Socialist states. Socialist countries: Europe

World socialist system or World socialist system- social, economic and political community of free sovereign states, following the path and, united by common interests and goals, bonds of international socialist solidarity. The countries of the world socialist system have the same type of economic basis - public ownership of the means of production; a uniform state system - the power of the people, led by the working class and its vanguard - the communist and workers' parties; a single ideology -; common interests in protecting revolutionary gains, ensuring security from attacks, fighting for world peace and providing assistance to peoples fighting for national independence; a single goal - communism, the construction of which is carried out on the basis of cooperation and mutual assistance.

The emergence and rise of the world socialist system

The formation of the world socialist system in the middle of the 20th century was a natural result of the development of world economic and political forces during the period of the general crisis of capitalism, the collapse of the world capitalist system and the emergence of communism as a single all-encompassing socio-economic formation. The emergence and development of the world system of socialism constituted the most important objective result of the international revolutionary workers' and communist movement, the struggle of the working class for its social liberation. It is a direct continuation of the work that marked the beginning of the era of humanity's transition from capitalism to communism.

The successes of the USSR in building socialism, its victory over fascist Germany and militaristic Japan, the liberation of the peoples of Europe and Asia by the Soviet Army from fascist occupiers and Japanese militarists accelerated the maturation of conditions for the transition to the path of socialism of new countries and peoples.

As a result of the powerful upsurge in the liberation struggle of peoples in a number of countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia), as well as the struggle of the Korean and Vietnamese peoples in 1944-1949. The people's democratic and socialist revolutions won. From that time on, socialism went beyond the borders of one country and the world-historical process of its transformation into a world economic and political system began. In 1949, the GDR entered the path of socialism, and the revolution in China was victorious. At the turn of the 50-60s. In the 20th century, the first socialist country in the Western Hemisphere, Cuba, entered the world system of socialism.

The countries of the world socialist system began the process of creating a new society from different levels of economic and political development. Moreover, each of them had its own history, traditions, and national specifics.

The world socialist system included countries that even before the Second World War (1939-1945) had a large proletariat, seasoned in class battles, while in others the working class was small at the time of the revolution. All this gave rise to certain features in the forms of building socialism. In the presence of a world socialist system, even those countries that have not gone through the capitalist stage of development, for example the Mongolia, can begin socialist construction and successfully implement it.

With the victory of socialist revolutions in the second half of the 20th century, a new, socialist type of international relations, which were based on the principle of socialism, gradually began to form in a number of countries in Europe and Asia. This principle arose from the nature of the socialist mode of production and the international tasks of the working class and all working people.

During this period (60-80s of the XX century), the world system of socialism included the following 25 socialist countries:

• (ANDR)
• (NSRA)
• (NRA)
• (DRA)
• (NRB)
• (NRB)
• (VNR)
• (NRV)
• (GDR)
• (NRK)
• (PRC)
• (NRK)
• (DPRK)
• (Lao PDR)
• (NRM)
• (MPR)
• (Poland)
• (SRR)
• (THE USSR)
• (Czechoslovakia)
• (SFRY)
• (NDRE)

In addition to these countries, the world socialist system also included developing countries with a socialist orientation, such as Egypt and Nicaragua.

The bourgeois counter-revolutions of the late 20th century, caused by a number of objective reasons, led to the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe and the USSR and to the actual collapse of the world socialist system as a single commonwealth. In a number of Asian socialist countries left without friendly support with a significant part of the petty-bourgeois mass (peasantry), negative processes also took hold in the 90s, which led to the curtailment of socialist transformations. These countries included China, Mongolia, Laos and Vietnam. In a number of these countries (China, Vietnam), communist parties remained in power, which, while retaining their name, degenerated from workers to bourgeois ones (the most illustrative example is that in the 90s, representatives of the big bourgeoisie, oligarchs, began to freely join).

As a result, by the beginning of the 21st century there were only two truly socialist (from economic and political points of view) states left in the world: in the Eastern Hemisphere -; in Western - .

The imperialists of all countries are making a lot of efforts to break their resistance, for which economic sanctions are regularly imposed on them. Through an economic blockade, the “world community” led by the United States hopes to provoke popular discontent in these countries in order to overthrow the people’s democratic governments and restore the power of landowners and capitalists in them.

