What is socialism? It is a political ideology that seeks to complete human prehistory. For this, the resources available to the state are mobilized. This doctrine affects the social and economic spectrums.

Property must be owned or controlled by the public. It is broad ownership of resources that is considered the key characteristic that makes this way of doing politics meaningful. Pierre Lehr used this definition for the first time in 1834 in his work "Individualism and Socialism".

On the one hand, in what has been said, we do not observe any hidden catches. However, is socialism really that good? Why did some countries abandon it, while others quite successfully apply its basic principles and at the same time have a stable economy and a fairly high GDP? Next, we will talk about this and other issues and figure out what socialism is.

Where do roots grow from?

To begin with, a few words should be said about the term itself. What is socialism and where did it come from? At all times, people thought about the rejection of private ownership of property, the thirst for equality was always present.

This, as a rule, happened when the people were not satisfied with his life. As we know, citizens are extremely rarely satisfied with the prevailing order in the country and for a short time. A thirst for justice awakens. The starting point from which the construction of socialism began Ancient Greece, where Plato expressed ideas in his works "Laws" and "State".

The grains of ideology can be found if we look at Athens in the sixth century BC. The utopian Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella also made their contribution. In their works, society is described precisely as free from private property, all people are equal. If we consider Western Europe, the building of socialism here began in the 19th century thanks to Saint-Simon, Owen and Fourier.

Vision of Karl Marx

Marx made a significant contribution to the development of ideology. The system of socialism, in his opinion, should have acquired the following features:

• The land must be expropriated. The land rent was used to cover government expenditures, from which the proletariat was to enrich itself.
• It was necessary to introduce a high progressive tax.
• Abolish the right to inherit.
• Confiscate property belonging to emigrants, rebels and profiteers.
• Credit should be centralized. This will be provided by the National Bank, where the state capital will be kept.
• Monopolize all transport. The proletariat introduces a dictatorship.
• Factories, means of labor, arable land will become more numerous, lands will improve.
• Agriculture and industry will be united into one whole. There should not be much difference between villages and cities.
• All children are brought up free of charge and on a public basis.

Movement restriction

Socialism has another interesting feature: citizens do not have the right to move freely abroad and back. The government was careful to ensure that the country was left as much as possible as part of a business trip or for the purpose of tourism.

Some people were banned from leaving if they had information that could hypothetically be important if disseminated.

Nationalist model

National Socialism implies the official political ideology of the Third Reich. Anti-Semitism, fascism and racism are mixed in here.

The main goal pursued by National Socialism is to create and establish a state pure on the basis of blood on a large territory. In Germany, this was the Aryan race, which the Germans themselves considered ideal for survival for the longest possible time.

Ideas about a millennium Reich spread. This ideology is very close in nature to totalitarianism. And, of course, socialist views brought their roots. However, the difference is that Nazism denied the possibility of dividing society into classes.

Management model of the Perestroika period

Developed socialism - what is it? This term was used to refer to the power that reigned at the moment when public rule passed into communism. This scheme of government is attributed to the period of stagnation, when the state was going through difficult times.

A positive feature was that it supported sociability in its citizens, the desire to think and analyze, create something extraordinary, devote time spiritual development developed socialism. What are these opportunities, it becomes extremely clear when compared with the same totalitarianism, when the initiative was severely suppressed. The cultural life of society was going up, and at that time the shelves were empty, and even having earned money, it was a problem to buy something for them.

Planned production

Economic socialism is also called a planned economy. The resource base under such a management model belongs to the whole society, centralized distribution is carried out.

Physical and legal entities perform certain actions by order of unified economic planning. This is typical for the USSR. Today you can see this order in the DPRK. The whole state works according to one plan, like a huge and powerful machine.

It is like an organism, orders to separate parts of which come from the brain. Planning the volumes and range of products, as well as services, is controlled by government agencies. They set prices wage, investment. Private property is denied.

The means of production belong to the country. The opposite scheme for organizing the reproduction of material goods is market economy. The advantages include the total employment of people, no one sits idle when socialism reigns. The bottom line is to reduce the level of social stratification. You can focus on creating those products that will play a key role in the event of a crisis.

