p Social progress can be judged from many different angles: intellectual development, improved morality, technological progress, increased welfare, the flourishing of arts, access to culture, etc. Certainly, each of these factors characterises the forward movement of specific spheres of the life of society. Which of them is the objective, determin- 267 ing indication (criterion) of social development?

p Inasmuch as material production is the fundamental and determining sphere of the life of society, the objective indication of social advancement is economic development. As Marx stressed, it is not the articles made, but how they are made, that enables us to distinguish different historical epochs.  [267•1  Lenin defined development of the productive forces as the touchstone of social development.  [267•2  The socialist construction programmes in countries that have accomplished socialist revolution take into account this theoretical conclusion of the fundamental role played by the development of the productive forces.

p When defining the general criterion of social progress it is necessary to bear in mind that the productive forces always develop within the framework of specific production relations that are necessary forms of people’s material activity and the foundation of all other relations. It is also important to note that the character of production relations manifests the state and direction of the development of the productive forces, including the development of the main productive 268 force, i. e. of man, in a specific historical period. Production relations, as we know, determine how the productive forces are used - that is to say, whose interests are served by the input of labour and what the relation of the masses is to this input. That is why, specific historical forms of production relations are also an objective criterion that enables us to distinguish the standard of one country from that of another country, and one historical epoch from another.  [268•1  Thus, the character and state of production relations in a given society is a significant element of the overall objective criterion of historical progress.

p The state of the productive forces and the character (type) of the corresponding production relations are manifested in the progress of human freedom. Its facets are: economic freedom, political freedom, creative freedom, freedom of conscience, and so on.

p Extended social freedom is a significant indicator of social progress. It reflects social development towards the liberation of man from the domination of the spontaneous forces of nature and society, from social oppression of all kinds.

p It follows that the criterion of social progress is of a complex character. Its determining element 269 is the condition of the productive forces and the social orientation of their development. Its other elements are: the extent to which man has mastered the elemental forces of nature and developed his own creative abilities as reflected by the rising productivity of labour and by man’s own improvement as the subject of labour and the extent to which he is liberated from the domination of spontaneous social forces, from socio- political inequality and intellectual backwardness. The greater the potential for the development of the productive forces and for heightening production efficiency, for the advancement of all social relations, for the free development of individuals and of the creative effort of the workers and for applying their abilities to meet their material and intellectual requirements- the more progressive is the society.

p That is why, when defining the extent to which this or that society is progressive, it is necessary to take into account not only the level of its economic development, but also its achievements in socio-political and intellectual development. Today, the social aspects of progress are becoming increasingly important. They are: the social orientation of labour; the extent to which the production potential and the entire culture are developed and applied in the interests of the popular masses; the standard of living of the masses; status in society.

Identification of the general criterion of historical progress does not preclude the use as criteria of the forward movement of various social systems or various spheres of the life of society. Topical, too, is the question of the criterion of socialism and of its historical phases. Correct understanding of the criteria of the development of the entire sphere of intellectual culture and its various domains-morality, the arts, and science, is of theoretical and practical significance.