Читать книгу State and Human Development in the Context of the Ideological Conflict between Capitalism and Communism - О. С. Зибров - Страница 2

1.1. Experience is not transferred. Not theoretical experience but experience as knowledge, i.e. conscious understanding of the current political processes. For most people, a theory is not enough, they need their own practical experience. This is the only way to understand mistakes and develop a deep understanding of the theory. This is precisely why the retreat of the pre-revolutionary communist generation who knew, both in theory and from their own experience, what exploitation, poverty, competition, healthcare and education inaccessibility are, turned the collapse of the USSR into just a matter of time.

1.2. Overestimated impact of economic motivations on people’s lives and disregard of other aspects. Socialism, having solved a number of economic problems, got rid of some evils and therewith gave rise to others (anger, envy, jealousy, vanity…). Human weaknesses turned into the promotion driving force.

1.3. The whole matter of political struggle was reduced to the liquidation of opposition, while the recognition of the creation of something new as a goal was just empty words.

As a result, the following conflicts were not settled:

1.3.1. The conflict between the public (social) and the private (individual). The public became the hallmark of the state both in its substance and form for the first time ever and enabled the state to discover its essence. However, the discovery of its social essence did not necessarily signify the immediate change of the public’s mind. The vast majority of people, both the society in general and public officials, still had an individualistic worldview that did not allow to decipher the difference between the social essence of the state and the public (social). As a result of the conflict between the public and private, a clear dichotomy between the individual and the state appeared. Consequently, the goal to suppress individualism as an open enemy arose. Populists hastened to take advantage of it, heading for power. It would be better if the development of the new, social, foundation of the state hadn’t clamped down on individualism completely but instead had built on its strengths. Especially since they could have counterbalanced the new downsides of the public.

1.3.2. The conflict between the old and the new. The new system took the state to a higher level and boosted the development of all spheres of public life. However, few people back then were able to realize that the victories of today had already been the past. It is also confirmed both by Stalin’s works which make it clear that even his inner circle couldn’t understand him, and by eagerness the society showed in accepting Khrushchev’s populism.

1.3.3. The conflict between the whole and the parts. The political struggle is generally regarded as a number of revolutionary spurts. Meanwhile, life is much more complicated. It features the co-existence of the old in one sphere of life and the new in another. Such diversity has to be present in the state structure system too, allowing to fight for the development and change of the conflicts and openly discuss propositions on dealing with any state issues. It is not a question of holding the propaganda endorsement against the state, it is a question of restrictions abolition. The opposition’s rights should be recognized and provided by the state.

1. 4. The merge of party and state. It is largely responsible for the fact that the party’s top echelon turned into public officials and the party deteriorated. The vanguard of political circles metamorphosed into the vanguard of bureaucracy.

1.5. Attempts to merge elements of socialism and capitalism in separate spheres. The collapse of the USSR proved that such a merge is impossible. It is also confirmed by today’s attempts of the Russian political system to portray itself as a social state, turning a penny of the poor into a seven-digit profit of the rich and reducing the socialist ideas to an absurdity.