However, the working people of socialist Cuba and Korea clearly understand what a cunning and dangerous enemy they are dealing with, and to all the attempts of the imperialists to break their independence and desire for freedom, they respond by even greater consolidation of their ranks around the Communist Party of Cuba and the Workers' Party of Korea, even a great increase in vigilance, consciousness and discipline.

All over the world, societies are being created to support the struggle of the Cuban and Korean people for their freedom, for socialism. The peoples of these countries feel the support of the international communist and labor movement.

At the beginning of the 21st century, there were trends in the world towards the restoration of the world socialist system. More and more countries are joining the ranks of fighters for socialism. In Latin America, Venezuela and Bolivia have chosen the socialist path of development. In 2006-2008 The Maoist revolution won in Nepal, as a result of which the monarchy was overthrown, and the communists received a majority in the Constituent Assembly. The most severe class struggle within these countries and the capitalist encirclement leads these countries to the idea of ​​​​the need for cooperation to defend the revolution and their socialist course. Warm and friendly relations have been established between Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia, Venezuela and Belarus. Prospects for creating a unified anti-imperialist camp are emerging.

Also, features of socialism occur in Algeria, Brazil, Iran, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Syria, and Uruguay.

From 1940 to 1950, countries with socialist ideology were called “countries of people's democracy.” By 1950 there were fifteen of them. What socialist countries were included in this number then? In addition to the Soviet Union, these were: NSRA (Albania), SFRY (Yugoslavia), Czechoslovakia (Czechoslovakia), NRB (Bulgaria), SRV (Vietnam), Hungary (Hungary), SRR (Romania), GDR (part of Germany), Poland (Poland ), PRC (China), MPR (Mongolia), Lao PDR (Lao Republic), DPRK and the Republic of Cuba.

What distinguished the socialist countries from other countries of the world? What irritated the representatives of capitalism so much? First of all, it is a socialist ideology in which public interests stand above personal interests.

The dramatic events and defeat of socialism in the Soviet Union could not but affect the system. The bipolar world turned into a multipolar world. The USSR was quite an influential entity. Its collapse put the rest of the socialist countries of the world in an extremely difficult and rather dangerous position: they had to defend their policies and their sovereignty without the support of the previously powerful state. Reactionaries around the world were sure: Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, and China would fall in a fairly short time.

However, today these socialist countries continue to build and their population, by the way, is a quarter of the population of the entire Earth. Perhaps the tragic fate of Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan allowed them to survive the most difficult years of the 90s, which came with the collapse of the Union and led to chaos. China decided to take on the role of the vanguard that previously belonged to the Soviet Union, and the rest of the socialist countries began to look up to it.

It is more convenient to divide the development of socialism in this country into two main periods: Mao Zedong (from 1949 to 1978) and Deng Xiaoping (which began in 1979 and continues to this day.

China successfully completed its first “five-year plan” with the help of the USSR, achieving an annual growth rate of 12%. The share of its industrial products rose to 40%. At the Eighth Congress of the CPC, the victory of the socialist revolution was declared. The plans for the next “five-year plan” included an increase in indicators. But the desire to make a huge leap led to a sharp decline (by 48%) in production.

Convicted for obvious excesses, Mao Zedong was forced to leave the leadership of the country and immerse himself in theory. But such a rapid decline played a positive role: the rapid growth of the economy was stimulated by the interest of every working person in their work. just four years later it more than doubled (by 61%), and the growth in agricultural production exceeded the 42% mark.

However, the so-called “cultural revolution”, which began in 1966, plunged the country into uncontrollable economic chaos for twelve years.

The PRC was led out of the crisis by Deng Xiaoping, who delved into the study of the works of the theorists of Marxism-Leninism and developed his own path to socialism, similar to the domestic concept of the NEP. External aggression from the PRC was still threatening, so the duration of the transition period was supposed to be fifty years.

The Third Plenum of the eleventh convocation announced a new course, which emphasized a combination of the planning and distribution system and the market system, with the massive attraction of investments from other countries. In addition, the formation of independent enterprises, family contracts, and new discoveries in science were encouraged.

The young socialist country developed rapidly:

Industrial production doubled every decade;

By 2005, China's GDP was only inferior to;

The average annual income has increased (up to 1740 USD per person);

The indicators of mutual trade surpassed the same indicators of the United States by 200,000,000 USD. (despite Washington’s restrictions on the import of Chinese products);

Gold reserves have surpassed those of all countries, becoming the largest in the world;

The life expectancy of the Chinese has increased, and significantly.

