The socialist camp is ... The USSR and the countries of the socialist camp

The modern world, given its many antagonistic states, is unipolar. What can not be said about the events that took place several decades ago. The "Cold War" divided the world into the countries of the socialist and capitalist camp, between which there was constant confrontation and incitement of hatred. What did the countries of the socialist camp represent, you will learn from the following article.

Definition of concept

The concept is quite broad and contradictory, but its definition is possible. The socialist camp is a term that refers to countries that have embarked on the path of socialist development and the maintenance of Soviet ideology, regardless of the support or hostility to them of the USSR. A striking example - some countries with which our country was more likely political confrontation (Albania, China and Yugoslavia). In the historical tradition, the above-mentioned countries in the United States were called communist, contrasting them with their democratic model.

Along with the notion of "socialist camp", synonymous terms were also used - "socialist countries" and "socialist commonwealth". The latter concept was characteristic of the allied countries in the USSR.

Origins and formation of the socialist camp

As you know, the October Socialist Revolution was carried out under international slogans and declaring the ideas of the world revolution. This installation was a key one and was preserved throughout the years of the USSR, but many countries did not follow such a Russian example. But after the victory of the Soviet Union in the Second World War, many countries, including European ones, followed the models of socialist development. Sympathy for the country - the winner of the Nazi regime - played its role. So, some states have even changed their traditional political vector from West to East. The alignment of political forces on the ground has changed radically. Therefore, the concept of "socialist camp" is not an abstraction, but a specific country.

The concept of the countries of socialist orientation was embodied in the conclusion of friendly treaties and in the subsequent mutual assistance. Groups of countries that were formed after the war are also called military-political blocs that have repeatedly been on the verge of hostilities. But in 1989-1991 the USSR collapsed, and most of the socialist countries headed for liberal development. The collapse of the socialist camp was due to both internal factors and external factors.

The economic cooperation of the countries of the socialist commonwealth

The main factor in the creation of the socialist camp was economic mutual assistance: lending, trade, scientific and technical projects, exchange of cadres and specialists. The key among these types of interactions is foreign trade. This fact does not mean that a socialist state should trade only with friendly countries.

All countries that belonged to the socialist camp sold their national economy products on the world market and received in exchange all modern material values: technologies, industrial equipment, and raw materials necessary for the production of certain goods.

The countries of the socialist camp

Africa:

• The Democratic Republic of Somalia;
• The People's Republic of Angola;
• The People's Republic of the Congo ;
• The People's Republic of Mozambique;
• The People's Republic of Benin;
• People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Asia:

• People's Democratic Republic of Yemen;
• The Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
• The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan;
• The Mongolian People's Republic;
• The People's Republic of China;
• The People's Republic of Cambodia;
• Democratic People's Republic of Korea;
• Lao Democratic Republic.

South America:

• The Republic of Cuba;
• The People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada.

Europe:

• The Hungarian People's Republic;
• The German Democratic Republic;
• The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ;
• The Polish People's Republic;
• The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic;
• The People's Republic of Bulgaria;
• The Socialist Republic of Romania;
• The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;
• Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Existing socialist countries

In the modern world, there are also countries that in one sense or another are socialist. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea positions itself as a socialist state. Exactly the same course takes place in the Cuban Republic and the countries of Asia.

In such eastern countries as the People's Republic of China and Vietnam, the state apparatus is ruled by classical communist parties. Despite this fact, in the economic development of these countries, capitalist trends, that is, private property , are traced . Such a political and economic situation is also observed in the Lao People's Republic, which also was part of the socialist camp. This is a unique way to combine market and planned economy.

At the beginning of the 21st century, socialist tendencies began to emerge and consolidate in Latin America. There was even a whole theoretical doctrine "Socialism XXI", which is actively used in practice in the countries of the third world. For 2015, the socialist governments are in power in Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua. But these are not the countries of the socialist camp, such governments emerged in them after its disintegration at the end of the 20th century.

Maoist Nepal

In mid-2008, there was a revolution in Nepal. A group of communist Maoists overthrew the monarch and won the election as the Communist Party of Nepal. Since August, the head of state is the main party ideologist Bauram Bahattarai. After these events, Nepal became a country where in politics and economics a course with a clear communist dominant operates. But the course of Nepal is clearly not similar to the policy pursued by the USSR and the socialist camp.

The Socialist Politics of Cuba

Cuba has long been considered a socialist state, but in 2010, the head of the republic, Raul Castro , set out for economic changes on the Chinese model of the modernization of socialist society. The central aspect of this policy is an increase in the role of private capital in the economic system.

Thus, we examined the countries of the socialist orientation of both the past and the present. The socialist camp is a set of countries that are friendly to the USSR. Modern states, pursuing socialist policy, do not enter this camp. It is very important to consider for understanding certain processes.