discuss the view that some development of USSR were not in conformity with the idea of socialism
Answers
Explanation:
The ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) is Marxism–Leninism, an ideology of a centralised command economywith a vanguardist one-party state to realise the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Soviet Union's ideological commitment to achieving communism included the developmentsocialism in one country and peaceful coexistence with capitalist countries while engaging in anti-imperialism to defend the international proletariat, combat capitalism and promote the goals of communism. The state ideology of the Soviet Union—and thus Marxism–Leninism—derived and developed from the theories, policies and political praxis of Lenin and Stalin.
Marxism–Leninism
Main article: Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism was the ideological basis for the Soviet Union.[1] It explained and legitimised the CPSU's right to rule, while explaining its role as a vanguard party[1] For instance, the ideology explained that the CPSU's policies, even if they were unpopular, were correct because the party was enlightened.[1] It was represented to be the only truth in Soviet society, and with it rejecting the notion of multiple truths.[1] In short, it was used to justify CPSU Leninism as being a means to an end.[1] The relationship between ideology and decision-making was at best ambivalent, with most policy decisions taken in the light of the continued, permanent development of Marxism–Leninism.[2] Marxism–Leninism, as the only truth, could not by its very nature become outdated.[2]
Despite having evolved over the years, Marxism–Leninism had several central tenets.[3] The main tenet was the party's status as sole ruling party.[3] The 1977 Constitutionreferred to the party as the "leading and guiding force of Soviet society, and the nucleus of its political system, of all state and public organizations, is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union."[3] State socialism was essential, and from Joseph Stalin until Mikhail Gorbachev official discourse considered private social and economic activity as retarding the development of collective consciousness and of the economy.[4]Gorbachev supported privatization to a degree, but based his policies on Vladimir Lenin's andNikolai Bukharin's view on the New Economic Policy of the 1920s, and supported complete state ownership over the commanding heights of the economy[4] Unlike liberalism, Marxism–Leninism stressed not the importance of theindividual, but rather the role of the individual as a member of a collective[4] Thus defined, individuals had only the right to freedom of expression if it safeguarded the interests of the collective.[4] For instance, in the 1977 Constitution Marxism–Leninism it was stated that every person had the right to express their opinion, but that opinion could only be expressed if it was in accordance with the "general interests of Soviet society."[4] In short, the number of rights granted to an individual was decided by the state, and could be taken away by the state as it saw fit.[4] Soviet Marxism–Leninism justified nationalism, and the media portrayed every victory of the Soviet Union as a victory for the communist movement as a whole.[4] In large parts, Soviet nationalism was based upon ethnic Russian nationalism[4] Marxism–Leninism stressed the importance of the worldwide conflict between capitalism and socialism, and the Soviet press talked about progressive and reactionary forces, while claiming that socialism was on the verge of victory; that the "correlations of forces" were in the Soviet Union's favour.[4] The ideology professed state atheism, and party members were not allowed to be religious.[5]The state professed a belief in the feasibility ofcommunist mode of production, and all policies were justifiable if it contributed to the Soviet Union's reaching that stage.[6]
Leninism
Main article: Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of thesocialist mode of production, developed by Lenin.[7] Since Karl Marx barely, if ever wrote about how the socialist mode of production would look like or function, these tasks were left for later scholars like Lenin to solve.[7] His main contribution to Marxist thought is the concept of the vanguard party of the working class[7] The vanguard party was conceived to be a highly-knit centralised organization which was led by intellectuals, rather than by the working class itself.[7] The party was open only to a small number of the workers, the reason being that the workers in Russia still had not developed class consciousness and therefore needed to be educated to reach such a state.[7]Lenin believed that the vanguard party could initiate policies in the name of the working class even if the working class did not support them, since the vanguard party would know what was best for the workers, since the party functionaries had attained consciousness.[7] a