Socialist state

A socialist state (or socialist republic) is one that declares itself constitutionally dedicated to the construction of socialism.

It is closely related to the political strategy of "state socialism", a set of government policies aimed at creating a socialist economy in a single country (that is, a centralized, planned economy that applies a distribution model). of consumer goods with the egalitarian criterion). On the other hand, the term workers' state is used to distinguish a state where the working class controls the state machinery but a socialist economy has not yet been established.

This concept is distinguished from the social democratic or socioliberal State, which generally refers to a liberal democratic State presided over by a party elected by suffrage and that seeks to apply redistributive models of social justice, without pursuing the development of socialism.

The phrase "socialist state" is sometimes used by Marxist-Leninists to refer to a State under the control of a vanguard party that organizes economic, social and political affairs towards the construction of socialism. This often includes at least the nationalization of strategic sectors of the economy, normally operated according to a production plan, at least in the main productive and social spheres. Under the Leninist definition - determined by the material conditions of the Russia of the 1920s-, the socialist state presides over a state capitalist economy structured on state-directed capital accumulation with the goal of increasing the country's productive forces and promoting socialist revolution throughout the world, with the eventual goal, in the long term, of the construction of a communist society.

Most theories assume generalized democracy as the basic principle of a socialist State, understood as the democratic participation of workers at all levels of state and economic administration, while these theories vary in the degree to which they consider Economic planning decisions should be delegated to public officials and administrative specialists. States that lack democracy but whose economy is largely in the hands of the State were called by Leon Trotsky as "degenerated" or "deformed workers' States."

Definition

The adoption of socialism, as an economic and social system, following the ideological principles of Marxism (or its variants: Leninism, Maoism, etc.), economically implies state ownership or cooperativization of the means of production and land and politically the exercise of power by the working class ("dictatorship of the proletariat").

However, the ambiguity of these concepts does not allow for a univocal definition of their implementation. In practice, there were great differences in concept between self-proclaimed socialist states; although most of them, either for geopolitical reasons or due to internal struggles, adopted the principle of building socialism in a single country (defined in the 1920s in the Soviet Union by Stalin -Stalinism-). against Trotsky's principle of permanent revolution -Trotskyism-), and the establishment of single-party regimes (defined as totalitarian by his adversaries). We usually speak of nominally socialist states in reference to the so-called popular democracies that have Marxism-Leninism or some of its interpretations as their official ideology (especially those of the Eastern Bloc between 1945 and 1989). Almost all of these states highlighted their socialist character in their official name (with the addition of the adjectives popular, socialist and democratic) and four of the six nominally socialist states that exist today continue to do so: the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (the Republic of Cuba has not incorporated it). The actual adoption of a socialist economic system by states that carry these terms in their name has not occurred in several cases, especially among decolonized countries, such as the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka or the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. On the contrary, the term Socialist State or Socialist Country is never applied to capitalist countries governed by social democratic parties, although these in many cases bear the name of socialists.

The definition of Soviet Marxist philosophy indicated that the socialist State was the political part of the superstructure of socialism, established as a result of the socialist revolution, that the dictatorship of the proletariat only existed during the transition from capitalism to socialism and that a Once the Western Bloc was defeated, the dictatorship of the proletariat was transformed into the State of all the people, until the material and technical basis of communism and communist social relations had been developed, with which the State was dissolved and replaced by self-management. communist social.

The socialist states were in turn qualified with the name of real socialism or really existing socialism in order to differentiate them from theoretical constructions and—in a certain way— justify the differences with these and with parties or groups that could be considered socialist but opposed to this type of regimes. Other names that have also been used to refer to them for this purpose - especially in Trotskyist, communist and libertarian circles - are workers' state with bureaucratic deformations and, in more strictly economic terms, capitalism of State.

Despite the conceptual differences between socialism and communism, common language usually uses the expressions socialist countries and communist countries interchangeably to refer to states defined as socialist.. The use of the expression Communist State obviates the oxymoron or contradiction between both terms (State and communism), the latter understood as the last phase, after the overcoming of capitalism by the action of the socialist State, in which the State itself would cease to exist.

