This paper sets out the framework of study of legal and historic connections between the notion of “crime”, enshrined in the Soviet Criminal Code of 1922 and 1927 and based on the notion of “public danger”, and the application of Soviet criminal law by analogy as a tool to achieve the ultimate objective of the dictatorship of proletariat. It is proposed to exclude the notion of “public danger” from the scope of the legal notion of “crime” in contemporary Ukrainian criminal law. It is advocated the restructuring the system of differentiation and individualization of criminal liability in Ukraine using clear formal criteria.