Communist Society Research Articles

Spatial Patterns and Influencing Factors of People’s Commune Sites: A Case Study of Henan Province, China

The people’s commune was a social practice for achieving a communist society after the establishment of New China, but they were dismantled in the early 1980s, along with their legacy. This paper analyzes people’s commune sites, offering guidance for their protection and development. This study used the historical place names of the communes recorded in the Overview of People’s Commune, compiled a comprehensive database of people’s commune sites, and mathematically analyzed the quantity and type of communes. The spatial pattern of people’s commune sites was described via average nearest neighbors, spatial variability, kernel density analysis, and spatial correlation. Moreover, the driving mechanism was measured using the geodetector model. The survey results revealed 327 points related to people’s communes, which were categorized into three main types: agriculture-oriented, industry-oriented, and integrated. Agriculture-oriented communes are the most significant type of people’s commune, accounting for 87.0%. Communes in the northern region of Henan Province are more densely clustered, whereas those in the southeastern region are less concentrated. Moreover, precipitation is the most critical factor affecting the spatial pattern of people’s commune sites, followed by railroad accessibility. A comprehensive literature analysis revealed that water conservancy projects limited the development of communes during the people’s commune period. This paper analyzes the spatial distribution patterns of the sites that have existed historically according to historical gazetteers, revealing the factors that influenced the development of this particular political system. It enriches the spatial scope of the study of people’s communes and provides theoretical references for the future preservation of communal heritage from the perspective of regional heritage.

Vladimir Țaranov (1932–2016), a historian devoted to the ideal of the communist society

Based on unpublished historical sources and the memoirs of one of the authors, there are presented aspects of the private, scientific and administrative activity of the historian Vladimir Țaranov (1932–2016), PhD in history (1977), university professor (1980), corresponding member (1981) of the Academy of Sciences of the Moldovan SSR. He is the author of over 300 scientific works, including 17 monographs. Between 1959 and 2016, he worked within the Institute of History of the Moldovan Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, reorganized into the Academy of Sciences of the Moldovan SSR/Moldova. Vladimir Țaranov worked his way up from trainee scientific researcher to the position of Director of the Institute of History (1977–1991), and, at the same time, he was a lecturer at the State University of Chisinau (1977–1981). Between years 1998–2001, he was a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. Under the scientific leadership of Vladimir Țăranu, 20 PhDs in history were trained. He was Laureate of the State Prize of the Moldovan SSR and the State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR.

Fundamental anthropology of Alexander Zinoviev: on the genesis of Homo Soveticus (cultural context)

The Paper is an attempt to reconstruct the fundamental anthropology of Alexander Zinoviev which was not outlined by him as fully developed theory. But nonetheless his teaching on human being is an organic part of his sociology and is integrated in his study of communism as reality. A key notion of the Zinoviev’s anthropological “doctrine” is “communality”. It describes a specific structure within communist society which determines basic tenets of Homo Sovieticus. Zinoviev for his part creates a new designation for this kind of human species — “gomosos”. This creature comprises all possible contradictions, being Devil under a guise of God, or being God looking like Devil. It does exist and not in Zinoviev’s imagination only, — insists the philosopher.

Historical Materialist Approach to Literature and Art

This article explores the basic features of the historical materialist approach to literature and art. It aims to highlight the core of this approach to literature and art and make a contrast to other approaches. The article addresses the research problems concerning the view of the historical materialist approach to the primacy of being or consciousness, the relationship of literature and art with the objective world, the free or class partisan literature and art, and the role of literature and art in changing the existing society. The research methodology adopted for this study is the review-based analysis of some of the major critiques of the historical materialist approach to literature and art. The researcher has included the critiques of Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, V.I. Lenin, and Mao Tsetung as they represent the founding figures of the approach and widely named this approach the Marxist approach too. The article reveals that the historical materialist approach views being as primary over consciousness, observes the literature and art as the reflection of the objective world, believes in the class partisan literature and art in a class-based society, and sees the prime utility of literature and art in bringing a radical change in society. The historical materialist approach favors the revolutionary literature and art that takes sides with the majority of working-class people, the revolutionary force of the future capable of establishing the scientific communist society.

