Former "socialist" countries. Socialist countries of the world

At a certain period in the history of mankind, the ideas of general equality enjoyed such great popularity that the socialist countries of the world found wide circulation. This situation was associated with the intense political and economic influence on such states of the Soviet Union, which led to the emergence of most of them.

Socialist countries is a definition used during the Cold War in the USSR to refer to countries that have embarked on the path of socialist development.

Despite the fact that the ideas of socialism began to be popular for a long time, the period of the greatest prosperity of states with such an ideology fell on the forties and fifties of the 20th century.

As of 1950, there were 15 states in the world where socialism was the main ideology.

During this period, the list of socialist countries of the world was the most extensive and included the following:

• (NSRA);
• (NRB);
• (Hungary);
• (SFRY);
• (Czechoslovakia);
• (SRV);
• (SRR);
• Part (GDR);
• (NDP);
• (PRC);
• (DPRK);
• (Lao PDR);
• (MNR).

Thanks to the active participation and support of the USSR, such states were able to defend their sovereignty in an attempt to build a socialist society.

However, after the fall of the Union, such countries were left without any support, which led to a significant economic, ideological and political crisis.

As a result of such events, most of these states ceased to exist, becoming democratic, or disintegrated into several independent countries. Some of them retained their political system and remained faithful to the ideas of socialism.

Socialist countries at the present time and their features

For all states that have retained this kind of ideology so far, several features are characteristic at once. They have significantly departed from the ideas of classical socialism and suggest the possibility of the existence of private property among citizens.

Learn more about the socialist countries in the video below.

In addition, the communist and socialist regimes that currently exist have undergone liberalization, which has brought them somewhat closer to their capitalist counterparts. In economic terms, such states wish to attract cash from foreign investors, providing open and transparent conditions for entrepreneurs.

Socialist states are constantly exposed to a number of factors that negatively affect their development:

• Sanctions from more developed countries economic terms countries.
• Militarism as the dominant ideology.
• The constant threat of invasion from outside.
• Economic crisis.

Such regimes have enough resources to continue to exist. However, these conditions have an extremely negative impact on the quality of life of people living on the territory of the socialist states. There are significantly fewer of them today than in 1950:

1. North Korea;
2. Vietnam;
3. Laos;
4. Venezuela;
5. Cuba.

Each of these states has its own characteristics that determine the local flavor, as well as the problems that have to be faced most often in the 21st century.

People's Republic of China

China is the most economically developed socialist state. For many years it has occupied a leading position in terms of economic growth and production, which makes it one of the most promising countries with a similar ideology.

Detailed map of the administrative divisions of the PRC

The main political force is the State Council, which is also called the Central People's Government. In addition to increasing production rates, which are record-breaking, the country's economy is focused on the export of manufactured products. At the same time, the state is successfully striving to become self-sufficient: food dependence on trading partners does not exceed 10%.

The liberalization of the economy and the desire to attract investment from abroad led to the emergence of free economic zones. These are special regions where various enterprises of foreign partners are concentrated: Xiamen, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Shantou, as well as many areas with duty-free trade.

China actively trades with external partners, which is confirmed by the presence of the inscription "Made in China" on most things sold in many countries of the world. China is the leader in production (% of world production):

• cameras (50%);
• air conditioners (30%);
• refrigerators (about 20%).

And also the Celestial Empire ranks first in the world in the production of textiles, clothing, shoes and many other goods. At the same time, the state actively imports crude oil for further processing and use.

Celestial - majestic and mysterious

Since 2002, the PRC has been implementing an overseas investment program, which is concentrated mainly in the countries Asian region(more than 60%). A significantly smaller share of investments (15%) goes to projects implemented in Latin America. The European region receives - only 9% invested by Chinese entrepreneurs.

Despite a certain level of militarism, the country seeks to expand through economic and demographic tools, and not through active military action.

North Korea

North Korea appears to be a much less successful state. This socialist country is subjected to constant sanctions by the world community, and public order supported by law enforcement agencies. In North Korea, the main ideology is Juche, local socialism, coupled with the personality cult of the country's ruler Kim Jong-un, and earlier his father.

Despite the ideology, three political parties operate on the territory of the state:

• The Workers' Party of Korea is in the lead.
• Social Democratic Party of Korea.
• Cheondogyo-Cheonudan.

The last two political associations fully recognize the leading role of the Labor Party, to which the current leader of the country belongs, and also contribute to it in every possible way. Despite the clearly authoritarian orientation, the local ideology proclaims “freedom of conscience”, however, in reality, the authorities are actively fighting religion and its manifestations.

