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V. Afanasyev
Class Pattern of Socialist Society

The class pattern of society undergoes profound changes with the building of socialism. The exploiting classes are removed in both town and country. The contrast between town and country is abolished inasmuch as the working people of town and country are liberated from exploitation, work for themselves and society, and enjoy equal rights to receive for their work in accordance with its quantity and quality. The distinction between mental and physical work is surmounted because people engaged in mental work serve the common cause of socialism side by side with the workers and peasants.

In the Soviet Union the exploiting classes were extirpated as far back as 1937, when the building of socialism was, in the main, completed. In that year 36.2 per cent of the population were industrial or office workers, 57.9 per cent were collective farmers or co-operated artisans, and 5.9 per cent were individual farmers and non-co-operated artisans.

The Soviet working class is no longer the exploited and oppressed proletariat of capitalist days. Along with the entire people it owns the means of production and is a genuine master of its country. Remaining the most organised and politically conscious class and championing comradely co-operation and mutual assistance, the working class plays the leading role in socialist society.

In agriculture collectivisation and the cultural revolution have completely remoulded the Soviet peasantry. Once dismembered, downtrodden and exploited by the landowners and the kulaks, the peasants have become a free class working at large-scale, mechanised farms.

Collective work for the good of the country has broken down the peasant’s age-old reserve, helped him to overcome his private proprietorship psychology and infused him with a spirit of collectivism, friendship and comradeship. His cultural level is rising steadily. The widespread use of the latest types of machines has given the countryside its own skilled machine operators, whose work hardly differs from that of industrial workers.

The Soviet intelligentsia has likewise undergone drastic changes. Today it is a genuine people’s intelligentsia with its roots in the working class and the peasantry. Having come from the people it serves them with devotion and dedication.

Socialism destroys class domination and subordination. In socialist society no class or group of people enjoy special privileges. The relation of all members of society to the means of production is identical and this rules out the possibility of anybody exploiting other people and appropriating the fruits of their work. Since socialist society is free of exploiters and the exploited, having only working classes and social groups, class struggles are non-existent in it.

An unbreakable social, political and ideological unity consisting of a community of basic economic and political objectives of the working class, the peasants and the intelligentsia, of their unanimous desire to rise to a still higher stage of social development and build communism, takes shape in socialist society. This identity of objectives induces all members of socialist society to act together, to pool their efforts in order to surmount difficulties and carry out epoch-making tasks.

Political Organisation

In the period of transition from capitalism to socialism, proletarian democracy gives way to socialist democracy, which is a new and higher form of people’s government. The principal feature distinguishing the political organisation of socialism is that it extends the people’s democratic rights, turning democracy for the majority into democracy for everybody, for the entire people.

Socialist society does not simply proclaim the rights of its citizens; it ensures these rights. All citizens, regardless of origin, occupation, sex, nationality or religion, enjoy the right to work, education, rest and leisure, medical attention, and maintenance in old age arid in case of sickness or disability. The implementation of these rights is guaranteed by law and assured by the steady growth of the country’s economic might. Socialist society grants its citizens freedom of speech, of the press and of assembly, including the holding of mass meetings and demonstrations, and the right to unite in public organisations. Moreover, citizens are guaranteed inviolability of the person, the inviolability of their homes and privacy of correspondence. Women are accorded equal rights with men in all spheres of economic, government, cultural, political and other social activity. They are accorded the same rights as men to work, payment for work, education and rest and leisure. The state protects the interests of mother and child, renders material aid to mothers of large families and to unmarried mothers, and grants women a long maternity leave with full pay.

The development of socialist society is accompanied by the extension of socialist democracy, this finding expression in the growing importance of the elective representative organs of people’s power and in the importance also of the trade unions and of youth, co-operative, cultural, educational and other organisations. The gradual evolution of state administration into public self-government has started.

An important manifestation of this process, which mirrors the development of socialist democracy, is the extension and consolidation of the social basis of the proletarian dictatorship and the gradual crystallisation of the proletarian dictatorship into a government of workers, peasants and intellectuals.

During the transition period the proletariat was both the ruling and the leading class. Under socialism and during the building of communism it retains its leading role in society.

Why does the working class remain the leading force of socialist society?

Because it works in industry, which is the basis of the entire national economy, and because its labour is founded on the leading and most developed form of socialist ownership—state, public ownership. Thanks to its glorious revolutionary traditions and its experience of bitter 181battles against capitalism, it is the most consistent proponent of socialist ideology. Being the most numerous class, it is well organised and disciplined, and is, therefore, the foremost social force of Soviet society. Its mission of leading society is considered fulfilled only when communism is built, when all vestiges of class distinction disappear.

The fact that the working class plays the leading role in socialist society does not in the least belittle the part played by other social forces—the peasants and the intelligentsia. This can well be appreciated, for the working class neither has nor can have egoistical objectives or mercenary interests. Being part and parcel of the people, the working class expresses the people’s interests and pursues popular objectives.

The heroic struggle of the working class against the exploiters and its dedicated labour in building socialism have won for it tremendous prestige and the deep respect of the entire people, and it continues to fulfil the lofty role of the most consistent and most organised champion of the people’s cause in the building of communism as well.

Under socialism the government directs social processes —economic, political and cultural activities—by consistently democratic methods. Naturally, in the case of people breaking socialist laws, of anti-social elements (who are still to be found in socialist society) the state applies definite measures of compulsion. However, these measures are directed not against hostile classes but against the most backward workers, peasants and intellectuals still conlaminated with survivals of the past, and should not be identified with the functions of suppressing exploiters exercised by the proletarian dictatorship. Essentially, the people’s government fulfils, develops and improves the basic functions of the proletarian dictatorship with the exception of the suppression of the exploiting classes, a function that dies away with the abolition of these classes and the victory of socialism.

The inner-political functions of the government as an organ of administration are to organise the building of the material and technical basis of communism, reform socialist into communist relations, control the measure of labour and of consumption, raise the standard of living, maintain law and order, protect socialist property, and educate the people in the spirit of conscious discipline and a communist attitude to work.

In foreign policy the government strengthens unity and solidarity with the socialist countries and develops fraternal co-operation with them. It fulfils its sacred internationalist duty to the world working class and the peoples of all countries by supporting the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat in the developed capitalist states in every possible way and by giving its utmost assistance to the peoples of countries that have liberated themselves from colonialism and to the peoples fighting for national liberation. It upholds peace and maintains normal relations with all countries, and, at the same time, in face of the threat of imperialist attack, it strengthens the defence capacity of its own country and of the socialist system as a whole.

Bourgeois ideologists and politicians attempt to prove that the very substance of socialist society gives rise to personality cults. This is at variance with the facts. Naturally, there are reasons why the personality cult becomes possible. Centralisation of the economy and of all social activities from top to bottom creates the possibility for concentrating power, and certain conditions clear the path for abusing power, which is but a step to the cult of the individual. However, these conditions are not created by socialism. They are precipitated by the features of a given country’s development and by the personal qualities of the leader.