Rules of Socialist Society

in the USSR, social norms for regulating the behavior of the members of socialist society and for establishing social order, organization, and discipline.

In a broad sense, the rules of socialist society include all the norms of socialist society: legal and moral norms, customs, and the norms of public organizations. In a narrow sense, the term refers to a group of norms associated primarily with the regulation of social and everyday relations. This group includes some moral norms, as well as the rules of courtesy and decency that regulate people’s behavior in public places, in the family, and in everyday life. The rules of socialist society express the socialist consciousness and will of the Soviet people and embody the principles of the moral code of the builder of communism, as well as the principles of comradely help and mutual respect and kindness. The rules of socialist society promote the development of socialist relationships among people.

A combination of persuasive and coercive methods (state and public) ensures the observance of the rules of socialist society, but the overwhelming majority of the Soviet people observe these norms voluntarily and consciously. Coercive methods are applied only against the insignificant portion of the population that violates the rules of socialist society, usually as a result of a low level of consciousness and culture and the influence of vestiges of the past.

Out of deep conviction, Soviet citizens voluntarily fulfill the duties stemming from the rules of socialist society. Voluntary compliance with the rules of socialist society is evidence of the steady growth of the socialist consciousness and culture of the Soviet people, the strengthening of socialist legality and law and order, and the development of socially useful habits and skills in social behavior.