The economy of the state is almost completely focused on domestic consumption, as it is traditionally isolated from potential trading partners due to numerous sanctions. The situation is exacerbated by food shortages caused by droughts, which have led to a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nevertheless, the authorities in every possible way deny the existence of a crisis in the country and, as a result, refuse the help of other states. At the moment, the DPRK remains the most isolated and closed country in the world.

You can learn more about life in the DPRK from the video below.

Vietnam

Today, Vietnam is undergoing active liberalization of the economy and foreign policy. As well as the weakening of control by the ruling Communist Party over various aspects of the life of the country's citizens. Nevertheless, officially the state is still socialist.

The National Assembly, which includes many deputies elected by direct voting, is established as the supreme organ of power. It is noteworthy that in 2004, the DPRK withdrew its ambassador to Vietnam because of a possible conspiracy that facilitated the delivery of refugees from the DPRK to the territory.

There is freedom of religion in Vietnam, in connection with which the locals are mostly adherents of traditional beliefs and animistic cults. The economic situation in the country is rather difficult, which is associated with a budget deficit and high level unemployment.

Landscape of Vietnam's capital Hanoi

This led to poverty for the vast majority of the population. However, recently, due to the attraction of investments, the share of the population living below the poverty line has decreased to 12.6%. In an effort to improve the financial situation, the state began to actively develop the tourism sector and became one of the most popular Asian destinations of this kind.

Laos

Once one of the poorest countries in Asia, given country starting in 1986, it switched to a new economic model, which allowed it to attract the attention of foreign investors.

Subsequently, the privatization of a part state enterprises and free economic zones were created. In 2003, the authorities drafted a law guaranteeing the immunity of foreign investment.

The country is led by the People's Revolutionary Party of Laos, which belongs to the communist type. At the same time, the post of president and prime minister is provided. The former is elected by Parliament for a term of five years, while the latter is appointed by the head of state.

On the this moment Despite economic difficulties, Laos is actively increasing trade relations with the most developed countries - China, the USA, Thailand, and in 2013 became a full member of the WTO. This led to a gradual increase in the welfare of the population, as well as to the development of local companies.

Communism rising sun

Japan, only at first glance, may not seem like the most suitable place for the successors of Lenin's work. In fact, the Communist Party, founded in the Land of the Rising Sun in 1922, is alive and well, despite the fact that most of its ideological sisters have long since left the scene. The party advocates socialism and democracy, as well as against "militarism" - the desire of the conservatives to change the nature of the peaceful post-war constitution and return the army to Japan. Now, de jure, the island state does not have its own armed forces, and its self-defense forces can only participate in hostilities to protect the country's territory.

Last year, the Communists were able to significantly strengthen their representation in the Japanese Parliament, as well as in the capital city of Tokyo. The KPJ has won 11 seats in the upper house of parliament, in addition, it has 8 mandates in the lower one. The party became the third political force in the Tokyo Prefectural Legislature. The Communists' success is linked to voter fatigue from traditional parties, experts say.

Thus, the energetic communist Yoshiko Kira, an active fighter against nuclear energy, for the peaceful nature of the country's constitution and against the presence of American military bases in Japan - all these slogans arouse the sympathy of left-wing students and young trade union activists. The party newspaper Akahata (Red Banner) is popular for its exposé reports on environmental issues and abuses in the ruling circles. The circulation of the publication is 1.2 million copies. More than 300,000 people are members of the CPJ today.

Www.jcp.or.jp/kakusan Mascots of the Japanese Communist Party

To attract the voters, the Japanese communists created "cute" comic book characters who fight American bases and also advocate for tax cuts.

Communism with a rich history

Wikimedia Commons

Left ideas in France have a rich history - it is no coincidence that the first Bolsheviks declared themselves the heirs of the French Revolution and the Paris Commune. The modern French Communist Party was founded in 1920. During the years of the Nazi occupation, the French communists were active participants in the Resistance, after the war they became one of the leading political forces countries headed by Maurice Thorez, after whom the Linguistic University in Moscow is named. In the 1969 elections, the PCF candidate almost made it to the second round with 21% of the vote.

An active supporter of the Communists was the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, the party consisted of many celebrities, including the wife of Vladimir Vysotsky Marina Vlady and the famous composer Paul Mauriat.

Even the future right-wing President of France, Jacques Chirac, distributed the official newspaper of the PCF, L'Humanite. The Communists also published a comic book for children and teenagers, Pif, about the adventures of a puppy and his friends, which was very popular with French children.

Back in the early 2000s, it was the largest Communist Party Western world, whose representatives were even part of the government coalition.