Negative sides

Everything has its drawbacks. What is socialism in this version of it? This is the actual lack of freedom to choose an occupation in life for a person.

Neither the manufacturer nor the worker has their own incentives, because they do not choose their life and work. Consequently, they constantly feel like just cogs in the system, who cannot plan their own fate, someone has already decided everything for them. In addition, it is very difficult and time-consuming to create plans for the whole country. For this, the most the best specialists, and there's still room for error. So the risk is high. The system must reach its ideal state in order to work correctly.

Slow pace of development

Often, a planned economy cannot quickly and correctly apply the things that are achieved thanks to the breakthrough of science every day. Usually long-term plans are made, which simply do not include the possibility of change. Because of this, braking, stagnation, lagging occurs.

Opportunities that could be useful in a more flexible system are not being used. Such control schemes are suitable for mass production of the same type of goods. AT this moment the market economy, with its constant races to out-compete market offerings, is considered more viable. The situation is changing so fast that there is simply no point in making far-reaching plans.

More social freedom

Political socialism implies universal labor under the control of the party, which directly controls the process of work. All relationships that arise between classes, social strata, peoples, individuals and collectives are covered and regulated. A policy is developed and put into practice aimed at achieving the goals of a society characterized by development and high organization.

In such schemes of government, far-reaching plans are always set. People are involved in managing the processes that take place in society and the country. The state apparatus is constantly being improved. Increase activity social organizations. People's control becomes higher, the legal basis on which public and state life stands is strengthened. Glasnost is becoming more acceptable.

People's opinions are taken into account. The proletariat initially establishes its dominant position in society. What is socialism? This is a strategy to strengthen centralized management. With further development, the dictatorship is abolished, more freedom of speech appears.

Power in the hands of the people

Public relations are maturing, because now people run the state. Main value considered popular sovereignty. The state is led by society, social transformations are carried out in it by the hands of all people. Decisions of people's deputies are the basis of legislation binding on all citizens. This is the main principle of the rule of law, where the focus is not on the personal goals of the ruling class, but on the public good.

The working people themselves are the ruling force, while using non-administrative institutions. The role of cooperative and other organizations is great, as tasks which set themselves the regulation of the work of the state and the affairs of the people. As an example of political and public associations one can cite the "People's Front", which includes, for the most part, those movements and associations that participate in the political processes of the country. Every year the importance of such organizations only increases, because it is very important for people to feel that they themselves decide the fate of their own country.

Where did it spread

The countries of socialism were designated by the CPSU at the time when cold war in the territory Soviet Union. It refers to those states that have chosen the path of socialist change. Priority are the ideologies of Marxism and Leninism. The regimes are characterized by a fairly stable structure.

Relations with the Soviet Union could be both friendly and hostile. Also, these states are called communist or socialist commonwealth (camp, bloc). During the 1940s and 1950s, countries making the transition between capitalism and popular rule were called states of people's democracy. The same was true in the past of many third world countries that the USSR helped with resources in the 1960s and 1980s. These were Angola, Yemen, Afghanistan, Congo, Mozambique, Algeria, Bangladesh and many others.

Nowadays

As of today, these include the Socialist Lao Republic, the Republic of Korea, the Chinese People's Republic, Cuba, Vietnam. In these states political life the communist party rules, although private property also plays a role in the economy. The 21st century brought socialism to latin america. This model of power is clearly expressed in Nepal, where it came in 2008.

Cuba is another bright representative countries that affected socialist ideals. Raul Castro, the head of state, in 2010 followed the example of the Chinese government and transferred the eastern model of government to the conditions of his own country. Dali green light entrepreneurship, more possibilities appeared for small and medium businesses.

Thus, the Cuban government combined a planned economy with some freedom for businesses that want to develop and earn money, seeing that this would be of some benefit to the state.

The concept of developed socialism is the ideology of stagnation.

The change of course in October 1964 was bound to entail a new ideological justification. Initially, the curtailment of Khrushchev's democratic undertakings was explained by the need to combat his subjectivism and voluntarism.

However, a more thorough substantiation of the conservative internal political course was soon required. This was the concept of "developed socialism”and the theory of a permanent aggravation of the ideological struggle between the socialist and capitalist systems as we move towards communism.

