Abstract
Our basic concerns in this chapter1 are the same as in the last — the nature, development and consequences of welfare — but in the context of socialist society. Before moving on to substantive issues, however, a number of points need to be made clear. First, by ‘socialist’ we mean societies, e.g. the U.S.S.R., where the means of production are collectively owned and there is at least a formal commitment to Marxian socialist ideology. Our use of the term ‘socialist’ does not imply that these societies also display various other features of social structure, e.g. equality or democracy, associated with socialism. Undoubtedly, egalitarianism is one of the main elements of Marxian socialism — the ideological inspiration behind these societies. But how far this ideology informs the practice of welfare remains to be seen. This brings us to the second point, namely that the U.S.S.R. and most other socialist countries were economically backward at the time of revolution. This is a fact of considerable importance for understanding the social structure of these societies. For Marx’s theories were largely concerned with the developed capitalist society. The distributive and other features of the post-capitalist (socialist) society envisaged by Marxism presuppose a high level of social and economic development. Yet revolutions inspired by Marx’s teachings have occurred mainly in pre-industrial societies, notably Russia and China.
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Notes and References
Marx wrote little directly about the social organisation (including the nature of distribution) of the future (socialist) society. The basic Marxist text on the subject sketches the barest outline of the nature of socialist distribution. See the ‘Critique of the Gotha Programme’ in Lewis S. Feuer (ed.), Marx and Engels: Basic Writings (London: Fontana, 1969) ch. 5. However, despite varying pronouncements and interpretations by Soviet and other Marxists on the subject, the idea of distribution based largely on need and modelled on collective consumption remains pivotal to Marxian socialism.
Karl Marx, ‘Critique of the Gotha Programme’, in Feuer, Marx and Engels: Basic Writings, pp. 156–61. The notion of a transitional period between capitalism and communism has been the subject of a great deal of debate and controversy. See, for example, E. Mandel, Marxist Economic Theory (London: Merlin, 1974) chs 15 and 17;
Paul M. Sweezy and Charles Bettelheim, On the Transition to Socialism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972).
For Britain see J. C. Kincaid, Poverty and Equality in Britain (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975) pp. 95–102.
For the U.S.S.R. see United Nations, Incomes in Post-War Europe (Geneva, 1967) ch. 9, p. 5;
and Robert J. Osborn, Soviet Social Policies (Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey, 1970) p. 34. There seems to be little change in this respect in the 1970s. Indeed, if anything, the standard rate of income tax has tended to rise in the West until recently.
J. Wilczynski, The Economics of Socialism (London: Allen & Unwin, 1970) pp. 154–7.
See Alexander S. Balinky, ‘Non-housing Objectives of Soviet Housing Policy’, Problems of Communism, vol. 10(4), July–Aug 1961, p. 21;
Michael Ryan, The Organisation of Soviet Medical Care (Oxford: Blackwell, 1978) pp. 14–7, 114–17;
Wolfgang Teckenburg, ‘Labour Turnover and Job Satisfaction: Indicators of Industrial Conflict in the U.S.S.R.’, Soviet Studies, vol. 30(2), Apr 1978, p. 197.
Michael Garmarnikow, Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1968) pp. 65–72;
Alice C. Gorlin, ‘Industrial Reorganization: The Associations’, in U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, Soviet Economy in a New Perspective (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976).
Alex Inkeles, ‘Social Stratification and Mobility in the Soviet Union’, in Class, Status and Power, ed. Reinhard Bendix and Seymour Martin Lipset (London: Routledge, 1968) p. 520.
Donald D. Barry, ‘Housing in the U.S.S.R.’, Problems of Communism, vol. 18(3), May–June 1969, p. 10.
See, for example, Bernice Q. Madison, Social Welfare in the Soviet Union (Stanford University Press, 1968) ch. 6 passim and pp. 25, 188–190, 215.
See Nigel Grant, Soviet Education (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968) chs 2–4.
Gordon Hyde, The Soviet Health Service (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1974) pp. 125–6.
Mark G. Field, Doctor and Patient in Soviet Russia (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957) pp. 184–5.
Barry, ‘Housing in the U.S.S.R.’, p. 8; Osborn, Soviet Social Policies, p. 63; Mervyn Matthews, Privilege in the Soviet Union (London: Allen & Unwin, 1978) p. 18.
See U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Report on Social Security Programs in the Soviet Union (Washington, D.C., 1960) pp. 107–11;
Frederic L. Pryor, Public Expenditures in Communist and Capitalist Nations (London: Allen & Unwin, 1968) p. 144.
Richard M. Titmuss, The Gift Relationship (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973) pp. 199–201.