However, in the first decade of the new century, the popularity of the PCF steadily decreased, as a result of which they decided to reformat and create a united "Left Front", whose representative in the presidential elections of 2012 took fourth place, gaining 11% - a result better than that of the communists in the previous four campaigns.

Left communism

The heirs of the GDR from the Party of Democratic Socialism, the legal successor of the Socialist Unity Party that ruled East Germany, also followed the path of a broader coalition of leftist forces. After the reunification of the country, its former bosses received a good percentage of votes for some time, but their popularity was constantly declining. Help came from former party members of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who left the ranks of the Social Democrats in protest against the erosion of the party's left-wing ideology.

In 2007, they created a joint bloc called the Left, which declared its goal to "overcome capitalism" and to build "democratic socialism." In the last elections to the Bundestag, the bloc took third place, pushing the liberals from Svobodnaya Democratic Party, but, nevertheless, lost 3% of the vote.

In Russian state media, the speech of the chairman of the "Left" faction Gregor Gysi in the Bundestag this spring, in which he harshly criticized Angela Merkel's Ukrainian policy, was very popular.

Communism with a cherry

HN - Matej Slavik

The Communist Party of the Czech Republic and Moravia (CPCM) is the only Marxist-Leninist force in Eastern Europe, which, even after the collapse of the socialist bloc, continues to play a significant role in the country's politics. Her recent history started at a very adverse conditions, since in the new Czech Republic a tough and consistent lustration of former members of the ruling HRC was carried out. There were several splits within the party, in 2006 its youth organization was even banned.

Nevertheless, the KSCM held out, bringing its program significantly closer to classical Eurocommunism, and even took a new symbol instead of the traditional hammer and sickle - the “cherry”.

The new program of the Communist Party with a rather noticeable shift in anti-globalization rhetoric allowed it to gradually gain popularity. As the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza notes, "even young people vote for the party, those who were born after 1989." In the last parliamentary elections last year, the KSCM received almost 15% of the vote. “The backbone of voters consists mainly of the older generation, but the ranks of the party are constantly replenished with young people. Moreover, about 3% of the youngest voters vote for this party,” emphasizes Gazeta Wyborcza. Currently, the KSCM has 34 out of 200 deputy mandates in parliament and 182 seats in regional legislatures (a total of 675 deputies).

Communism in the Himalayas

thehindu.com

The United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is the third most influential political force in the country, which was founded in 1994. For many years, she waged a guerrilla war with the country's monarchical government, but in 2005 she switched to a peaceful political process and organized an alliance with other parties. The communists' commitment to the peace process was even noted by the US State Department, which removed it from the list of "terrorist organizations" and also recognized the role of the UCPN in achieving peace.

Nevertheless, it retained some painfully familiar features characteristic of the communist parties of the past. For example, albeit modernized, but the cult of personality. The new party doctrine is called Prachanda's Way, after the leader of the party, Comrade Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

In 2008, Prachanda, a former underground fighter and organizer of the anti-government guerrilla, became the country's prime minister. But a year later, he resigned due to the unwillingness of the President of Nepal, at his suggestion, to dismiss the country's defense minister. The conflict between the prime minister and the head of the military department was connected with the latter's unwillingness to include former Maoist rebels in the armed forces.

Opium Communism

REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) arose after the split of the "big" Communist Party into two parts - oriented towards the USSR and supported by Maoist China.

The KPI(m) still stands on fairly orthodox positions - its program still speaks of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and its symbol is a white hammer and sickle on a red background.

Marxist communists have strong representation in poorer states like Kerala and West Bengal. In total, the party has over 1 million members. Since 2013, the communist government has ruled the state of Tripura in northeastern India.

The Maoists to this day call for armed struggle against the authorities in New Delhi and the hostile classes. The Indian government considers the Maoists terrorists. The same replenish their party coffers in the literal sense with opium for the people, trading in opium poppy.

By the middle of the 20th century, two forces had formed in the world, the confrontation of which either intensified to “saber-rattling”, then weakened to “detente of international relations”. The socialist countries were part of a single camp, which was in a state of cold war with the capitalist encirclement. They did not become an indestructible monolith with a uniform ideology. There were too many differences in traditions and mentality among the peoples who were going strong hand lead to a communist future.

post-war world

The Soviet Union led by Stalin emerged from the Second World War with unthinkable military power and international prestige. Countries of Eastern Europe and the countries of Southeast Asia, liberated by the Soviet Army from the yoke of German fascism and Japanese militarism, saw in the USSR a true leader who knew the right path.