Динамика культурно-политического развития ингушского народа в 1920–1930 гг.

The dynamics of the cultural and political development of the Ingush people during the 1920–1930s is examined in the article, focusing on the gradual elimination of their statehood. It presents an overview of the contradictory policies of Soviet power in the region. On one hand, processes of modernization and Europeanization were pursued under a unified Soviet policy, while on the other hand, they exhibited regional specificities. The inherent contradictions in the Soviet power’s national policies were inevitable within the totalitarian model of command-administrative systems. Despite declaring internationalism as the basis for a future communist society, the practical process of autonomization often involved the territorial division along ethnic lines, which sometimes did not align with the local population’s national composition. Territorial administration was arbitrary, leading to land disputes that remain relevant today. The Soviet government, pursuing a policy of cultural development of the Ingush Autonomous Region, creating a network of educational institutions, forming national personnel from among the Ingush, simultaneously carried out repression of the Ingush intelligentsia. This process was accompanied by territorial disturbances, resulting in the loss of established infrastructure alongside the loss of statehood. The policy of “korenizatsiya” (indigenization) was marked by excesses; however, the struggle for the cultural development of the Ingush people, as an integral part of the ideological work of the Soviet state, ultimately achieved significant successes.

Polysemous Tradition as a Common Basis for Ideological Resistance in Windsor Forest and The Communist Manifesto

This paper delves into the nuanced use of tradition as a foundation for ideological resistance in Alexander Pope’s “Windsor Forest” and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ “The Communist Manifesto.” Despite their divergent contexts—Pope’s text emerging from early 18th-century England and the Manifesto from mid-19th-century industrializing Europe—both works leverage historical and literary traditions to critique and resist dominant ideologies of their times. “Windsor Forest” subtly confronts ideologies of Protestant ascendancy and anti-Catholic sentiment prevalent in England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, promoting peace and the unity of Great Britain under Queen Anne’s Stuart monarchy as alternatives to war and division. Through literary devices such as allegory and panegyric, Pope employs tradition not only to question the contemporary political and social landscape but to posit the Stuart dynasty as a symbol of national prosperity and harmony. Contrastingly, “The Communist Manifesto” openly challenges the capitalist ideology that Marx and Engels argue perpetuates class struggle and exploitation of the proletariat. The Manifesto calls for a revolutionary overhaul of the social order, drawing on traditions of socialist thought and the historical precedent of class struggle to justify its radical aims. Despite its revolutionary stance, the Manifesto similarly relies on the manipulation of tradition—both embracing and rejecting it—to articulate a vision of communist society. Both texts, therefore, are situated at the intersection of literary expression and ideological conflict, illustrating how tradition can serve as a versatile tool in the articulation of resistance. Whether through the invocation of historical continuity and national identity in “Windsor Forest” or the revolutionary call to arms in “The Communist Manifesto,” tradition is employed to critique existing social and political orders. The abstract underscores the complexity of these texts’ engagement with tradition, highlighting their shared emphasis on the transformative potential of ideological resistance. This comparison illuminates the rich dialogues between literature and politics, demonstrating how textual analysis can reveal deeper insights into the mechanisms of ideological critique and resistance.

Marx on Leisure: An Aristotelian Interpretation

Abstract Despite his influence on those interested by leisure, Marx's own conception of leisure is rarely discussed. Insofar as it is, he is generally either thought to see leisure as free time or as indistinct from necessary labour in communist society. In this article, I suggest that by reading Capital and the Grundrisse through an Aristotelian lens, we can find a third potential conception of leisure in Marx, which shares three features in common with Aristotle's. Leisure is distinct from free time simpliciter, it is a “state-condition” people are in when they perform ends in themselves, and it is constitutive of the final end. I conclude that adopting a conception of leisure grounded in this Marxian conception could have implications for contemporary debates around free time and the value of leisure goods like arts and culture.

