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{{Short description|Soviet-type economic planning enforced by the ruling communist parties}} |
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{{Distinguish|Social realism|Socialist realism}} |
{{Distinguish|Social realism|Socialist realism}} |
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{{Marxism–Leninism sidebar|variants}} |
{{Marxism–Leninism sidebar|variants}} |
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'''Real socialism''', |
'''Real socialism''', better known as '''actually existing socialism'''<ref>{{cite book |title=Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire |first=Victor |last=Sebestyen |year=2010 |publisher=Phoenix |isbn=978-0-7538-2709-3}}</ref> was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev]] era in the [[Eastern Bloc]] countries and the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Interia">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://encyklopedia.interia.pl/haslo?hid=103753 |title=Socjalizm Realny |language=pl |trans-title=Real Socialism |encyclopedia=Encyklopedia Interia |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> |
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The term referred to the [[Soviet-type economic planning]] implemented by the [[Eastern Bloc]] at that particular time.<ref name="Interia"/> From the 1960s onward, countries such as [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], [[East Germany]], [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] began to argue that their policies represented what was realistically feasible given their level of productivity |
The term referred to the [[Soviet-type economic planning]] implemented by the [[Eastern Bloc]] at that particular time.<ref name="Interia"/> From the 1960s onward, Eastern Bloc countries such as [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], [[East Germany]], [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] began to argue that their policies represented what was realistically feasible given their level of productivity. |
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The concept of real socialism alluded to a |
The concept of real socialism alluded to a highly developed socialist system in the future. The actual party claims of nomenclatory socialism began to acquire not only negative, but also sarcastic meanings. In later years and especially after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], the term began to be remembered as only one thing, i.e. as a reference for [[Soviet socialism|Soviet-style socialism]].{{#tag:ref|See definitions and descriptions of "real socialism" in the following: |
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* Kyu-Young Lee, "System Transformation in Poland since 1989: |
* Kyu-Young Lee, "System Transformation in Poland since 1989: A view on the transformation of the real-socialist system. Including List of References. ''Graduate School of International Studies'', Sogang University. |
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* Krzysztof Brzechczyn, [https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/10593/281/1/BrzechczynJISHA.pdf |
* Krzysztof Brzechczyn, [https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/10593/281/1/BrzechczynJISHA.pdf The Collapse of Real Socialism in Eastern Europe.] ''Adam Mickiewicz University, Department of Philosophy.'' The Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Archaeology. Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 105–133 |
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* Jacek Tittenbrun |
* {{cite book |first=Jacek |last=Tittenbrun |title=The Collapse of 'Real Socialism' in Poland |date=1993 |publisher=Paul & Co Pub Consortium |isbn=1-85756-043-4}} |
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* Robert W. Cox, [https:// |
* Robert W. Cox, [https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5594/2492+%22The+Collapse+of+RealSocialism ''"Real socialism" in historical perspective.'' Pages 177–183.] Retrieved November 3, 2011. See term: "actually existing socialism" in Rudolph Bahro's ''The Alternative in Eastern Europe, Note 3, p. 190.|group=note}} |
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[[File:Comeconexecutivecommittee.JPG|thumb|300px|The executive committee of the [[Comecon]] in session]] |
[[File:Comeconexecutivecommittee.JPG|thumb|300px|The executive committee of the [[Comecon]] in session]] |
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==Definition== |
== Definition == |
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After [[World War II]], the terms "real socialism" or "really existing socialism" gradually became the predominating euphemisms used as self-description of the [[Eastern Bloc]] states' political and economical systems and their society models.<ref name=Hey31/> ''De jure'' often referred to as " |