Often the attitude towards Soviet soldiers was of an emotional nature, transferring a kind attitude towards the whole way of life that they personified. When, for example, Bulgaria, Sofia were liberated, people saw the power of the social system of the country, which had overcome an incredibly formidable enemy.

Even during the war, Stalin supported the parties and national liberation movements that shared the communist ideology. And after the victory, they became the leading political force of the states, from which the socialist countries were soon formed. The coming to power of communist leaders was facilitated by the presence of Soviet armed forces, which for some time carried out an occupation regime in the liberated territories.

Spreading Soviet influence in other parts of the planet has always provoked strong opposition. An example is Vietnam, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and others. The suppression of socialist movements was both simply anti-communist in nature and the meaning of the struggle for the return of the colonies.

A new stage of development was embodied by the Republic of Cuba, the first socialist state in the Western Hemisphere. The 1959 revolution had a romantic halo in the world, which did not prevent it from becoming the scene of the hottest clash between the two systems - the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Partition of Germany

The fate of the German people became a symbol of the post-war division of the world. By agreement between the leaders of the victorious anti-Hitler coalition, the territory of the former Third Reich was divided into two parts. The Federal Republic of Germany arose in that part of the country, which included American, French and British troops. The German Democratic Republic was formed in the Soviet zone of occupation in 1949. The former German capital - Berlin - was also divided into Western and Eastern parts.

The wall erected on the line of contact between the two new states in the once unified city has become the literal embodiment of the division of the world into the countries of the socialist camp and the rest of the world. As well as the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and the unification of Germany exactly 40 years later marked the end of the Cold War era.

Warsaw Pact

Churchill's speech in Fulton (03/05/1946) is considered the beginning of the Cold War, where he called on the United States and its allies to unite against the threat to the "free world" from the USSR. After a while there was organizational form for such an association - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). When the FRG joined this military-political bloc in 1955, the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Europe that had emerged by that time also came to the need to combine their military potential.

In 1955, the Treaty was signed in Warsaw, which gave the organization its name. Its participants were: the USSR, the GDR, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Albania. Albania later withdrew from the treaty due to ideological differences, in particular the invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968).

The governing bodies of the organization were the Political Advisory Committee and the Joint Command of the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces of the USSR were the main force of the Warsaw Pact, therefore the posts of Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Forces and Chief of Staff were always occupied by senior officers. Soviet army. The USSR and the socialist countries have always declared the exclusively defensive purpose of their military alliance, but this did not prevent the NATO countries from calling it the main threat to themselves.

These mutual accusations were the main justification for the arms race, the constant increase in military spending on both sides. All this continued until 1991, when the former socialist countries agreed to formally terminate the treaty.

Military opposition to the two social constructions also took other forms. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam arose as a result of the victory of the communist forces in a long war, which became almost an open confrontation between the USA and the USSR.

The forerunner of the current European Union was the European Economic Community (EEC). It was it that was engaged in cooperation between the United States and Western Europe in the manufacturing and financial sectors. Countries with social order, based on the ideas of Marxism, decided to create an alternative structure to the EEC for economic, scientific and technical cooperation. In 1949, the socialist countries established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Its convocation is also an attempt to resist the American "Marshall Plan" - a plan to restore the European economy with the help of the United States.

The number of CMEA participants changed, in the mid-80s it was the largest: 10 permanent members (USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Mongolia, Cuba, Vietnam), and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia participated only in some programs . 12 countries of Asia, Africa and South America with socialist economies, such as Angola, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Ethiopia and others, sent their observers.

For some time, the CMEA performed its functions, and the economies of the European countries of the socialist camp, with the help of the USSR, overcame the consequences of wartime and began to gain momentum. But then the sluggishness of the state sector of industry and agriculture, the great dependence of the USSR economy on the world commodity market reduced the profitability of the Council for its participants. Political changes, a sharp decline in the competitiveness of the economy and finances of the USSR led to the curtailment of cooperation within the CMEA, and in the summer of 1991 it was disbanded.

World system of socialism

The official ideologists of the CPSU developed in different time various wordings for designating countries of a related socio-political formation. Until the 1950s, the name "country of people's democracy" was adopted. Later, the existence of 15 socialist countries was recognized in party documents.

Yugoslavia's Special Path

multinational public education- The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - which existed in the Balkans from 1946 to 1992, belonged to the communist social scientists to the socialist camp with great reservations. Tensions regarding communist theorists towards Yugoslavia appeared after a quarrel between two leaders - Stalin and Josip Broz Tito.

