"totalitarian communist regime" - what condemned Pase? What's happened.

The red star is a symbol of communist power on the five continents of the globe The hammer and sickle is a symbol of the power of the Union of Workers and Peasants (from lat. Communis- general, general) - since the XIX century. the idea of ​​a utopian society of universal equality and freedom, as well as the doctrine of such a society.

From the point of view of apologetics, communism is a socio-economic formation based on the socialization of the means of production; it is a scientific and philosophical doctrine of the future classless society and the practice of putting this doctrine into practice.
From the point of view of criticism, communism is a utopian ideology of a totalitarian society based on the camp economy; this is one of the extreme forms of collectivism, which leads to the oppression and degradation of the social subject - the human person.

In social relations, communist teaching emphasizes the superiority of the interests of the collective over the interests of the individual, on the absolute dominant, the subjugation of the human personality to the interests of the community. The alienation of the private interests of man in communism begins with the abolition of private ownership of the means of production, its espropriation.
The transfer of communist ideas into the sphere of politics, the adoption of communist doctrine - as a rule, leads to the totalitarian type of power established in the country. After the destruction of the political system of the USSR and the world system of socialism at the end of the 20th century, the communist state political practice was condemned in most countries of Europe, where communist political regimes used to exist.
Various forms of communism are conditionally piddled on:

Socio-political doctrines and philosophy (cm.: Marxism)
political ideology and doctrine (cm.:"scientific communism", "real socialism")
political movements, parties, state formations and interstate groupings (blocs) that have identified themselves as “communist” (see CPSU, CCP, etc.)

History of communist ideas
Communism, as a practical doctrine and philosophy, manifested itself at least three times in the history of Europe (not to be confused with the modern concept of "Eurocommunism"). The first expression of communism, as is often thought [Source?], It is not Plato at all. Rather, it refers to medieval thought, probably the first modernization of Christian theology and politics: it is the philosophy of poverty (not to be confused with poverty) as a condition for righteousness in the world and the salvation of the community, as it was developed (and tried to be put into practice) in XIII-XIV centuries the radical wing of Franciscanism equally opposed mystical or monastic asceticism and the absolutization of private property.
The second expression - several centuries later - is egalitarian communism, the main component of the "bourgeois revolutions" of the 17th-18th centuries, in particular in England and France, of which Winstanley and Babeuf were great theorists: this time it is essentially a secular ideology, designed to build a society by realizing freedom and equality not through the negation of property, but by subordinating it to equality (or resolving the conflict between individual and collective property in an egalitarian way). This second form of communist thought is based on the representation of the proletariat as the embodiment of the true reality of the people, in spite of the "bourgeois" egoism that was taken up throughout the 19th century.
But then a third concept of communism arose, no less closely connected with the general history of European society: history is created in the context of working socialism, i.e. in connection with the representation of the economic contradictions of society and with the anthropology of labor - from Fourier to Marx and Engels. It will place - at the center of the problematic of the community - the struggle against the subordination of labor to industrial and financial capital, the latent conflict within the modern organization of production between two types of productivity or human "development of the productive forces": one - on the fragmentation of tasks, the second - on cooperation and the unification of physical and mental abilities.
Karl Marx severely criticized the utopian "crude and ill-conceived communism" of those who, like Cabet, simply extended the principle of private property to everyone ("common private property"). Crude communism, according to Marx, is the product of "worldwide envy". On the other hand, true communism is a positive abolition of the principle of private property, aims to put an end to the exploitation of man by man and the alienation of man, and to create real moral ties between individuals and between people and nature. Communist production is a cooperative activity and here, finally, there is no distinction between physical and mental labor. Many anarchists contemporary with Marx also defended communal property (Peter Kropotkin called his system "anarcho-communism"), but they feared the centralization that Marxist communism seemed to enforce, which could threaten personal freedom. In turn, anarcho-communism leans towards an individualistic worldview in matters of freedom. Communism is characterized by its key words "freedom", "equality" and "fraternity". Freedom under communism is inherent in the whole of society, as well as in each of its individual members. Therefore the principle of "freedom" cannot be conceived by the communists without the principle of "equality". Similarly, anarchists, following Bakunin, believe that "freedom for all is necessary for my freedom."
Communism as an ideology
Communism as a social idea gained popularity first in the countries of Western Europe (especially in France) in the middle of the 19th century in the circles of the intelligentsia and the declassed urban poor during the so-called "bourgeois revolutions". The idea of ​​communism as a political movement was formulated by K. Marx and F. Engels in the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" in 1848 and in later works. In the predictive component of the Theory of Communism, communism is understood as such ideal condition"society of the future", when all people, members of society will put public interests above their own, understanding the decisive role of society in their lives. In this aspect, the communist doctrine is also a separate form of the utopian worldview. [Source?].

Classless state of society (see primitive communism, pre-class or pre-state social order)
The order of social organization of a society in which the society is the owner of all property. In reality, the state is the owner of all property. The state also plans and controls the economy under the structure of a one-party political government. (For example, the policy of "War Communism" during the Civil War 1918-1921)
Theoretical concept of a future classless society, without a state public organization (Marxism,"scientific communism"), based on the joint ownership of the means of production and can be seen as an offshoot of socialism. It comes from the principle:
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
The political utopian doctrine and program of political parties and movements directly comes from this concept.

Communism as a political doctrine
The Communist "Iconostasis": Leaders of World Communism Communism also refers to the various political movements fighting to establish, on the one hand, a classless and stateless society, and on the other hand, fighting against capitalist exploitation and against the economic alienation of the proletariat class.
There are a significant number of interpretations among communists, the two main ones being Marxism and anarchism. The first division in the communist movement occurred between Marxism and anarchism during the First International (1864-1876). Then the ideas of communism began to be inextricably linked with the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. At the time of the I, II, III International, the belief dominated that communism is a socio-economic formation that is replacing capitalism. The first phase of communism below is socialism. At the stage of social and economic maturity of socialist society, there is a gradual transition to communism. This theory of transitional "stages" later showed its inadequacy.
In the twentieth century, in particular after the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia, Marxists (directly through the "Communist Manifesto" or indirectly - Marxism-Leninism) have more influence on the world political order than anarchists. Together with the establishment of the USSR and the so-called. The "socialist camp", and especially together with the victory of Stalinism, establishes the regime of state communism, which is contrary to the principles and task of communism (see Stalinism, state capitalism). Stalin's "Thermidor", which denies the principles of "permanent revolution" in favor of "socialism in a single country", is systematically criticized by revolutionary Marxists (Trotskyism). The class struggle plays a central role in Marxism. According to this theory, the establishment of communism corresponds to the end of any class struggle, and the class division of people disappears. This did not happen in the USSR, which is why the Soviet regime is called "communist" for ideological reasons (see Cold War).
Communism and terror

See also: red terror

In countries where the communists were in power, the method of terror was used. In Soviet Russia in 1918, the “Decree on Red Terror” was adopted, in which the path of terror was declared “direct necessity”. The Red Terror also spread to other Soviet republics. The continuation of the Red Terror in the USSR was the Stalinist repressions, as well as a number of artificially created famines that claimed the lives of millions of people.
The communist authorities of other countries also resorted to methods of terror. In particular, the communists of Hungary resorted to terror (in March-July 1919), the communist military junta of Ethiopia (1977-79), the Red Army repeatedly suppressed anti-communist uprisings (in particular, in 1956 - in Hungary, in 1968 - in Czechoslovakia).
According to rough estimates by the Special Rapporteur of the Council of Europe, Geran Lindblad, the largest number of victims of communist rule falls on China (65 million) and the USSR (20 million).
Criticism of communism
http://website/uploads/posts/2011-01/1295077866_4РєРѕРјСѓРЅРѕ„Р°С?РёР·РјСѓ.jpeg Monument to "fighters for the freedom of Ukraine, victims of the communist-fascist terror of 1939-54." In Yaremche Monument to the "Victims of Communism" in Krakow, Poland Starting with the encyclical of Pope Benedict XV in 1920 Bonum Sana and a number of subsequent official documents issued by the heads of the Catholic Church, communism was condemned by the popes for atheism, the desire to destroy the social order in society and undermine the foundations of Christian civilization.
Condemnation in Legislative Acts of Post-Communist Countries
After the demise of the USSR, the post-communist countries of Western Europe condemned the communist regime at the official level. In the Czech Republic in 1993, the Law on the illegality of the communist regime and resistance against it was adopted, in which, in particular, the communist regime was called "criminal, illegitimate and unacceptable." A similar law was adopted in 1996 by the Slovak Parliament
Poland's 1997 constitution contains an article banning the existence of organizations that preach "totalitarian methods and practices of Nazism, fascism and communism", while communist crimes appear as a legislative term.
On May 12, 2005, the Saeima of Latvia adopted a "Declaration on the condemnation of the totalitarian communist occupation regime of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which was carried out in Latvia. In the same year, the Saeima of Latvia adopted a special law prohibiting the public use of Soviet and fascist symbols. Latvia banned the hammer and sickle. Similar laws were adopted in January 2007 in Estonia, and in June 2008 in Lithuania
Condemnation in the speeches of heads of state
Equality between communism and Nazism was also voiced in an official statement by US President George W. Bush, who said the following:

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko at the opening of the Memorial to the victims of the Holodomor in the Kharkiv region said:

Council of Europe resolution
In 2006, the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was adopted, which unequivocally condemned the crimes of the communist totalitarian regimes. In particular, the resolution states:
The resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly also focuses on the fact that
In a number of European countries, including Ukraine, there are monuments and memorial complexes in memory of the victims of communist regimes, or their individual crimes. In total, activists count 1,213 monuments and commemorative plaques on the territory of the former USSR. Several such monuments exist on the territory of Russia.
At the same time, there are monuments to ideologists and leaders of communism on the territory of the former USSR. In particular, in Ukraine, as of 2009, there are more than 2,000 monuments to figures of the totalitarian period.
Communism as a religion
There is also a theory of perception of the phenomenon of communism as a kind of religion. According to the theory, when studying a person who grew up surrounded by communist ideology, many parallels were found between how this person perceives the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcommunism and other people who are very strongly attached to, for example, Islam, Christianity, etc. All these people are united by the same aggressive attraction to people who do not agree with their idea, often these people lose the opportunity to analyze their global ideologies, do not tolerate any criticism from people who think differently, although this does not specifically touch them at all. The idea of ​​communism for them turns into truth, is not subject to any doubts, you just need to believe in it and not ask any questions. Since communism does not tolerate the very thought of alien thinking, it creates a vacuum of faith in a person, filling it himself. Thus communism is transformed from a form of government into a religion. Particulars regarding this fact indicate that the communists (on the example of the USSR) actually had holy relics - the mummified body of V.I. Lenin, writings - works of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, the sanctuary - Lenin's mausoleum, the shape of which was taken from the models of Mesopotamian temples, namely The room was also used as a tribune.
Political and ideological currents of the twentieth century

Marxism
Anarcho-communism
Leninism
Trotskyism
Stalinism
Maoism
Eurocommunism

Communism as politics
Interstate communist blocs

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) 1949-1991
Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD) 1955-1991

Attempts of political-state implementation in practice

See also: Real socialism

USSR
Cuba
PRC
North Korea
Cambodia
Vietnam
Ethiopia

Negative consequences of implementation in practice in the USSR

Civil War 1917-1921
Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-1933
Collectivization and dispossession
Consequences of Communist Party rule in China

Communism(from lat. commūnis - "general") - in Marxism, the organization of society, in which the economy is based on public ownership of the means of production.

After the 19th century, the term is often used to refer to the socio-economic formation predicted in the theoretical works of Marxists, based on public ownership of the means of production. Such a formation, according to the works of the founders of Marxism, assumed the presence of highly developed productive forces, the absence of division into social classes, the abolition of the state, a change in functions and the gradual death of money. According to the classics of Marxism, the principle “To each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!” is realized in a communist society.

Various definitions of communism

Friedrich Engels in the draft program of the Union of Communists “Principles of Communism” (end of October 1847): “Communism is the doctrine of the conditions for the emancipation of the proletariat.<…>Question 14: What should this new social order be like? Answer: First of all, the management of industry and all branches of production in general will be removed from the hands of separate, competing individuals. Instead, all branches of production will be under the jurisdiction of the whole society, that is, they will be conducted in the public interest, according to a public plan and with the participation of all members of society. Thus this new social order will destroy competition and put association in its place.<…>Private property is inseparable from individual conduct of industry and from competition. Consequently, private property must also be abolished, and its place will be taken by the common use of all the instruments of production and the distribution of products by common agreement, or the so-called community of property.

Karl Marx (1844): «<…>communism is the positive expression of the abolition of private property; at first it appears as general private property. "Communism as the positive abolition of private property - this self-alienation of man -<…>there is a real resolution of the contradiction between man and nature, man and man, a genuine resolution of the dispute between existence and essence, between objectification and self-affirmation, between freedom and necessity, between the individual and the race. He is the solution to the riddle of history, and he knows that he is the solution."

Dictionary Vl. Dalia(1881, spelling of the original): "Communism, the political doctrine of equality of fortune, community of possessions, and the rights of each to another's property."

Philosophical Dictionary(1911): “Communism is a doctrine that rejects private property in the name of the human good.
All evil in social and state relations stems from the unequal distribution of good.
To eliminate this evil, communism advises that property rights be reserved only for the state, and not for private individuals. The first to recommend the communist ideal was Plato (cf. his Politia).”

Handbook for sacred church ministers(1913): “Communism preaches the forced communion of property, denying all kinds of private property. By extending the principle of collectivism, i.e., community, not only to production and distribution, but also to the very use of produced products, or to their consumption, and subjecting all this to social control, communism thereby destroys individual freedom even in the details of everyday life.<…>The communism of property preached by communism leads to the overthrow of all justice and to the complete destruction of the well-being and order of the family and society.

Errico Malatesta in the book A Brief System of Anarchism in 10 Conversations (1917): “Communism is a form of social organization in which<…>people will unite and enter into a mutual agreement, with the goal of securing the greatest possible welfare for everyone. Based on the principle that land, mines and all natural forces, as well as accumulated wealth and everything created by the labor of past generations, belongs to everyone, people under the communist system will agree to work together to produce everything necessary for everyone.

V. I. Lenin(December 1919): "Communism is the highest stage in the development of socialism, when people work from the consciousness of the need to work for the common good."

Philosophical Dictionary. ed. I. T. Frolova (1987): communism is “a socio-economic formation, the features of which are determined by social ownership of the means of production, corresponding to highly developed social productive forces; the highest phase of the communist formation (complete communism), the ultimate goal of the communist movement.

Dictionary of foreign words(1988): “1) a socio-economic formation replacing capitalism, based on public ownership, on the means of production; 2) the second, highest phase of the communist social formation, the first phase of which is socialism.

Merriam-Webster English Dictionary(one of several meanings): "a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls the state-owned means of production." Since the 1990s, the term has also been used in this sense in the Russian-language literature of Russia and other countries of the former USSR.

sociological dictionary N. Abercrombie, S. Hill and B. S. Turner (2004): “Communism is understood not as a real practice, but as a certain doctrine. This concept denotes societies in which there is no private property, social classes and division of labor.

Etymology

In its modern form, the word was borrowed in the 40s of the 19th century from the French language, where communisme is derived from commun - “general, public”. The word was finally formed into a term after the publication of the Communist Manifesto (1848). Before that, the word “commune” was used, but it did not characterize the whole society, but a part of it, a group whose members used the common property and the common labor of all its members.

History of communist ideas

In the early stages of development, primitive communism, based on the community of property, was the only form of human society. As a result of the property and social stratification of the primitive communal system and the emergence of a class society, communism has moved from a real-life practice into the category of a cultural dream of a just society, a Golden Age, and the like.

At its inception, communist views were based on the demand for social equality based on the community of property. Some of the first formulations of communism in medieval Europe were attempts to modernize Christian theology and politics in the form of a philosophy of poverty (not to be confused with misery). In the XIII-XIV centuries, it was developed and tried to be put into practice by representatives of the radical wing of the Franciscans. They equally opposed mystical or monastic asceticism and the absolutization of private property. In poverty, they saw the conditions for justice in the world and the salvation of society. It was not so much about common property, but about the general rejection of property. At the same time, the ideology of communism was Christian-religious.