It’s all about Russia: the reception of contemporary Russian literature in Sweden

ABSTRACT Based on a corpus of 377 reviews of 72 novels, this article analyzes how contemporary Russian literature is received and represented in Swedish reviews, in relation to both the Russian literary tradition, and to Russia. The results have been divided into three periods, 1994–2002, 2003–2011 and 2012–2020, and are organized around four themes: (1) contemporary Russian literature in Sweden; (2) contemporary Russian literature in general; (3) contemporary Russian literature in relation to the Russian literary tradition; and (4) contemporary Russian literature in relation to Russia. During the first period, the novels reviewed were described as a new post-Soviet literature portraying the shards of communist society. During the second period, there was a focus on social criticism, while at the same time the critics sensed new hope for Russian literature. The final period is seen as a resurgence of Russian literature, although in a new form. Vladimir Sorokin stands out as the central representative of contemporary Russian literature for the entire period analyzed. Furthermore, contemporary Russian literature is seen as increasingly relevant as Russia’s authoritarian tendencies increase. Finally, Russian literature is seen in Sweden as a source of information about Russia, and as literature in which Russia is the main character.

REIFICATION OF LOVE: SELECT POETRY OF SAHIR LUDHIANVI

The article examines the select poetry and songs of Sahir Ludhianvi on the motifs of love, through the Marxist concept of 'reification'. It highlights, that institutions, especially Capitalism and the marriage system, strengthen the reified consciousness in which human beings consider love as an alienated entity. The feelings of love were polluted by Capitalist thought and imprisoned by the social norms; Sahir Ludhianvi aspired for a utopia, a Communist society, revolted against social norms and practices like 'marriage' etc. and deconstructed the capitalist conception of love. His artistic characteristics lie in the representation of 'beloved' in the sense of 'Communism', which can restore, in his eyes, the lost feelings of love. The study involves a textual analysis.

The Lessons of Alexander Zinoviev’s Attempt to Dissolve the Russian Essence in the Communist One

The article is devoted o the analysis of the works of Alexander Zinoviev, the Russian thinker who, on the one hand, regarded the attempts to build communist society in our country as the supreme mission of Russian people and on the other hand, severely exposed the vices of the Soviet system. According to the author of the article, Zinoviev had anti-Soviet ideas and at the same time was spiritually attached to the communist values, to the world without property and money. The author, who himself shares “Vekhi” principles, sees the explanation of this paradox in the “Russian arbitrariness” phenomenon which the “Vekhi” followers interpreted as the aspiration for accentuating the peculiarity and sovereignty of their personality. Through the prism of this characteristic of Zinoviev’s personality, the author explains the integrity on Zinoviev’s seemingly contradictory position regarding the Soviet system and communism that was differently set forth in the thinker’s books

Kyrill Kunakhovich. Communism’s Public Sphere: Culture as Politics in Cold War Poland and East Germany. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2022

The enduring interest in exploring the regimes of public spheres within communist societies has not waned in recent years. Much of this can be attributed to communism’s constraints on free expression, rendering cultural domains as almost the sole platforms for public spheres. In his book, historian Kyrill Kunakhovich, who specializes in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, sheds light on the political role played by cultural spaces under communist regimes. By focusing on Leipzig (former East Germany) and Kraków (Poland) as comparative units of analysis, Kunakhovich traces the evolution of state-society relationships within cultural realms under the communist rule, from the arrival of the Red Army in Eastern Europe in 1944 to the reunification of Germany in 1990. The author explores how these interactions reshaped the sociopolitical landscapes of both countries and brought about transformations in communist politics. Employing a comparative and transnational historical approach, Kunakhovich transcends the mere juxtaposition of national case studies examining them in tandem, a perspective that “inevitably highlights the contrasts between them” (p. 16). Given the limitation of comparative case studies that may not fully encompass the entirety of the panorama, the book seeks to illuminate the dynamics within both countries’ public spheres as they manifested in communist cultural spaces. Text in English

Masculinizing & Emasculating in Domestic Space: Comparative Studies of Homebound (1967) and Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

By comparing the gender division of labor in domestic space in both Homebound (1967) and Anatomy of a Fall (2023), I address the issue of masculinizing and emasculating on the counter gender with a spatial perspective. First, physical mobility decides the prior access to the public sphere as well as the position of the householder psychologically. Also, the typical and conventional vertical structure of "home" in both films visualizes the gender hierarchy and its collapse within the domestic space. The vertical structure embodies the historically inherited phallus worship symbolically. In this sense, it encounters the requirement of a new space structure that claims gender equality. Approaching the ideal model with practice case of functionalism in architecture, I recount the controversy of the radical equality at the geographic level practiced in communist society by architecture and other supporting mechanisms, which drives the interrogation of the essential association between capitalist structure and male subjectivity since the former, including the basic concepts of private property and liberal market-based competition, is designed and extended by the latter in a biologic sense.