After [[World War II]], the terms "real socialism" or "really existing socialism" gradually became the predominating euphemisms used as self-description of the [[Eastern Bloc]] states' political and economical systems and their society models.<ref name=Hey31/> ''De jure'' often referred to as "people's republics", these states were ruled by a [[One-party state|communist party]], some of which were ruled autocratically and had adapted a form of [[planned economy]] and propagated socialism and/or [[communism]] as their ideology.<ref name=Hey31/> The term "real (-ly existing) socialism" was introduced to explain the obvious gap between the propagated ideological framework and the political and economical reality faced by these states' societies.<ref name=Hey31>{{cite book |last=Hey |first=Patrizia |title=Die sowjetische Polenpolitik Anfang der 1980er Jahre und die Verhängung des Kriegsrechts in der Volksrepublik Polen. Tatsächliche sowjetische Bedrohung oder erfolgreicher Bluff? |language=de |trans-title=The Soviet policy towards Poland in the early 1980s and the imposition of martial law in the People's Republic of Poland. Actual Soviet threat or successful bluff? |series=Studien zu Konflikt und Kooperation im Osten |volume=19 |publisher=LIT |location=Münster |year=2010 |page=31 |isbn=9783643107718 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9DaNNMuv3EsC&q=%22real+existierender+sozialismus%22&pg=PA31}}</ref><ref name="New Internationalist 1985">{{cite web |title=A Guide To The Left |website=New Internationalist |date=5 November 1985 |url=https://newint.org/features/1985/11/05/left |access-date=21 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lebowitz |first=Michael A. |title=The Contradictions of "Real Socialism"}}</ref> As US Communist Party activist [[Irwin Silber]] put it in 1994,<blockquote>The term 'actually existing socialism’ is not (despite the quotation marks) a sarcasm; in fact, while obviously containing an implicit irony, the phrase itself was coined by Soviet Marxist-Leninists and was widely used by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and its supporters in polemics with those who postulated a model of socialism significantly different from the system developed in the Soviet Union. Its point was that various alternatives to the Soviet-derived model existed only in the minds of their advocates, while 'actual socialism' existed in the real world.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-7/silber-socialism.pdf |title=Socialism: What went wrong? |last=Silber |first=Irwin |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |date=1994 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref></blockquote> |
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The term was taken up by some [[dissidents]], such as [[Rudolf Bahro]], who used it in a more critical way.<ref name="Bahro">{{cite |
The term was also taken up by some [[dissidents]], such as [[Rudolf Bahro]], who used it in a more critical way.<ref name="Bahro">{{cite journal |title=The Alternative in Eastern Europe |journal=[[New Left Review]] |date=November–December 1977 |issue=I/106 |pages=3–37 |url=https://newleftreview.org/issues/i106/articles/rudolf-bahro-the-alternative-in-eastern-europe.pdf |access-date=21 September 2021 |quote=Socialism as it actually exists, irrespective of its many achievements, is characterized by: the persistence of wage-labour, commodity production and money; the rationalization of the traditional division of labour; a cultivation of social inequalities that extends far beyond the range of money incomes; official corporations for the ordering and tutelage of the population; liquidation of the freedoms conquered by the masses in the bourgeois era, instead of the preservation and realization of these freedoms (only consider the all-embracing censorship, and the pronounced formality and factual unreality of so-called socialist democracy). It is also characterized by: a staff of functionaries, a standing army and police, which are all responsible only to those above them; the duplication of the unwieldy state machine into a state and a party apparatus; its isolation within national frontiers. |last1=Bahro |first1=Rudolf }}</ref><ref name="Frank Rosenzweig Vale 1980 pp. 152–167">{{cite journal |author-last1=Frank |author-first1=Pierre |author-last2=Rosenzweig |author-first2=Mark |author-last3=Vale |author-first3=Michel |title=Was |journal=[[International Journal of Politics]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]], Ltd. |volume=10 |issue=2/3 |year=1980 |issn=0012-8783 |jstor=40470166 |pages=152–167 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40470166 |access-date=21 September 2021}}</ref> |
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==The role of the Sino-Soviet split== |
== The role of the Sino-Soviet split == |
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Another aspect of the term real socialism related to the [[Sino-Soviet split]] and other ideological disagreements between the Soviet Union and its [[satellite states]] on one side and the [[People's Republic of China]] and the followers of a more [[Maoist]] brand of communist ideology on the other. The Sino-inspired communist movement, which had grown so rapidly worldwide as a "radical left" alternative to Soviet ideas, had claimed that the Soviet Union was no longer socialist and had betrayed the [[world revolution|revolution]]. To counter this claim of [[Marxist revisionism]], the Soviets called their version "real socialism", implying that other models of socialism were unrealistic.<ref name="Sarnov" /> |