Socialists such as anarcho-socialists, libertarian socialists and council communists reject the concept of a "socialist state", believing that the modern state is a by-product of capitalism and cannot be used, or is not necessary, to establish a socialist system. For them a socialist state is antithetical to socialism, and that socialism will emerge spontaneously from the ground up in an evolutionary manner, developing its own unique political and economic institutions for a highly organized stateless society.

History

Throughout the XX century there have been several countries that have proclaimed themselves socialist republics, among them the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which existed until 1991, being founded in 1922 as the successor to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which it brought together along with five other republics, and which emerged after the October Revolution of 1917, being considered in turn as the first socialist state in the world and by some critics as the only genuine socialist state, in the strict sense, at least until the years prior to its integration into the USSR - a period cataloged by many historians as that of Bolshevik Russia. Most of these states have emerged in Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, accompanied by some in Eastern Asia (China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Democratic Kampuchea, Mongolia and Burma) and Latin America (Cuba being highlighted in the Caribbean).). The majority of these states have turned out to be adopting socioeconomic and political systems analogous or similar to that of the so-called socialism in a single country, proposed and practiced by Stalin, as well as by other related politicians and rulers such as Mao Zedong in the People's Republic of China or Kim Il-sung in North Korea, such a system being questioned by many of its critics or detractors as opposed to the principles of socialism and the political and revolutionary ideas of thinkers such as Marx and Lenin, to whom, through the official doctrines of the Marxism-Leninism and the Communist Party proclaims. Some critics and thinkers, such as Tony Cliff, have subsequently classified these systems as state capitalism, attributing their emergence to the failure towards the beginning of the 1920s of the political system bequeathed by the Russian Revolution in its attempt to consolidate or survive, as a consequence of the initial political isolation and the havoc caused by the so-called Civil War, at a time when the success of other revolutionary processes in Europe, such as that of the November Revolution of 1918, in Germany, could depend on the future in Russia of the revolution.

The People's Republic of China, despite being governed by the Communist Party of China and being officially Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, in recent years has reimplanted many characteristics of the capitalist system in what it calls socialism with Chinese characteristics . However, this return to capitalism is neither absolute nor homogeneous, since it only occurs in coastal areas and large cities, and on the other hand, the state presence in the economy remains enormous. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has also taken some steps in this direction.

Between 1989 and 1992 the vast majority of the world's socialist states ceased to exist. The Polish People's Republic returned to multipartyism and capitalism in 1990; the German Democratic Republic was absorbed by the Federal Republic of Germany the same year. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was dissolved in 1991, and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was immediately banned. Nationalist conflicts ended the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a year later; A similar fate befell all the remaining socialist states of Europe.

For the same time, the two most stable African socialist states, Mozambique and Angola, left Marxism-Leninism. In America, the Republic of Cuba maintained the socialist system in general, but was forced to allow the formation of joint ventures between the State and multinationals to deal with the precarious economic situation in which it was left the disappearance of the Economic Mutual Aid Council and with it its main markets, together with the pre-existing United States embargo on the Caribbean country.

In some countries that were former republics of the USSR such as Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus or Russia itself, communists continue to be an important political force. In fact, in Moldova, Igor Dodon, President of Moldova between 2016 and 2020, was a member of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova until 2011, and in Russia the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is the main opposition party to Vladimir Putin. In Germany, the Left Party, heir to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany that ruled the GDR, is the second fastest growing party in the former East Germany.

In the 21st century the state with limited recognition of Transnistria in Eastern Europe officially has the sickle on its flag and the hammer, a characteristic symbol of a socialist State, although the government of Transnistria itself does not recognize itself as socialist. On the other hand, in South American Venezuela, as part of the 21st century Socialism project, a referendum was held. constitutional reform in 2007 to turn the country into a socialist State, the result was the population's rejection of the proposal.