One of the reasons for this conflict was called Bulgaria. Sofia, according to the plan of the "leader of the peoples", was to become the capital of one of the republics as part of a federal state common with Yugoslavia. But the Yugoslav leader refused to submit to Stalin's dictatorship. Subsequently, he began to declare his own path to socialism, different from the Soviet one. This was expressed in the weakening of state planning in the economy, in the freedom of movement of citizens across European countries, in the absence of the dominance of ideology in culture and art. After Stalin's death in 1953, the differences between the USSR and Yugoslavia lost their sharpness, but the originality of Balkan socialism remained.

Uprising in Budapest 1956

For the first time, the German Democratic Republic became the scene of popular unrest, which were extinguished by Soviet tanks, back in 1953. More dramatic events took place in another country of People's Democracy.

Hungary during the Second World War fought on the side of Hitler and, by decision of international organizations, was obliged to pay indemnity. This affected the economic situation in the country. With the support of the Soviet occupation forces, Hungary was led by people who copied the most negative aspects of the Stalinist leadership model - personal dictatorship, forced collectivization in agriculture, suppression of dissent with the help of a huge army of state security agencies and informers.

The protests were started by students and intellectuals who supported Imre Nagy, another communist leader, a supporter of democratization in the economy and public life. The conflict took to the streets when the Stalinists in the leadership of the ruling Hungarian Workers' Party turned to the USSR for armed support in removing Nagy. Tanks were brought in when lynching of state security officers began.

The speech was suppressed with the active participation of the Soviet ambassador, the future head of the KGB, Yu. V. Andropov. On the part of the rebels, more than 2.5 thousand people were killed, the Soviet troops lost 669 people killed, more than 1,500 were wounded. Imre Nagy was detained, convicted and executed. The whole world was shown the determination of the Soviet leaders to use force at the slightest threat to their political system.

Prague Spring

The next notable conflict between reformists and those inspired by images of the Stalinist past occurred in 1968 in Czechoslovakia. Alexander Dubcek, chosen as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, represented a new type of leader. They did not question the correctness of the general path along which the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was moving; they only expressed the idea of ​​the possibility of building "socialism with a human face."

This was enough to start military exercises of the Warsaw Pact troops near the eastern borders of Czechoslovakia, where almost all socialist countries sent their troops. At the first sign of reformers' resistance to the arrival of a leadership that agreed with the line of the CPSU, a 300,000-strong contingent crossed the border. The resistance was mostly non-violent and did not require the use of serious force methods. But the events in Prague had a great resonance among the supporters of change in the Soviet Union and the countries of socialism.

Different face of the cult of personality

The principle of democracy, the participation of the broad masses in the management of all aspects of society's life lies at the heart of the Marxist system of state building. But history has shown that it was the lack of responsibility of the authorities for their decisions that caused negative phenomena in almost all socialist countries, this was one of the many reasons for the collapse of communist regimes.

Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong - the attitude towards these personalities often took on the absurd features of deity worship. The Kim dynasty, which has ruled the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for 60 years, has clear analogies with the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, at least in terms of the scale of the monuments. Brezhnev, Ceausescu, Todor Zhivkov in Bulgaria, etc. - for some reason, in the countries of socialism, the governing bodies became a source of stagnation, turned the elective system of democracy into a fiction, when gray personalities of a modest scale remained at the top for decades.

Chinese variant

This is one of the few countries that have maintained a commitment to the socialist path of development to this day. Chinese People's Republic for many adherents of the communist idea, it seems to be the most powerful argument in disputes about the correctness of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism.

China's economy is developing at the fastest pace in the world. The food problem has long been solved, cities are developing at an unprecedented rate, the unforgettable Olympics were held in Beijing, and Chinese achievements in culture and sports are generally recognized. And all this is happening in a country where the Communist Party of China has been ruling since 1947, and the Constitution of the People's Republic of China establishes the provision for the democratic dictatorship of the people in the form of a socialist state.

Therefore, many point to the Chinese version as the direction that should have been taken during the reform of the CPSU, during perestroika. Soviet society, they see this as a possible way to save the Soviet Union from collapse. But even purely theoretical reasoning shows the complete failure of this version. The Chinese direction of development of socialism was possible only in China.

Socialism and religion

Among the determining factors of the specifics of the Chinese communist movement, the main ones are called: huge human resources and an amazing mixture religious traditions, where the main role belongs to Confucianism. This ancient teaching affirms the primacy of traditions and rituals in the way of life: a person should be satisfied with his position, work hard, honoring the leader and teacher placed over him.