Many countries, including its closest neighbors, are now looking at the development experience of the PRC.

By the middle of the 20th century, two forces had emerged in the world, the confrontation of which either intensified to the point of “saber rattling”, or weakened to the point of “détente in international relations.” The socialist countries were part of a single camp that was in a state of cold war with the capitalist encirclement. They did not become an indestructible monolith with a uniform ideology. There were too many differences in traditions and mentality among the peoples who were going to be led with a strong hand into a communist future.

Post-war world

The Soviet Union, led by Stalin, emerged from World War II with unimaginable military power and international authority. The countries of Eastern Europe and the countries of Southeast Asia, liberated by the Soviet Army from the yoke of German fascism and Japanese militarism, saw in the USSR a real leader who knew the right path.

Often the attitude towards Soviet soldiers was of an emotional nature, transferring a kind attitude towards the entire way of life that they personified. When, for example, Bulgaria and Sofia were liberated, people saw the power of the country’s social system, which had defeated an incredibly formidable enemy.

Even during the war, Stalin supported parties and national liberation movements that shared communist ideology. And after the victory, they became the leading political force in the states from which socialist countries were soon formed. The rise to power of communist leaders was facilitated by the presence of Soviet armed forces, which for some time carried out an occupation regime in the liberated territories.

The spread of Soviet influence in other parts of the planet has always provoked fierce opposition. Example - Vietnam, Lao People's Democratic Republic, etc. The suppression of socialist movements was both simply anti-communist in nature and the meaning of the struggle for the return of colonies.

A new stage of development was personified by the Republic of Cuba, the first socialist state in the Western Hemisphere. The 1959 revolution had a romantic aura in the world, which did not prevent it from becoming the arena of the hottest clash between two systems - the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Partition of Germany

The fate of the German people became a symbol of the post-war division of the world. By agreement between the leaders of the victorious anti-Hitler coalition, the territory of the former Third Reich was divided into two parts. The Federal Republic of Germany arose in that part of the country where American, French and British troops entered. In the Soviet occupation zone, the German Democratic Republic was formed in 1949. The former German capital, Berlin, was also divided into Western and Eastern parts.

The wall, erected on the line of contact of the two new states in the once united city, became the literal personification of the division of the world into the countries of the socialist camp and the rest of the world. Just like the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany exactly 40 years later marked the end of the Cold War era.

Warsaw Pact

The beginning of the Cold War is considered to be Churchill’s speech in Fulton (03/05/1946), where he called on the United States and its allies to unite against the threat to the “free world” from the USSR. After some time, an organizational form for such an association appeared - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). When Germany joined this military-political bloc in 1955, the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Europe that had emerged by that time also came to the need to combine their military potential.

In 1955, the Treaty that gave the organization its name was signed in Warsaw. Its participants were: the USSR, the GDR, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Albania. Albania later withdrew from the treaty due to ideological differences, particularly the invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968).

The governing bodies of the organization were the Political Advisory Committee and the Unified Command of the Armed Forces. The armed forces of the USSR were the main force of the Warsaw Pact, therefore the posts of Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Forces and Chief of Staff were always occupied by senior officers of the Soviet army. The USSR and socialist countries have always declared the exclusively defensive purpose of their military alliance, but this did not stop the NATO countries from calling it the main threat to themselves.

These mutual accusations were the main justification for the arms race, the constant increase in military spending on both sides. All this continued until 1991, when the former socialist countries agreed to officially terminate the treaty.

Military opposition between the two social structures also took other forms. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam arose as a result of the victory of communist forces in a long war, which became an almost open confrontation between the USA and the USSR.

The predecessor to the current European Union was the European Economic Community (EEC). It was this organization that dealt with cooperation between the United States and Western Europe in the production and financial spheres. Countries with a social system based on the ideas of Marxism decided to create an alternative structure to the EEC for economic, scientific and technical cooperation. In 1949, the socialist countries established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Its convening is also an attempt to counter the American “Marshall Plan” - a plan for restoring the European economy with the help of the United States.