See J. L. Porket, ‘Old Age Pension Schemes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe’, Social Policy and Administration, vol. 13(1), Spring 1979, pp. 26–7.
Alastair McAuley, ‘The Distribution of Earnings and Incomes in the Soviet Union’, Soviet Studies, vol. 29(2), Apr 1977, p. 234.
See The Soviet Union 1974–75 (London: C. Hurst, 1976) p. 27. One-third of the children of eligible age (under 8 years) are likely to benefit under this scheme (ibid.). See also U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Social Security Programs Throughout the World 1975 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975) pp. 232–3.
David Lane, The End of Inequality? Stratification under State Socialism (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971) p. 69;
P. J. D. Wiles and Stefan Markowski, ‘Income Distribution under Communism and Capitalism’ (in two parts), Soviet Studies, vol. 22(3), Jan 1971, p. 344.
See, for example, Frank Parkin, Class Inequality and Political Order (London: Paladin, 1972) pp. 118, 144;
David Lane, Politics and Society in the U.S.S.R. (London: Martin Robertson, 1978) ch. 12 passim.
On the Soviet regime’s approach to poverty and wage equalisation see Alastair McAuley’s excellent, if detailed, study Economic Welfare in the Soviet Union (University of Wisconsin Press, 1979).
Peter Townsend’s massive compendium Poverty in the United Kingdom (London: Allen Lane, 1979), which is much more than a survey of poverty, makes no reference to the experience of socialist countries.
Gaston V. Rimlinger, Welfare Policy and Industrialization in Europe, America, and Russia (New York: John Wiley, 1971) p. 258.
Seymour M. Rosen, Education and Modernization in the U.S.S.R. (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1971) p. 32.
Balinky, ‘Non-housing Objectives of Soviet Housing Policy’, pp. 17–18; T. Sosnovy, ‘The Soviet Housing Situation Today’, Soviet Studies, vol. 11(1), July 1959, p. 1.
Hyde, The Soviet Health Service, ch. 1; Brian Abel-Smith, ‘The History of Medical Care’, in Comparative Development in Social Welfare, ed. E. W. Martin (London: Allen & Unwin, 1972) p. 220.
Ibid., pp. 20, 23; Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb, Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (Private Subscription Edition, Great Britain, 1935) pp. 837, 842, 852–3.
Sir Arthur Newsholme and John Adams Kingsbury, Red Medicine (New York: Doubleday, 1933) pp. 189, 269–70.
Alexander Block, ‘Soviet Housing: The Historical Aspect’, Soviet Studies, vol. 3(1), July 1951, p. 8.
Ibid.; T. Sosnovy, ‘Housing Conditions and Urban Development in the U.S.S.R.’, in U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, New Directions in the Soviet Economy (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966) Part IIB, p. 14.
See Henry W. Morton, ‘What have Soviet Leaders done about the Housing Crisis?’, in Henry W. Morton and Rudolf L. Tokes (eds), Soviet Politics and Society in the 1970s (New York: Free Press, 1974) pp. 165–8.
On rent see D. V. Donnison, The Government of Housing (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967) pp. 140–4; and McAuley, Economic Welfare in the Soviet Union, pp. 288–9. By 1975 over 70 per cent of worker and employee families were housed in unshared apartments.
See Jerry F. Hough, ‘The Brezhnev Era’, Problems of Communism, Mar–Apr 1976, p. 11.
Nicholas De Witt, Education and Professional Employment in the U.S.S.R. (Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961) pp. 80–1.
Parkin, Class Inequality and Political Order, pp. 166, 110; Mervyn Matthews, Class and Society in Soviet Russia (London: Allen Lane, 1972) pp. 291, 297;
A. H. Halsey (ed.), Trends in British Society since 1900 (London: Macmillan, 1972) pp. 182–3, 190–1;
Alex Inkeles and Raymond A. Bauer, The Soviet Citizen (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959) pp. 142–4. More recent evidence, however, suggests that advanced capitalist countries may be ‘catching up’.
See Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (O.E.C.D.), Education, Inequality amd Life-chances, 2 vols (Paris, 1975) vol. 1, pp. 168–70; vol. 2. pp. 163–9, 177–9.
Parkin, Class Inequality and Political Order, pp. 148–9; G. V. Osipov (ed.), Industry and Labour in the U.S.S.R. (London: Tavistock, 1966) pp. 126–9.
See Harry G. Shaffer (ed.), The Soviet Economy (London: Methuen, 1964) pp. 82, 85–6, 103.
