![Kulak plakat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Kulak_plakat.jpg)
Social parasitism was a
political crime in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in which the perpetrator was accused of living at the expense of other people or society. A number of Soviet intellectuals and dissidents were accused of the crime of parasitism, including
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist.
Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
,
Iosif Begun Iosif Ziselovich Begun, sometimes spelled Yosef (born July 9, 1932 in Moscow, Soviet Union; russian: Иосиф Зиселевич Бегун, he, יוסף ביגון), whose last name is pronounced "bee-goon" and in Russian literally means "runner ...
,
Vladimir Voinovich
Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Войно́вич, 26 September 1932 – 27 July 2018), was a Russian writer and former Soviet dissident, and the "first genuine comic writer" produced by the S ...
,
Lev Kopelev
Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev (russian: Лев Залма́нович (Зино́вьевич) Ко́пелев, German: Lew Sinowjewitsch Kopelew, 9 April 1912, Kyiv – 18 June 1997, Cologne) was a Soviet author and dissident.
Early ...
and
Andrei Amalrik.
Soviet Union
![Josef Brodsky](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Josef_Brodsky.jpg)
In the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, which declared itself a workers' state, every adult able-bodied person was expected to work until official retirement. Thus
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
was officially and theoretically eliminated. Those who
refused to work, study or serve in another way risked being criminally charged with ''social parasitism'' (russian: тунеядство ''tuneyadstvo'',
тунеядцы 'tuneyadets/tuneyadtsy"''),_in_accordance_with_the_socialist_principle_"from_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_contribution."
In_1961,_130,000_people_were_identified_as_leading_the_"Anti-social_behaviour.html" ;"title="to_each_according_to_his_contribution.html" ;"title="'tuneyadets/tuneyadtsy"''), in accordance with the socialist principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution">'tuneyadets/tuneyadtsy"''), in accordance with the socialist principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution."
In 1961, 130,000 people were identified as leading the "Anti-social behaviour">anti-social, parasitic way of life" in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Charges of parasitism were frequently applied to dissidents and refuseniks, many of whom were intellectuals. Since their writings were considered anti-establishment, the state prevented them from obtaining employment. To avoid trials for parasitism, many of them took unskilled (but not especially time-consuming) jobs (street sweepers, boiler room attendants, etc.), which allowed them to continue their other pursuits.
For example, the Russian poet
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist.
Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
was charged with social parasitism by the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
authorities. A 1964 trial found that his series of odd jobs and role as a poet were not a sufficient contribution to society.
Belarus
Policies introduced in 2015, which observers noted as being reminiscent of Soviet-era initiatives, included a tax for those who were considered "social parasites". Defined as people working under 183 days in a year, and excluding
home-makers and
subsistence farmers, the deployment of the so-called parasite tax has been suspended after
protests in several major urban centers.
Romania
The
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
of
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...
criminalized social parasitism by decree in 1970. The regime viewed young people as potentially destabilizing, and targeted those who did not fit into socialist norms. Citizens could be stopped if they were found on the street during hours when they should have been at work or school. Penalties were imprisonment for one to six months, or a fine of 1000 to 5000
lei. Indecent or obscene gestures or words carried penalties of 20 days to three months in prison, or a fine of up to 2000 lei.
[ Roxana Tarhon]
“Cum arătau și cine erau cei care asigurau ordinea în societatea comunistă”
TVR, 28 April 2020
A 1976 law broadened the campaign against parasitism. It stated that if someone able to work refused a job, he could be forced by court order to work for one year on construction sites, farms, in forests or factories. The
Miliția was tasked with enforcing the measures, and its actions were often arbitrary.
See also
*
Coercion
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
*
Economy of the Soviet Union
The economy of the Soviet Union was based on state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, and industrial manufacturing. An administrative-command system managed a distinctive form of central planning. The Soviet economy was ...
*
*
Refusal of work
Refusal of work is behavior in which a person refuses regular employment."Refusal of work means quite simply: I don't want to go to work because I prefer to sleep. But this laziness is the source of intelligence, of technology, of progress. Auton ...
*
To each according to his contribution
"To each according to his contribution" is a principle of distribution considered to be one of the defining features of socialism. It refers to an arrangement whereby individual compensation is representative of one's contribution to the social pr ...
*
Work ethic
Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination o ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parasitism (Social Offense)
Political slurs for people
Political repression in the Soviet Union
Soviet phraseology
Russian criminal law
Anti-intellectualism
Persecution of intellectuals