List of socialist states

Current

Country	System	Home	Party	Note
China	People ' s Republic	1949	Communist Party of China	With free market reforms progressively implemented from the Deng Xiaoping government, to the current socialism with Chinese features.
North Korea	Democratic People ' s Republic	1948	Korea Labour Party	The official ideology of the state is Juche, initiated as a national adaptation of Marxism-Leninism but independent of it. In 2009, the word "communism" of the constitution was deleted, replacing it with "socialism".
Cuba	Socialist Republic	1961	Communist Party of Cuba	Initially with a single-party and stateist political-economic system. After the fall of the Soviet Union and with the end of the CAME, Cuba gradually adopted free market reforms to allow private ownership in certain sectors.
Laos	People ' s Democratic Republic	1975	Laos Revolutionary People's Party	With the market gradually liberalized since the adoption of the New Economic Mechanism.
Vietnam	Socialist Republic	1976	Communist Party of Vietnam	From the economic opening known as Doi Moi, Vietnam practices the so-called socialism-oriented market economy.

• There is also an autonomous region within Myanmar (Burma) called the Wa State which is constituted as a single-party socialist state governed by the Wa State Party.

Historic

Country	System	Home	Final	Party	Leaders
Afghanistan	Democratic Republic	1978	1992	People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan	Nur Mohammad Taraki 1978-79 Hafizullah Amín 1979 Babrak Karmal 1979-86 Mohammad Najibullah 1986-92
Albania	Democratic Republic and People ' s Republic	1944	1992	Albanian Labour Party	Enver Hoxha 1944-85 Ramiz Alia 1985-91
Angola	People ' s Republic	1975	1992	People ' s Liberation Movement of Angola	Agostinho Neto 1975-79 José Eduardo dos Santos 1979-92
Eastern Germany	Democratic Republic	1949	1990	Unified Socialist Party of Germany	Wilhelm Pieck 1946-50 Walter Ulbricht 1950-1971 Erich Honecker 1971-1989
Benin	People ' s Republic	1975	1990	Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin	Mathieu Kérékou 1975-90
Bulgaria	People ' s Republic	1946	1990	Bulgarian Communist Party	Gueorgui Dimitrov 1946-49 Valko Chervenkov 1949-54 Todor Zhivkov 1954-89 Petar Mladenov 1989-90
Cambodia	Popular Democracy	1975	1979	Red Jemeres	Pol Pot 1975-79
Cambodia	People ' s Republic	1979	1992	Kampuchea People's Revolutionary Party	Pen Sovan 1979-81 Heng Samrin 1981-91
Czechoslovakia	Federal Socialist Republic	1948	1989	Communist Party of Czechoslovakia	Klement Gottwald 1948-53 Antonín Novotný 1953-68 Alexander Dubček 1968-69 Gustav Husak 1969-87 Miloš Jakeš 1987-89 Karel Urbánek 1989
Chile	Socialist Republic	1932	1932	Socialist Party of Chile	Arturo Puga Osorio 1932 Carlos Dávila 1932
Congo	People ' s Republic	1970	1991	Congo Labour Party	Marien Ngouabi 1970-77 PCT Military Committee 1977-91
Ethiopia	Military Interim Government	1974	1987	There wasn't, it was a military junta.	Mengistu Haile Mariam 1974-1987
Ethiopia	People ' s Democratic Republic	1987	1991	Ethiopian Workers Party	Mengistu Haile Mariam 1987-91
Grenada	Socialist State	1979	1983	New Jewel Movement	Maurice Bishop 1979-83 Bernard Coard 1983 Hudson Austin 1983
Hungary	People ' s Republic	1949	1989	Hungarian Workers Party
				Hungarian Socialist Workers Party	Mátyás Rákosi 1948-56 Ernő Gerő 1956 Janos Kádár 1956-88 Károly Grósz 1988-89
Mongolia	People ' s Republic	1924	1992	Revolutionary Party of the People of Mongolia	Navaandorjiyn Jadambaa(first) 1924 Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat(last) 1990-92
Mozambique	People ' s Republic	1975	1990	Liberation Front of Mozambique	Samora Machel 1975-86 Political Bureau 1986 Joaquim Chissano 1986-90
Poland	People ' s Republic	1945	1989	Polish Unified Workers Party	Bolesław Bierut 1948-56 Edward Ochab 1956 Władysław Gomuka 1956-70 Edward Gierek 1970-80 Stanisaw Kania 1980-81 Wojciech Jaruzelski 1981-89 Mieczysław Rakowski 1989-90
Romania	People ' s Republic (since 1965)	1947	1989	Romanian Communist Party	G. Gheorghiu-Dej 1947-65 Nicolae Ceauşescu 1965-89
Somalia	Democratic Republic	1969	1991	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party	Mohamed Siad Barre 1969-91
Soviet Union	Federation of Socialist Republics	1922	1991	Communist Party of the Soviet Union	Vladimir Lenin 1917-24 Iosif Stalin 1924-53 Nikita Jrushov 1953-64 Leonid Brézhnev 1964-82 Yuri Andropov 1982-84 Konstantin Chernenko 1984-85 Mikhail Gorbachev 1985-91
North Vietnam	Democratic Republic	1945	1976	Vietnam Workers Party	Hô Chí Minh 1945-69 Tôn Đc Th-ng 1969-76
South Yemen	Democratic People ' s Republic	1967	1990	Socialist Party of Yemen	Abdul Fattah Ismail 1967-80 Ali Nasir Muhammad 1980-86 Ali Salem al Beidh 1986-90
Yugoslavia	Federal Socialist Republic	1945	1992	League of the Communists of Yugoslavia	Josip Broz Tito 1945-80
Chile	Socialist Republic	1970	1973	Popular Unity	Salvador Allende Gossens 1970-73