See J. Wilczynski, Socialist Economic Development and Reforms (London: Macmillan, 1972) ch. 7 passim; and Naum Jasny, ‘Plan and Superplan’, in The Soviet Economy, ed. Shaffer.
See, for example, Gaston V. Rimlinger, ‘Social Security, Incentives, and Controls in the U.S. and U.S.S.R.’, in Social Welfare Institutions, ed. Mayer N. Zald (New York: John Wiley, 1965) pp. 110–12.
According to Robert Pinker, political desert operates as one of the criteria of distribution of welfare in all societies, though its relative importance does vary. See Pinker, The Idea of Welfare (London: Heinemann, 1979) p. 224.
On social security under Stalin see pp. 146–9 above. On the use of sanctions and penalties more generally in recent years see Rudolf L. Tokes (ed.), Dissent in the U.S.S.R. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975) pp. 66–7;
Amnesty International, Prisoners of Conscience in the U.S.S.R. (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1975) passim.
Jaroslav Krejci, Social Change and Stratification in Postwar Czechoslovakia (London: Macmillan, 1972) p. 101.
Murray Yanowitch, Social and Economic Inequality in the Soviet Union (London: Martin Robertson, 1977) ch. 2; Parkin, Class Inequality and Political Order, pp. 118–20, 144; Lane, Politics and Society in the U.S.S.R., pp. 394–404.
Incomes in Post-War Europe, ch. 11, pp. 7–8; Wiles and Markowski (Part 2), in Soviet Studies, vol. 22(4), Apr 1971, pp. 508, 511; Philip Hanson, The Consumer in the Soviet Economy (London: Macmillan, 1968) pp. 72–4.
Lane, The End of Inequality?, p. 77; Matthews, Class and Society in Soviet Russia, p. 227; Balinky, ‘Non-housing Objectives of Soviet Housing Policy’, p. 20. See also Paul Halmos (ed.), Hungarian Sociological Studies, Sociological Review Monograph No. 17 (University of Keele, 1972) pp. 282–3, 47–8.
Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (London: Sphere Books, 1968) pp. 52–7.
Parkin, Class Inequality and Political Order, pp. 175–8; François Fejto, A History of the Peoples’ Democracies (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974) pp. 396–9.
Field, Doctor and Patient in Soviet Russia, p. 18; Hyde, The Soviet Health Service, pp. 290–2; Vicente Navarro, Social Security and Medicine in the U.S.S.R. (Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1977) pp. 18–26.
On preventive medicine see Hyde, The Soviet Health Service, pp. 288–9; John Fry, Medicine in Three Societies (Aylesbury: M.T.P., 1969) ch. 7. On the recruitment and salary of doctors see Ryan, The Organization of Soviet Medical Care, pp. 34, 42–5; Navarro, Social Security and Medicine in the U.S.S.R., pp. 25, 48.
See, for example, Richard C. Gripp, The Political System of Communism (London: Nelson, 1973) ch. 5; Jerry F. Hough, ‘Political Participation in the Soviet Union’, Soviet Studies, vol. 28(1), Jan 1976.
Madison, Social Welfare in the Soviet Union, pp. 133–4; Grant, Soviet Education, 59–63. For Parent-Teacher Associations and other forms of parental involvement in British schools see the Open University, ‘Community Involvement in Decision-Making’, in Decision-Making in British Educational Systems (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1974) pp. 16–21;
Anne Sharrock, Home-School Relations (London: Macmillan, 1970 especially ch. 3. In the United States, however, parental contact and involvement with schools is much greater than in Britain (see the Open University, ibid.).
Matthews, Class and Society in Soviet Russia, pp. 239–42; Murray Yanowitch and Wesley A. Fischer (eds), Social Stratification and Mobility in the U.S.S.R. (New York: International Arts and Sciences, 1973) pp. 83, 98–9.
On the U.S.S.R. see Osborn, Soviet Social Policies, pp. 257–9; Jack Miller, Life in Russia Today (London: Batsford, 1969) pp. 100–2.
On Britain see Stephen Hatch (ed.), Towards Participation in Local Services (London: Fabian Society, 1973) pp. 35–42.
See, for example, Stanley Rothman and George W. Breslauer, Soviet Politics and Society (St Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1978) p. 106;
David Lane, The Socialist Industrial State (London: Allen & Unwin, 1976) pp. 90–1; Madison, Social Welfare in the Soviet Union, pp. 130–2.
Gabriel A. Almond and G. Bingham Powell, Jr, Comparative Politics (Boston: Little, Brown, 1966) p. 273.
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© 1981 Ramesh Mishra
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Mishra, R. (1981). Welfare in Socialist Society. In: Society and Social Policy. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16596-4_7
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