The slogans of the revolutionary struggle for the radical participants of the Hussite movement in the Czech Republic of the XV century. (Jan Hus), Peasants' War in Germany in the 16th century. (T. Müntzer) were calls to overthrow the power of things and money, to build a just society based on the equality of people, including with common property. These ideas may well be considered communist, although their basis was purely religious - everyone is equal before God and the possession or not possession of property should not violate this, equality in religious rites was required. A few centuries later, egalitarian communism appears - the main component of the "bourgeois revolutions" of the 17th-18th centuries, in particular in England in the 17th century. (J. Winstanley) and France at the end of the 18th century. (G. Babeuf). The secular ideology of communism emerges. The idea of ​​creating a community is being developed in which the freedom and equality of people before each other is realized through the common communal ownership of property (or by resolving the conflict between individual and collective property in an egalitarian way). Ownership is no longer denied, but an attempt is made to subdue it for the benefit of the entire community.

The theoretical development of the first systematized ideas about the communist way of life was based on the ideology of humanism of the 16th-17th centuries. (T. More, T. Campanella) and the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. (Morelli, G. Mably). Early communist literature was characterized by the preaching of universal asceticism and leveling, which made it aimed at counteracting progress in the field of material production. The main problem of society was seen not in the economy, but in politics and morality.

The next concept of communism appeared in the context of working socialism - from C. Fourier to K. Marx and F. Engels. There is an awareness of the economic contradictions of society. Labor and its subordination to capital are placed at the center of the problems of society.

In the first half of the XIX century. the works of A. Saint-Simon, C. Fourier, R. Owen and a number of other utopian socialists appeared. In accordance with their ideas, in a just social order, ideas about labor as pleasure, the flowering of human abilities, the desire to provide for all his needs, central planning, and distribution in proportion to work should play an important role. Robert Owen not only developed a theoretical model of a socialist society, but also carried out a number of social experiments in practice to put such ideas into practice. In the early 1800s, in the factory village of New Lenark (Scotland), serving the paper mill, where Owen was the director, he carried out a number of successful measures for the technical reorganization of production and the provision of social guarantees to workers. In 1825, in the state of Indiana (USA), Owen founded the New Harmony labor commune, whose activities ended in failure.

The early utopian socialists saw the need to introduce into communist society a developed apparatus for suppressing the freedom of the individual in relation to those who, in one sense or another, show a desire to rise above the general level or take initiative that violates the order established from above, and therefore the communist state must necessarily be founded on the principles of totalitarianism, including autocracy (T. Campanella).

These and other utopian socialists enriched the concept of a just social order with ideas about labor as pleasure, the flowering of human abilities, the desire to provide for all his needs, central planning, distribution in proportion to work. At the same time, in a utopian society, the preservation of private property and property inequality was allowed. In Russia, the most prominent representatives of utopian socialism were A. I. Herzen and N. G. Chernyshevsky.

In the 40s of the 19th century, the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie came to the fore in the most developed countries of Europe (the uprisings of the Lyon weavers in 1831 and 1834, the rise of the English Chartist movement in the mid-30s and early 50s, the uprising of the weavers in Silesia in 1844).

During this period, the German thinkers K. Marx and F. Engels in the spring of 1847 joined the secret propaganda society "Union of Communists", organized by German emigrants whom Marx met in London. On behalf of society, they compiled the famous "Manifesto of the Communist Party", published on February 21, 1848. In it, they proclaimed the inevitability of the death of capitalism at the hands of the proletariat and gave a brief program for the transition from the capitalist social formation to the communist one:
The proletariat uses its political dominance to wrest all capital from the bourgeoisie step by step, to centralize all the instruments of production in the hands of the state, i.e., the proletariat organized as the ruling class, and to increase the sum of the productive forces as quickly as possible.

This can, of course, only come about at first by means of despotic intervention in the right of property and in bourgeois production relations, i.e., with the help of measures that seem economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outgrow themselves and are inevitable as a means of overturning. throughout the production process.

The program itself contains 10 items:
These activities will, of course, be different in different countries.

However, in the most advanced countries, the following measures can be applied almost universally:
1. Expropriation of landed property and conversion of land rent to cover government spending.
2. High progressive tax.
3. Cancellation of the right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state through a national bank with state capital and with an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of all transport in the hands of the state.
7. An increase in the number of state factories, tools of production, clearing for arable land and improving land according to the general plan.
8. The same obligation of labor for all, the establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. The connection of agriculture with industry, the promotion of the gradual elimination of the difference between town and country.
10. Public and free education of all children. Elimination of factory labor of children in its modern form. The combination of education with material production, etc.

This is how Marxism was born. Karl Marx, however, severely criticized the utopian "crude and ill-conceived communism" of those who simply extended the principle of private property to everyone ("common private property"). Crude communism, according to Marx, is the product of "worldwide envy".

Many of Marx's contemporary anarchists also advocated public (communal) property (Peter Kropotkin called his system "anarcho-communism"), but they rejected the centralization promoted in Marxism because of the restrictions on individual freedom. In turn, anarcho-communism leans towards individualism in matters of freedom.

In 1864 the Marxist First International was created. Marxists founded social-democratic parties, in which both a radical, revolutionary trend and a moderate, reformist one emerged. The German Social Democrat E. Bernstein became the ideologist of the latter. In the Second International, created in 1889, until the early 1900s, the revolutionary point of view prevailed in the International. At the congresses, decisions were made about the impossibility of an alliance with the bourgeoisie, the inadmissibility of entering bourgeois governments, protests against militarism and war, etc. Later, however, the reformists began to play a more significant role in the International, which caused accusations from the radicals of opportunism.

In the first half of the 20th century, communist parties emerged from the most radical wing of social democracy. The Social Democrats have traditionally advocated the expansion of democracy and political freedoms, while the Communists, who came to power first in Russia in 1917 (the Bolsheviks), and then in a number of other countries, were opponents of democracy and political freedoms (despite the fact that formally declared their support) and supporters of state intervention in all spheres of society.

Therefore, already in 1918, Luxembourgianism arose, opposing, on the one hand, the pro-bourgeois policy of the revisionist Social Democracy, and, on the other, Bolshevism. Its founder was the German radical Social Democrat Rosa Luxembourg.

On March 4, 1919, at the initiative of the RCP(b) and personally its leader V. Lenin, the Communist International was created to develop and spread the ideas of revolutionary international socialism, as opposed to the reformist socialism of the Second International.

The views of a number of communist theorists who recognized the progressive significance of the October Revolution in Russia, but criticized its development, and some even rejected the socialist character of Bolshevism, seeing state capitalism in it, began to be called left communism. The left opposition in the RCP(b) and the CPSU(b) in the 1920s advocated intra-party democracy, against the "nepman, kulak and bureaucrat".
The “left opposition” in the USSR ceased to exist as a result of repressions, but the ideology of its leader L. Trotsky, who was expelled from the country, (Trotskyism) became quite popular abroad.

The communist ideology in the form in which it became dominant in the USSR in the 1920s was called "Marxism-Leninism".

The revelations of Stalinism at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the Soviet course towards economic development under the policy of "Peaceful Coexistence" displeased the leader of the Chinese Communists, Mao Zedong. He was supported by the leader of the Albanian Party of Labor Enver Hoxha. The policy of the Soviet leader N.S. Khrushchev was called revisionist. Many communist parties in Europe and Latin America, following the Sino-Soviet conflict, split into groups oriented toward the USSR, and the so-called. "anti-revisionist" groups oriented towards China and Albania. In the 1960s and 1970s, Maoism enjoyed considerable popularity among the left-wing intelligentsia in the West. The leader of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung, maneuvering between the USSR and China, in 1955 proclaimed the Juche ideology, which is presented as a harmonious transformation of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism based on ancient Korean philosophical thought.

The policy and theoretical substantiation of the activities of a number of communist parties in Western Europe, which in the 1970s and 1980s criticized the leadership of the CPSU in the world communist movement, the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the lack of political freedoms in countries that adopted the Soviet model of socialism, was called "Eurocommunism".

