Reflections on socialism and the Russian legal tradition

Abstract

The article examines the essence of socialist concepts, formulated mainly during the nineteenth century and the social, economic and political consequences that arose after the attempts to implement one of these concepts, namely Marxist-Leninist philosophy, in Russia. The reason for this analysis lies within the relationship of two categories — the ideology of socialism and the Russian legal tradition. What is the origin and what is the consequence amongst these two categories: did the ideology of socialism give rise to Soviet socio-political practice, especially during the first years of the Soviet regime, or did this practice become a manifestation of Russian legal consciousness that implemented this practice using the socialist slogans and distorting the socialist idea? Namely the latter position was maintained by the numerous critics of Soviet real socialism. The author concludes that the socialist idea is universal in nature: in its practical implementation, it must inevitably lead to the economic, social, political and ideological consequences that had been embodied in the Soviet socialist model. In this sense, the Soviet model is the ultimate example of real socialism, which, however, does not mean at all that it is unique: any other country, intending to build socialism, will be inevitably forced to create something similar in its fundamental features. The concept of socialism, formulated in the nineteenth century, has two main ideological sources: the first one is the reaction to the ideology and practice of liberalism, which become the dominant doctrine at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the second one is the belief in the power of the human mind. The article analyzes the changes that will have to occur during the implementation of this, in essence, noble idea.