Theoretical Problems of Perfecting the New Order

One of the distinctive features of the Twenty-seventh Congress of the CPSU was the extreme attention devoted to the theoretical and practical problems of perfecting socialism. Guided by Marxist-Leninist theory, the Congress underscored particularly that fidelity to this theory consists not in repeating the classical postulates and conclusions of Marxism, but in its creative development on the basis of accumulated experience. The Political Report of the CPSU Central Committee to the Twenty-seventh Congress contained the following statement by Lenin: "'Our theory is not a dogma but a guide to action.' This is what Marx and Engels always said in justly ridiculing the rote memorization and simple repetition of ‘formulas’ capable in the best of cases of only marking out general tasks, which must undergo modifications in accordance with the concrete economic and political circumstances of every particular phase of the historical process."