The right to private property in the means of production and its impact on the social stratification of society in the first quarter of the 20<sup>th</sup> century
Inequality existed and exists at all stages of the development of society - from the most primitive to modern developed ones. It manifests itself clearly in large, traditional and modernised industrial societies, where wealth, property, material goods and cultural goods are unequal. The article discusses the causes of the social stratification of society that existed in the Soviet state in the first quarter of the 20<sup>th</sup> century in the presence of private property in the means of production. At the same time, it describes the views of the founders of the Marxist theory on the issue of private property in the means of production and its impact on society, as well as views on the elimination of private property, since this theory had a serious impact on the revolutionary policy of the leaders of the Bolshevik party. The author of the article carries out a comparative analysis of the positions of the classics of Marxism and the leaders of the ruling party of the Soviet state in 1917 concerning the problem of the elimination of private property in the means of production and the achievement of universal equality. The article explains the dissonance of the theory of transformation of private property in the practice of state-building in Soviet Russia by the Bolsheviks.