In Brezhnev's speech at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution (1967), for the first time, a conclusion was made about the construction in the USSR"developed socialist society", which over time took shape in a new holistic ideological concept of "developed socialism". It was based on the very real fact of the creation in the USSR of the foundations of an industrial society. The authors of the concept expressed the ideas of the complete, albeit relative, homogeneity of Soviet society, the final solution of the national question, the absence of any real contradictions within society. Accordingly, it was assumed that it would develop without conflict. This, in turn, led to the formation of a complacent and complacent perception of the surrounding reality among the leadership of the CPSU. without undermining faith in communism, this concept translated the task of its construction from a concrete historical plane (as required program CPSU) into a theoretical one, postponing its implementation for a long time. Moreover, the more difficult the situation in the economy became and social sphere, the louder the reports of labor successes and achievements sounded.

Not surprisingly, the concept of "developed socialism" was later called the "ideology of stagnation".

The thesis about the intensification of the ideological struggle followed, in essence, from the Stalinist position on the intensification of the class struggle as we advanced towards socialism, which was justified in the 30s. the need for mass repression. Now the updated thesis was supposed to explain to the public the persecution of dissidents as a fight against the "agents of influence" of the West, to justify the restrictions in spiritual life. These ideological innovations were also reflected in the Constitution of 1977.
However real life less and less people resembled "developed socialism". The introduction in the regions of card distribution of products, the decline in living standards required "clarifications" in ideology. In 1982, Yu. V. Andropov put forward the idea of ​​"improving developed socialism" and announced that this would be a very long historical period.

The socio-political development of the USSR until the mid-1980s was determined by two political concepts - developed socialism and the Soviet people as a new historical community. The growing influence on the development of Soviet society, internal and foreign policy The dissident movement also began to provide the country.

At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, a change in program milestones took place: the concept of the full-scale construction of communism laid down in the third program of the party was replaced by the concept of developed socialism. Thus, the CPSU actually renounced the solemn promise given at the 22nd Party Congress that "the present generation Soviet people will live under communism. "The main revisionists of the former general course were the leaders of the party - L.I. Brezhnev, M.A. Suslov, Yu.V. Andropov. In their policy they were guided by the principle: "movement is everything, the ultimate goal is nothing" .new political concept was closer to life, it was created taking into account the growing military spending to achieve and then maintain military-strategic parity with the United States and strengthen the borders with China.

The concept was first made public in the report "Fifty Years of the Great Victories of Socialism", with which the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Brezhnev spoke at a joint solemn meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses on November 3, 1967. In 1971 , at the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, it was proclaimed the highest stage in the development of Marxism-Leninism. Yu.V. Andropov, in an article devoted to the teachings of K. Marx and the problems of building socialism in the USSR, published in 1983 on the occasion of the 165th anniversary of the birth of the founder of Marxism. In the second half of the 1980s, the period of domination of this concept was named by M.S. Gorbachev "period of stagnation".

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TEXTBOOK "HISTORY OF RUSSIA"

The Marxist theory, which became the foundation of the Soviet state ideology, was based on very simple and widespread ideas: it is possible to build a just society where there would be no self-interest, violence and exploitation in relations between people. The sources of all these troubles were declared to be private property and the state. Thus, the path to the ideal had to lie through the destruction of all signs of the state and through the elimination of the stratum serving the state power - the bureaucracy.

However, the entire history of socialism in the USSR came into glaring contradiction with the conclusions of Marxism about the withering away of the state. With the death of Stalin, the last obstacles to the transformation of the bureaucracy from "servants" disappeared state power into an independent public political power claiming full mastery of this power. The situation was further complicated by the fact that within the ruling elite there was a separation of separate groups on the basis of various government departments and structures. In the minds of people, the Soviet state was increasingly associated not with communist ideals, but with the interests of the bureaucracy.

The energy charge contained in the Marxist-Leninist ideology turned out to be in the second half of the 60s. on the brink of extinction. This manifested itself in the obvious decline in mass labor enthusiasm, the growth of social apathy, the ever wider spread of “ideologically alien” phenomena, and so on. The main task in ideology is to form among the working people faith in the possibilities of the Soviet system.

