ABSTRACT
The conceptual/analytical aspects of ideology are often confused with its utopian aspect, its concern with ultimate purposes. In addition to the conceptual aspects of Soviet ideology, which in their structure apply to all individuals and all institutions and societies, Soviet ideology has served more explicitly political purposes. Soviet ideology has thus exercised an important conceptual and analytical influence on the way that Soviet political man understands politics and society. The ideology of new political thinking is an integral part of the process by which the reform leadership seeks to dominate the discussion of the acceptable boundaries of reform and thereby advance its ambitious domestic program. This program, which in intention amounts to a constitutional and social revolution, obviously requires a redistribution of political power and a reallocation of resources that would be considered impermissible by the orthodox Leninist ideology of imperialism.
