Socialism, Social Welfare and the Soviet Union

First published in 1980, Socialism, Social Welfare and the Soviet Union examines the views of Marx, Engels and Lenin on what constitutes a socialist form of provision of social security, income, education, health and housing. The authors discuss the implementation of these ideas in the Soviet Union since the 1917 Revolution in the context of economic and political development, and describe the social services in the Soviet Union, assessing the extent to which the original ideas have been matched by reality. They also briefly survey the views of several East European academic writers on social policy, outlining some distinctive features of social policy in the Eastern bloc.

The authors’ general conclusion is that the Soviet Union has made great progress in social policy provision; from their research and from their visits in the course of writing this book, they show that the social services of the Soviet Union are as good as and, in some ways, more comprehensive than those of Western Europe. Equally important is their conclusion that a society in which the means of production and distribution are nationalised, and which makes a full provision of social services is not necessarily a socialist society. This book will appeal to students of sociology, political science and area studies.