Another aspect of the term real socialism related to the [[Sino-Soviet split]] and other ideological disagreements between the Soviet Union and its [[satellite states]] on one side and the [[People's Republic of China]] and the followers of a more [[Maoist]] brand of communist ideology on the other. The Sino-inspired communist movement, which had grown so rapidly worldwide as a "radical left" alternative to Soviet ideas, had claimed that the Soviet Union was no longer socialist and had betrayed the [[world revolution|revolution]]. To counter this claim of [[Marxist revisionism]], the Soviets called their version "real socialism", implying that other models of socialism were unrealistic.<ref name="Sarnov">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Benedikt |last=Sarnov |author-link=Benedikt Sarnov |encyclopedia=Our Soviet [[Newspeak]]: A Short Encyclopedia of Real Socialism (Наш советский новояз. Маленькая энциклопедия реального социализма) |title=Real Socialism |pages=472–474 |location=Moscow |date=2002 |isbn=5-85646-059-6}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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The term was also used in an ironical criticism. The "reality" of "real socialism" was used against it. In particular, the term became a target of numerous [[Russian jokes|political jokes]] in the Soviet Union, the following being typical examples:<ref name="Sarnov">[[Benedikt Sarnov]], ''Our Soviet [[Newspeak]]: A Short Encyclopedia of Real Socialism'' (Наш советский новояз. Маленькая энциклопедия реального социализма). "Real Socialism", pages 472-474. Moscow: 2002, {{ISBN|5-85646-059-6}}.</ref> |
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*"Do you know the boundary between real socialism and [[communism]]?" – "The border runs along the [[Kremlin]]'s wall" [hinting that only rulers of the Soviet Union live in the bright communist future promised by Karl Marx]. |
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*"What is real socialism?" – "This is when you cannot yet get everything without money, but you already cannot buy anything for your money" [hinting at the long lines and frequent shortages of consumer goods in the Soviet stores]. |
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*[[Radio Yerevan jokes|Armenian Radio]] was asked: "Is it possible to build real socialism in [[Armenia]]?". Armenian Radio answers: "Yes, but it would be better to do it in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]". |
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==See also== |
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{{div col}} |
{{div col}} |
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*[[Actually existing capitalism]] |
* [[Actually existing capitalism]] |
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*[[Communist state]] |
* [[Communist state]] |
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*[[Marxism–Leninism]] |
* [[Marxism–Leninism]] |
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*[[Moderately prosperous society]] |
* [[Moderately prosperous society]] |
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*[[Primary stage of socialism]] |
* [[Primary stage of socialism]] |
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*[[Soviet-type planning|Soviet-type economic system]] |
* [[Soviet-type planning|Soviet-type economic system]] |
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*[[State |
* [[State socialism]] |
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*[[ |
* [[Transition economy]] |
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*[[Transition economy]] |
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{{div col end}} |
{{div col end}} |
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== Notes == |
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{{reflist|group=note}} |
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==References== |
== References == |
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=== Citations === |
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{{Reflist}} |
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=== Sources === |
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; General |
; General |
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{{refbegin}} |
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* [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-realsocialism.html Real socialism] from ''A Dictionary of Sociology'', 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press. |
* [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-realsocialism.html Real socialism] from ''A Dictionary of Sociology'', 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press. |
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{{refend}} |
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{{Clear}} |
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{{Socialism}} |
{{Socialism}} |
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{{Marxism–Leninism}} |
{{Marxism–Leninism}} |
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{{Marxist and communist phraseology}} |
{{Marxist and communist phraseology}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] |
[[Category:Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] |
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Latest revision as of 04:17, 5 February 2024
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Real socialism, better known as actually existing socialism[1] was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the Brezhnev era in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union.[2]
The term referred to the Soviet-type economic planning implemented by the Eastern Bloc at that particular time.[2] From the 1960s onward, Eastern Bloc countries such as Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia began to argue that their policies represented what was realistically feasible given their level of productivity.