Annexed by the USSR

Country	System	Home	Final	Party	Leader
Finland	Democratic Republic	1939	1940	Communist Party of Finland	Otto Kuusinen 1939-40
Tannu Tuvá	People ' s Republic	1921	1944

Ephemera

Country	Year	System	Leaders
Bavaria	1919	Republic of Belgium	Ernst Toller 1919 Eugen Levine 1919
Slovakia	1919	Republic of Belgium	Antonín Janoušek 1919
Gilán	1920-1921	Republic of Belgium	Mirza Koochak Khan 1920-21
Hungary	1919	Republic of Belgium	Sándor Garbai 1919
Paris, France	1871	Republic of Belgium	Louis Charles Delescluze 1871
South Vietnam	1975-1976	Unipartidism under the National Liberation Front of Vietnam	Nguy/25070/n H-u Th/25070/ 1975-76

'Non-Marxist' socialist states

Country	Home	Final	Leaders
Algeria	1963	1989	Ahmed Ben Bella 1963-65 Houari Boumédiène 1965-78 Rabah Bitat 1978-79 Chadli Bendjedid 1979-89
Burma	1974	1988	Ne Win 1974-88
Ecuador	2007	2017	Rafael Correa 2007-2017
Cape Verde	1975	1991	Aristides Pereira 1975-91
Ghana	1960	1966	Kwame Nkrumah 1960-66
Iraq	1968	2003	Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr 1968-79 Saddam Hussein 1979-2003
Libya	1969	2011	Muamar Gaddafi 1969-2011
Madagascar	1975	1993	Didier Ratsiraka 1975-93
Seychelles	1977	1992	France-Albert René 1977-92
Syria	1963		Amin al-Hafiz 1963-66 Nureddin al-Atassi 1966-70 Ahmad al-Khatib 1970-71 Háfez al-Ásad 1971-2000 Bashar al-Ásad 2000-
Nicaragua	1979, 2007	1990	National Reconstruction Government Board 1979-85 Daniel Ortega 1985-90, 2007-
Venezuela	1999		Hugo Chávez 1999-2013 Nicolás Maduro 2013-