The number of CMEA participants varied, in the mid-80s it was the largest: 10 permanent members (USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Mongolia, Cuba, Vietnam), and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia participated only in some programs . 12 countries of Asia, Africa and South America with socialist-oriented economies, such as Angola, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, etc., sent their observers.

For some time, the CMEA fulfilled its functions, and the economy of the European countries of the socialist camp, with the help of the USSR, overcame the consequences of wartime and began to gain momentum. But then the slowness of the state sector of industry and agriculture, the great dependence of the USSR economy on the world raw materials market reduced the profitability of the Council for its participants. Political changes and a sharp decline in the competitiveness of the economy and finances of the USSR led to the curtailment of cooperation within the framework of the CMEA, and in the summer of 1991 it was disbanded.

World socialist system

The official ideologists of the CPSU developed at different times different formulations to designate countries of a related socio-political formation. Until the 50s, the name “country of people's democracy” was adopted. Later, party documents recognized the existence of 15 socialist countries.

Yugoslavia's special path

The multinational state entity - the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - which existed in the Balkans from 1946 to 1992, was classified by communist social scientists as a member of the socialist camp with great reservations. Tensions in the attitude of communist theorists towards Yugoslavia arose after a quarrel between two leaders - Stalin and Josip Broz Tito.

One of the reasons for this conflict was Bulgaria. Sofia, according to the plan of the “leader of the peoples,” was to become the capital of one of the republics as part of a federal state common with Yugoslavia. But the Yugoslav leader refused to submit to Stalin's dictatorship. Subsequently, he began to declare his own path to socialism, different from the Soviet one. This was expressed in the weakening of state planning in the economy, in the freedom of movement of citizens across European countries, in the absence of the dominance of ideology in culture and art. After Stalin's death in 1953, differences between the USSR and Yugoslavia became less acute, but the originality of Balkan socialism remained.

1956 Budapest uprising

The first scene of popular unrest, which was extinguished by Soviet tanks, was back in 1953 in the German Democratic Republic. More dramatic events occurred in another people's democracy.

Hungary fought on the side of Hitler during World War II and, by decision of international organizations, was obliged to pay indemnity. This affected the economic situation in the country. With the support of the Soviet occupation forces, Hungary was led by people who copied the most negative aspects of the Stalinist model of leadership - personal dictatorship, forced collectivization in agriculture, suppression of dissent with the help of a huge army of state security agencies and informants.

The protests were started by students and intellectuals who supported Imre Nagy, another communist leader, a supporter of democratization in the economy and public life. The conflict took to the streets when the Stalinists in the leadership of the ruling Hungarian Working People's Party turned to the USSR with a request for armed support in removing Nagy. Tanks were introduced when lynchings against state security officers began.

The speech was suppressed with the active participation of the Soviet ambassador - the future head of the KGB, Yu. V. Andropov. More than 2.5 thousand people were killed by the rebels, Soviet troops lost 669 people killed, and more than one and a half thousand were wounded. Imre Nagy was detained, convicted and executed. The whole world was shown the determination of Soviet leaders to use force at the slightest threat to their political system.

Prague Spring

The next notable conflict between supporters of reform and those inspired by images of the Stalinist past occurred in 1968 in Czechoslovakia. Alexander Dubček, who was elected first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, was a representative of a new type of leader. They did not question the correctness of the general path along which the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was moving; only the idea was expressed about the possibility of building “socialism with a human face.”

This was enough for military exercises of the Warsaw Pact troops to begin near the eastern borders of Czechoslovakia, where almost all socialist countries sent their troops. At the first signs of resistance from reformers to the arrival of a leadership that agreed with the line of the CPSU, the 300,000-strong contingent crossed the border. The resistance was largely non-violent and did not require the use of serious force. But the events in Prague had a great resonance among supporters of change in the Soviet Union and socialist countries.

Different Faces of the Cult of Personality

The principle of democracy, the participation of the broad masses in managing all aspects of society, lies at the basis of the Marxist system of state building. But history has shown that it was the lack of responsibility of the authorities for their decisions that became the cause of negative phenomena in almost all socialist countries; this was one of the many reasons for the collapse of communist regimes.

Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong - the attitude towards these individuals often took on the absurd features of worship of deities. The Kim dynasty, which has ruled the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for 60 years, has clear analogies with the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, at least in terms of the scale of the monuments. Brezhnev, Ceausescu, Todor Zhivkov in Bulgaria and others - for some reason in socialist countries, governing bodies became a source of stagnation, turning the electoral system of democracy into a fiction, when for decades gray personalities of modest scale remained at the top.

Chinese version

This is one of the few countries that have remained committed to the socialist path of development to this day. For many adherents of the communist idea, the People's Republic of China seems to be a powerful argument in disputes about the correctness of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism.

China's economy is growing at the fastest pace in the world. The food problem has long been solved, cities are developing at an unprecedented speed, the unforgettable Olympics were held in Beijing, Chinese achievements in culture and sports are generally recognized. And all this is happening in a country where the Communist Party of China has been ruling since 1947, and the Constitution of the People's Republic of China enshrines the provision of a democratic dictatorship of the people in the form of a socialist state.

Therefore, many point to the Chinese option as the direction that should have been taken during the reform of the CPSU, during the restructuring of Soviet society; they see this as a possible way to save the Soviet Union from collapse. But even purely theoretical considerations show the complete inconsistency of this version. The Chinese direction of development of socialism was possible only in China.

Socialism and religion

Among the determining factors of the specifics of the Chinese communist movement, the main ones are: huge human resources and an amazing mixture of religious traditions, where Confucianism plays the main role. This ancient teaching affirms the primacy of traditions and rituals in life: a person should be content with his position, work hard, and honor the leader and teacher placed over him.

Marxist ideology combined with the dogmas of Confucianism resulted in a bizarre mixture. It contains the years of the unprecedented cult of Mao, when politics changed in wild zigzags, depending on the personal aspirations of the Great Helmsman. The metamorphoses of relations between China and the USSR are indicative - from songs about the Great Friendship to the armed conflict on Damansky Island.

It is difficult to imagine in another modern society such a phenomenon as continuity in leadership, as declared by the CCP. The People's Republic of China in its current form is the embodiment of Deng Xiaoping's ideas on building socialism with Chinese characteristics, implemented by the fourth generation of leaders. The essence of these postulates would infuriate the true adherents of communist dogma from the mid-20th century. They would not find anything socialist in them. Free economic zones, an active presence of foreign capital, the second largest number of billionaires in the world and public executions for corruption - these are the realities of Chinese socialism.

Time of "velvet revolutions"

The beginning of Gorbachev's reforms in the USSR gave rise to changes in the political system of socialist countries. Glasnost, pluralism of opinions, economic freedom - these slogans were picked up in the countries of Eastern Europe and quickly led to a change in the social system in the former socialist countries. These processes, which led to the same result in different countries, had a lot of national characteristics.

In Poland, the change in social formation began earlier than others. It took the form of revolutionary actions by independent trade unions - the Solidarity association - with the active support of the very authoritative Catholic Church in the country. The first free elections led to the defeat of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party and made former trade union leader Lech Walesa the first president of Poland.

In the GDR, the main driving force behind global changes was the desire for the unity of the country. East Germany joined the economic and political space of Western Europe faster than others; its population, more than other nations, felt not only the positive effect of the advent of new times, but also the problems caused by it.

The name “Velvet Revolution” was born in Czechoslovakia. The demonstration of students and the creative intelligentsia who joined it gradually and without violence led to a change in the country's leadership, and subsequently to the division of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The processes taking place in Bulgaria and Hungary were peaceful. The ruling communist parties, having lost active support from the USSR, did not interfere with the free expression of the radical sections of the population, and power passed to forces of a different political orientation.

Others were events in Romania and Yugoslavia. The regime of Nicholas Ceausescu decided to use a well-developed state security system - the securitate - to fight for power. Under unclear circumstances, a forceful suppression of public unrest was provoked, which led to the arrest, trial and execution of the Ceausescu couple.

The Yugoslav scenario was complicated by interethnic conflicts in the republics that were part of the federal state. The long civil war led to numerous casualties and the appearance of several new states on the map of Europe...

There is no turning back in history

The PRC, Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are positioned as socialist countries; the world system is a thing of the past. Some bitterly regret that time, others try to erase the memory of it by destroying monuments and prohibiting any mention. Still others talk about the most reasonable thing - to move forward, using the unique experience that befell the people of the former socialist countries.

