Socialist states believed at one point to be
moving toward socialism in orange, and other
socialist states in yellow (note that not all of the bright red states remained
Soviet allies) In applied
communist practice, a socialist state is a
communist state formation that is the product of a purported
base and superstructural relation that is called the
socialist mode of production, or simply socialism. Socialism acts as the base of the socialist state, while the superstructure is made up of two parts: the class character of the state and the organisational form of state power. • The class character of the state involves the
dictatorship of the proletariat (or a variant thereof) in which the
proletariat acts as the
ruling class; purportedly the most advanced elements of this class form a
vanguard party (
communist party) to lead the state. The theoretical exception to this rule was the
Soviet Union: from 1961 onwards the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) argued that it had created a
developed socialist society where the proletarian dictatorship had been replaced by a
socialist state of the whole people since all the exploitative classes had been defeated. The
Chinese Communist Party vehemently opposed this theory and argued that every state formation had to have a ruling class. • The organisational form of state power, literally the
form of government in Marxist–Leninist vocabulary, is centered on the
unified power of the
supreme state organ of power that operates under the guidance of the vanguard party. The majority of communist states have been unable to establish a socialist state. These states had, according to
Marxist–Leninist doctrine, reached a lower form of development and designated themselves, or were designated, for example, as
national democratic states,
states of socialist orientation or as
people's democratic states.
People's democratic states A people's democratic state is a
communist state formation. According to the
Marxist–Leninist theory of
people's democracy, it purportedly tries to transition society from a
capitalist mode of production to a
socialist mode of production after a successful
people's democratic revolution. This process transforms the people's democratic state into a
socialist state. According to Marxist–Leninist theorists, the people's democratic state is socialist-
type state, but not a socialist state itself. The
form of government of people's democratic states is
unified state power of the
supreme state organ of power, under the leadership of the ruling
communist party. Despite this, forms of government have not always been identical in different states, with some slight institutional differences.
National democratic states A national democratic state is a
state formation that, according to
Marxist–Leninist national democratic theory, is the product of a
national democratic revolution. In certain cases, it was believed, a national democratic state could endeavour to establish the
socialist mode of production, transforming the state into a
communist state formation known as a
socialist state in the process.
Communist predecessor states to the USSR Ephemeral states ==See also==