"Scientific Communism"

The concept introduced in the USSR in the 1960s, which denoted “one of the three components of Marxism-Leninism, revealing the general laws, ways and forms of the class struggle of the proletariat, the socialist revolution, the construction of socialism and communism. The term "scientific communism" ("scientific socialism") is also used in a broad sense to refer to Marxism-Leninism as a whole.

Also the name of the subject in the universities of the USSR since 1963. It was compulsory for students of all universities along with the "History of the CPSU" and "Marxist-Leninist Philosophy" until June 1990.

Within the framework of scientific communism, the need for the dictatorship of the proletariat to achieve communism was argued, although the idea of ​​communism as a society based on common property does not indicate the political structure of such a society.

The term "Scientific Communism" appeared at the end of the 19th century to distinguish Marxist communist ideas from others. The addition of "scientific" arose because K. Marx and F. Engels substantiated the need for changes in the social structure by changes in the methods of production. They emphasized the objective nature of the historical movement towards communism. GV Plekhanov wrote that scientific communism does not invent a new society; he studies the tendencies of the present in order to understand their development in the future.

Friedrich Engels predicted a number of main features of a communist society: anarchy in production is replaced by a systematic organization of production on a social scale, an accelerating development of productive forces begins, the division of labor disappears, the opposition between mental and physical labor disappears, labor turns from a heavy burden into a vital need - self-realization, class distinctions are destroyed and the state itself dies, instead of managing people, production processes will be controlled, the family will change radically, religion disappears, people become masters of nature, humanity becomes free. Engels foresaw unprecedented scientific, technical and social progress in the future. He predicts that in the new historical epoch "people, and with them all branches of their activity, will make such progress that they will eclipse everything that has been done so far."
Concepts formed using the term "communism"

primitive communism

According to Engels, the most ancient human societies of hunter-gatherers, which existed before the rise of classes, can be called "primitive communism." Primitive, or primitive, communism is characteristic of all peoples at the early stages of development (the so-called primitive communal system, which, according to archaeological periodization, coincides mainly with the Stone Age). Primitive communism is characterized by the same attitude of all members of society to the means of production, and, accordingly, the same way for all to receive a share of the social product. There is no private property, no classes, no state.
In such societies, the food obtained is distributed among the members of the society in accordance with the need for the survival of the society, that is, according to the needs of the members for individual survival. Things produced by each person for himself independently were in the public domain - public property. In the early stages, there was no individual marriage: group marriage was not just the main, but the only form of regulation of relations between the sexes. The development of labor tools led to the division of labor, which caused the emergence of individual property, the emergence of some property inequality between people.

Utopian communism

The classic expression of this kind of communism is Thomas More's Utopia (1516), which paints an idyllic picture of primitive communism as opposed to feudalism. By the 17th century, new, more developed versions of utopian communism were being formed, expressed in the views of Mellier, Morelli, Babeuf, Winstanley. Utopian communism reached its apogee in the 19th century in the concepts of Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen, Chernyshevsky.

war communism

The official name of economic practice in Russia during the Civil War on the territory of Soviet Russia in 1918-1921. Elements of war communism were introduced by most of the countries participating in World Wars 1 and 2. The main goal was to provide the population of industrial cities and the Army with weapons, food and other necessary resources in conditions when all the economic mechanisms and relations that existed before were destroyed by the war. The main measures of war communism were: the nationalization of banks and industry, the introduction of labor service, a food dictatorship based on food appropriations and the introduction of a ration system, and a monopoly on foreign trade. The decision to end war communism was made on March 21, 1921, when the NEP was introduced at the 10th Congress of the RCP(b).

Eurocommunism

Eurocommunism is the conventional name for the policy of some communist parties in Western Europe (such as French, Italian, Spanish), which criticized the lack of political freedoms and the alienation of the party and authorities, in their opinion, that existed in countries that adopted the Soviet model of socialism. The transition to socialism, according to the supporters of Eurocommunism, should be carried out in a “democratic, multi-party, parliamentary” way. In its rejection of the dictatorship of the proletariat, Eurocommunism was close to social democracy (although the Eurocommunists did not identify themselves with them). Russian followers of Eurocommunism, or non-authoritarian communism, are often erroneously called Trotskyists, despite the authoritarianism of Trotsky himself and the absence of any trace of a preference for the Trotskyist branch of Marxism in the ideology of the non-authoritarian left.

Anarcho-communism

Socio-economic and political doctrine of the establishment of a stateless society based on the principles of decentralization, freedom, equality and mutual assistance. The ideological foundations of anarcho-communism were laid by the famous scientist and revolutionary Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin. The most famous milestones in the history of the anarcho-communist movement were the insurrectionary movement of Nestor Makhno during the Civil War in Russia, as well as the actions of the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists during the Civil War in Spain of 1936-1939. In addition, it should be noted that anarcho-communism is the ideological basis of the anarcho-syndicalist International that exists to this day, founded in the winter of 1922-1923.

Forecast dates for the transition to a communist form of society

2009 May Day demonstration in Severodvinsk

V. I. Lenin in 1920 attributed the building of communism to the 30s - 40s of the XX century:
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU N. S. Khrushchev announced in October 1961 at the XXII Congress of the CPSU that by 1980 the material base of communism would be created in the USSR - “The current generation of Soviet people will live under communism!”.

Complete communism as the highest phase of the communist formation

According to Marxism, the "communist socio-economic formation", or, briefly, "communism" consists of two phases: the lower - which in Marxism is called socialism and the higher - the so-called "complete communism". Under socialism, there is a state, and state power is stronger than under other formations, elements of bourgeois law and other remnants of the capitalist formation. Also, under socialism, there is personal property, there is small private production (household plots) and small private trade (markets). However, large private property under socialism is also absent. Since the means of production become common property, the word "communism" is already applicable to this phase.

According to Marx,

…In the highest phase of communist society, after the subordination of man to the division of labour, which enslaves man, has disappeared; when the opposition of mental and physical labor disappears along with it; when labor ceases to be only a means of life, and becomes itself the first need of life; when, along with the all-round development of individuals, the productive forces also grow and all sources of social wealth flow in full flow, only then will it be possible to completely overcome the narrow horizon of bourgeois law, and society will be able to write on its banner: "To each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".

Anarcho-communists do not agree with the concept of two phases and believe that for the onset of full communism and the elimination of the state, a preliminary stage of strengthening the state is not needed.

Many authors have repeatedly noted that human needs are unlimited, therefore, with any, even the highest labor productivity, distribution mechanisms and restrictions are required, for example, money. To this the Marxists responded as follows:
The state will be able to die out completely when society implements the rule: “to each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”, that is, when people are so accustomed to observing the basic rules of community life and when their labor is so productive that they will voluntarily work according to their abilities. The "narrow horizon of bourgeois right," which forces one to calculate, with Shylock's callousness, not to work an extra half hour against another, not to receive less pay than the other - this narrow horizon will then be crossed. The distribution of products will then not require society to normalize the amount of products received by each; everyone will be free to take "as needed."

From the bourgeois point of view, it is easy to declare such a social structure a “pure utopia” and scoff at the fact that the socialists promise everyone the right to receive from society, without any control over the work of an individual citizen, any number of truffles, cars, pianos, etc ...
... to "promise" that the highest phase of the development of communism would come, it never occurred to a single socialist, and the foreknowledge of the great socialists that it would come implies not the current productivity of labor and not the current layman, who is capable "in vain" - sort of like Pomyalovsky's bursaks - spoil the warehouses of public wealth and demand the impossible.

In fantasy

The communists pave the way to the stars. Postal block USSR 1964

In the Soviet Union, communist motives in science fiction were of paramount importance from the very beginning of the genre in the country.

Our job is to turn Soviet science fiction into a weapon in the struggle for communism and for the spread of communist ideas throughout the world by increasing the artistic and ideological content of the works.

However, in the 1930s and 1950s it was mostly "short-range fiction" describing the transition to a communist society, but not the society itself.

I. A. Efremov vividly and positively described the humane communist society of the future in his famous novel "The Andromeda Nebula", which was based on the film of the same name. The development of this author's ideas about the people of the communist future is given in the story Heart of the Snake and the novel The Hour of the Bull.