Marxist ideology combined with the dogmas of Confucianism gave a bizarre mixture. It contains the years of the unprecedented cult of Mao, when politics changed in wild zigzags, depending on the personal aspirations of the Great Pilot. The metamorphoses of relations between China and the USSR are indicative - from songs about the Great Friendship to the armed conflict on Damansky Island.

It's hard to imagine otherwise modern society and such a phenomenon as continuity in leadership, which the CCP declares. The People's Republic of China in its current form is the embodiment of Deng Xiaoping's ideas on building socialism with Chinese characteristics, which are being implemented by the fourth generation of leaders. The essence of these postulates would have led to indignation of the true zealots of communist dogma from the middle of the 20th century. They would not find anything socialist in them. Free economic zones, an active presence of foreign capital, the second largest number of billionaires in the world and public executions for corruption - these are the realities of socialism the Chinese way.

Time of "velvet revolutions"

The beginning of Gorbachev's reforms in the USSR gave rise to changes political system socialist countries. Glasnost, pluralism of opinions, economic freedom - these slogans were picked up in the countries of Eastern Europe and quickly led to a change in the social system in the former socialist countries. These processes, which led to the same result in different countries, had a lot of national characteristics.

In Poland, the change in social formation began earlier than others. It looked like revolutionary actions of independent trade unions - the Solidarity association - with the active support of the Catholic Church, which is very authoritative in the country. The first free elections led to the defeat of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party and made former union leader Lech Walesa the first president of Poland.

In the GDR, the main motive global changes was the desire for the unity of the country. East Germany joined the economic and political space of Western Europe faster than others, its population, rather than other peoples, felt not only the positive effect of the onset of the new time, but also the problems caused by it.

The name "velvet revolution" was born in Czechoslovakia. The demonstration of students and the creative intelligentsia who joined it gradually and without violence led to a change in the leadership of the country, and subsequently to the division of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The processes taking place in Bulgaria and Hungary had a peaceful character. The ruling communist parties, having lost active support from the USSR, did not interfere with the free expression of the will of the radically inclined sections of the population, and power passed to forces of a different political orientation.

Others were the events in Romania and Yugoslavia. Nicolae Ceausescu's regime decided to use a well-developed state security system, the Securitate, to fight for power. Under unclear circumstances, a forceful suppression of public unrest was provoked, which caused the arrest, trial and execution of the Ceausescu couple.

The Yugoslav scenario was complicated by ethnic conflicts in the republics that were part of the federal state. Long Civil War led to numerous casualties and the appearance on the map of Europe of several new states ...

There is no turning back in history

China, Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are positioned as socialist countries, the world system is long gone. Some bitterly regret that time, others try to erase the memory of it by destroying monuments and forbidding any mention. Still others speak of the most reasonable thing - to move forward, using the unique experience that has befallen the lot of the peoples of the former socialist countries.

The modern world, taking into account the presence of many antagonistic states in it, is unipolar. What can not be said about the events that took place several decades ago. " cold war”divided the world into camp countries, between which there was constant confrontation and incitement of hatred. What were the countries of the socialist camp, you will learn from the following article.

Concept definition

The concept is quite broad and controversial, but it is possible to give a definition. The socialist camp is a term that refers to countries that have embarked on the path of socialist development and the maintenance of the Soviet ideology, moreover, regardless of the support or hostility of the USSR towards them. A vivid example is some countries with which our country had rather a political confrontation (Albania, China and Yugoslavia). In the historical tradition, the countries named above were called communist in the USA, opposing them to their democratic model.

Along with the concept of "socialist camp", synonymous terms were also used - "socialist countries" and "socialist commonwealth". The latter concept was typical for the designation of the allied countries in the USSR.

Origins and formation of the socialist camp

As is known, the October Socialist Revolution was carried out under internationalist slogans and the declaration of the ideas of the world revolution. This attitude was key and was preserved throughout the years of the existence of the USSR, but many countries did not follow this Russian example. But after the victory in World War II, many countries, including European ones, followed the model of socialist development. Sympathy for the country - the winner of the Nazi regime - played a role. Thus, some states even changed their traditional political vector from West to East. The alignment of political forces on earth has changed radically. Therefore, the concept of "socialist camp" is not some kind of abstraction, but specific countries.

The concept of countries with a socialist orientation was embodied in the conclusion of friendly treaties and subsequent mutual assistance. Groups of countries that formed after the war are also commonly referred to as military-political blocs that have been on the frontier of hostilities more than once. But in 1989-1991, the USSR collapsed, and most of the socialist countries headed for liberal development. The collapse of the socialist camp was due to internal factors, as well as external ones.