Exploration on the Similarities and Differences between Great Harmony Society and Communist Society

Exploration on the Similarities and Differences between Great Harmony Society and Communist Society

What makes communism possible? The self-realisation interpretation

In the Critique of Gotha Programme, Karl Marx famously argues that a communist society will be characterised by the principle, ‘From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!’ I take up a question about this principle that was originally posed by G.A. Cohen , namely: what makes communism (so conceived) possible for Marx? In reply to this question, Cohen interprets Marx as saying that communism is possible because of limitless abundance, a view that Cohen takes to be implausible for ecological reasons. I develop a new interpretation of Marx's position. On this interpretation, people in communist society achieve self-realisation through providing others with the goods and services required for their self-realisation. Coupled with a reasonably high (but not immense) development of productive power, self-realisation generates conditions in which people can produce according to their abilities and receive according to their needs. I defend this view as an interpretation of Marx and I argue that it represents a more plausible account of what makes communism possible than Cohen's interpretation in which technological advance and limitless abundance play the predominant role.

Interpreting the Temporal Ideas in Das Kapital and Their Contemporary Implications

In contemporary society, technological advancements have continuously enhanced social productivity. However, the progress of capital logic and the forceful competition mechanisms have imposed a severe sense of time urgency on individuals. Simultaneously, within limited leisure time, people find themselves ensnared in the consumption trap constructed by capital. Time has gradually lost its orderly rhythm and narrative tension, atomizing into scattered points without any inherent support. Once connected to nature and human essence, time has now undergone a complete rupture from these factors under the reshaping influence of capital, becoming the chain that firmly locks workers within the framework of capital production. Drawing on the rational aspects of both old materialist and idealist perspectives on time, Marx revolutionarily linked time to practice and material production activities, bringing about a transformative shift in temporal thinking. In Das Kapital utilizing time as a crucial key, he exposes the true nature of the bourgeoisie and calls upon the proletariat to embrace class consciousness, undertake their historical mission, and strive for a communist society where free time universally prevails. A thorough examination of Marx’s temporal ideas in Das Kapital and their integration with contemporary realities can provide valuable guidance for overcoming the temporal challenges faced by modern society.

Socialization of School Youth of the Southern Urals in the 1950s - Early 1960s

The author considers the influence of the main social institutions of the state and society on the socialization of school youth in the post-war decades. The use of archival materials and sources of private origin allows highlighting the behavior and leisure activities of adolescents aged 14-18 years. Based on the materials of the RSFSR, there is analyzed the contradictory impact of social reality on the moral and ethical standards of Soviet schoolchildren’s behavior declared by the Soviet state. At the same time, the focus is on urban school youth of the Southern Urals - the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Kurgan, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk regions during the Khrushchev Thaw. In addition to the high moral stability of the younger generation, which was required in the conditions of the ideological confrontation between the two systems, Soviet schoolchildren were seen as a powerful labor resource for restoring the economy and building the communist future. The author identifies numerous difficulties that hindered the formation of the “new man” of communist society. There are revealed the main activities of schools and out-of-school institutions for the education of Soviet youth. Special attention is paid to the study of social problems and offences among young people. The main reasons for the shift in moral and ethical standards of adolescents’ behavior are determined. It is concluded that in the conditions of contradictions of the state, society and school, a significant role in the socialization of youth was played by education in a team. The main institutions of the state and society formed in schoolchildren such moral qualities as honor, dignity, friendship, and mutual assistance.

