Moral Code of the Builder of Communism

a set of scientifically based principles of communist morality that have emerged in socialist society and have been given generalized, theoretical expression in the Program adopted by the Twenty-second Congress of the CPSU in 1961. Historically, there has been a variety of moral codes—both written (religious commandments, the codes of social castes, and dueling codes) and unwritten. Moral codes exist within practically every known form of morality.

Unlike the moral codes of the past, whose abstract content had pretensions to expressing eternal and unchanging “virtues,” the moral code of the builder of communism is objectively conditioned by existing social relations. It is concretely historical and reflects the extent to which and the form in which new ethical norms have spread, the high moral culture of socialist society, and decisive trends in individual ethical development during the transition to communism.

The guiding principle of the moral code of the builder of communism is devotion to the communist cause and love of the socialist homeland. The code defines a new, socialist attitude toward labor, social property, and the public interest; toward the family and children; and toward relations between people in a society where socialist production relations prevail. Collectivism, humanity, honesty and truthfulness, and modesty and unpretentiousness are among the attitudes encouraged by the code. To the extremely important principles of communist morality that express its revolutionary orientation and militant spirit, the moral code of Soviet man adds intolerance for the evils of the old order and an uncompromising attitude toward the enemies of communism, peace, and freedom. The international character of the moral code is evident in its affirmation of friendship and brotherhood among all the peoples of the USSR and of fraternal solidarity with the working people of all countries and with all peoples.

To the savage and cynical values of the exploiting classes, the moral code counterposes the ethical precepts of collectivism and humanism expressed in the words “all for one and one for all” and “man is to man a friend, comrade, and brother“ (Program of the CPSU, 1973, p. 120).

At the heart of the moral code of the builder of communism lies the affirmation of the ideals of the international communist movement and the struggle for communism. But the code has a universal as well as a class content, inasmuch as the struggle for communism ultimately corresponds to the interests of all humanity, as well as to the interests of the working class and all working people.

The moral code of the builder of communism, a powerful means for the moral upbringing of the Soviet people, helps to accomplish the chief aim of this upbringing—the development of an active and conscious fighter for communism, a new, well-rounded personality free of the evils and vestiges of the old society.