After the end of World War II, pro-Soviet regimes were established in Eastern Europe. Among the overwhelming majority of the population of the countries of this region, sympathies were on the side of the USSR as the state that saved them from fascism. In the elections held in the first years after the end of the war, the communist and socialist parties won. To confront the forces of the West, the countries of Eastern Europe united into a military-political bloc under the auspices of the USSR. This lesson is devoted to an overview of the relationships and development of Eastern European countries.

Background

By 1947-1948 In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Albania), communist parties subordinate to Moscow came to power. All other parties were forced out of political life. A regime of autocracy was established and a course was set for building socialism according to the USSR model.

The countries of the socialist camp were characterized by the following features.

• One party system.
• Totalitarian socialism (totalitarianism).
• Nationalization of industry, trade and finance.
• State planning. Command and control distribution system.

Events

1947- the Information Bureau of Communist and Workers' Parties (Cominform) was created, through which Moscow led the countries of the socialist camp.

GDR

1953- uprising in the GDR due to declining living standards.

The establishment of pro-Soviet and socialist regimes in Eastern, South-Eastern and part of Central Europe made it possible to include the countries located in these territories in the so-called. socialist camp. To the states caught in USSR orbit in Europe, include: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Yugoslavia and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The establishment of Soviet-style political regimes entailed transformations and reforms copied from the USSR. So, in all of the above countries, in the late 1940s - early 1950s. agrarian reform was carried out, persecution began dissidents (i.e. people who do not agree with the political regime), almost all spheres of society were subordinated to the state. To strengthen relationships and maintain the economy, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) was founded in 1949, which included all states except Yugoslavia (Fig. 1). In 1955, in Warsaw, an agreement was signed between the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Romania and Bulgaria to create a military bloc, largely to confront NATO, created in 1949. This bloc of socialist countries was called the Warsaw Pact Organization.

Rice. 1. CMEA building in Moscow ()

The first cracks in the united socialist camp occurred in 1948 when the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito, who wanted to conduct, in many respects, his policy without coordination with Moscow, once again took a willful step, which served to aggravate Soviet-Yugoslav relations and their rupture. Before 1955 Yugoslavia fell out of the unified system and never returned there entirely. A unique model of socialism arose in this country - Titoism, based on the authority of the country's leader Tito. Under him, Yugoslavia turned into a country with a developed economy (in 1950-1970, production rates quadrupled), Tito’s authority cemented multinational Yugoslavia. The ideas of market socialism and self-government were the basis of Yugoslav prosperity.

After the death of Tito in 1980, centrifugal processes began in the state, which led the country to collapse in the early 1990s, the war in Croatia, and the mass genocide of Serbs in Croatia and Kosovo.

The second country that left the united socialist camp and never joined it again was Albania. The Albanian leader and convinced Stalinist - (Fig. 2) - did not agree with the decision of the 20th Congress of the CPSU to condemn Stalin's personality cult and broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR, leaving the CMEA. The further existence of Albania was tragic. Hoxha's one-man regime led the country to decline and massive poverty of the population. In the early 1990s. National conflicts began to break out between Serbs and Albanians, resulting in the mass extermination of Serbs and the occupation of primordially Serbian territories, which continues to this day.

Rice. 2. Enver Hoxha ()

Regarding other countries socialist camp a stricter policy was pursued. So, when in Polish workers' unrest broke out in 1956, protesting against intolerable living conditions, the columns were shot by troops, and the workers' leaders were found and killed. But in the light of the political transformations taking place at that time in the USSR, associated with de-Stalinization of society, in Moscow they agreed to put in charge of Poland someone who was repressed under Stalin Wladyslaw Gomulka. Later power will pass to General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who will fight against the gaining political weight movement "Solidarity", representing workers and independent trade unions. Leader of the movement - Lech Walesa- became a protest leader. Throughout the 1980s. The Solidarity movement was gaining increasing popularity, despite persecution by the authorities. In 1989, with the collapse of the socialist system, Solidarity came to power in Poland.