The Language of Manipulation and Control: Operational Methods of the Securitate in A. Belc’s Film Metronom

The objective of the present study is to analyze the operational methods employed by the secret police agency (Securitate) in exerting influence and control over individuals within the Romanian communist society, as depicted in the film Metronom directed by Alexandru Belc. Through an analysis of the dialogue between the protagonist and a Securitate officer, this research explores the tactics used by the Romanian secret police to manipulate and deceive citizens, preserve power, and maintain social control. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and theories of power, this study reveals the subtle and insidious ways in which the Securitate operated within the Romanian society to silence opposition, spread propaganda, and maintain a stranglehold on society. In this line of work, a set of elements has been delineated, aimed at evaluating the manipulative nature of communist discourse strategies. The findings provide insights into the cinematic portrayal of the Securitate in Romanian communist society, highlighting the use of language and discourse as tools for controlling and manipulating both the population and individuals.

Dr Ambedkar’s Method of Social Change: Debating Means and Ends

Ambedkar’s method of social change is about its commensurability with critical methods leads the legitimatization over radical means. The preconceived method devoid of reality was not only failed but also disastrous. The theory and practice are an integral part of the theory of social change of Ambedkar. It has laid the contrast between two methods of social change that is Marxist and Pragmatist. Ambedkar’s method of social change influenced from pragmatism. It was not only the relevance of his thought but also the legitimacy of his methods used for bringing about change in Indian society. Ambedkar’s Critical method for social change upholds the idea of democracy and justice while radical violent means which emphasized on the equality without much space for democracy and freedom of speech delegitimized the purpose of communist society. The article is divided into two major parts; first part dealt with the critical theory and its primary concern for social change. It also contrasted with Ambedkar’s method of social change. Second section focused briefly on the debate between Marxist Trotsky and pragmatist John Dewey over use of means for achieving the ends. The experiment of the Cultural Change in the case of Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution in China by Mao Zedong and the methods of the Cultural Revolution proposed by Ambedkar is also part of the discussion where two experiments for bringing about cultural changes in Chinese and Indian society. The legitimacy of the democratic means remains unbeatable in the case of Ambedkar while violent radical means lost the legitimacy in Chinese experience. The struggle of Ambedkar who secured the rights for untouchable in the Indian constitution was not less than a revolution. Banning practice of Untouchability in any form and making it the punishable offence was the victory of the democratic means.

Transformation of the family image as a subject of upbringing in Soviet oral and pictorial culture (1917-1991)

The article actualizes development concepts of the family image as a subject of upbringing in Soviet oral and pictorial culture. The purpose of this article is to trace the transformation of Soviet family image in specific historical conditions and to present the correlation between the domination of the maternal or paternal image and the educational effect of family in general - via analysis of works of Soviet art in 1917-1991. Research design: The author uses to trace transformation of the family image as a subject of upbringing in Soviet oral and pictorial culture such methods as literature analysis, synthesis, association method, comparative historical analysis. The conclusion dwells upon the idealization and even hypertrophy of the family image presented in Soviet oral and pictorial culture - which is premised on the necessity of the family image to be aligned with main ideological guidelines consistent for the particular history period. Nevertheless, the main distinctive feature of Soviet family is its educational impact, traditionalism, stability, aspiration for bright new future. Distinctness of the image of Soviet family, existing in the realm of ideological principles, is defined in Soviet oral and pictorial culture. Art, while forming in Soviet mass consciousness the family image specified by ideology, could come through the strict censorship and reveal the real family life. It is art that makes it possible to see and appraise in objective way the educational role of Soviet family in communist society.

Comprehensive Human Development: Values and Favours for Chinese Modernisation

The goal pursued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) is to achieve the comprehensive development of human beings, and the Chinese-style modernisation road is the foundation and prerequisite for the realisation of comprehensive development of human beings. The theory of the Chinese-style modernisation path takes the comprehensive development of human beings as its value. It has a profound theoretical, practical and historical foundation. The Chinese modernisation path is accumulating strength and laying a foundation for the realisation of a communist society, and at the same time, the Chinese modernisation path will also lay a thick qualitative foundation and solidify the material conditions for the comprehensive development of human beings. The lengthy process of social change determines the long-term nature of the realisation of the ideal of comprehensive human development, but the pursuit of comprehensive human development should not be abandoned for this reason; rather, it is a matter of storing up strength for comprehensive human development in practice.