According to Marxism-Leninism, there are three social classes in a typical capitalist society:

1) the capitalist class or bourgeoisie, the members of which control the basic means of production and so are able to exploit -- that is, to live partly or wholly on the labour of -- the working class;

2) the petty bourgeoisie, the members of which control their means of production, predominantly in agriculture, and live primarily by their own work, without exploitation; and

3) the working class or proletariat, the members of which control no means of production and so are compelled to live by selling their labour power to the capitalists, who are exploited by the capitalist class.

The capitalist class and the working class form the two basic classes of society and there is a conflict of interest between them.

The preceding analysis has demonstrated that, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, to which the present Soviet leaders continue to claim adherence, the contemporary Soviet Union has the class structure of a typical capitalist society.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is a political party which is officially established as "the leading and guiding force" of Soviet society:

But, according to Marxism-Leninism, a political party is an organisation which represents the political interests of a social class.

During the period in which a socialist society existed in the Soviet Union, and prior to this period, the Communist Party was defined as an organisation which represented the political interests of the working class:

In 1961, however, the leaders of the CPSU declared that the party was no longer a political organisation which represented the interests of the working class, but one which represented the interests of the "entire people":

But in a society which contains classes with antagonistic interests -- and, as has been shown, the contemporary Soviet Union is such a society -- it is impossible for a single political party to represent the interests of the "entire people" and any claim that such a party does so must be dismissed as sheer demagogy.

What class of Soviet society, therefore, has in reality its political interests represented by the CPSU?

It is admitted by the leaders of the CPSU that the party no longer specifically represents the interests of the working class.

Can it, perhaps, represent the interests of the petty bourgeoisie, which in the Soviet Union is composed principally of collective farmers and a relatively small number of self-employed professional, scientific and artistic workers?

But, according to Marxism-Leninism, the petty bourgeoisie, as an intermediate class between the decisive classes in society -- the working class and the capitalist class -- is incapable of pursuing an independent political policy; it is capable only of following one or other of the two decisive classes, of vacillating between them:

Thus, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, to which the present Soviet leaders continue to claim adherence, the CPSU is a political party which in fact represents the interests of the Soviet capitalist class.

According to Marxism-Leninism, a state is essentially a machinery of force by which one social class rules over the rest of the people:

The Soviet state established in Russia by means of the revolution of November 1917, was officially described as a machinery of force in the hands of the working class, as "the dictatorship of the proletariat":

In 1961, however the leaders of the CPSU declared that the Soviet state was no longer a machinery of force by which the working class ruled over the rest of the people, was no longer the dictatorship of the proletariat, but had become an organ representing the interests of the "entire people":

But, according to Marxism-Leninism, in a society which contains classes which antagonistic interests -- and, as has been demonstrated, the contemporary Soviet Union is such a society -- the state can only be the machinery of rule of the dominant social class, and any claim that, in such circumstances, the state represents the interests of the "entire people", must be dismissed as mere demagogy:

What class of Soviet society, therefore, has in reality its machinery of rule in the Soviet state?

It is admitted by the leaders of the CPSU that the state is no longer the machinery of rule of the working class, and it has been shown in the previous section that it cannot be the machinery of rule of the petty bourgeoisie.

Thus, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism the Soviet state can be the machinery of rule only of the new capitalist class.

According to Lenin, however, monopoly capitalism -- in which the economic life of society is dominated by a relatively small number of monopoly capitalists -- inevitably leads into state monopoly-capitalism, in which the state ceases to be the machinery of rule of the capitalist class as a whole and becomes that of the most powerful groups of monopoly capitalists, and in which the intervention of the state is extended into every facet of social life:

Clearly, in Marxist-Leninist terminology capitalism in the Soviet Union is state-monopoly capitalism, so that the state is the machinery of rule, not of the capitalist class as a whole, but of the most powerful monopoly capitalist groups.

This was, in fact, admitted by Prime Minister Aleksei Kosygin when, announcing the restoration of the industrial Ministries which had been abolished under the Khrushchov regime, he described the change in character of the functions of the new Ministries as compared with the old. The new Ministries would "rely on" the trusts, firms and combines in their respective fields, and would "hand over" many operative functions to them; further, a main task of the new Ministries would be to "render practical assistance" to these trusts, firms and combines so as to improve their "cost accounting", i.e., their profits:

In the present-day Soviet Union, under the Brezhnev regime, the most powerful monopoly capitalist groups are those which dominate the Soviet state apparatus, are those of the dominant Russian nation involved in heavy industry.

Furthermore, the Soviet state, the state of Soviet monopoly capital, is not a "parliamentary democratic" type of state such as, according to Marxist-Leninist analysis, exists in Britain at the present time.

Within "parliamentary democracy" the legal right exists for the formation of a political party aiming to transform the whole structure of society; and the legal right exists for that party to hold public meetings and demonstrations, to publish journals and leaflets, to contest elections, and so on.

In the contemporary Soviet Union, such rights do not exist. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union -- which, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, represents, as has been shown, the political interests of Soviet monopoly capital -- is the sole legal political party and functions, as has been said, as "the leading and guiding force in Soviet society".

On the basis of Marxism-Leninism, therefore, the contemporary Soviet state -- despite its trappings of red flags -- is a fascist-type state of a new type, in which the contemporary Communist Party functions essentially as did the fascist parties in Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Falangist Spain.

The fascist-type character of the contemporary Soviet state is reflected not only in its official sponsorship of that typically fascist divisive manoeuvre, racism (discussed in Section 20: Anti-Semitism), but also in the introduction of such monstrous forms of repression as the incarceration of "dissidents" in psychiatric hospitals. The voluminous evidence concerning this practice is accepted as valid by Amnesty International:

On October 25th., 1975, "L'Humanite" (Humanity) organ of the French Communist Party, condemned the practice, and on January 4th., 1976, "Marxism Today" carried an article by John Gollan, former General Secretary of the British Communist Party, denouncing it in similar terms.
("Keesing's Contemorary Archives", Volume 22; 1976; p. 27553).

Soviet psychiatrists who have refused to co-operate in the above practice have themselves been imprisoned:

In Soviet corrective labour colonies and prison, conditions are similar to those, which existed in fascist states. Even the official Corrective Labour Code admits the use of starvation as a punishment for prisoners who do not "observe the demands of the regime":

The society existing in the Soviet Union since the "economic reforms"of 1965-66 has been analysed on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, to which the Soviet leaders continue to claim adherence, and relying, with few exceptions, on official Soviet data.

The conclusion is that this society is, in Marxist-Leninist terminology, a monopoly capitalist society, in which a new capitalist class exploits the working class. In this society the Communist Party functions asa a fascist-type party within a fascist-type state. The conclusion is that the trappings of "socialism" merely conceal the real character of Soviet society.

Carrying forward this analysis on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, the conclusion emerges that the overthrow of Soviet capitalism by the working class is inevitable:

That this will require a new "October Revolution":

which, in turn, is based on

FOR FIRST TWO APPENDICES: GO TO:  Appendices 1 & 2