A. Bogdanov (“Red Star”), the Strugatsky brothers (“World of Noon”), G. Martynov (“Gianea”, “Guest from the Abyss”), G. Altov (“Scorching Mind”), V Savchenko (“Beyond the Pass”), V. Nazarov (“Green Doors of the Earth”) V. Voinovich (“Moscow 2042”).

The description of the communist society in Western science fiction is presented in the TV series Star Trek. In addition, the communist society of the future was described by G. Wells (“People as Gods”, “The Time Machine”, W. Le Guin “The Dispossessed”, T. Sturgeon (“Artists of the Planet Xanadu”).

Preview version

State Affairs Committee

Speaker Goran Lindblad, Sweden

I. Preliminary resolution

III. Explanatory note

I. Preliminary resolution

1 . The Assembly of the European Parliament submits Resolution 1096 (1996) to take measures to expose communist totalitarian systems.

2 . The totalitarian communist regimes that ruled Central and Eastern Europe in the last century, and that are still in power in some countries, are without exception characterized by massive violations of human rights.

These violations vary by culture, country, and historical period. They include individual and collective killings, executions, deaths in concentration camps, starvation, deportation, torture, slave labor, and other forms of mass physical terror.

3 . The theory of class struggle and the principle of the dictatorship of the proletariat served as justifications for committing crimes. The interpretation of both principles legitimized the "liquidation" of people who were considered harmful to the construction of a new society, in essence, enemies of the totalitarian communist regimes.

In countries with a communist regime, a huge number of people of their own nationality were destroyed. This is especially true of the peoples of the former Soviet Union, who far outnumbered other peoples in terms of the number of victims.

4 . The Assembly recognizes that, despite the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes, some European communist parties have contributed to the achievement of democracy.

5 .The fall of the totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe did not lead to an international investigation into the crimes committed by these regimes. In addition, the authors of these crimes were not brought to justice by the international community, as was the case with the horrific crimes committed in the name of National Socialism (Nazism).

6 . Consequently, the public is little aware of the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes. Communist parties are active and exist legally in some countries, even if they have not separated themselves from the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes in the past.

7 . The Assembly is convinced that awareness of history is one of the preconditions for avoiding similar crimes in the future. Moreover, the moral assessment and condemnation of the crimes committed will play an important role in the education of the younger generation. The clear position of the international community on the events that took place in the past is directly related to how events will unfold in the future.

8 In addition, the Assembly believes that the victims of crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes who are still alive or their families deserve sympathy and understanding for the suffering they endured.

9 . Totalitarian communist regimes are still active in some countries and crimes continue to take place. The concept of national interests should not prevent countries from adequately criticizing the currently existing totalitarian communist regimes. The Assembly strongly condemns all violations of human rights.

10 . The debates and condemnations that have taken place so far at the national level in some member states of the Council of Europe cannot relieve the international community from the obligation to take a clear position in relation to the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes. It is the moral duty of the international community to condemn these crimes without any further delay.

11 . The Council of Europe looks forward to such debates at the international level. All former European communist countries, with the exception of Belarus, are currently members of the Council of Europe. The protection of human rights and the rule of law are core values. advocated by the Council of Europe.

12 . Therefore, the Parliamentary Assembly strongly condemns the grave violations of human rights committed by the totalitarian communist regimes and expresses sympathy and understanding for the victims of crimes.

13 . In addition, she appeals to all communist or post-communist parties that have not yet done so, to reconsider the history of communism and their own past, to clearly separate themselves from the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes and condemn them.

14 . The Assembly believes that such a clear position of the international community will pave the way for further interaction. In addition, it is hoped that this will support historians around the world in their research aimed at determining and objectively confirming what took place.

1 . The Parliamentary Assembly submits resolution 1096 (1996) on taking steps to expose communist totalitarian systems, and a resolution on the need for international condemnation of the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes.

2 . The Assembly is of the opinion that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive international debate on the crimes committed by the communist totalitarian regimes in order to express sympathy and understanding to all those who suffered from these crimes.

3 . It should be clear that the Council of Europe, as an organization that stands for the observance of the rule of law and the protection of human rights, must take a clear position in relation to the crimes committed by the communist regimes.

4 .Consequently, the Assembly insists that the Committee of Ministers:

i. established a committee consisting of independent experts whose task will be to collect and evaluate information and develop a bill related to the violation of human rights in countries with various totalitarian communist regimes;

ii. adopted an official declaration on the international condemnation of the crimes of communism committed by totalitarian communist regimes, and paid tribute to the victims of these crimes, regardless of their nationality;

iii. launched a campaign for public awareness of the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes at the European level;

iv. organized an international conference on the crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes, with the participation of government representatives, parliamentarians, academics, experts and non-governmental organizations.

v. advised the member states of the Council of Europe that were under totalitarian communist regimes:

a. establish committees of independent experts whose task is to collect and evaluate information concerning human rights violations at the national level during the reign of totalitarian communist regimes, with a view to cooperating closely with the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe;

b. to rework the national bill in order to fully implement the recommendation (2000) 13 of the Cabinet of Ministers on the European policy of access to archives;

c. launch a campaign aimed at national awareness of the crimes committed in the name of communist ideology, including the revision of school textbooks and the introduction of a day of remembrance for the victims of communism, and the creation of museums.

d. support local authorities in the construction of memorials to pay tribute to the victims of totalitarian communist regimes.

III.explanatory a note.

I. Introduction.

1 . The fall of the communist regimes in the states of central and eastern Europe in the early nineties of the twentieth century caused numerous discussions concerning the political and legal assessment of actions and crimes committed in the name of communist ideology.

The responsibility of the perpetrators and their likely prosecution became a matter of dispute. In all former communist countries, debates have been held on this topic, and in several countries special laws have been passed for “decommunization” and/or moral cleansing.

2. In all countries concerned, this issue was seen as part of a broader process of exposing the former system and transitioning to democracy. It was perceived as an internal problem, and the leadership coming from the international community, and in particular from the Council of Europe, focused on preventing possible violations of human rights.

3 In this spirit, two reports to the Parliamentary Assembly concerning the adoption of measures aimed at exposing the communist totalitarian systems were elaborated by Mr Espersen and Mr Severin on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, respectively in 1995 and 1996, the first report was referred back to the Committee, after deliberations in the Assembly, the second report resulted in the adoption of resolution 1096 (1996).

4 . However, so far, neither the Council of Europe, nor any other international organization has undertaken the task of giving a general assessment of the communist regimes, holding a serious discussion of the crimes committed in the name of communism, and publicly condemning these crimes.

Indeed, as hard as it is to understand, there has not been a single serious, comprehensive discussion of this ideology, which was the root cause of widespread terror, massive violations of human rights, the death of many millions of people, and the plight of entire nations.

Although another totalitarian regime of the 20th century, namely Nazism, was investigated, condemned on a global scale, and the criminals were brought to justice. Similar crimes committed in the name of communism were not investigated and received no international condemnation.

5 . The absence of such international condemnation can be partly explained by the existence of countries whose leadership is still based on communist ideology. The desire to maintain good relations with some of them may prevent some politicians from starting to consider this difficult topic.

In addition, many politicians who are currently still very active support the former communist regimes to one degree or another. For obvious reasons, they would prefer not to take any responsibility.

In many European countries there are communist parties that have not officially condemned the crimes of communism. Equally important, various elements of communist ideology, such as equality and social justice, still captivate many politicians who fear that condemnation of the crimes of communism will be identified with condemnation of communist ideology.

6 . However, the speaker is of the opinion that there is an urgent need for an open discussion of the crimes of communism and their condemnation at the international level. This must be done without any further delay. There are several reasons for this.

First, in the name of common awareness, it must be clear that all crimes, including those committed in the name of an ideology that praises the most revered ideas such as equality and justice, must be condemned.

And there should be no exceptions to this rule. This is especially important for the younger generations, who have not personally experienced the methods of communist leadership. A clear position of the international community in relation to the past can become a guarantee for their future activities.

7 . Apparently, in some countries, the nostalgia for communism is still alive. This creates the danger of a post-communist revenge. This report should contribute to the general awareness of the history of this ideology.

8 . Secondly, as long as the victims of communist regimes or members of their families are still alive, it is not too late to provide them with moral compensation for the suffering they endured.

