The Moral Code of the Builder of Communism was a set of twelve rules.
It was made in the Soviet Union by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Every member of the Party was supposed to follow these rules. So was every member of the Komsomol (a Communist group for young people ages 14-28).
The Moral Code was written at the 22nd Congress of the CPSU in 1961. It was part of the third CPSU Program, which was a plan for how to make the entire Soviet Union communist as part of the new Party Programme.
Some popular Soviet cliches are written in the Code. In fact, the Code was written to include special phrases, either invented by Soviet thinkers, or borrowed. (For example, the famous quote "'One for all, and all for one" was taken from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père.)
The Moral Code of the Builder of Communism (as reported on Wikisource), with simple English explanations below, is:
1. Devotion to the cause of Communism, love of the socialist Motherland and of the socialist countries.
2. Conscientious labor for the good of society: he who does not work, neither shall he eat.
3. Concern on the part of everyone for the preservation and growth of public property.
4. High sense of public duty; intolerance of actions harmful to the public interest.
5. Collectivism and comradely mutual assistance: one for all and all for one.
6. Humane relations and mutual respect between individuals: man is to man a friend, a comrade, and a brother.
7. Honesty and truthfulness, moral purity, unpretentiousness and modesty in social and private life.
8. Mutual respect in the family, concern for the upbringing of children.
9. Irreconcilability towards injustice, parasitism, dishonesty, careerism, and profiteering.
10. Friendship and brotherhood among all peoples of the USSR, intolerance of national and racial hatred.
11. Intolerance towards the enemies of communism, peace, and freedom of nations.
12. Fraternal solidarity with the working people of all countries, and with all peoples.
These rules may be compared to the Ten Commandments or the Bible. For example, the Bible says: "he who does not work, neither shall he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). This line was used in the Soviet Constitution of 1936 as well as the Moral Code. Another example is the Commandment "you shall not commit adultery." This is similar to the Code's rule about "mutual respect in a family, concern about the upbringing of children."
The Ten Commandments focus more on personal virtue - what a person should do, and how to treat other people. The Code talks about how people should act as members of the society they live in.
A Russian legislator and Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, said the moral code could be compared to the Sermon on the Mount.
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