Economic cooperation of the countries of the socialist community

The main factor in the creation of the socialist camp was economic mutual assistance: the provision of loans, trade, scientific and technical projects, the exchange of personnel and specialists. The key of these types of interactions is foreign trade. This fact by no means means that a socialist state should trade only with friendly countries.

All countries that were part of the socialist camp sold the products of their national economy on the world market and received in return all modern technologies, industrial equipment, as well as the raw materials necessary for the production of certain goods.

The countries of the socialist camp

• Democratic Republic of Somalia;
• People's Republic of Angola;
• People's Republic of the Congo;
• People's Republic of Mozambique;
• Folk;
• Republic of Ethiopia.

• People's Democratic Republic of Yemen;
• Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
• Democratic Republic of Afghanistan;
• Mongolian People's Republic;
• People's Republic of China;
• People's Republic of Kampuchea;
• Democratic People's Republic of Korea;
• Lao Democratic Republic.

South America:

• Republic of Cuba;
• People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada.

• German Democratic Republic;
• People's Socialist;
• Polish People's Republic;
• Czechoslovak Socialist Republic;
• People's Republic of Bulgaria;
• Socialist Republic of Romania;
• Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;

Existing socialist countries

AT modern world there are also countries that are, in one sense or another, socialist. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea positions itself as a socialist state. Exactly the same course is taking place in the Cuban Republic and Asian countries.

In eastern countries such as the People's Republic of China and Vietnam, the classical communist parties run the state apparatus. Despite this fact, capitalist tendencies, that is, private property, can be traced in the economic development of these countries. A similar political and economic situation is observed in the Lao Republic, which was also part of the socialist camp. This is a peculiar way to combine market and planned economy.

AT early XXI centuries, socialist tendencies began to emerge and consolidate in Latin America. There was even a whole theoretical doctrine of "Socialism XXI", which is actively used in practice in third world countries. For 2015, socialist governments are in power in Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua. But these are not countries of the socialist camp; such governments arose in them after its collapse at the end of the 20th century.

Maoist Nepal

In mid-2008, a revolution took place in Nepal. A group of communist Maoists overthrew the monarch and won the election as the Communist Party of Nepal. Since August, the head of state has been the main party ideologue, Bauram Bahattarai. After these events, Nepal became a country where a course with a clear communist dominant operates in political and economic life. But the course of Nepal is clearly not similar to the policy pursued by the USSR and the socialist camp.

Cuban socialist policy

Cuba has long been considered a socialist state, but in 2010 the head of the republic set a course for economic change along the Chinese model of modernizing a socialist society. The central aspect of this policy is to increase the role of private capital in the economic system.

Thus, we examined the countries of the socialist orientation, both past and present. The socialist camp is a collection of countries friendly to the USSR. Modern states pursuing a socialist policy do not belong to this camp. This is very important to consider in order to understand certain processes.

Somewhat apart are the countries that in the recent past were united by the concept of “socialist”, in which a few years ago an administrative-command economic system dominated. Some of these countries, the least developed, by most of the most important signs, may well be classified as “third world”: Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, North Korea, Cuba, the Central Asian and Transcaucasian republics of the former USSR, etc. The position of the rest (countries of Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation and China) is much more difficult to determine. On the one hand, they have created a powerful and highly diversified industry, including the most modern science-intensive industries; the state-owned economy made it possible to direct national resources to the implementation of large-scale complex and expensive programs: nuclear, space, energy, etc. (in the PRC and especially in the former USSR); in a number of sectors of the economy, highly qualified scientific, engineering and working personnel have been accumulated, capable of solving the problems posed by modern scientific and technical progress. The administrative-command economy could not use resources efficiently, therefore, the vast majority of goods and services produced in these countries are not competitive in the world market in terms of price, quality and technical level.

The tasks that these countries have set for their economies cannot be solved without large-scale financial, consulting, training and technological assistance from highly developed countries, and such assistance, of course, will be provided by the latter in accordance with their own interests and will lead (already leads) to the strongest unilateral economic and partly even political dependence.

2. Main forms of international economic relations

Let us consider the main spheres and forms of international economic cooperation and rivalry between the countries of the world community.

international trade

The deepening of the MPRT is fully manifested in international trade. Turnovers foreign trade in the post-war decades grew much faster than production. In general, in the capitalist world, about 1/10 of the total GDP was exported in 1950, and by 1980 it was already almost 1/5. And in most highly developed countries, more than 1/2 of all economic activity is directly related to foreign trade. The dependence of individual industries on external relations is even stronger.