The concept of real socialism alluded to a highly developed socialist system in the future. The actual party claims of nomenclatory socialism began to acquire not only negative, but also sarcastic meanings. In later years and especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the term began to be remembered as only one thing, i.e. as a reference for Soviet-style socialism.[note 1]
Definition
[edit]After World War II, the terms "real socialism" or "really existing socialism" gradually became the predominating euphemisms used as self-description of the Eastern Bloc states' political and economical systems and their society models.[3] De jure often referred to as "people's republics", these states were ruled by a communist party, some of which were ruled autocratically and had adapted a form of planned economy and propagated socialism and/or communism as their ideology.[3] The term "real (-ly existing) socialism" was introduced to explain the obvious gap between the propagated ideological framework and the political and economical reality faced by these states' societies.[3][4][5] As US Communist Party activist Irwin Silber put it in 1994,
The term 'actually existing socialism’ is not (despite the quotation marks) a sarcasm; in fact, while obviously containing an implicit irony, the phrase itself was coined by Soviet Marxist-Leninists and was widely used by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and its supporters in polemics with those who postulated a model of socialism significantly different from the system developed in the Soviet Union. Its point was that various alternatives to the Soviet-derived model existed only in the minds of their advocates, while 'actual socialism' existed in the real world.[6]
The term was also taken up by some dissidents, such as Rudolf Bahro, who used it in a more critical way.[7][8]
The role of the Sino-Soviet split
[edit]Another aspect of the term real socialism related to the Sino-Soviet split and other ideological disagreements between the Soviet Union and its satellite states on one side and the People's Republic of China and the followers of a more Maoist brand of communist ideology on the other. The Sino-inspired communist movement, which had grown so rapidly worldwide as a "radical left" alternative to Soviet ideas, had claimed that the Soviet Union was no longer socialist and had betrayed the revolution. To counter this claim of Marxist revisionism, the Soviets called their version "real socialism", implying that other models of socialism were unrealistic.[9]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ See definitions and descriptions of "real socialism" in the following:
- Kyu-Young Lee, "System Transformation in Poland since 1989: A view on the transformation of the real-socialist system. Including List of References. Graduate School of International Studies, Sogang University.
- Krzysztof Brzechczyn, The Collapse of Real Socialism in Eastern Europe. Adam Mickiewicz University, Department of Philosophy. The Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Archaeology. Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 105–133
- Tittenbrun, Jacek (1993). The Collapse of 'Real Socialism' in Poland. Paul & Co Pub Consortium. ISBN 1-85756-043-4.
- Robert W. Cox, "Real socialism" in historical perspective. Pages 177–183. Retrieved November 3, 2011. See term: "actually existing socialism" in Rudolph Bahro's The Alternative in Eastern Europe, Note 3, p. 190.
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Sebestyen, Victor (2010). Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire. Phoenix. ISBN 978-0-7538-2709-3.
- ^ a b "Socjalizm Realny" [Real Socialism]. Encyklopedia Interia (in Polish). Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ a b c Hey, Patrizia (2010). Die sowjetische Polenpolitik Anfang der 1980er Jahre und die Verhängung des Kriegsrechts in der Volksrepublik Polen. Tatsächliche sowjetische Bedrohung oder erfolgreicher Bluff? [The Soviet policy towards Poland in the early 1980s and the imposition of martial law in the People's Republic of Poland. Actual Soviet threat or successful bluff?]. Studien zu Konflikt und Kooperation im Osten (in German). Vol. 19. Münster: LIT. p. 31. ISBN 9783643107718.
- ^ "A Guide To The Left". New Internationalist. 5 November 1985. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- ^ Lebowitz, Michael A. The Contradictions of "Real Socialism".
- ^ Silber, Irwin (1994). Socialism: What went wrong? (PDF). Pluto Press – via Marxists Internet Archive.
- ^ Bahro, Rudolf (November–December 1977). "The Alternative in Eastern Europe" (PDF). New Left Review (I/106): 3–37. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
Socialism as it actually exists, irrespective of its many achievements, is characterized by: the persistence of wage-labour, commodity production and money; the rationalization of the traditional division of labour; a cultivation of social inequalities that extends far beyond the range of money incomes; official corporations for the ordering and tutelage of the population; liquidation of the freedoms conquered by the masses in the bourgeois era, instead of the preservation and realization of these freedoms (only consider the all-embracing censorship, and the pronounced formality and factual unreality of so-called socialist democracy). It is also characterized by: a staff of functionaries, a standing army and police, which are all responsible only to those above them; the duplication of the unwieldy state machine into a state and a party apparatus; its isolation within national frontiers.
- ^ Frank, Pierre; Rosenzweig, Mark; Vale, Michel (1980). "Was". International Journal of Politics. 10 (2/3). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 152–167. ISSN 0012-8783. JSTOR 40470166. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- ^ Sarnov, Benedikt (2002). "Real Socialism". Our Soviet Newspeak: A Short Encyclopedia of Real Socialism (Наш советский новояз. Маленькая энциклопедия реального социализма). Moscow. pp. 472–474. ISBN 5-85646-059-6.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Sources
[edit]- General
- Real socialism from A Dictionary of Sociology, 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press.
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