science

Real socialism

Real socialism is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Real socialism rather than just read about it. In short: Real socialism, also known as actually existing socialism, or developed socialism, was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the Brezhnev era in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union. The term referred to the Soviet-type economic planning implemented by the Eastern Bloc at that particular time.

Key takeaways

Real socialism belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Real socialism to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Real socialism from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Real socialism, also known as actually existing socialism, or developed socialism, was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the Brezhnev era in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union. The term referred to the Soviet-type economic planning implemented by the Eastern Bloc at that particular time. From the 1960s onward, Communist states such as Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia began to argue that their policies represented what was realistically feasible given their level of productivity. The concept of real socialism alluded to a highly developed socialist system in the future. The actual party claims of nomenclatory socialism began to acquire not only negative, but also sarcastic meanings. In later years and especially after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the term began to be remembered as a reference to Soviet-style socialism.

Definition After World War II, the terms "real socialism" or "really existing socialism" gradually became the predominating euphemisms used as self-description of the Eastern Bloc states' political and economical systems and their society models. De jure often referred to as "people's republics", these states were ruled by a communist party, all of which were ruled autocratically and had adapted a form of planned economy and propagated socialism or communism as their ideology. The term "real (-ly existing) socialism" was introduced to explain the obvious gap between the propagated ideological framework and the political and economical reality faced by these states' societies. As US Communist Party activist Irwin Silber put it in 1994,The term 'actually existing socialism' is not (despite the quotation marks) a sarcasm; in fact, while obviously containing an implicit irony, the phrase itself was coined by Soviet Marxist-Leninists and was widely used by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and its supporters in polemics with those who postulated a model of socialism significantly different from the system developed in the Soviet Union. Its point was that various alternatives to the Soviet-derived model existed only in the minds of their advocates, while 'actual socialism' existed in the real world. The term was also taken up by some dissidents, such as Rudolf Bahro, who used it in a more critical way.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Real socialism

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Real socialism claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Real socialism before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Real socialism ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Real socialism

In research: Real socialism appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Real socialism in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Real socialism is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Comecon, Economy of the Soviet Union, Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Real socialism outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Real socialism in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Real socialism means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Real socialism out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Real socialism in simple terms?

Why does Real socialism matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Real socialism?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Real socialism.