9. Just as importantly, communist regimes are still active in some countries and crimes committed in the name of communist ideology continue to take place. In my opinion, the Council of Europe, an organization that advocates for human rights, has no right to remain indifferent and silent, even if those countries are not members of the Council of Europe.

Such international condemnation will provide more opportunity and more arguments for domestic opposition in these countries, and may encourage some positive action.

This is the least that Europe, the cradle of communist ideology, can do for these countries.

10. It should be emphasized that in this report there is no question of any financial compensation for the victims of the communist regimes, only one compensation of a moral nature is recommended.

11 . The 15th anniversary of the fall of communist regimes in many European countries provides an opportunity for such action. The Council of Europe has an obligation to fulfill this task, since almost half of the member states of the Council of Europe survived communist rule.

12. As part of the preparation of this report, the Committee organized a hearing attended by dignitaries whose expertise on the topic greatly contributed to the preparation of this report.

I also gave the details of visits to Bulgaria (May 16, 2005), Latvia and Russia. I would like to express my gratitude to the national parliamentary delegations of these countries for their assistance in preparing these visits.

13 I want to emphasize that this report is by no means intended to be a comprehensive assessment of communist crimes. Historical inquiry should be left to historians, and there is already quite a solid body of literature on the subject, which I have drawn upon in preparing this report. The purpose of this report is to give a political assessment of the crimes of communism.

2. General idea of ​​communist regimes.

Communist regimes share common characteristics, such as being led by a single party devoted to communist ideology. Power is concentrated in the hands of a small group of party leaders who fall outside the bounds of the law.

The party controls the state to such an extent that the boundary between the party and the state becomes blurred. In addition, the party exercises its control over the population in every aspect of daily life, on an unprecedented scale.

The right to cooperate does not exist, political pluralism is simplified, and any opposition, as well as all attempts at independent self-organization, are severely punished. On the other hand, mass entry into the party or affiliated organizations is encouraged, and sometimes even enforced.

In order to increase their control over the society and prevent any action that escapes from this control, such communist regimes increase the police force to an unparalleled size, introduce a network of informers, and encourage denunciations.

The number of police structures and the number of secret informants varies from time to time and from country to country, but it always far outnumbers any other democratic state.

Mass media are monopolized and controlled by the state. And as a rule, strict preventive censorship is applied, the right of access to information is violated, and there is no free press.

The nationalization of the economy, which is a constant feature of the communist leadership and is the result of ideology, places restrictions on personal property and individual economic activity.

As a result, citizens become dependent on the state, which is a monopolized employer and the only source of income.

Communist rule lasted for more than 80 years in the country in which it first arose, namely Russia, later renamed the Soviet Union. In other European countries, it lasted about 45 years.

Outside of Europe, communist parties have been in power for over 50 years in China, North Korea and Vietnam, over 40 years in Cuba, and 30 years in Laos. The Communists ruled for some time in various African, Asian and South American countries under Soviet influence.

More than twenty countries on four continents have been and are under communist rule.

Apart from the Soviet Union and its six European satellite states, the list includes; Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Benin, Kampuchea, China, Congo, Ethiopia, North Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Mozambique, Vietnam, South Yemen, Yugoslavia. Until 1989, the number of people living under the communist regime was over one billion.

Geographical location, duration over time, suggest differences and changes in the implementation of communist rule in practice in different countries. The communist regime developed out of internal dynamics, or in response to international circumstances. It is difficult to compare communist rule in Russia in 1930, Hungary in 1960 or Poland in 1980.

However, despite the differences, it is possible to clearly identify the common features of the communist regime, whatever the country, culture or time. One of the most obvious characteristics is the appalling violation of human rights.

3. The crimes of communism

From the very beginning, communist rule has been characterized by massive violations of human rights. In order to achieve and maintain power, communist regimes have gone beyond individual assassinations and local massacres, they have integrated crime into their leadership system.

It is true that a few years after the establishment of the regime in most European countries, terror has lost its initial force and human rights violations have become less horrendous. However, the memory of terror plays an important role in society, and the hidden danger replaces the real cruelty.

In addition, if necessary, the regime will again turn to terror, as was demonstrated in Czechoslovakia in 1968, Poland in 1971, 1976 and 1981, or China in 1989. This rule applies to all past and present communist regimes, regardless from the country.

According to rough estimates, [exact data not available] the number of people killed by the communist regimes in different countries;

Soviet Union 20 million victims

China 65 million

Vietnam 1 million

North Korea 2 million

Cambodia 2 million

Eastern Europe 1 million

Latin America 150,000

Africa 1,7 million

Afghanistan 1,5 million

Behind these figures are mass executions and executions of individuals, deaths in concentration camps, victims of famine and deportations.

The numbers above are documented. They are rough estimates, there is reasonable reason to suspect that they should be much higher. Unfortunately, limited access to archives, in particular in Russia, does not allow us to accurately verify the correctness of the figures.

An important feature of communist regimes is the repression directly directed against whole categories of innocent people, whose only crime was that they belonged to these categories.

Thus, in the name of ideology, communist regimes killed tens of millions of wealthy peasants, kulaks, nobles, bourgeoisie, Cossacks, Ukrainians and other groups.

These crimes are a direct result of the theory of class struggle, the need to destroy people who were considered useless for the construction of a new society.

In the twenties in the Soviet Union, the GPU, the former Cheka, later the KGB introduced a quota; each area was supposed to deliver a certain number of "class enemies". The figures were set by the leaders of the Communist Party.

Thus, local officials had to arrest, deport and execute a specific number of people. If they failed to do so, they themselves became targets of persecution.

In terms of the number of victims, the list of the most important crimes of communism includes the following;

Individual or collective executions of people perceived as political opponents who have not been tried or tried by an arbitrary court.

4. Bloody repressions of participants in demonstrations and strikes.

The killing of hostages and prisoners during the war in 1918-1922. The lack of access to archives, as well as the absence of any documentation on the number of executions, makes it impossible to give exact figures, but the number of victims is in the tens of thousands.

Approximately 5 million people starved to death in 1921-1923 as a result of the confiscations, especially in the Ukraine. Hunger has been used as a political weapon in some communist regimes, not only in the Soviet Union.

Extermination of 300,000 to 500,000 Cossacks between 1919 and 1920.

Tens of thousands of people died in concentration camps. Here, too, the lack of access to archives makes research impossible. 690,000 people arbitrarily sentenced to death and executed as a result of the so-called purges in the Communist Party in 1937-1938.

Thousands of others were exiled or imprisoned in concentration camps. In all, between October 1, 1936 and November 1, 1938, approximately 1,565,000 people were arrested and 668,305 of them were executed. According to many investigations, these figures are underestimated, and should be verified when all archives become available.

Mass destruction of approximately 30,000 kulaks during the forced collectivization of 1929-1933. And further deportation of 2 million in 1930-1932.

Thousands of ordinary people in the Soviet Union, accused of having links with the "enemies" and executed in the period leading up to World War II. For example, in 1937, approximately 144,000 people were arrested and 110,000 of them were executed.

They were charged with being in contact with Polish citizens living in the Soviet Union. Also in 1937, 42,000 people were executed because of links with German workers in the USSR.

6 million Ukrainians died of starvation in the course of a well-thought-out state policy in 1932-1933.

Destruction and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Moldavians, inhabitants of Bessarabia in 1939-1941 and in 1944-1945;

Deportation of Volga Germans in 1941, Crimean Tatars in 1943, Chechens and Ingush in 1944.

Deportation and extermination of a fourth of the population of Cambodia in 1975-1978.

Millions of victims of the criminal policies of Mao Zedong in China and Kim Il Sung in North Korea Here, too, the lack of documentation does not allow for accurate information.

Numerous victims in other parts of the world, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, in countries that call themselves communist and directly refer to communist ideology.

The concentration camps set up by the first communist regime in September 1918 have become one of the most shameful symbols of communism. In 1921 there were already 107 camps housing about 50,000 prisoners.

The extremely high mortality rate in these camps can be illustrated by the situation in the Kronstadt camp, out of 6,500 detainees placed in the camp in March 1921, only 1,500 survived a year later.

In 1940, the number of prisoners reached 2,350,000. They were placed in 53 concentration complexes, 425 special colonies, 50 juvenile colonies, and 90 homes for newborns.

