, but it rejects their enthronement as overriding goals over socially determined needs. The paper also describes historical antecedents and rejected strands of the BHN strategy. It concludes that the essence of BHN is about needs and mobilization of workers and peasants as they perceive them. The BHN strategy rests on pre-existing national experiences. In refining it as a global concept greater analysis and understanding of actual practical national experiences is required. BHN is a politically viable strategy in some places at some times but what the conditions of viability are and how they evolve over time and economic structural change is not clear. BHN should be articulated and promoted in specific national contexts where workers and peasants and their organizations/movements show interest in it.