In the commodity structure of international trade, the share of raw materials is steadily declining (together with mineral fuel - 17% of capitalist exports in 1988), the share of products of traditional industries and manufacturing industries is also declining. Almost half of the value of world exports is in more complex goods: machinery, equipment and chemicals, exported mainly from developed countries. The exports of the OECD countries are generally very diverse; on average, finished products account for more than 2/3 of them, including 1/3 of engineering products. But even in the imports of these countries, finished industrial products, including machinery and equipment, occupy a leading place. Moreover, in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution, the share of ties for the supply of intermediate types of products is growing especially rapidly.

In trade, systems of international production cooperation are being formed, which are characterized by rigidity and long-term ties with foreign “allied partners”, a clear conditionality of quantity, quality and delivery times.

The growth in the volume of trade between highly developed countries and the strengthening of their interdependence is taking place in dramatic conditions of the most intense competition between them. Therefore, foreign trade is one of the priority areas of state intervention, the implementation of a policy of protectionism - the protection of national producers of goods and services in the domestic market.

At the same time, all developed countries traditionally proclaim the principle of "free trade" (free trade) - "free trade". The state has a wide arsenal of tools at its disposal: customs tariffs (special taxes on goods imported into the country), quotas and import bans, export subsidies, political pressure on a competitor country in order to get it to “dismantle” some of the customs barriers or “voluntary” export restrictions. But in the context of the intensification of the MPRT, the use of tariff and non-tariff restrictions on imports does not always effectively protect national interests: the dependence of the economy on the international exchange of goods and services often outweighs a simple and understandable desire to eliminate a competitor, for example, by an administrative ban on trade. Waging "trade wars" can be likened to rearguard action by a retreating army: protectionism compensates for the lack of competitiveness. The potential for a real counteroffensive can only be accumulated within the national economy on the path of its structural reconstruction.

From the end of the 1940s international negotiations are underway on binding rules for international trade and its gradual liberalization within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (since 1988 - the World trade Organization, WTO), in which today the vast majority of countries participate.

In the 1980s, developing countries (we should recall their share in the world's population) accounted for only about 1/5 of the foreign trade turnover of the countries of the capitalist world, and only about 1/20 for their mutual exchange of goods, and these figures do not reflect the extreme differentiation of developing countries. in terms of the scale, structure, growth rates of foreign trade, and even in terms of the nature of participation in the MNRT.

The specialization of most "Third World" countries in the MPRT has changed little since the days of "open" colonialism and is incomparably more in the interests of highly developed nations than their own. In the total export of developing countries, food, raw materials and fuel accounted for 50% in 1987, but of the remaining more than 50% of the manufacturing industry, about 33% is accounted for by only 17 countries, mainly NIS, whose export structure is quite diverse and includes even high-tech products. For most countries, however, there is a trend of steadily narrowing the circle of the main export commodities; at the same time, the specialization of individual countries is extremely, hypertrophied narrow: one leading (raw material or food) product accounts for at least 1/3, sometimes more than 1/2, of the value of exports. Despite such strong specialization, developing countries play, as a rule, a subordinate, sometimes quite insignificant role in the world markets for their leading goods; thus, the dependence of their import sector on world market conditions is almost complete and one-sided (exceptions are extremely rare). At the same time, the ratio of prices for raw materials (the main commodity of most developing countries) and finished industrial products (the basis of exports of developed countries) is again developing in the interests of developed countries and is extremely unfavorable for the "third world" - the so-called "price scissors" appear, "cutting ” benefit from export expansion.

True, the developed countries remain somewhat dependent on the import of raw materials and fuel from the Third World, due to the limited and incomplete nature of their own natural resources(at the beginning of the 80s, the share of developing countries in the import of fuel by OECD countries was more than 80%, of ores and metal - about 1/3). Therefore, developing countries - exporters of homogeneous goods often form at the intergovernmental level international alliances like cartels to carry out a coordinated policy in the field of export volumes and prices, but this only somewhat alleviates their situation. Only the famous Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) managed to temporarily achieve impressive success and take control of oil prices for 10 years (which grew 15 times due to the actions of OPEC in 1973-1982).

The main reason for the dependent, subordinate position of most developing countries in the MNRT, the hopelessly widening gap between them and developed countries in the level of economic development and standard of living, the isolation of the underdeveloped nations from the real scientific and technological revolution - their general social and economic backwardness, which cannot be eliminated without a complete change in the principles underlying the modern world economic order. But there is practically no hope for a genuine change in these principles, since they are established and supported by highly developed nations in their own selfish interests. In fairness, it should be noted that criticism of the “sharks of imperialism” often serves as a kind of smoke screen for the political leaders of developing countries, with which they hide their inability and unwillingness to carry out modernization.