Throughout 1940, there were an average of 2.5 million people in the camps at any time.

In total, 15-20 million people passed through the camps between 1930 and 1953.

Concentration camps were also introduced in other communist regimes, most notably in China, North Korea, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

The invasion of the Soviet Army in a number of countries during the Second World War was accompanied by terror, arrests, deportation and destruction.

Among these countries, Poland was particularly affected, approximately 440,000 victims in 1939, including the destruction of captured Polish officers in 1944-1945, Estonia - 175,000 victims, including the extermination of 800 officers, which amounted to 17.5% of the total population, Lithuania, Latvia (119,000 victims ), Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.

The deportation of entire nations was a common political measure, especially during World War II. In 1940-41, approximately 330,000 Polish citizens living in the territory occupied by the Soviet army were deported to the eastern regions of the Soviet Union, most of all to Kazakhstan.

900,000 Germans from the Volga region were exiled in autumn 1941; 93,000 Kalmyks were deported in December 1943; 521,000 Chechens and Ingush were deported in February 1944; 180,000 Crimean Tatars were deported in 1944.

The list would be incomplete without mentioning Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Greeks, Bulgars, Armenians living in the Crimea, Meskhetian Turks and Kurds from the Caucasus.

Deportation was also used for political opponents. From 1920, political opponents in Russia began to be exiled to the Solovetsky Islands. In 1927, the camp built on Solovki contained 13,000 prisoners of 48 different nationalities.

The most brutal crimes of communist regimes, such as mass murder and genocide, torture, slave labor, and other forms of mass physical terror, continued in the Soviet Union and, to a lesser extent, other European countries until Stalin's death.

Since the mid-1950s, terror in the European communist countries has decreased significantly, but the selective persecution of various groups and individuals continued.

It included police surveillance, arrests, imprisonment, punishment by fines, forced psychiatric treatment, various restrictions on freedom of movement, discrimination at work, which often led to poverty and loss of professionalism, public humiliation and slander.

Post-Stalinist European communist regimes exploited the widespread fear of persecution that remained in the collective memory. However, the memory of past horrors gradually weakened and had less effect on the younger generation.

However, even during these relatively quiet periods, if necessary, the communist regimes were able to resort to mass violence. An illustration is the events in Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, or in Poland in 1956, 1968, 1970 and 1981.

The fall of communist rule in the Soviet Union and other European countries has made it easier to access some of the archives documenting communist crimes. Until 1990, these archives were completely inaccessible.

The documents that were found there are an important source of information about the mechanisms of government and decision-making, and allow for a complete historical analysis of the activities of the communist systems.

it seems to be becoming clear that the criminal side of communist regimes is not the result of circumstances, but rather the result of well-thought-out policies carefully designed by the founders of such regimes, even before they took power into their own hands.

Historical communist leaders have never hidden their goals, such as the dictatorship of the proletariat, the destruction of political opponents and categories of the population that do not fit with the new model of society.

The communist ideology applied anywhere or ever, be it in Europe or elsewhere, has always led to mass terror, crimes and human rights violations on a large scale.

Analyzing the consequences of the application of this ideology, one cannot but attach importance to the similarity with the consequences of the application of another ideology of the 20th century, namely, Nazism. Although mutually hostile, the two regimes shared a number of similarities.

However, although the criminal nature of Nazi ideology and the Nazi regime has been undeniable for at least half a century, and its leaders and many criminals have been held accountable, communist ideology and communist regimes have not met with a comparable response.

Crimes committed in the name of communism were a rare topic of prosecution, and many perpetrators were never brought to justice.

Communist parties are still active in some countries, and they have not even separated themselves from the past when they supported and collaborated with criminal communist regimes.

Communist symbols are openly used and public awareness of the crimes of communism is very weak. This is especially evident when compared to public awareness of the crimes of Nazism. The education of the younger generation in many countries cannot, of course, help close this gap.

The political and economic interests of individual countries influence the degree of criticism of some still active communist regimes. This is especially evident in the case of China.

As speaker, I am of the opinion that there should be no further, unjustifiable delay in denouncing communist ideology and communist regimes at the international level.

Personally, I do not share the view of some colleagues that it is necessary to make a clear distinction between ideology and what happened in practice. The latter follows from the former; and sooner or later the totalitarian one-party system will take over the original good intentions and pervert them.

However, it should be clear that these crimes were committed in the name of communist ideology and not by any particular country.

The Russians themselves became the first and most numerous victims of communist ideology. In any given country where the Communists were in power, the crimes were of a general nature.

At the same time, Council of Europe member states that have not yet done so should establish such committees at the national level as a matter of urgency. Such committees are expected to work closely with the committee of the Council of Europe.

The ultimate goal of such work by the Council of Europe and the National Committees will be to identify and propose concrete measures for the administration of justice and the rehabilitation of the victims of communist ideology, as well as for paying tribute to them.

A necessary condition for the successful work of these committees is access to the archives, especially in Russia. Therefore, the countries concerned and especially Russia, in accordance with Recommendation (2000) 13 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, should adopt an important bill concerning the European system of access to archives;

No less important is the fact that the Committee of Ministers must launch a campaign to expose and understand the crimes of communism. This also includes the revision of school textbooks. It is necessary to support the states that are members of the Council of Europe to do the same at the national level.

The map shows the "countries of people's democracy" in Eastern Europe: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania and the GDR.

Communist regimes are advancing in Europe and Asia

Under pressure from the USSR, the influence of the communists in Eastern Europe increased. Countries of "people's democracy" emerged, in which at first a multi-party system and various types of property were allowed.

Gradually, the parties of communists and socialists began to unite and seize power. Then in 1947-1948. Following very similar schemes, "conspiracies" were uncovered in a number of countries, and opposition parties were crushed. Now communist regimes have been established in the countries. In our newspapers, we read about the victory of the Communists in the elections in Eastern Europe, as well as the offensive of the Chinese liberation army.

It was natural for me (and I felt satisfaction) that the peoples of the liberated countries "took the path of socialism" (this was a common newspaper stamp of that time). I was only surprised that these countries did not join the Soviet Union. After all, I remembered the words of Stalin:

“Departing from us, Comrade Lenin bequeathed to us to strengthen and expand the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. We swear to you, Comrade Lenin, that we will fulfill this commandment of yours with honor.

Now it seems to me that Stalin, not yet having an atomic bomb, was cautious, afraid to give the United States and England a pretext to carry out atomic bombings of Soviet cities. However, nothing prevented him, acting with extreme caution and observing the "legality" to consolidate the gains achieved.

In Eastern Europe, Stalin pursued just such a policy, consistently "fixing" the territorial acquisitions achieved during the war. Having liberated the Eastern European countries from German occupation, Soviet troops remained on the territory of these countries for a long time, introducing a regime of temporary military administration. This made it possible to suppress dissenting parties and bring pro-communist groups and parties to power, although outwardly this was presented as the result of the people's will.

The communist regimes after the Second World War were advancing all over the world. All the events in the Eastern European countries, as well as the victory of the communists in China, Korea and North Vietnam, were presented in the Soviet press as successful democratic transformations of countries that rejected capitalism and the exploitation of man by man and embarked on a socialist path of development.

I rejoiced at the successes of these countries, the victories of the communists, the expansion of the socialist camp, the camp of peace, which opposed the capitalist camp, the camp of warmongers.

In the previous sentence, I deliberately cited the terminology (the next stamps of Soviet propaganda) used at that time by Soviet propaganda.

But that's exactly what I thought then and thought in precisely such cliches. These words were hammered into me.

Reviews

The daily audience of the Proza.ru portal is about 100 thousand visitors, who in total view more than half a million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.

a doctrine proclaiming the creation of a classless and stateless society based on the destruction of private property and the imposition of state property, the elimination of the old state machine, the creation of new principles of management and distribution.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

COMMUNISM

from lat. commi-nis - general) - 1. An ideology whose supporters advocate building a society without a state, class exploitation and private property. 2. System, coming, according to Marxists, to replace the capitalist socio-economic formation.

The ideas of social justice already in ancient times motivated the activities of entire groups, estates, classes, determined the social psychology of mass movements, riots, uprisings and became the causes of heresies, sects, and political organizations.