In 1956, an uprising broke out in Budapest. The reason was de-Stalinization and the demand by the workers and intelligentsia for fair and open elections, and the reluctance to be dependent on Moscow. The uprising soon resulted in the persecution and arrests of Hungarian state security officers; part of the army went over to the side of the people. By Moscow's decision, Internal Affairs Troops were sent to Budapest. The leadership of the Hungarian Working People's Party, headed by a Stalinist Matthias Rakosi, was forced to appoint to the post of Prime Minister Imre Nagy. Soon Nagy announced Hungary’s withdrawal from the Department of Internal Affairs, which angered Moscow. Tanks were again brought into Budapest, and the uprising was brutally suppressed. The new leader was Janos Kadar, who repressed most of the rebels (Nagy was shot), but began to carry out economic reforms that contributed to the fact that Hungary turned into one of the most prosperous countries of the socialist camp. With the collapse of the socialist system, Hungary abandoned its previous ideals and a pro-Western leadership came to power.

In 1968 in Czechoslovakia a new communist government was elected, led by Alexander Dubcek, who wanted to bring about economic, social and political changes. Seeing a weakening in internal life, the whole of Czechoslovakia was covered in rallies. Seeing that the socialist state began to gravitate towards the world of capital, the leader of the USSR L.I. Brezhnev ordered the introduction of Internal Affairs troops into Czechoslovakia. The relationship of forces between the worlds of capital and socialism, unchangeable under any circumstances, after 1945 was called "Brezhnev Doctrine". In August 1968, troops were brought in, the entire leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was arrested, tanks opened fire on people on the streets of Prague (Fig. 3). Soon Dubcek will be replaced by the pro-Soviet Gustav Husak, which will adhere to the official line of Moscow.

Rice. 3. Riot in Prague ()

Throughout the entire period of the existence of the socialist camp, Bulgaria and Romania will remain faithful to Moscow in their political and economic transformations. The Bulgarian communists, led by Todor Zhivkov, will strictly conduct their domestic and foreign policy, looking back to Moscow. Romanian leader Nikolai Ceausescu made the Soviet leadership nervous from time to time. He wanted to appear to be an independent politician, in the manner of Tito, but quickly showed his weakness. In 1989, after the coup and overthrow of the communist regime, Ceausescu and his wife were shot. With the collapse of the common system, pro-Western forces will come to power in these countries, which will be committed to European integration.

Thus, countries " people's democracy"or countries" real socialism“Over the past 60 years, they have experienced a transformation from a socialist system to a capitalist system led by the United States, finding themselves largely dependent on the influence of the new leader.

1. Aleksashkina L.N. General history. XX - early XXI centuries. - M.: Mnemosyne, 2011.

2. Zagladin N.V. General history. XX century Textbook for 11th grade. - M.: Russian Word, 2009.

3. Plenkov O.Yu., Andreevskaya T.P., Shevchenko S.V. General history. 11th grade / Ed. Myasnikova V.S. - M., 2011.

2. Encyclopedia of world historical names, titles, events ().

1. Read Chapter 18 of the textbook by Aleksashkina L.N. General history. XX - early XXI centuries and give answers to questions 1-6 on p. 213.

2. How did the consolidation of the socialist countries manifest themselves in economics and politics?

3. Describe the “Brezhnev Doctrine”.

Standing somewhat apart are the countries that in the recent past were united by the concept of “socialist”, in which a few years ago the administrative-command economic system dominated. Some of these countries, the least developed, according to most of the most important characteristics, can well be classified as “third world”: Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, North Korea, Cuba, Central Asian and Transcaucasian republics of the former USSR, etc. The situation of the rest (countries of Eastern Europe, Russian Federation and China) is much more difficult to determine. On the one hand, they have created a powerful and highly diversified industry, including the most modern knowledge-intensive industries; the state economy made it possible to direct national resources to the implementation of large-scale, complex and expensive programs: nuclear, space, energy, etc. (in the PRC and especially in the former USSR); A number of sectors of the economy have accumulated highly qualified scientific, engineering and labor personnel capable of solving the problems posed by modern scientific and technological progress. The administrative-command economy could not effectively use resources, therefore the overwhelming majority of goods and services produced in these countries are uncompetitive on the world market in terms of price, quality and technical level.

The tasks that these countries have set for their economies cannot be solved without large-scale financial, consulting, training and technological assistance from highly developed countries, and such assistance, naturally, will be provided by the latter in accordance with their own interests and will lead (already leads) to the strongest one-sided economic and partially even political dependence.

2. Basic forms of international economic relations

Let us consider the main areas and forms of international economic cooperation and rivalry between countries of the world community.

international trade