In December 1966, an article by F.M. Burlatsky "On the construction of a developed socialist society". A new ideological concept was taking shape: the completion of the full construction of socialism (which was announced at the 21st Congress of the CPSU) marks a new a long period- stage "developed socialism" during which the advantages of the socialist system are fully realized. The entry into communism was postponed indefinitely. In 1967, Brezhnev himself spoke about the construction of “developed socialism” in the USSR in a speech on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, and this conclusion was finally confirmed at the 24th Party Congress in 1971.

The concept of "developed socialism" was intended, firstly, "reconcile" the fundamental provisions of the Marxist-Leninist theory with the prevailing realities of socialism: the preservation of the class division of society, various forms property, commodity-money relations and, finally, the state itself with its bureaucracy. Secondly, to justify the departure from the previous grandiose projects (the economic reform of 1965 is one of them) to a more calm, stable development. Thirdly, to instill in the minds of citizens that the reality surrounding them is a value in itself, which should bring satisfaction and inspire pride.

New Constitution

New concept development influenced the legislation of the country. The constitution of 1936 ceased to meet the tasks set. For example, the first article of the Constitution called the USSR "the state of workers and peasants", the second article spoke of "the conquest of the dictatorship of the proletariat", which was in no way linked with the declaration of "genuine" democracy. In addition, there were practically no “proletarian” features in the existing image of state power. A new definition was needed political system, social structure, the nature of the economic, international development of the USSR.

In February 1976, at the XXV Congress of the CPSU, it was decided to start practical preparations for the adoption of a new Constitution of the USSR. The preparation was carried out under the slogan of improving socialist democracy, and as a real confirmation of this, since May 1977, a nationwide discussion of the project was organized. The draft Constitution was published in the newspapers, and citizens were given the opportunity to propose amendments to it.

Thus, the semblance of a democratic process was maintained. The final text of the Constitution was approved on October 7, 1977 at the session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The most important article in it was Article 6, which read: "The guiding and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union." This led to an even greater strengthening of the significance of the party apparatus in the entire power pyramid, finally establishing membership in the party as required condition for any career. At the same time, the very fact of the appearance in the Constitution of a special article on the CPSU spoke of the weakening of the ideological influence of the party. Previously, there was simply no need to formally consolidate its role as a guiding force.

The state was declared "nationwide", i.e. henceforth it was to equally represent the interests of all social strata. This provision was supposed to be the rationale for the triumph of "genuine" democracy in the Soviet Union.

The social structure that had developed in the USSR was interpreted in a new way: Soviet society was declared homogeneous. As before, classes remained - the working and collective farm peasantry and the "social stratum" - the intelligentsia, but their differences were declared insignificant.

In fact, Soviet society not only was not homogeneous, but its structure became more and more hierarchical, resembling a kind of social pyramid.

The main sign of social status was what place a citizen occupies in relation to power. The most important place in the characterization of the society of "developed socialism" was occupied in the new Constitution by the question of the state and development of interethnic relations. It was proclaimed that as a result of the rapprochement of nations and nationalities in the USSR, a "new historical community - the Soviet people" was formed. But at the same time, it was not explained by what criteria some nationalities have the constitutional status of a nation, and others - nationalities, why some are allowed to have statehood in the form of a union republic, others only an autonomous one, and still others did not even have this.

