Classes, Social, "large groups of people differing from each other by the place they occupy in a historically determined system of social production, by their relation (in most cases fixed and formulated in law) to the means of production, by their role in the social organisation of labour, and, consequently, by the dimensions of the share of social wealth of which they dispose and the mode of acquiring it. Classes are groups of people one of which can appropriate the labour of another owing to the different places they occupy in a definite system of social economy" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 421). What basically determines the difference between classes is their relation to the means of production. The emergence of classes and class antagonisms was the result of the development of the social division of labour and the emergence of private ownership of the means of production, the division of the society into propertied and propertyless, the exploiters and the exploited. Every antagonistic socio-economic formation is characterised by its own class structure, its basic classes born of the dominating mode of production, such as slaves and slaveowners, serfs and landlords, workers (proletarians) and the bourgeoisie. Alongside them are the intermediate classes and social strata, whether the heritage of previous formations (such as peasants, artisans, petty traders, landlords under capitalism), or representing the newly emerging classes of the subsequent formation (the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in the epoch of feudalism). Even with all the differences between the class structures of antagonistic societies, they all have one feature in common: the exploitation of one class by another. The irreconcilably hostile interests of antagonistic classes lead to class struggle, which results in a change of the social system, and, consequently, of the class structure of society. The basic classes of modern capitalist society are the bourgeoisie and the working class. Based on the amount of capital possessed, the modern bourgeoisie can be divided into the monopoly, large non-monopoly and middle bourgeoisie. The monopoly bourgeoisie enjoys absolute economic and political domination. Its class interests irreconcilably clash with the interests of the entire nation, and all the people. The working class, deprived of the means of production and compelled to live by selling its labour power to the capitalists, is the oppressed and exploited class. The growth of the working class is accompanied by its better organisation and greater political activity. The working class represents the basic force of social development, reflects the interests of all the working people, all the social strata of society in the struggle against monopoly domination. Apart from these basic classes, there are peasants and landlords 44 in the capitalist countries. The peasantry, ruined by the monopolies, declines in number; their social and economic position makes the poorest peasants reliable allies and solid supporters of workers in the countryside. As capitalism develops, the landlords become more and more like the bourgeoisie and grow closer to it. As well as classes, there are also social strata in the developed capitalist countries, namely, the urban petty bourgeoisie (artisans, handicraftsmen, petty traders and others), the intellectuals and office workers. With the peasantry, they compose the so-called middle class, which occupies an intermediate position between the working class and the bourgeoisie. Because of their conditions of life and work office workers and intellectuals are close to the working class, as they are part of the army of wage labour. With the peasantry, they become allies of the working class. Marxism not only scientifically explained the reasons for society’s division into classes, but also mapped out the ways to abolish classes and build a classless society. The major condition of the disappearance of classes is the abolition of private ownership of the means of production, and of the exploitation of man by man, as well as the consolidation of public ownership of the means of production. This historic objective can be achieved only by the working class, as it is the most revolutionary, conscious and organised class that history has ever produced, tied to the most progressive form of economy—large-scale industrial production—and led by its own political party. The experience of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries confirmed that radical transformation of classes and class relations is possible only as a result of a socialist revolution, when the working class seizes political power and establishes the dictatorship of the proletariat. The working class needs political power not only to eliminate private ownership of the means of production but also to establish public ownership of the means of production, to carry out overall socialist transformation of the economy, and to create the necessary socio-political and cultural conditions for ensuring the social homogeneity of society. The process of building socialism leads to basic changes in the social structure: the exploiter classes are liquidated, and the two friendly classes are left, the working class and the peasantry organised in cooperatives, as well as the working intellectuals who come from these classes. The relationships between classes, as well as other social groups and strata, are then based on public ownership of the means of production, on the unity of vital interests, on shared Marxist- Leninist ideology, and on the same ultimate objective—the building of communism. Under developed socialism the role of the working class as the leading force in society becomes increasingly important. As it is directly linked with the basic form of socialist property, the working class is the principal productive force, producing most of the gross national product, and is in the forefront of technical, economic and socio-political progress. In the USSR, the working class is the largest group of society, making up 61.8 per cent of the population. The scientific and technological revolution has led to certain professional, cultural and structural changes in the working class, such as higher educational and cultural standards, a greater proportion of workers with high qualifications, and more intellectual character of physical labour. The working class is active in the political life of the country, in economic management, and in the activities of Party, tradeunion and Komsomol organisations. The social structure of the peasantry has also radically changed. It has become a new, socialist class and, led by the working class, is actively involved in building communist society. Socialism emancipated the working peasantry from exploitation and poverty. The content of the work peasants do has been changed significantly by scientific and technical progress, and it is gradually becoming much like industrial labour. Collective-farm democracy is being consolidated and developed, leading to greater activity in public and political life on the part of agricultural workers. Intellectuals play an important role in developed socialist society—they are the social group of working people engaged primarily in mental labour (engineers, technicians, teachers, 45 doctors, scientific workers). The number of intellectuals is rapidly growing due to accelerated scientific and technical progress, and the increasing role of science in all spheres of social endeavour. The alliance of the working class, collective-farm peasantry and people’s intellectuals, with the working class retaining its leading role, has become the solid and unbreakable foundation of the new historical entity formed in the USSR, the Soviet people. The construction of the material and technical base of communism provides economic possibilities to eliminate social differences between the working class and the peasantry, between town and countryside, and between the people engaged in mental and physical work. In the USSR and other socialist countries, society is moving towards complete social homogeneity without any vestiges of class division. The 26th Congress of the CPSU stated that "a classless structure of society will take shape mainly within the historical framework of mature socialism" (Documents and Resolutions. The 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, p. 69).