The socialist system in Europe during the post-war period

At the end of World War II the international balance of forces had changed considerably in favour of the forces of socialism, while at the same time the international situation was becoming ever more intricate and the demands on the newly-constituted socialist system much greater and more complex. The victory of socialism in eight countries of Europe constituted the foundation for the creation of the post-war socialist system. Up until that time, the overwhelming majority of these countries lagged behind in their productive development, and did not even have the experience of developed capitalism. Apart from this, they were devastated by the war so that rebuilding them under the new circumstances required enormous amounts of money and aid which the USSR had to give within the framework of proletarian internationalism.

The varying conditions under which the new regimes came into being and then evolved into the political power of the working class, also generated particular features in the eight countries which passed over to socialism: in their political system, their social and political consciousness, in the conditions and forms of gaining power, in their state formations and political systems, in the pace and duration of each transitional period, in the role of religion and the church.

In these eight European countries, the new society was born out of the developments and specificities of their anti-fascist struggle. The national liberation struggle merged with the people's revolution. In some of these countries the old administrative mechanism was dismantled immediately and in others gradually, while at the same time through the antifascist resistance new organs of power and administration were created, both central and local.(15)

The fundamental contradiction between capital and labour was expressed in this particular instance through the popular classes' opposition to foreign fascists and their collaborators. At this point the antagonistic contradictions of the societies came together.

23. In practice the communist parties had won the leading position on the political fronts that had been created, which were not uniform from one country to another. Bourgeois politicians who wanted to support capitalism in the new post-war conditions also participated in the first phase. This is why, along the way, the conflict became sharper when the victory was won by the forces who wanted to establish peoples' republics and the socialist transformation. The Red Army helped to support and defend these revolutions, preventing the export of the counter-revolution and foreign intervention.

In some of these countries, the representatives of former exploiting classes constituted a relatively significant percentage. During the difficult, critical times that followed, they rallied together with former petty bourgeois strata to support imperialism in its various schemes. To the degree that the communist parties failed to observe these specificities in time, they likewise contributed to the appearance of adverse phenomena which hindered the development of socialist consciousness.

24. In all the post-war congresses of the CPSU and the other parties, targets were set to accelerate the creation of the material and technical basis for communism by applying scientific and technological advances  to production and renewing the material and technical base. A strategic goal was to raise social prosperity, to prove the superiority of the socialist system over that of capitalism, and broadly to satisfy people's material and intellectual needs. All congresses point out the need to eliminate the disparity between the development of industry and that of the agrarian economy as regards the earnings of the workers and their consumption capacity.

Although an upward course was noted in the economies of the socialist countries, their main feature was that numerical targets were being promoted, while the objective of the broad utilisation of scientific and technological advances was not being met according to plan. Nor were objectives being met with regard to the elimination of the disparities. Toward the end of the 1970s, some set-backs and a reduction in rates of development were noted. Problems were building up regarding social relations as a whole.

The ways and means selected for achieving goals -which were more or less the same for all congresses- differed significantly.(16)

Early in the 1980s, significant discussions were taking place in the CPSU in an attempt to raise the question of reforms in the socialist economy, as well as considerations regarding the attitude of the working person to his/her job. These were associated with the opening out of the ideological front in defence of the principles of socialist construction, the explicit defence of social ownership and democratic centralism.(17)

The eight socialist countries used the experience of the Soviet Union under their own conditions. Many of its features, particularly during the period of laying the foundations for socialism, were carried over mechanistically. Along the way, different viewpoints and practices appeared which diverged significantly from the Soviet "model". In the cases of Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania, Czechoslovakia (in the period of the well-known "Prague spring"), Hungary (1980s), Poland (1980s), different methods and policies also reflected ideological disagreements on matters related to the building of socialism, on international questions and on issues affecting relations between communist parties.

The study of CP documents and discussions shows that, during this period, there were debates and disagreements about the problems of socialism, in the form of an ideological controversy. At that time, acute theoretical deviations and doubts were hatched which prepared the way for the appearance and impact of perestroika.(18)

The examination today of the post-war building of socialism, and in particular of the most recent decades, shows the gradual accumulation of problems and primarily the inability of party and state leaderships and communist parties to provide effective and substantial solutions based on the principles of the scientific theory of socialism and the deeper study of the new problems and contradictions which were coming to the fore during the building of socialism.