The power of the nomenklatura. The organizers of the removal of N. S. Khrushchev from the post of first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU were the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR L. I. Brezhnev and other members of the top party leadership. After the removal of Khrushchev, Brezhnev took his place. Soon the first secretary became general, as was the case under Stalin. The change in the name of the position to a certain extent reflected the change in orientation: instead of reforming, a course towards preserving, if possible, the relations that had developed in society, instead of de-Stalinization, attempts to restore the image of Stalin as an outstanding party leader.
Such a change in orientation reflected not only the very conservative views of Brezhnev, but - and this is the main thing - the interests of the party-state bureaucracy. This bureaucracy is also called the nomenklatura. Almost all leading positions in the state and economic apparatus required a party recommendation. They were called nomenclature, i.e. included in the list of positions administered by party authorities. Without the knowledge of these authorities, it was impossible to become the chairman of a collective farm and the director of a factory, the rector of an institute and the director of a school, and even more so a minister. The ministers belonged to the sphere of activity of the Central Committee of the CPSU; it was decided at the level of the district party committee who to appoint the director of the school. In essence, the nomenklatura was, in the words of the Yugoslav dissident M. Djilas, “a new ruling class».
The fact that the “dictatorship of the nomenklatura” was established in the country was reflected in the sixth article of the new Constitution of the USSR, adopted in 1977. It read: “The leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Even a tourist trip of a citizen of the USSR to socialist countries demanded approval from party bodies. The fate of the country depended on the army of officials, many of whom were party and Komsomol nominees who did not have proper professional training.
Under Brezhnev, especially in last years his tenure at the head of the party and state, all questions were not only prepared by the apparatus
workers, which, of course, was also under Khrushchev, but, as a rule, they were predetermined by them. Moreover, since 1974, the Secretary General's health has been deteriorating from year to year, he began to speak with difficulty and poorly perceive the essence of state affairs. In 1978, at the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Komsomol, the decrepit Brezhnev, handing over a commemorative banner, almost dropped it from his weakening hands. In the last years of his life in making the most important government decisions an important role was played by the inner circle of the secretary general, which included members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU - the head of the KGB Yu. Central Committee of the CPSU K. U. Chernenko.
Problems of the economy. It was impossible to immediately curtail the projects started by Khrushchev and objectively necessary for the country. economic reforms. They continued in the second half of the 60s, their implementation was associated with the name of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers A. N. Kosygin. The essence of the reform was the introduction of economic levers for managing enterprises. It was planned to reduce the number of planned indicators, an individual approach to remuneration, and encourage employees at the expense of income from profits. At the same time, there was a rejection of the system of territorial management of industry (the so-called economic councils), which was introduced under Khrushchev. Rigid departmental centralization of all sectors of the economy was restored, which came into conflict with the proclaimed principles of reform. Ultimately, the bureaucratization of economic life prevailed over the limited freedom of enterprise.
During the 70s - the first half of the 80s. stagnation began to be observed in the country's economy to an increasing extent. First of all, this was expressed in a decrease in the pace of development. Thus, compared with the 8-10% annual increase in industrial production from 1956 to 1965, it was only about 4% in 1976-1980.

Row Growth Rates economic indicators in the USSR (in %)