The proto-communist ideas of the social structure were manifested both in myths about the "golden age" of mankind, about the lost and sought after paradise in various religious systems, and in philosophical utopias about the ideal system - like Plato, T. Campanella, T. More, representatives of the socialist thought of the end XVIII - beginning. XIX centuries: A. Saint-Simon (1760–1825), R. Owen (1771–1858), C. Fourier (1772–1837), E. Cabet (1788–1856).

Later, the founders of Marxism tried to scientifically substantiate the principles of the structure of communist society. According to K. Marx, communism is a natural stage in the progressive development of mankind, a socio-economic formation that is coming to replace capitalism, in the depths of which its socio-economic prerequisites ripen. The transition from the old system to a more progressive one will take place during the proletarian revolution, after which private property will be abolished, the bourgeois state will be abolished, and a classless society will emerge. “At the highest phase of communist society,” wrote K. Marx, “after the subjugation of man to the division of labor disappears; when the opposition of mental and physical labor disappears along with it; when labor ceases to be only a means of life, and becomes itself the first need of life; when, along with the all-round development of individuals, the productive forces also grow, and all sources of social wealth flow to the fullest, only then will it be possible to completely overcome the narrow horizon of bourgeois law, and society will be able to write on its banner: To each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!

The basis of the Marxist understanding of communism as the goal of social development, with the achievement of which the true history of mankind will come, is the belief in the truth, the objective nature of the laws of social development, first discovered and formulated by K. Marx (1818–1883) and F. Engels (1820–1895) .

The system of views on society, called "scientific communism", is based on the idea of ​​the universal nature of the method of dialectical and historical materialism, suitable for explaining all the phenomena of social life. "Scientific communism", one of the "three components of Marxism" (along with materialist philosophy and political economy), from the point of view of its followers, theoretically substantiates the special mission of the proletariat in history and its right to revolution to overthrow the domination of capital.

After its victory, the place of the destroyed bourgeois state is replaced by the dictatorship of the proletariat, carrying out revolutionary violence in the interests of the working people. This is the first stage of the communist formation - socialism; under it, although private property has been abolished, class distinctions still remain, there is a need to fight the overthrown exploiting classes and defend against external enemies.

K. Marx, F. Engels and later V. Lenin (1870–1924), who developed the ideas of his predecessors about the two phases of the communist formation, were convinced that the transition to the highest stage of communism would occur when a high level of labor productivity under the dominance of public ownership of the means of production will make it possible to embody the distributive principle of the new society - according to needs, and classes will disappear. Then the need for a state will disappear, but it will not be abolished as a bourgeois one, but will gradually die out on its own.

Even during the life of the creators of "scientific communism", their ideas were subjected to serious criticism even from like-minded people, not to mention their outright opponents. Marx was condemned for economic determinism, accused of reducing the entire diversity of social life to a conflict between productive forces and production relations. The latter, according to Marx, being the economic basis, determine the entire set of "superstructural" relations - not only the political and social class spheres, but also the cultural, spiritual life of society, including family ties, relations between the sexes, religious feelings of people.

Criticizing F. Lassalle and other leaders of the German Social Democracy, Marx spoke out against freedom of conscience: Communists must fight against the right of a person to believe as with "religious intoxication." This line was consistently continued by the Russian Bolsheviks when they came to power in 1917.

Among the Marxists there were many who, unlike the founder of the doctrine, saw in the capitalist system a significant potential for development and colossal reserves. The absence of objective prerequisites for revolution, industrial growth in most European states, America, Russia, a noticeable improvement in the material situation of workers, the opportunity for working people to participate in political life by legal means through parties, trade unions, using the parliamentary platform - all this has made the slogan of the proletarian revolution irrelevant everywhere. by the end of the 19th century.

Replacing the International Association of Workers, created by K. Marx and F. Engels in the middle. XIX century, the Second International actually abandoned the slogan of an immediate proletarian revolution and advocated reforms with the aim of gradually "growing" the bourgeois state into socialism and communism.

E. Bernstein (1850–1932), and later K. Kautsky (1854–1938) argued most convincingly that such a path was preferable for the world communist movement, for the proletariat.

In Russia, G. Plekhanov (1856–1918) was an ardent opponent of an immediate revolutionary seizure of power. In his opinion, a conscious proletariat has not yet formed in the country, and due to the insufficient development of capitalism, there are no economic prerequisites for socialism.

His opponent was V. Lenin, who already in one of his early works tried to prove that the development of capitalism in Russia was proceeding at a rapid pace, and the absence of a large conscious proletariat was not an obstacle to the revolution. The main condition for its success is the presence of a strong organization of revolutionaries, a "new type" party. It differs from the social-democratic parliamentary parties of Europe by a strong discipline based on the principle of "democratic centralism" (in practice, the absolute subordination of ordinary members to the decisions of the leadership).

Since the emergence of the Bolshevik Communist Party in Russia, the process of preparing a revolution began, the purpose of which was to overthrow the existing government and accelerate the construction of a communist society.

The October Revolution of 1917 in Russia for the first time in world history brought to power a political force that in practice began to put into practice the theoretical principles of Marxism and build a communist society.

Marx himself called the seizure of power in Paris by the Communards in 1871 the first proletarian revolution. But this communist experiment did not have any serious impact either on the European labor movement or on the historical fate of France.

The October Revolution was of world-historical significance not only because it opened the first experience in world history of building real communism on the scale of a huge country, but also provoked revolutionary processes in many countries. In a relatively short period, a number of countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America took a course towards building a new society based on the Marxist theory of scientific communism.

For many decades it remained the official ideology in these states. In reality, the ruling communist parties, following the example of the Bolsheviks, "creatively developed" the communist ideology in relation to local conditions, adapting Marxist slogans and schemes to the needs of the ruling elites. Already Leninism was radically different from classical Marxism: the Bolsheviks attached great importance to the role of the subjective factor in history, in fact asserting the primacy of ideology over the economy. I. Stalin abandoned the basic position for scientific communism about the need for the victory of the revolution on a global scale (on which L. Trotsky insisted) and set a course for the actual construction of state capitalism.

The communist state was to be built on the principle of a single corporation, where the apparatus itself and the government acted as managers, while the workers and the whole people were both employees and shareholders. It was assumed that shareholders would receive dividends in the form of free housing, medicine, education, by reducing food prices and reducing the working day up to 6 or 4 hours, while the rest of the time would be spent on cultural, spiritual and sports development.

From similar positions, communist construction was approached in China. In addition, Mao Zedong (1893-1976) brought an even more voluntaristic flavor to the theory of the communist movement. He attached great importance to conducting large-scale propaganda campaigns ("people's communes", "great leap", "cultural revolution") to mobilize the people to solve economic problems. The fact that at that time there were no real opportunities for an economic breakthrough in the country was not taken into account.

To an even greater extent, the departure from Marxism was manifested in the DPRK, where the ideas of the Korean dictator Kim Il Sung (1912–94) - "Juche", which are based on the principle of "reliance on one's own strength" were announced as the theoretical justification for the country's special path to communism.

Ideological voluntarism and disregard for economic laws manifested themselves to one degree or another in all countries of the socialist camp. It is characteristic that in most of them (with the exception of Czechoslovakia and Hungary) capitalism was poorly developed or completely absent. Then the theory was formulated about the transition of backward countries to socialism and communism, bypassing the capitalist stage (for example, in relation to Mongolia). The only condition for the possibility of such a breakthrough was declared to be all-round support from the socialist camp and the world communist movement.

The doctrine of the "non-capitalist path of development", the support in the backward states of the "socialist orientation" of the ruling regimes, using communist phraseology, completely contradicted Marxism. It is not surprising that from October 1917 until the early 1990s, when the socialist camp collapsed, Western socialist thought, including Marxist thought, categorically opposed the theory and practice of communist construction in the USSR and other states of people's democracy. The Soviet communists were criticized for the fact that instead of the gradual implementation of economic and political reforms, which should lead to democratization, a totalitarian system was created in the USSR with the suppression of dissent.

In modern Russia, there are several communist parties and movements (primarily the Communist Party of the Russian Federation). However, they no longer have a serious impact on the political process.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