p “In the USSR,” states the new Constitution of the USSR which was adopted on the eve of the 60th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, “a developed socialist society has been built. At this stage, when socialism is developing on its own foundations, the creative forces of the new system and the advantages of the socialist way of life are becoming increasingly evident, and the working people are more and more widely enjoying the fruits of their great revolutionary gains.”  [221•* 

p The distinctive features of developed socialism in the economic field are mighty productive forces which are utilised according to a single plan, stable rates of growth of production and of labour productivity on the basis of the latest achievements in science and technology, and a steadily rising wellbeing of the people.

p In the political field it is a genuinely democratic political system which ensures effective administration of public life, increasingly active participation of the working people in state affairs, combination of rights and freedoms enjoyed by the citizens with their duties and responsibilities to society.

p In the social field—mature socialist social relations which developed on the basis of full domination of socialist ownership, the established socio-political and ideological unity of society, and the socialist way of life; a new-historical community—’the Soviet people—has taken shape^ in developed socialist society.

p In the intellectual sphere—a high level of science, culture and education, and universal spread and affirmation of the scientific, Marxist-Leninist world outlook.

Developed socialism is a society of working peoplepatriots and internationalists—with a high level of organisation, moral integrity and civic duty; a society whose law of life is the concern of all people for the wellbeing of each individual; a society in which increasingly favourable conditions for the all-round development of the individual are being formed. The stage of developed socialism is an essential fink in the chain of social transformations, a relatively long stage in society’s movement from capitalism to communism.