In conditions when the West was actively proceeding scientific and technological revolution(NTR), mass computerization was launched, the output of traditional products (metal smelting, etc.) increased in the USSR, and a high proportion of unskilled labor remained. Things were better with high technologies in the Soviet military-industrial complex(VPK), colloquially referred to as the "defense industry". This sector grew at the expense of others, and the burden of military spending hindered the development of those industries that worked for the needs of the population. Primary products dominated Soviet exports. The country's economy and the living standards of the population were largely supported by petrodollars, i.e. foreign exchange earnings received from the sale of oil and gas for export. But this revenue was not enough for all the needs, the wear and tear of industrial equipment gradually occurred.
The lag was especially evident in the agricultural sector. The rural worker lived chiefly on his personal plot and personal farming. Although collective farms switched from a system of workdays to monthly wages, the work of collective farmers and state farm workers was poorly paid. The yield was also low. great amount grown products were lost during the harvesting period and during storage. Lack of material interest, petty party-Soviet guardianship, planned and financial restrictions on the use of available funds, mass mismanagement led to the decline Agriculture. There was not enough food in the country, and the authorities could not solve the food problem.
Crisis of dogmatized ideology. It was clear to the party leadership that the program for building communism, adopted in 1961, was not feasible. But it could not decide on its official radical revision. In order to somehow reconcile the “socialist reality” and the communist utopia, it was proclaimed that “developed socialism” had been built in the USSR and the Soviet society was faced with the task of improving it. However, all propaganda efforts to create a prosperous facade of the society of "developed socialism" were nullified by reality: low indicators of the quality of life Soviet man, bureaucratization and corruption of the party and state apparatus, violations of social justice as a declared moral norm, an increase in critical attitude towards the official ideology and party leadership.
Many people no longer listened to the "voice of the party." They turned to other voices: to tape recordings of songs by A. A. Galich and V. S. Vysotsky, imbued with rejection of Soviet reality, to broadcasts from foreign radio stations, to ideas gleaned from “forbidden literature”, to anecdotes that ridicule the leaders and the system. There were two ideologies in the country: the official Marxist-Leninist and the informal, democratic, focused on open, free human thought.
dissidence. The process of de-Stalinization, initiated by Khrushchev's report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, continued under Brezhnev. However, the internal content of this process became different - it acquired the character of oppositional resistance to the regime.
In the autumn of 1965, writers A. D. Sinyavsky and Yu. M. Daniel were arrested, who secretly smuggled their works of art abroad and published them there under pseudonyms. Based on the content of these works, the writers were accused of "anti-Soviet agitation." On December 5, 1965, the Day of the Soviet Constitution, a small group of young people protested on Pushkin Square in Moscow under the slogans "We demand a public trial of Sinyavsky and Daniel" and "Respect the Soviet constitution." Thus was born the human rights movement, which became the most important part of new form opposition - Soviet dissidence (dissent). During the trial, Sinyavsky and Daniel were sentenced (to 7 and 5 years in a strict regime, respectively), although they did not plead guilty.
The most famous figures of the dissident movement were one of the creators of the Soviet thermonuclear weapons, A. D. Sakharov, and the writer A. I. Solzhenitsyn. Academician Sakharov in his book "Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom" and other speeches developed the idea of ​​the convergence of two systems - socialism and capitalism, which could borrow each other's achievements and positive aspects. Solzhenitsyn gained worldwide fame thanks to his book "The Gulag Archipelago" (GULAG - Main Directorate of Camps), in which, based on documents and the memories of prisoners, a picture was recreated Stalinist repressions and camp life.
Among the dissidents were people of different views: socialist and liberal, religious and nationalist. But all of them were united by the rejection of Soviet reality and the Communist Party, the desire to defend human rights and democratic ideals. There were few dissidents, they did not participate in any organizations. The activities of human rights activists consisted mainly in protests and the distribution of literature published abroad (“tamizdat”) and illegally in the USSR (“samizdat”) that was critical of the Soviet order.
Dissidents were subjected to persecution: arrests and judicial reprisals, imprisonment in camps, exile, deportation abroad, placement in psychiatric hospitals. By the beginning of the 80s. the dissident movement was almost eliminated by the KGB, but the ideas of human rights activists have already taken root in public consciousness.
Deepening the crisis of "developed socialism". In the first half of the 1980s, the crisis phenomena in the life of Soviet society became more and more obvious. In conditions when the scientific and technological revolution continued in the West, there was a transition to a post-industrial society, the USSR lagged behind more and more in technical and economic terms. But the ruling party elite in the person of the elderly members of the Politburo did not want, and could not change anything. Various programs were adopted (for example, food), but the shortage of food products (especially meat products) not only did not decrease, but, on the contrary, increased. Imported clothes and shoes (domestic was of poor quality and unfashionable) were bought "under the counter" at speculative prices (there were almost no such goods in stores). The essentials disappeared from the sale - soap, toothpaste, etc. The "black market" of goods and services flourished.
Demagogic slogans were proclaimed from the high stands, the propaganda machine of the regional and district committees of the party, the Znanie society, newspapers and magazines, radio and television were working with might and main, but there were fewer and fewer people who believed the slogans and promises. The belief that "Soviet is the best" was replaced by another: "Soviet means the worst."
But perhaps most of all people were irritated by the bureaucratic arbitrariness and helplessness of the highest party-state nomenklatura. After Brezhnev's death in November 1982, the 68-year-old Politburo member Yu. The seriously ill Andropov spent only about a year and a half at the highest party post. The measures he has taken to increase labor discipline, as well as the fight against corruption, were not effective due to their short duration, and due to the fact that they were carried out by bureaucratic command methods. In February 1984, Andropov died, and the post of General Secretary went to another aged, infirm, and, moreover, without dignity. statesman member of the Politburo K. U. Chernenko.